I was in that strange place I entered when the system was interacting with me.

The world was still there, somewhat, but it wasn’t there at the same time. Or I wasn’t interacting with it. Or something.

The only thing that I could really pay attention to was the warm feeling of my hand in my brother’s. Through that connection, I could feel a trickle of something.

Still, the system message commanded almost my full attention. Even if what it says hadn’t changed in a while. So the only thing I really was paying attention to were the stark words:

Initiating Secure Communication Protocol

I know I should be cautious, or patient, or something. But spending, what I gathered was about ten years, in a constant war zone really was making it hard for me to even think of normality. I had heard stories of soldiers who had suffered from PTSD from just being in short, intense situations. But I had been in those situations for far longer than any doctor on Earth would believe possible.

And though I felt sane, didn’t jump at triggering events, being in an almost constant state of war really was dragging my spirit down.

Personally, there were times I felt the need to climb inside of a bottle, or the barrels they brought the cheapest, most disgusting, alcoholic drinks possible in. But other than one or two moments of weaknesses over the years, I’d avoided that trap.

Instead, I had focused all my attention upon the Three Tier Troops, or the Disposal Troops to give them their proper name.

Secure Communication Protocol Initiated

The message changed before I could continue following the trail of my thoughts down dark paths I did my best to avoid.

‘Finally! I found you!’ A random voice said inside my head. It seemed familiar, somehow. ‘Took a bit of a detour on your brother, but thankfully, he cared about you more than he let on.’

‘Don’t tell him that.’ My brother’s voice said.

‘But why not? It was you who had been supporting him secretly in his reforms for the Disposal Troops since soon after we first met.’

‘You did that? For me?‘

‘Yes, Brother, I did. I couldn’t be as stoic as you were. My mind kept drifting to you. I kept on hearing rumours from those from here about a troublesome Tier Three. It was Redoutable East Blessing who first started talking about you. Oh, I married her daughter, not a Tier Nine, but one from a long line of Tier Nines and an old yet still powerful House deep in the central Heartlands.

‘But through her contacts, and her continued droning moans, I heard more and more about you. Did you really try flirting with her? That really made her mad. Maybe not mad, but conflicted. There was a tenderness when she heard reports about you. Beyond that, I was… Uh. Happy? To hear that you were still alive, and that you were doing your best to make a name for yourself.’

‘Do you mind if I start working on your system, People’s Defender? The communication bandwidth maybe disrupted. I still don’t want to let them know I’m still around, alive, and have admin access. Also, I’m guessing it’ll be bad for you if they find out. I’m sure they could find ways of eliminating the threat they believe you could become.’

‘Threat? I just want to live in peace, living the best life I can.’

‘Well, the way you think is different than your brother and the rest of the world around you. You don’t see Tier Three as any less important than Tier Nine, but your brother does. Even if he is trying hard to overcome said bias. It’s cultural, ingrained, and he has to at least make like it seem he’s part of the ruling class if what he wants to happen, happen.

‘But that is a discussion between you and your brother, not for me to tell all your secrets.’

‘Okay, work on my system.’

I felt a presence fade from the communication.

Stealth Administration Mode Activated

‘What did he mean the way you think is different than everyone else?’

‘I really don’t know how to say this, but you did kill your brother all those years ago.’

‘I know that. The system told me so. It was my first kill, and in doing unlocked my system early.’

‘That’s interesting. From what I guess, but haven’t been told. This body was supposed to have an impact on this world. Either that or someone else was supposed to have an impact on this world, but died before their impact occurred. It was one of those two options. Anyway, I believe that’s true, anyway.’

‘Why do you say that?’ I got the sense that he didn’t understand what I was going on about.

I so wanted to tell him, tell someone my secret. It had been hard keeping it at first. But in time it became easy, other than in moments of weakness and drunkenness. Another reason I didn’t want to fall into the trap of being a drunkard.

Steeling up my resolve, I decided to tell him my secret, hoping that whatever feelings he had for his brother would remain. Maybe they could even transfer over to me. ‘Because this isn’t my first body I had. This isn’t my first life I had. This is my second body and my second life.’

There was a feeling of confusion, ‘but the goddess teaches that when we die get absorbed into the system ready for parts of us to be reborn in various people in the future. So you’re saying that the system somehow, uh, what was the term he used… Glitched and kept you as an entire being. Or are all people kept whole within the system?’

‘I don’t know what happens when you die, normally. But I didn’t die normally. Death told me that my death was an accident and he had kept me whole ready for use in another world.’

‘How can something like death talk to you, it happens to you?’

The confusion about Death had overshadowed the whole point of that sentence. Even though I couldn’t really see him in this strange place, mode, whatever, it was almost easy to imagine how he would look.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The reason being was I had imagined myself looking exactly like him multiple times in the past. Especially when I was overwhelmed by, at least to me, nonsensical things happening. Unless he was deliberately misunderstanding, so he wouldn’t have to deal with the second part of the sentence. I know I, too, had been guilty of that in the past.

And not just in this life.

Basically, this meant I needed to go back a few steps. I had heard it was hard to convince someone away from a particularly strongly held belief. So much so that marketing wasn’t there to convince complete apathetic people, but those who were slightly leaning in said direction, or at least had an opening. It was why there were die-hard cola drinkers who would either only drink one brand over another. And of course there were those who drunk the cheap stuff because it was cheap.

I knew change was possible because I was a cheap-cola drinker until my flatmate slowly convinced me to be a brand-cola drinker. Like her, I got so into that brand that I not only avoided drinking other brands when out and about, but I brought glasses from that brand to drink out of and even brought a wall clock of said brand to place in our kitchen.

Still, this was different from that. Cola is something almost nonsensical compared to this. I was not only trying to get him to listen to me, but overturn his entire way of thinking: maybe his entire worldview.

Such a thing would normally be impossible. The only way I could think about doing this was by finding an opening and doing my best to exploit said opening. Somewhat like how my flat mate slowly got me to drink the brand-cola over the off-brand stuff.

Damn, I really wanted an ice cold glass of cola now.

‘What lies on the other-side of the Fissures?’

‘Why?‘ I felt his confusion flow into me, ’what does that have to do with anything?

I did my best to transmit me, wanting to know his answer.

‘Fine. They’re Fissure Worlds.’

‘Well, as there are such things as this world and Fissure Worlds, then could there not be other worlds not overtly linked to this world?’

‘The goddess’ teachings says no.’

‘But doesn’t she teaches that she’s the only deity?’

‘Yes.’

‘What then of that person who connected to you thinking they were me?’

‘What about them?’

‘They have access to the system, don’t they?’

‘Yes.’

‘And only the goddess can grant access to the system. Or, at least, that is what we’re taught.’

‘Yes, that is why all the administration portals are only available to be used within Temples.’

‘But you know that you have some access to things which even the admin portal cannot do. And you gained access to your system without the need of an admin portal.’

‘Yes, that’s true.’ I could sense his ever-increasing confusion over all of this.

‘That person who is now altering my system is undoing the work that the goddess put into place.’

‘Okay.’ I could sense a bit of hesitation, but not outright denial. That was something, I guess.

‘Did they also not grant you the Trait: Detailed Analysis?’ This was a stretch, but considering how much control the goddess took wanted, it wasn’t too much of a stretch.

‘Yes.’

I kept pushing on, hoping that his confusion wouldn’t stop him from thinking in some kind of logical manner. ‘And they also taught you how to hide the fact you have that trait?’

‘Yes.’

‘What would the Temple do if they discovered you harboured such a trait?’

‘They would remove it.’

‘Would they do anything more than that?’

My random shot-in-the-dark question must’ve hit a target, and with it I sensed that my brother realised I had some reason I was keeping on asking him questions. With that, the confusion remained, but a sense of peace and acceptance flowed from him, too.

‘Yes. A whole House was ex-communicated, with some people exiled, others executed, some made into Temple Mothers. Some taken to remote Outer Temples for a life of isolation and prayer, begging for forgiveness from the goddess in the hope their traits would…’

‘So that person I’d been talking to isn’t on the side of the goddess?’

‘No.’

‘Oh, but he’s not a bad person.’

Now this was the most important question: ‘Is he wicked? Has he been sent to tempt you away from the goddess’ path?’

From my understanding of the goddess’ faith, there was no such figure as a tempter. Not like the Devil, or other tricksters or tempters in other faiths.

‘No, he has been helpful.’

Yeah, that was one problem with those who tempted you. They often appeared as if they were helping you. But in fact, they were just leading you down a path to where they wanted you.

A bit like me in this conversation.

‘So, Brother, is there more than what the goddess teaches?’

‘Yes. For an example, she, and the Temple, teach that everyone came over willingly to her faith during the Time of Troubles. But those diaries and books you found said otherwise. Even Father was hesitant in completely accepting of everything the goddess said.’

‘Oh?’ That was news to me, surprising news. I didn’t know how to react to that.

‘He also kept a secret almost until his death.‘

There was a pause, and I felt my brother’s confusion and acceptance shift into uneasiness and an uneasy confusion. He was debating something within himself. It was strange to feel the internal argument within him as some sort of distant storm which was about to break and threaten me.

Then he made his mind up.

It was clear from his emotions he was sure that even before he even started telling me, it would change everything I knew.

And I was sure from what I felt from him that, indeed, it would.