When he woke up Tom found his mind felt scrambled making him think he was hallucinating, if he had to find a word to describe what was happening, it was as if his vision was cut in half and each one had a different view.
After experiencing such a peculiar problem he quickly summarised that his memories were still patchy, in fact even more so since he found they seemed to be jumbled with another, a noble boy named Aldric Westerling as he continued to experience movie like dreams as he viewed the perspective of Aldric’s life causing his mind to drift aimlessly.
Aldric’s memories were strange, seeming completely foreign to the viewpoint of Tom that allowed him to identify that he was definitely not on Earth anymore.
However, this shockingly did not feel that big of a deal to him as to the Aldric’s part of his mind this world was a home that he had spent his life growing up in.
Deciding to put this to the back of his mind for now, he went ahead to go to the more pressing issue, the reason why he felt so strange with an uncomfortable amount of limbs he felt the need to stretch, and having decided to sit up to get more comfortable he craned his neck in order to properly observe his surroundings.
The first thing that entered his view was the room that he was in that resembled a medieval prison, it was dark, gloomy with a cramped tight space that was enclosed with stone-bricks with the entrance being thick bars made of iron.
A heavy layer of dirt and gruel covered the stone-walls and floor making him twitch his nose in disgust.
His senses felt overwhelmed with the damp, cold feeling of the cell finding the clothes he was wearing were rough, ragged with numerous patches exposing his delicate skin with the clothing doing little to protect him from the harsh conditions.
Tom, now Aldric let out a sigh as he suddenly heard an unmistakable soft tone sigh in sync with him as he turned his face with a look of shock towards the second occupant in the cell with him.
Presented in front of his eyes, was a young woman in her early twenties at most, she had a head of long blonde hair cascading straight down, and beautiful bright blue eyes that seemed to twinkle with spots of gold.
The young woman was unmistakably beautiful, with delicate features, and smooth flawless skin that any women would envy.
However, despite her being the type of girl that would have made the Tom back on Earth swoon, Aldric felt not a smidge of desire towards her, rather the moment he laid eyes on her an aura of familiarity and protectiveness filled him as he found the other end of his perspective shift as he saw a young mans reflection in the gaze of the girl, bearing features that bore a striking resemblance to her.
The young man seemed almost equally as delicate as the girl with beautiful features, though his sharp jawline gave him a hint of masculinity that made him more handsome than beautiful.
Aldric would say the main difference to the young women, however was his eyes, whereas hers seemed to hold the clarity, brightness of the universe his cold blue eyes was the opposite, seeming to hold an unmistakable darkness.
“What has happened to me?” The both of them said simultaneously.
The two of them looked at each other with gazes of confusion, mouths wide open as the sudden realisation and influx of memories came crashing in.
Zoe, now Anastasia Westerling memories consisted up to now were similar to Tom, her time on Earth being now patchy due to the entity but her circumstances up to where Tom found her and how they somehow ended up conjoining in an effort to vanquish the creatures has led to this.
Before this moment they were somehow suppressing each other, subconsciously operating two separate bodies with their distinctive personalities however despite retaining themselves they knew that they were now one in soul completely.
They had no idea how these terms seemed to float into their minds, but since devouring the entities more and more information about souls, how they ended up in their clutches started appearing in their mind.
“Incredible.” Both found themselves voicing in perfect unison, matching each other so flawlessly in timing as if they had rehearsed this over and over numerous times before syncing so faultlessly.
Yet even then they found themselves matching each other with such a degree of perfect accuracy, that even tireless practice with another person would find it impossible to replicate, with the two of them seemingly matched in spirit making even the tone of voice as they utter these words sound identical.
“This is something…” Both of them found themselves smiling dumbly at each other, their eerily similar features matching in unison.
Aldric found similar to him, that Zoe now Anastasia has adopted her new identify extremely readily, it was strange, befuddling that they have adapted so quickly but Aldric and Anastasia both already knew the reasoning.
The entities memories were filled with knowledge about the soul, including what it means to throughly assimilate one like they have done with the nobles twins they have found themselves possessing.
They have perfectly integrated into their bodies and have found their memories overlapping with the ones from Earth, however whereas their memories of their lives on Earth were disjointed, seeming to resemble a movie that jumped all over the place with clear missing parts, the memories belonging to the Westerling twins they found themselves in remained in perfect clarity.
And from this they have already learned they are currently in a precarious situation, the Westerling twins were both minor nobility, being the twin son and daughter of Baron Clayton Westerling, who most recently hosted a small gathering that ended in complete bloodshed.
Clayton Westerling held a small feast as per usual after returning from a hunt out in the wilderness in his territory, however upon his return he soon found himself poisoned and abruptly besieged as a gang of marauders have not only infiltrated his fief, but went on to slaughter every able bodied guard that could pose a threat to them.
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Despite their Father Clayton being among the first to be killed, Aldric and Anastasia found themselves among the few survivors and since they were deemed valuable hostages both were soon thrown into their own families prison to be secured.
Nonetheless, before they could think further about their situation the sound of loud foot steps were heard, as the clunking of boots indicated a pair of men were nearing them as a rough voice sounded.
“So where are those noble brats?” The voice stated.
“They are just down there, we have put them in the worst conditions as requested. You said our contractor wanted them as broken as possible before they arrived so I know you said the girl was off limits though…” A smarmy voice said with a pleading tone.
“No the girl is off limits as ordered, we are not savages, just because we have to play the part of marauders does not make us have to act like it.” The gruff voice responded firmly.
“The boy then? He’s as pretty as the girl anyways, I promise to make him a good obedient puppet for your superiors if you leave him alone with me for a few days.” The smarmy voice replied with the rough voice seeming to pause for a period causing them to unconsciously shiver from the silence.
However, the rough voice soon replied removing these worries as he said, “Denied. If you need to satisfy those urges there is a brothel in the Town, and make sure your boys don't disturb the townsfolk, we’re not here to pillage, the contractor wants everything left in one piece. Also for the last time do not mention or even think of doing anything to those noble brats outside of what I order, or I’ll snap your neck myself and hang your corpse along the front gate for insubordination.”
The smarmy voice seemed to go meek after that, as all his previous bravado seemed to vanish as he replied, “Yes boss.”
“Good. Now I’ll return in a few days, reduce their intake to the minimum amount of water needed to keep them alive. I want them starved, desperate and pleading for their worthless lives.” The rough voice said before the heavy sound of footsteps seemed to grow distant seeming to indicate him leaving.
Yet just when they thought the two men have left, the sounds of keys jingling was heard as shifting of a lock sounded as the locked wooden door opposite their cell shook slightly, before opening to reveal a man of average height, fully decked in tough leather armour that had a red skull symbol painted on the right sleeve.
A long-sword was sheathed at his waist as his rat-like face icily searched the room before landing on them.
Aldric and Anatasia felt a degree of familiarity as they caught sight of the man, and the chilling-feeling they have felt since he entered the room was only amplified as the rat-faced man eyes roamed hungrily over them like a predator, especially seeming to linger on Aldric as he licked his lips revealing his dirty, rotten yellow teeth.
“Greetings your lord, lady-ships” The rat-faced man smarmy voice drawled out in a sarcastic tone.
Being met with silence did not seem to hinder the man at all as he continued to talk loudly in the gloomy, silent room.
“Unfortunately… no gruel on the house for you today. But good thing we still have plenty of fresh water graciously sourced from the Towns well, unfortunately your Father can no longer play the role of the gracious host but no worries, I can make do. And since the two of you stink like shit there will be no shame in a quick wash.” Rat-face drawled in a mocking tonne as he reached for a large bucket filled to the brim of freezing cold water.
The evil glint in his eyes lit up as he regarded their disheveled state, a mocking smile filled his lips as he lugged the bucket forward and stood in front of them as if searching for a reaction.
He was soon disappointed as Aldric and Anatasia stared at him blankly as if unimpressed by his antics, only seeking to irritate rat-face further.
“Broken already huh? Worthless, weak cretins, the two of you were so full of hope, so much arrogance promising your Uncle will send his Knights to cut me up to bits to avenge Daddy... Where is your pride now?” Rat-face muttered in disgust as he spat towards them before he threw the large bucket of cold water over them.
Aldric and Anastasia involuntary found themselves gasping as the freezing cold water hit their bodies, sending uncontrably shivers down their bodies, the noble youths they have now become were incredibly weak as if they had not been outdoors a day in their life, therefore it was only natural they did not seem to cope well under such treatment.
The rat-face man seemed to enjoy this heavily as loud bursts of laughter filled the room.
Yet whilst the rat-faced man was gasping for breath in amusement he did not notice the dark, chilling look that filled the twins eyes as the shadows in the room seemed to shift towards him as if reaching out to devour him.
The rat-faced man did not seem notice this as he continued, “If you think that's the worst you’ll get, just you wait for what else I have in store for you, now drink this up, boss orders, or don't, not like I give a shit, just means I’ll have to come in their and force-feed you…”
And with that he turned around locking the wooden door he entered from behind him as he went, leaving behind two small cups of water near them that he obviously filled from the bucket before he decided to throw the rest of its contents over them.
Aldric and Anastia quickly retrieved the cups to take small sips before gulping it all down, feeling the relief from their dry, cracked lips as their soaking wet bodies continued to shiver from the cold in the damp cell.
Both of them needed to act fast, find a plan to get out of here.
Aldric who was always not the most optimistic person in life, even when he was Tom on Earth quickly found himself comforted by Anatasia as the entwined nature of their souls allowed them to feed of each others strength, and Anatasia who seemed to shine with a light that brightened his soul encouraged him to close his eyes as he relaxed and searched his mind for a solution.
And that was then a weird ding happened as a notification sounded in their mind.
[Class system activating...]
[Compatible user found… error, multiple compatabilities found…]
[Determining paths…]
Aldric and Anatasia thoughts were filled with wonder as the mysterious text continued to fill their vision.
[Paths selected. Unique life form detected, soul compabilities allows the selection of two seperate paths.]
[Please select your separate paths for both of your avatars.]
Hearing the mechanical voice continue to sound in their minds, they couldn't help but look around as if to search for anything that could be the source of the voice, as if to discover anything that can explain the situation.
However, knowing the rat-faced man seemed long gone, and with it sounding like nothing that a bunch of marauders from some primitive world could come up with, they continued to try and listen to the mysterious voice, a blossom of hope that this could be a way out of their seemingly hopeless situation.
Avatars? Does it consider both Aldric and Anastasia two separate bodies of the same being?
Just as they abruptly thought that they soon found their vision changing as a number of paths begin to be listed.
[Available paths…]
[Path of the Warrior]
[Path of the Rogue]
[Path of the Mage]
….
Aldric and Anatasia quickly found the path options to be typical that of a fantasy game, with the basic classes available however that was when they found two paths that seemed to call out to them.
Staring at the two paths they soon found them flickering before them, with it offering to show the description of the paths.
[Path of Darkness]
[Path of Light]
With a grin, they activated the notification seeing the description of the classes appear.
‘Now that could work…’ they found themselves smiling, the cold, wet feeling of their soaked bodies forgotten.