Seiker climbed to his feet as the woman’s voice drifted closer and closer. Things were getting weird, and fast. The idea that he had entered the afterlife was starting to crumble apart. If it was reincarnation, well… he didn’t know of any reincarnation stories that started you off as an adult with the memory of your previous life fresh as a crisper. Whatever was going on here, it was either a hallucination his mind had conjured to distract from his agonizing death… or it was real.

If the world before him was a fiction created by his mind, then it didn’t matter. But if there was a chance it was real… then stomping around like his actions didn’t have consequences would leave him in a tight spot. I need information.

Seiker glanced towards the voice and narrowed his eyes, activating his High Sense. And… nothing happened. He blinked.

Suddenly, a voice sounded in his thoughts, clear as day to him.

> The legacy ability Seiker’s High Sense could not activate. Insufficient Dexterity.

Seiker froze, the cool air around him suddenly uncomfortable. Well, that was odd. The voice had seemed to meld into his thoughts in a way he had never experienced before. It didn’t speak from start to finish so much as he thought it, in the lightning quick way thoughts usually emerged and faded. And yet he knew it was not his rambling brain, not even an intrusive thought. It might be better to say that he suddenly understood what the voice had said, in an instant.

He tried to use his High Sense again, and the same happened.

Eventually the girl’s voice was close enough that there was no point, and he filed the odd experience away for the moment. A few seconds later, she emerged around the side of a tall oak.

The girl was pretty, in a girl-next-door fashion. Her brown hair was short compared to the women of his country, only falling to her shoulders. Her eyes were a gleaming hazel, and her skin was pale white, marking her as a Northerner. Is that where I am, one of the northern regions? Is that why the body I’m wearing… He decided to rephrase that in his mind. The body I’m inhabiting, is so pale?

She cocked her head to the side, confused. “Sam?”

That intrusive voice, the same that had denied his use of High Sense, made its appearance again.

> Rin Barraforte. Level 2.

Rin Barraforte, he thought. Was that her name? And… level? Seiker wasn’t sure of to make of that. He also had the nagging sense that he could know more, and he didn’t know why.

“Rin?” he said cautiously.

“You seem unsure of that,” she said.

“Well, that’s a way of putting it,” Seiker sighed, running his fingers through his hair. His hair now was short, compared to Seiker’s usually long hair. I’m not going to get used to this anytime soon. “So do you… come around here often?”

The girl, Rin, arched a brow at that. “Do I… come around the woods behind my home often? Well, yes, but not usually to stumble upon my dear friend playing around with a sword in a ritual circle.”

Seiker grimaced. He’d never been good at this kind of thing. Although he wasn’t sure if he’d ever been in this kind of situation before, in any case.

Rin gave him a level look. “We’ve got minutes before we need to start distributing food,” she said, “so explain.” She placed a hand on her hip and looked expectantly.

“I…” Seiker sighed. “Would you believe me if I said I woke up like this?”

“No,” she said sharply. “I’d believe you if you said you were trying to do one of those rituals you read about and managed to knock yourself out trying.”

“That works,” Seiker shrugged.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Doesn’t explain the sword, though.” As she said it, she walked up beside him, eyes trailing the length of the weapon. “It’s beautiful,” she said breathily, eyeing the intricate runework along the fuller of the blade. “Where did you get it?”

“Found it,” he said. That was true, honestly. He’d found the sword on the ground after a long, drawn out battle a long time ago. Next to its previous owner’s corpse.

Rin eyed him suspiciously. Her gaze seemed to expose him down to his core, in a frightening way. As though she knew exactly what who he was, and what he was hiding. Impressive, he thought. Serena would be jealous. The sudden thought of his older sister soured his mood. He had to get back… somehow. For now, he just had to learn more.

“Alright then,” Rin said with an annoyed tone. “Keep your secrets. You’ll have to leave it here for the time being though. I don’t think the soldiers will be respond well to you lugging that massive thing around the city. And I don’t think my father will appreciate it either.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Seiker said, grasping the handle of the blade.

“Oh,” she said, curiously.

Seiker willed the blade to shrink in size, to the size of a small dagger. It was a neat little trick, one he assumed possible due to the extensive magic of the runework on the weapon. Problem was, the runes did not flash with blue light, and the weapon did not shrink.

> Cannot activate weapon ability Size Transformation. You must be attuned to this weapon to access its inherent abilities. Attempt to attune?

There was that voice again. Of course, it didn’t work, although Seiker had been hoping at least this would. What was that bit about attunement, however? The voice seemed to be asking a question of him. Feeling a bit foolish, he tried responding to the voice in his own mind.

Uh… yes. Attune.

He suddenly felt a flood of energy wash through him, like the feeling of a sorcerer hitting him with a wave of arcane magic. He could feel it was his own energy, though, and it pushed out towards the sword, enveloping it. It hit the sword like a brick wall, expanding all around it, but unable to make purchase. After a few frustrating moments, the energy gave up, retreating within him.

> Unable to attune to weapon Seiker’s Sword. Insufficient power and vitality prerequisites.

Unable to attune to a weapon that was apparently named after him. That felt a bit silly. He glanced back at Rin, who stood expectantly, hand return to her hip.

“Guess it will be a problem,” he admitted.

She sighed. “I don’t know if you hit your head or something, but you are acting incredibly strange this morning.”

“Believe me,” he replied, “It’s been a strange morning.”

“You’ll have to explain what you mean on the way. We’ve got work to get at.”

“Right,” he said, reluctantly dragging the sword over to a thick grouping of trees. “Distributing food. Where were we doing that?”

“I was thinking we start in the southern section of Old Town and move every half hour or so. We’ll probably avoid the soldiers that way.” She paused for a moment, before worriedly adding, “most of them.”

Seiker leaned the sword in the shadow of an oak, hoping the shade would conceal it for the most part. The dark blade wouldn’t reflect light- rather it seemed to absorb it in an odd way- and so it was the best Seiker could manage for the time being. He walked back to where Rin stood waiting.

“You don’t seem very optimistic,” he said. When he reached her, she turned towards the way she came, and set off, walking with purposeful strides. He fell in beside her.

“Getting harassed by foreign soldiers in the city you grew up in does that to a girl,” she said off-handedly. “If anything, you seem a little too peppy for your usual self.” She glanced at him. “And… something else. You seem different, Sam.”

“I feel different,” he admitted. “Maybe I did hit my head.”

“Mm,” she said thoughtfully, but left it at that.

The journey out of the woods took only a short time and left him mulling through a mound of questions. From what he could gain from Rin so far, the city they lived in was occupied by some foreign power. They were going to distribute food, and that was apparently something these soldiers didn’t look kindly to.

This dilemma, at least, felt morbidly familiar to him. His own home of Streissmar was a nation beset by foreign powers, and he had spent most of his life fighting on the borders for the crown. They were strong though, and perhaps not important enough, so no kingdom had gotten far enough as to occupy any of their towns or cities. It seems that, wherever he was had not had the same luck.

Rin led him expertly through the trees with obvious familiarity. After only a few minutes of walking, the two of them emerged from the tree line to a giant property.

Seiker blinked in surprise.

A manor house stood in the center, three-stories tall and quaint, made of painted white wood and blackened clay tiling. Behind it, where they had emerged from, were long lines of apple trees, making up a small orchard. The road from the house would cut a rather twisty path down the hill, until it bled into the main street. He slowed to a stop, staring at the scene before him.

This was his home. The trees before him were his sister’s precious orchard. The house was his family’s pride, the building his grandfather had built himself. This was…

“Come on,” Rin said, walking through a line of trees towards the house. “Hopefully, my father isn’t home still.”

Seiker stood dumbstruck for a few moments more, before moving to join her in the orchard.

> You have entered Barraforte Manor.