Ebon couldn't believe what he was feeling, no matter how much he touched his groin, there was no trace left of his former companion.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ebon shouted in rage as he hurriedly got up and began inspecting his body.
He now had long blond hair, a slim waist that emphasized his hips thanks to the tight leather pants he was wearing.
His chest was small but soft enough that his fingers sank in when he pressed against it through the clothes, at least the white shirt he wore did a good job of concealing his assets.
"This… This has to be a fucking joke! FUCKING fox!" Ebon yelled at the sky as he dropped to his knees and punched the ground.
"(... Okay… It's not that bad, just… Maybe there's some kind of solution…)" Ebon thought while trying to control his ragged breathing.
After a few minutes of breathing, he began to look around at where he was, an oak forest where the trees seemed to grow slightly tilted to one side.
That sparked a suspicion in Ebon, who immediately checked his body again, the clothes he wore were classic fantasy-world attire, checking his belt he found a dagger in its sheath resting against his lower back.
When he examined the sheath and the dagger's hilt, he saw gold engravings and a seal shaped like a two-headed dragon.
"No way… This is… A dagger from the game…" he looked around, faintly recognizing the forest, one of the southern forests from his favorite game "I'm in Towers and Legends' Board"
Despite the pain of the moment, he managed to form a faint, melancholic smile.
"I'm…" For a second, he remembered those moments wandering through that same forest with his gaming companions "I'm home…"
Ebon returned the dagger to his belt and struggled to stand up.
"I guess buying the non-linear MMORPG version of the game was a good idea…"
He assumed he had taken over the body of a character inside the game, it had to be an important one to carry a dagger like that.
He didn't have time to reflect too much. He began walking carefully, trying not to fall due to the dizziness.
With every step, foreign memories began to invade him. A castle, a loving mother, scenes of a life he had never lived replayed in his mind like a bad fantasy movie.
Then, a message appeared in front of him in the form of a floating, transparent window, the familiarity of the system drew a faint smile from him.
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
New player detected
Welcome to your new life. Would you like to be informed of the details of your new body?
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
There were no visible buttons or options, so he simply answered yes out loud while holding his head in pain.
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
ERROR_504:
You have taken over the body of someone who abandoned this world, the memories of your body and those of your soul are currently in conflict, you must choose one to preserve and discard the other, otherwise your mind will suffer irreversible damage.
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
The pain worsened and air stopped reaching his lungs, his thoughts became blurry, drowned by a flood of memories that didn't belong to him.
At that moment, he felt like he was going to die again.
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
If an option is not chosen immediately, the damage will be irreversible and both memories will be destroyed due to the lack of harmony.
You have four options.
a)Delete the soul's memory.
b)Delete the body's memory.
c)Delete both halfway and seek coexistence.
d)Delete both completely.
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
"I choose the… I choose B, B, hurry hurry… Ahhhgg"
A sharp pain pierced his head, as if a dagger were stabbing directly into the deepest part of his skull, so intense that a scream tore from his throat, nearly shredding his voice.
When the pain finally began to subside, he managed to lean against a tree and make out the system's final message.
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
The body's memories have been deleted.
From now on, you may view the status of your "Incarnation" at any time.
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
When the window disappeared, the figure of a man appeared in front of him, the dizziness was so intense that he could only make out his silhouette and a few details of his clothing.
"Miss, are you alright?" the man said as he reached out his hands to help her, but she couldn't hold it in any longer and vomited directly onto the stranger's shoes, her legs gave out and she collapsed.
She would have fallen into her own mess if the young man hadn't caught her in his arms.
Ebon raised her gaze to see her kind savior, he had pale skin, emerald eyes, and a look that didn't match his age. The pointed ears confirmed his race, he was a green-haired elf.
"Pointy ears?" was all she managed to say before passing out.
.
.
.
When she woke up, she found herself in a different place, she no longer felt pain and could breathe freely, but when she tried to move she felt her hands and feet bound, she was sitting on a chair inside a cabin in terrible condition, until someone entered.
"I see you're awake, I'm very glad you survived, for a moment I thought you'd die from your fever" said the same elf as he pulled up a chair and sat in front of her.
"Oh yeah, and is this how you treat every sick person who shows up at your door?" Ebon said while trying to break free.
"It's a precaution, I don't know you and besides, this tool is no joke" the elf said as he pulled the dagger from his belt and showed it carefully, while the blonde sighed in relief upon seeing it was still in its sheath.
"Hey, that's mine, you'd better give it back if you know what's good for you" the blonde said with an angry glare.
That dagger was extremely valuable, as it was normally used to create Blood Contracts, it could only be used once and the resulting pact could not be broken without destroying the soul of whoever failed to uphold their end.
"Honestly, I have no interest in crossing paths with the owners of this dagger, something you shouldn't do either, thief" the elf said as he clasped his hands together, thinking carefully.
"What the hell are you talking about, that… that thing was given to me by the Cult of Promises, they gave it to me for an important mission, don't you know who I am?" She didn't even know herself, but she had to pretend.
"Exactly, you are nobody, and yet you possess a ceremonial dagger, that's suspicious, your clothes bear no emblem of royalty nor of the cult that forged this dagger, so you're either a terrible thief or something far worse."
"Well I…" Ebon didn't know how to respond to the elf's logic, it was far too precise, and he himself didn't even understand his current situation.
"Alright, I admit it, it's not my dagger, but I'm not a thief either, at least I don't think so, I'm a Hero from another world who ended up in this body" The elf fell silent upon hearing the girl's words.
"I see, so that's what it was…" muttered the green-haired man as he lowered his gaze, prompting the girl to form a confident smile.
"Yes, exactly, don't worry, I won't hold a grudge, just untie me and maybe I'll make you my adventure companion, I guarantee you'll have a hell of a time" Ebon said, when suddenly the elf lunged forward with lethal precision.
Drawing the dagger, he pressed its blade against his guest's throat without hesitation, its edge was made of white crystal.
"No one in their right mind would dare to declare themselves a 'Visitor' from another world, do you know why, filthy invader?" the elf said in a cold, calculated tone.
"H-Hey, calm down, w-we can negotiate."
"It's because sacred law decrees that we exterminate all Visitors before they become a threat to our Demon King."