Chapter 1: Watching the watcher

What does it feel like to die? When will death come? Is there an afterlife? The predominant scientific theory is that death is the final destination of all biological life in the universe. When will death come is based solely on each individual. It is impossible to account for every factor in the universe but a rough idea can be compiled based on various types of data. What does death feel like is something that rattles most people.

The answer to how it feels from an objective and logical perspective is that the brain waves cease to function. There is no more activity. Darkness is the only thing that awaits those the moment they die. In some aspects, death is akin to sleeping or being knocked unconscious. When faced with an eternal solitude, the idea of sleeping forever is not such a malediction. As for the afterlife, while many believed the grandeur of wishful ideas, there was no afterlife.

And yet, the two siblings that stood in the presence of something beyond the conceivable plane of conjecture. If this was no mere delusional dream, the siblings had to face the reality that either was either an entity beyond all known dimension or that multiple universes existed within a co-liner tangent. Both siblings recalled how they died and ensured neither of them were having a form of hallucination.

The brother touched his little sister from head to toe in order to establish a baseline understand of what was in front of him. She was physically there, no signs of ethereal shifting or aeriform matter forming around her body. Pulse was a steady and constant rhythm.

While the brother continued to examine her, the sister did the same for her older brother. She recorded mental notes of his physical features and heart rate before the death and after. Nothing about him had changed, not even the reproductive organ that would see periods of erectile use in genital stimulation was amiss.

The two of them took a moment to collect their thoughts as they processed everything around them. A vast room that stretched beyond the realm of infinity was all they could see. Twilight golden hues set the atmosphere while gentle clouds danced to sway of a non-existence wind. Before the two of them was young girl who sat down on her knees, her purple wedge sandals off to the side. The girl’s eyes were closed and she did not speak nor motion for them to sit.

Both siblings took notice of the appearance in how the girl carried herself and the way she dressed. Her breathing was almost silent, her hands carefully placed in a resting position on her lap with a small pocket watch in her left hand. Her long flowing white hair was tied off into two pigtails held in placed with lavender coloured ribbons. The girl’s outfit appeared Chinese inspired with hints of a Japanese shrine maiden flair. What stood out to the twin siblings was the antique pocket watches hanging from the girl’s ribbons. Another notable marking was the tattoo on her left eye that resembled a watch.

“So, you are finally here. Please, sit. You may call me, the Watcher,” the girl said as she opened her right eye and closed the watch.

The siblings had confirmed they were both dead and had no reason to deny the girl calling herself the Watcher. Removing their shoes and placing them aside, the siblings sat down and waited for what the Watcher was going to say.

“As you are both aware, you have died and I shall be giving you a new life in a world of fantasy and magic.”

Waving her hand caused a magical dimension to appear. Reaching her hand inside, she pulled out various stacks of papers of varying sizes. Some were thick stacks while some were only a few pages.

“Looking at your papers, the two of you appear extremely interesting to me.”

The Watcher continued to read through the papers and took note of everything on the pages. After few minutes, the Watcher placed the papers down and looked to the siblings.

“If you have any questions, please speak them now.”

Unlike normal people, the fraternal twins did not possess the ability to function as normal human beings. Both siblings had processed all the information within their brains and there was only one question they needed to ask. Staring at the Watcher before them with dead and lifeless eyes, the siblings asked their question in unison.

“Who watches the watcher?”

The Watcher had found herself thrown off by the question. Throughout her time, all humans had questions and wanted answers. From wishing to unlock the secrets of the universe to personal questions about what aroused her. She had heard nearly every question from those she had interacted with. Yet, these siblings were different.

“What an interesting question,” the Watcher said as she opened her left eye.

There was sombre beauty in how the Watcher appeared with her left eye resembling the face of an antique clock. It accented her eye as a predominate feature with its soft shade of a twilight golden hue. Still, her face showed no signs of harm or ill-well. The twins could only speculate that the Watcher was simply bored of the dull and meaningless conversations that took place between her and those that she interacted with.

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? A rather rhetorical frame of question. Who created whom? Imagine the time many have poured into that philosophical perplexity.”

The Watcher stood to her feet – as did the siblings. With a mere wave of her hand, the room of endless space and volume began to change. Time around them appeared to move in a quasi-functional state in the fourth dimension. Quantum time. In quantum mechanics, the function of time is considered a fixed axis that is unidirectional from past to the present. Yet, words failed to describe what the two twins were seeing before their eyes.

Forming into existence, warping like a bubble unable to be popped, structures turned from blurry into tangible objects. The twins realised before them was an antique library.

“You may peruse the library for answers if you seek them.”

The Watcher made her way over to large podium where a heavy book sat. It was bound in a thick leather with signs of ware and tear.

“How many books are in this library?” the brother asked as he made his way over to the large tome.

Opening the book, he was greeted with a smell that reminded him of an old library he and his sister frequented in their past life. Each page revealed a concepts that only appeared in books and television. A realm that was not real in the their reality. Yet, here a fictional fantasy was no mere dream but tangible.

“In total, six million books,” the Watcher replied.

The brother did the quick mental maths in his head.

“The human brain can store 4.7 million worth of information in books,” the brother said as he turned to his sister.

“On it, bro,” the sister said as she made her way over to the large shelf.

Each shelf contained a vast collection of books, divided into categories. Taking a few books off the shelf labelled Academia Magicka, she sat down on the floor without any regard to the fact her panties were showing. The Academia Magicka books were a collection of four tomes that introduced and explained the fundaments of magic in the world of Eystial. In a brief summary of notes, magic was divided into seven elements: fire, water, earth, air, holy, shadow and abyssal. These were further subdivided into three types: common, advanced and primordial magic.

Fire, water, earth and air magic were considered common throughout the lands of Eystial. While not everyone could use it, most people could eventually learn to cast a basic spell such as emitting a small flame from their hand to heat up food. Holy and shadow magic while relatively rare, was considered advanced for most people. The average person would need to spend a lifetime of dedication in order to cast such magic. Priest tend to have an affinity with holy magic while elves possessed the ability to master advanced variations of one of the four common elements. Demons tend to be experts in some form of common magic though were more proficiency in shadow magic.

Abyssal magic was the only element that most in the world believed to be unattainable. The primordial was rare to the point roughly six percent of the world could only cast a simple spell. At best, a sage who devoted themselves could manage to summon a tiny pocket dimension that let them put small items like coins or eating utensils in.

The sister continued to pour her processing power into every ounce of her brain as she learned about how each race drew power from a magic source within their body – a point where the magic flowed the strongest. Humans held no real source of magic but there were accounts of some humans being able to cast magic. The areas where this magic source appeared was varied. Some would be in areas such as the hands or feet while others time it could have been the stomach or heart.

For elves, the source was often located at the soles of their feet while demons drew magic from their stomach. With monsters the source of magic was unpredictable. Some species would draw magic from one area while others, of the same species, would draw it from another.

Both siblings were engrossed in their studies, processing the information they read. The Watcher could only smile as she prepared to leave them to their studies.

“Take your time. You cannot age here. Just please, do not get my books dirty or destroy them.”

Hours passed as the twins continued to ingrain the knowledge within the books. After what seemed like an eternity, they had memorised and understood every book in the Watcher’s library. As the siblings exited the library through a wooden door the Watcher had provided. Upon crossing the threshold the siblings found themselves experiencing the bending and warping of space around them. This distortion disoriented them as they struggled to stay on their feet. Holding each other tightly for a moment that started to realised what they had experienced.

The Watcher was just a few metres from them sitting down at a low-wooden table. She was calm as she sipped her cup of Jasmine tea.

“Sorry, I tried to diminish the impact the sixth dimension has for you two but as you probably experienced, it can be jarring unless you live here,” the Watcher said.

“It is fine. For us, it was a grandeur experience. A shame we are unable to return to our old world and publish these findings,” the brother said.

“Would you two care for some tea before you go?” the Watcher asked as she placed her cup down on the table.

“Just send us to the world of Eystial,” the brother said.

“Very well. Have you thought about your request?”

“We simply wish to be together in this new world,” the sister remarked as she looked over to her brother.

“I see. Please do try to entertain me while you are there.”

The siblings watched as the Watcher opened her eyes and smiled. A mere snap of her fingers forced the two siblings to blackout. Darkness was the only thing they could see as their mind struggled to make sense of rather it was awake, asleep or dead. In an instant the darkness fade as sound and sight returned to them gradually. Yet, something felt off.

Both twins had been reincarnated but there was something that the two of them could not understand. They had told the Watcher they wanted to be together but as each of them looked around, it was obvious that neither were there.

“Brother, where are you?”

“I am… not sure.”

Taking a moment to process everything that was going on, the sister sat up and assessed her surroundings. Before her eyes was a barren wasteland that was cold and lifeless. Nothing but flat terrain could be seen for miles.

“Strange, I can hear you brother but I cannot see you.”

The sister carefully looked over her naked body. Her brother had not turned into some form of small creature or a mass on her body.

“I believe that little girl merged us into one body. Maybe it is more accurate to say we share a body?” the brother said.

The brother thought back to what exactly they had requested.

“Oh… right… we…”

“…requested that we would be together in this world,” the sister finished with hint of annoyance in her voice.

The sister looked over the body once again.

“Well, I mean, technically, we are together. Guess we should have been more specific in the parameters of the request.”

“Yes, that was an oversight on our part. Still, all things considered, this is not the worse.”

Moving the body and each of the limbs was a taxing process. The two of them no longer held control of two different bodies but one body with two functioning minds of conscious. Every function of their being had to adjust to the movements of joints, muscles and limbs to ensure a flow motion of mechanics.

“This could take a second to get used to. Our minds may be in-sync for the majority of the time but we are still two different people,” the brother said.

“Agreed. It also appears we are of the female sex, though I believe we can change this through the use of high-level abyssal magic.”

Tracing the fingers down the stomach, the sister noticed a tattoo in black ink on the lower stomach. It was in the shape of a watch with an eye in the centre of it.

“A tattoo of watch with an eye in the centre. Guess we can assume she is watching us.”

“Most likely.”

Taking a moment to get used to the fact they shared a body, both siblings tested how they could each interact within the confines of their anamorphic conceptions and evolutionary understandings. Two minds allowed them run various parallel processes between the two of them as well as take control or rest as needed. Theoretically, it was possible for them never sleep since they could take various hours of the day in shifts.

Yet, it was impossible for two parallel minds to know what the other was doing. While many areas intersected between the two of them, there was some that could not connect. The sister was unable to draw upon the thoughts that her brother had. He could speak to her through telepathic communication as if she was standing beside him but she could not read his mind.

“Any idea where we are, sis? I do not recall this place on the map.”

The sister took a moment to recall all the information she had read throughout her time in the library. With a barren wasteland home to no landmarks, it made understanding where exactly they were.

“No idea. This place was not mentioned anywhere in any books. If we has some sort of landmark we could establish our bearings but without anything to reference in the vast empty landscape…”

“Yeah… guess we need to just start walking in a direction.”

“Before that, I wish to test something.”

Forming the image of fire in her mind, the sister held out the palm of her left hand. Conjuring a small fire in her hand, she had a thought.

“Interesting. Hey, big bro, try thinking about conjuring fire in the other hand.”

As the sister continued to focus on the fire in her left hand, she could feel her right hand starting to move. While she was completely aware, she ignored it and watched as fired started to appear in her right hand. She continued to focus has she noticed her other hand stretching out at a random point ahead. While she had not thought about anything than the small fire she was casting in her left hand, her right hand was conjuring the flames into a small sphere.

“We need to practise this. The ability to run parallel processes of magic and cast various conjugating magic will help in a fight,” the sister said as she snuffed out the flame in her hand.

“Can we see how our senses play a role in the functional operation of our abilities?”

The sister closed her eyes. For her, the world was black as the abyss of the ocean.

“Can you see anything, brother?”

“Clearly? No but it seems our senses are relatively linked with some degree of autonomy. The next chance we have to sleep it would be wise to test this. Right now, I assume that while your brain is shut off, mine remains in a quantum liminal state of processing.”

The sister continued her hand at casting various different types of spells before trying to conjure up a holy magic. Much of the holy magic included spells to heal the body, turn the undead or cast a light to brighten up a dark area. Deciding to cast a small ball of light with as much magical energy as she could, she soon regretted the choice. A blinding wave like flash-bang disoriented her sight. It was enough to make her reel back in displeasure.

“Son-of-a—”

“Hey sis, try not to stare at the light.”

“I am going to kill you…” the sister said in an unamused tone.

“Technically, that would be a form of suicide.”

Before the sister could remark, she had a thought in her head.

“Wait, I want to try something.”

Casting a form of shadow magic, her goal was to create a vessel that her brother could use in the off chance it was possible. It took her a bit of time, but she was able to create a gaseous form that her brother could inhabit.

“Try projecting your conscious into the shadow form, big bro.”

Shifting his consciousness from one body to another linked circulation was a drain on his mental being. Not counting the magic dependency on the body and mind of both of them to sustain the magical form. After few minutes, the form started to dissipate from existence and the sister could feel her brother’s consciousness returning to the body.

“Looks like I can take a shadow form that you create though it is a bit jarring.”

“Well, at least you didn’t disappear like dad,” the sister joked in monotone voice.

“We need to do more tests. Also, would you mind channelling some form of clothing onto our body?”

The sister looked down at the naked body. Appearing human by most standards, the body was petite in size and only a modest chest size – just enough to signify that the body was of the feminine sexual orientation. Her long white hair covered up her nipples and the organ related to venereal activities. While both twins saw no shame in the human form, culture and common standard doctrine required that clothing was the cultural normality in the world.

“Ah, yeah. One second.”

Using shadow magic to form an illusion, the sister began to materialise various clothing to form the body. Starting from the head she condensed the magical energy into two ring that could tie up the hair into two pigtails. Once those were in place, she formed two different coloured ribbons that help to hide the energy and appear as if they were holding the pigtails in place. One ribbon was red that she placed on the right side while the other was blue and helped to complete the illusion on the left side. Forming a white off-shoulder top that covered the breast and a leather corset over it that conformed to the body. Continuing on a leather fingerless glove appeared on her left hand while she weaved magic shadow threads into a fishnet glove for the right hand.

The sister continued to cover the body forming a purple coloured plaid skirt that she weaved with meticulous detail. On the left foot she formed a black over-the-knee sock and a short white sock on the right foot. Finishing off the look with a pair of short ankle leather boots and accent purple trimming, the sister was done.

“There! How do we look?”

“We look like a demon lord.”

“Demon lord Syaiori!” the sister said striking a cute pose.

“Syaiori?”

“Yeah, I will be Syaiori and you can be Syora. What do you think?”

“Sure. Now, let us get down to business. Where in the hell are we?”

The brother continued to survey the landscape but still drew a blank as to where the two of them were. There was no indication on the map that he had memorised of this sort of place in the world. This place was an anomaly and without a proper understanding of where they were, it would be impossible to gain their bearings with the mental map that he had in his head.

“There truly is no landmarks to help with navigation. The stars would have been an option but something looks as if it is obscuring the sky.”

“We could just pick a direction and start walking,” the sister said as twirled the body around like a pixie.

“Guess that is the best we have until we actually start visiting places of interest. Once we find these places we can memorise them and use them to teleport to various areas.”

“Roger that. Let’s go… that away!” the sister shouted with enthusiasm at the direction she was pointing in.

“You seem enthusiastic about this,” the brother noticed as the body started moving in the direction they had agreed on.

“Well, yeah! We get to explore and exploit a new world. Elves, demons, wolves, spiders, slimes, dragons, its exciting. I have never felt this way before, it is… stimulating.”

“I agree. It is unclear if I am feeling the same way or simply being stimulated in correlation to this bodies senses but I wish to watch the value of this world ascend due to our involvement. Hopefully, there is someone in this world that can match our intelligence and skills.”

“You know, I just noticed something, Syora.”

“What is that?”

“When we speak our voices change.”

Syora’s voice was a bit different than Syaiori’s normally feminine voice. He realised that his mind was used to a different parameter of voice chord positions than what Syaiori’s was. Taking a second to correct his voice, Syora carefully tried to match the range to Sayiori’s pitch.

“It is still a bit off.”

“I am unsure if I can get any higher.”

“Just want to stick to your normal voice? That way it is easier on you.”

“That would be ideal.”

“How low do you think you can go?” Syaiori asked.

Syora cleared his throat for a second and decided to speak a common phrase that was said to make men and women fall head over heels for anyone.

“Ara ara~”

The deep seductive voice carried a tone that would make any girl have to change her underwear.

“That is rather deep, bro.”

“How high are you able to take the voice?”

Syaiori took a second to feel where her vocal chords were and tried to gauge how high she could go without cracking her voice.

“Ara ara~”

Syaiori’s voice rang out in a cutesy tone that would force all boys into a position of submissive servitude. It was a pure sound that betrayed her true self – the absolute demon inside.

“Congratulations, you have crafted a persona that will rule all of Eystial.”

“Hey, this is a fantasy world so its only right to role-play and let ourselves be unique.”

“You are right, my dear sister, let us be the protagonist in this story.”

Syaiori giggled.

“Or we could be the demon lord.”