5 — Joezand's Painting

Joezand walks amazed through the opulent palace, seeing things he wouldn't even think of buying even if he had all the money in the world. This has gone way beyond tastefully fancy. It's excessive. But he can't help being stunned by all the shine. One of the mahogany tables had a diamond-encrusted, pure gold chalice only for decoration. He looked at all the lavishness and this is the first time it really hit him.

He's rich.

He was never poor in Tokyo. His mom raised him on her own, but the quality of life was still very
good. Way better than most people in the world.

But still... He never saw this amount of riches concentrated in just one place. It's like every museum in the world was raided, and all of their items were deposited in one mansion.

Pult left for the library to work on his report, while Lorelai told them she needed to rest for the day. Only Anneliese remained with him.

"...And this is the hallway to your room!" Anneliese says in a tour-guide like tone. "All the princes and princesses have a whole hallway for themselves! Lucky."

He takes a look around. It has the usual excessiveness of the palace— Shaped marble pillars, expensive furniture and trinkets scattered around, but something else captures his attention. A painting of Joezand.

The real Joezand.

He seems to be pictured just above the age of eight. And in the portrait, he's smiling ear to ear, striking a pose with a peace sign.

"Hm." He murmurs, and then turns to Anneliese. "Thank you for the tour, Anneliese. I can handle it from here."

"Oh! Sure." Anneliese says, noticing the pensive look on his face. "I'll just make your bed and go, alright?" She opens the intricate oak door that faces the painting and goes inside.

He keeps looking at the painting. The smiling, carefree kid. He had the same bob cut that he has now. He had the same deep blue eyes. The same skin complexion. The same nose, mouth, eyes, ears.

"Who... are you?" Joezand says, looking at the painting. He touches his own face and feels the same facial structure as depicted in the painting. It feels... perfect. A little too perfect. How have his features not changed at all after growing up? What... happened to him?

'Talking to yourself again, little lamb?' Sunnaria's voice is transmitted directly on his mind. His ring trembles. 'Not a great habit to have, dear.'

'I want to know. What happened to the real Joezand?' He asks. 'Am I really in his body? If so, what happened to him? To his consciousness? He didn't just... die, right?'

'You are the real Joezand, sweetie. You're the one acting as him now.' Sunnaria says. 'What happened to him is not important. Trust me.'

'Of course it is.' Joezand replies. 'If i'm in his body... What happens when I leave and go back to my world? Does he drop dead here? If not, what happened to his mind?' His brain keeps jumping from one terrible scenario to the next. 'And if I'm not him, what is this body? Is this a replica body somehow? Did you make this body? What happens if the real Joezand tries to come back? They'll realize I'm a fake. I'll probably get executed-'

'STOP!' Sunnaria's voice fills his brain completely, forcefully interrupting his train of thought. 'See what you're doing? You're repeating what you did back in your other life. You're thinking too much.'

'What do you mean?' He manages to reply.

'You thought too much and convinced yourself to not pay attention in class. You thought too much and convinced yourself not do your dishes. You thought too much and almost convinced yourself not to read Shinichi's novel.' Sunnaria explains. 'It's good to have plans for if things go wrong, but overthinking isnt going to help you. But I will. I do have my own agenda, but I do care for you. Please understand that.' Her voice washes over him, getting rid of all of his anxiety.

'I... understand.' He takes a deep breath. It's a fresh new start. He's not about to get hung up on his old habits. Sunnaria is right. 'What am I here to do, exactly? You could at least tell me this much.'

'I was hoping that we could postpone this conversation, buuuut...' A sigh echoes in his skull. 'Just as gods exist, so do demons. They too, like most everything in the universe, were created by one of us gods. Falchion,' She says the name with disgust. 'The god of war, thought that it'd be nice to have some 'competition' for us, and he made the root of all evil in Orskideal. Well, most evil. Like plagues, famine, all that noise. They are able to influence the material world on a smaller scale than us, but we can't really affect them directly. That was by design from Falchion, since we could just destroy them instantly if not for this immunity.'

'What? Why would he do that in the first place?'

'According to him, it was to keep us on our toes. We can manifest an avatar in the material world, but we can't do anything about the demons. We need to constantly think of new ways to stop them from destroying this planet. It's exhausting, to be honest.'

'Can't you just make a plague that only targets them?' Joezand asks. 'Or maybe make it so that they need to eat something very rare to survive?'

'That's considered direct interference, so they'd be impervious to it.' Sunnaria says. 'Although Falchion is wrong about everything, his creations are usually fool-proof. Take war, for example. It's ever-present and never-stopping, while peace is usually just a temporary respite. You can thank him for all the senseless slaughter in the world.'

'I think I get it.' Joezand replies. 'So a demon's causing trouble for you, and I'm here to stop them?'

'That's exactly right.' Sunnaria says. 'Now is it starting to make sense why I put you in this body, specifically? Joezand was a capable duelist with great options for mentors. Once you appease your family, you'll also have the funds of the richest people in the world. And you'll be able to train and study from the best of the best. Not to mention the ring I gave you.'

'You mean this?' He holds up his hand, showing the bright gold ring with a blue sapphire on it. 'I feel it vibrate slightly every time I hear your voice.'

'It's the way I communicate with you.' She says. 'We can pretty much always reach each other with it, unless something is wrong. It's kind of an... instantly teleporting carrier pigeon.'

'So, a smartphone?' Joezand says.

'A what?' Sunnaria asks. 'Oh, that's right. It's that weird rectangular box from your world, right?'

'Really? I thought you would know about the stuff from there.'

'Just some small things. Different jurisdiction, and I try not look into how other gods run their universes.' Sunnaria explains. 'I just pulled your soul from the astral plane, it's a shared multiverse. I'll send you back through there as well, once you finish your quest here.'

'Wait, my universe has gods?!'

'Yeah? Of course it does, silly.' Sunnaria says. 'I don't know them, but they seem like a boring bunch. Your universe doesn't even have magic! That's, like, one of the first things that gods make.'

'I know! It's such a soul-draining place.' He groans 'Oh, I hope I get to talk to these gods. I have some choice words—'

A loud crack of glass breaking comes from inside of his room, as he hears a female scream. He recognizes the voice as Annelise.

'What's going on?' Joezand thinks.

'I don't know!' Sunnaria says. 'No time to think, go help her!'

Joezand takes a deep breath, and runs towards the intricate oak door.