Chapter 8: Revelation

Many seasons passed, and the twins' crawling became toddling steps, babbles became words. Each small victory felt monumental, naming “Mama” and “Papa,” pointing to “bread” or “water,” calling Linae to play. They learned the cycles of the manor, how Solan would leave for the village in the morning, how Lilibeth always made fresh bread in the afternoons, and how Lucina would often read near the bedroom windowsill. Their world grew familiar, patterned, and almost normal.

By the time they reached five seasonal years of age, the language no longer felt foreign. They could hold conversations, make requests, even tease Linae, or answer their parents with confidence.

Yet beneath the surface, a strange unease lingered in their minds. The way people referred to them: young lady… young master… son… At first, they assumed the adults were referring to the other sibling. Surely it was a mix-up. However, they finally started noticing the patterns that couldn't be ignored longer. Each morning, Lilibeth would gently shake Lea awake, “Good morning, young lady,” before Lilibeth or their mother would bathe her, then brush Lea’s hair straight and tie it in ribbons. Leo, on the other hand, began getting dressed in boyish tunics.

At first, they accepted it blindly, after all they were children too young to question more than the surface. But as their memories of another life began resurfacing, the strangeness pressed harder at the edges of their minds.

Their bodies felt unfamiliar, like clothes that didn’t quite fit. They remembered being Haruki and Haruka but now they lived in bodies of the other sex to what they once lived as in their last life and that's what now scratched at the back of their minds. But now they had to grow up all over again, in another world, with new people, new rules, and new things to discover.

That afternoon Linae worked in the gardens with Lilibeth, they were planting flowers and vegetable seeds which would grow into food for future meals. Inside the dining room, Lucina sat at the dining table with the twins next to each other. Lucina laid out a large parchment, and on it was a circle diagram with words and symbols that the twins didn't recognize.

“Mama, what does this mean?” Lea asked curiously, pointing to a spot on the sheet.

“You know of the Gods that rule over our world right children? “Yes, Mama, well, some things, but not much," replied Lea. Leo nodded, staring at the parchment. “This,” she said softly, “is our calendar, the cycle of the Gods. Every cycle is nine hundred days long and one hundred days for each of the Nine.” Her finger traced the parchment slowly, clockwise.

“Athnea, the goddess of humanity and vitality. Her arc marks beginnings and endings. When her hundred days close, we hold the grand Festival of Renewal, where we give thanks for her eternal blessing on humanity.”

Her finger moved to the next section: a twisted flame with what looked like fragments surrounding it. “After Lady Athnea’s 100 days, then begins the Arc of the fire God Nelon, then Lady Seraph's, and so on… The twins listened intently, their small eyes following every motion of her hand.

Lucina continued, “Each god blesses their hundred days differently,” Lucina explained. “Some families honor all the gods but normally if all of the family collectively holds blessings from each deity, others give special thanks to the main or only God that they carry the blessing of. But no matter what, when the last day of a god’s hundred passes, a small festival is held. We eat, sing, and light bonfires so the gods may see our gratitude.”

Lea tilted her head, her small finger tapping on the parchment at one of the sections. “So… right now, Mama? Which one is it?”

Lucina smiled. “Ah, right now we're in the Arc of the Goddess Thynaria. Soon, there will be a small party in a few weeks, and then Thorrak’s turn will begin.”

Leo leaned forward, furrowing his brows. “And then after Thorrak… there's even more gods?”

“Exactly.” Lucina reached out and brushed his hair aside with a tender hand. “Round and round, the circle never ends. This is how we keep time, not only by seasons and harvests, but by the blessings of the divine. It reminds us that this world is watched over by many who continually bless us throughout our lives.”

“What’s Th-Thynaria? Do you have her power, Mother? Leo asked.

“No, I don’t carry her blessing; however, I can use light and fire magic from our Lady Arcadia and Lord Nelon. Thynaria grants people the elemental ability to control nature and things like that. Someone, you know, can, however, either of you two guess?

The twins exchanged a glance, quiet but thoughtful. “Uhm sister Linae, maybe? Leo pointed towards her through the window.

“Tsk, tsk, nope.” She shook her head. “Look closely. Do you see what Lilibeth is doing?” The twins stared for a moment, then suddenly saw it.

“Oh look, her hands t-they’re glowing green,” Lea exclaimed, “yes, with her power she's helping the plants grow stronger and faster, by sharing her mana, the vegetables take it in as extra nutrients, and they grow quickly and become even tastier.”

“Whoa, I wonder if I could do that, too,” Lea said, looking at her mother with wide eyes.

“When you are older,” Lucina continued, her voice soft, “you will learn each of the Gods’ lore and one day we'll take you two on a trip to a church and we can also find out which blessings you've been granted, I’d imagine you'll have Arcadia’s blessing and possibly one more”

“Why that Goddess mama? Asked Lea attentively. “Well, she's the main one we worship in this family, after all, we are the sunborns, and that's what the Kazantria bloodline is known for,” answered Lucina.

Leo tilted his head in confusion, “What do you mean, sunborns?

“Well, our family is…dignified, and that basically means many former Kazantrias have been powerful disciples of the Goddess. We bear the crest of the sun, representing light in all its forms.

She pulled down the cuff of her left dress sleeve to reveal a faint-looking tattoo resembling a half-drawn sun.

“See, this is our family crest. You two will have them, too, but most likely on a different part of your body, such as on your chest or maybe on your back, but we’ll only know once your magic fully awakens, which should happen in the next cycle or two.

The children let this new revelation linger in their minds, now they had some useful knowledge about one of the most important aspects of this world, magic.

With a gentle clap of her hands, Lucina began to roll up the parchment.

“That's enough lessons for today young ones. I'm going to prepare our meal for this evening.”

Just then Lilibeth and Linae entered, “No my lady I can handle it” voiced the maid. “You have a little rest today Lili, in fact I've wanted to get back into the kitchen recently, go wash up you two, and I’ll have everything ready soon”

“As you please Lady Lucina.” She bowed her head and left the dining room with the young lady.

That night, after the manor had grown quiet and dinner had ended, both the twins lay in their small beds side by side. The curtains had been left half-open, and pale strands of moonlight spilled into the room, painting faint silver lines across the wooden floor and the blankets pulled up around their small frames.

The stillness made Leo restless. He lay on his back, eyes fixed on the ceiling, his small hands curling and uncurling in the air. His thoughts turned again to the strange way everyone referred to him; young lord, he, son. Words that didn’t fit with the past life he remembered. He could feel it gnawing at him now more than ever.

He sighed, then turned slightly toward the other bed. Lea lay there, her breathing steady, but her eyes were open too. She was staring at the window, her lips pressed thin as though fighting back the same unease.

Taking a shaky breath, Leo whispered, his voice soft, almost broken:

“Uh, Lea… can you understand me?”

But this time, he didn’t speak in the new tongue of the manor. He used the language that still lingered in his memories, half-forgotten yet impossibly familiar.

Japanese.

The sound of it cut through the silence like a spark. Lea’s eyes widened instantly, her body stiffening under the blanket. For a moment, she didn’t move, didn’t even breathe, afraid that if she answered, the moment would break like a dream.

Then, trembling, she whispered back in that same tongue

“…H-Haruka? Is that… actually you?”

Her voice cracked. The name, one she hadn’t dared to think of for so long, felt foreign on her tongue, yet at the same time it slid out with aching familiarity.

Leo’s breath caught. Tears welled at the corners of his eyes before he could stop them. He pushed himself up, staring across the small space that separated their beds.

“Haruki,” he choked out, his throat tight. “Is it actually you? I… I thought that maybe I was wrong. That maybe you hadn’t…” His voice faltered. “But you’re here, with me, and have been all this time.”

Lea sat up too, her blanket slipping off her shoulders. Her tiny fists gripped the sheets as though she needed to hold onto something solid, anything to anchor herself.

All the confusion that had gnawed at her for the past several years, the strange dissonance of being called lady, of seeing her reflection in polished silver, of wearing ribbons in her hair, the confusion of why she was alive here but her sibling wasn't —it started making some sense, horribly and beautifully at once.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Why are we… like this? How are you?… What happened to us?” Her small voice cracked into a sob.

“W-we died. I remember the storm, the bus, the water, and then… we were alive but as babies here.”

Leo shook his head, scrubbing at his tears with his sleeve. “I don’t know. I don’t know how this happened either. But if you’re here, then… then maybe it doesn’t matter. We’re still together. That’s what matters.”

The two of them sat there faintly sobbing for a while, their tiny chests rising and falling with unsteady breaths. For the first time since their reincarnation, the hollow loneliness that had followed them since infancy cracked, replaced with something else.

Recognition. Connection. They weren’t alone.

Lea slowly slid off her bed, her little feet padding across the floor. She climbed up onto Leo’s bed, her tiny arms wrapping around him in an awkward, clumsy embrace.

For the first time in years, they held each other not as infants lost in a strange new world, but as siblings reunited.

“…We’ll figure it out together,” Lea whispered. “No matter what this world is, no matter who we are now. We’ll figure it out.”

And for the first time since their deaths, Haruka and Haruki, now Lea and Leo, let themselves cry, their muffled sobs swallowed by the quiet of the manor as the moon watched silently overhead.

The new morning soon came and the white sunlight spilled into the room. The pair of twins lay together in one of the beds with a blanket half hanging on the floor. The night prior they agreed not to mention anything of their reincarnation to anyone else or ever speak in Japanese around people, The night prior passed with their tears drying on each other’s shoulders and then exhaustion brought them to sleep. Leo awoke first, he sat up and there was Lea, lying on her side, eyes already open. She gave him the smallest nod, silent, but sure.

It wasn’t a dream. They both remembered.

Soon Lilibeth entered with her usual greeting; “Good morning, up now young masters. Breakfast is waiting” Lea glanced at Leo as if to say “See this is all real”

They had agreed without words that this was their secret and no one else could know.

The picture was clear now. This was now their family. This was their life.

The twins were no longer simply lost souls. They were growing, slowly but surely, into the Kazantrias they were destined to be.