Anything But Death

My scream echoed in the distance. Silence followed it, taking over again.

I found myself lying on a bed, my wounds have already recovered, but I found difficulty moving. In front of me were metal bars that trapped me between three walls, two torches lit the place faintly.

My head hurts me. The moment I woke up I knew, the things I saw in what seemed to be a nightmare, were my current body’s original owner’s memories, Veylen’s memories.

Callistra… Silver hair… I focused on the most memorable details of the torrent of memories. It was the little girl the past Veylen hid in his house, and the silver haired man who killed him.

Silver hair… Thinking about it, that man was extremely familiar, his appearance in the memories was almost identical to the lightning wielding warrior who was on the verge of killing me.

What’s happening to me… At the moment, my internal mind was in chaos, various feelings and emotions interrupted the usual clarity of my mind, I had never been through this as a Hell guardian.

Callistra. Whenever I recalled the scene of the beheaded little girl, my heartbeats accelerated as my sanity stood at the edge of collapsing. I found that to be strange, I had fragments of memory of Veylen killing so many people, and not a single time did this chaotic feeling occur, I found it to simply be confusing.

Why does the scene of someone being killed shatter my sanity… I struggled to understand, As a Hell guardian, I also tortured endless humans in hell, but I never felt like this when I saw their remains.

I was nearly killed myself, is it the fear of death? the fear…of death Death was the crucial thought I couldn’t process all this time, I have always been immortal, but I no longer am. All those days I spent in hell were full of acceptance. I, just like every Hell guardian, accepted my inescapable fate of being a slave with no free will, I accepted the inevitable reality my kind faced, but there was something I looked up for.

Heaven… Across Hell, there were many churches that served as worship centers for us guardians. After praying, I usually visited the Infernal Libraries of Records, they held so much knowledge about the history of both realms, Hell and Heaven. I never understood the descriptions concerning Heaven, but the fact that it was completely different from hell, triggered desire in my heart.

Heaven… Mostly lacking free will, Hell guardians hardly unlocked desire. Heaven made my desire flicker, the idea of change breathed life into my soul.

Now through a human lens, I understood the descriptions about heaven, word such as “Happiness” and “Satisfaction” glowed with meaning in my mind.

Can I seek it now…? At this moment, the miraculous body swap with the sinner that lead to my transmigration seemed like an opportunity for me to seek Heaven.

I can. No, I will, now is an opportunity. Through my new body’s understanding of this human world, I decided to seek heaven, despite not understanding the difference between “Good” and “ Bad”, my body’s familiarity with such concepts will serve as the sun, as a guide.

After getting up from the bed, I stood on the cold stone ground with my bare feet. The boots Veylen was wearing burned due to the Hellfire I merged with my feet to escape back then.

The sound of familiar footsteps approached my cell from the left side slowly.

Him again. It had to be him. The mysterious black clothed man appeared in front of my cell, this time showing his eyes, they shone in crimson.

The bars of metal functioned as a barrier between me and him. He was the last person I saw before fading away.

“You finally woke up, good morning. Or more of, good afternoon,” he chuckled, a mocking look on his face.

“Take this piece of bread.” He threw something to me, I subconsciously caught it with my right hand. “Eat it and wear these clothes,” he added before throwing a set of black clothes to me, I barely caught them with my left hand.

“Those are my supplementary clothes. Haha, take care of them.” The man giggled as he opened the cell gate using a rusty key. “I’ll be waiting by the end of the corridor. Don't take too long,” he added before walking away left.

Why did he not attack me? He seemed to want me dead before. I questioned the strangeness of the interaction I just had, before deciding to stay neutral for survival needs.

Food… Unlike me, humans were in severe need of nutrition, otherwise they would die. Nutrition had always been the most important survival need, but they managed to somehow make entertainment out of it. I found that strange.

I instinctively devoured the piece of bread that was given to me. With every bite, I could sense satisfaction resting my muscles. It was the feeling of killing hunger.

Clothes, I… shouldn’t stay on exposing clothes? I didn’t understand the Idea of wearing clothes to be honest, I just assumed they served as good armor.

I wore the clothes the man gave me, a wool coat and trousers, lightweight cotton shirt, and leather boots. Everything was dark black, the same as his clothes.

Funeral clothes… I recalled the appearance of these clothes from Veylen’s knowledge, humans organize funerals when someone they know dies. To show their grief, they wear fully black clothes.

I stepped out of the cell, and began walking in the cold empty corridor. Every few steps I noticed the presence of another cell, I assumed the mysterious figures who brought me here had to do with capturing related work, something I was familiar with.

Is this underground? The roof had cracks emitting faint sunlight, it was the only source of light in the corridor.

There he is. After a couple of steps, I saw the mysterious man standing menacingly in the end of the corridor, a wooden door next to him.

A cigarette… A white paper tube with a burning orange tip, was held in the mans lips, smoking.

“You finally came.” The man took the cigarette from his mouth, letting out a plume of smoke.

“Come in,” he said after opening the wooden door that was two steps away from me.

I followed him through the door into an old dusty room, a couple of bookshelves and crates were attached to the old walls. The air felt slightly suffocating, yet strangely belonging.

In the middle of the room was a woman that wore the same clothes as us. She leaned back in an oak wooden chair, her black boots carelessly crossed on the round wooden table in the room.

It’s her, the one that was with him before. Her dark black hair twisted into a small knot at the back of her neck.

She held a journal with both her hands, the cigarette in her lips released a steam of smoke. Beside her was a glass cup, full of a dark brown liquid drink, it was known as coffee.

“So he finally woke up.” She took a sip of her coffee, her crimson eyes reminded me of the ones I had back then in Hell.

The other guy is behind me, is this when they attack? I gave the man standing next to the door a side look.

“Are you going to stay silent? That’s a quite rude way to treat the people who saved you.”

Saved me?

My mind subconsciously searched in Veylen’s knowledge for whatever meaning the word “save” had. It found nothing.

“Saved me?” I questioned before I knew it, my expression was that of a confused person.

“You were lying pathetically when we found you, normally you’d die, but we carried you and treated your injuries,” the man behind me sighed, blowing a smoke ring from his mouth.

Die… They prevented me from dying?

The whole idea was unfamiliar for both of us, me and Veylen.

“Veylen Eryxion, 25, member of the mercenary group of Kruger.” The black-haired woman put the journal on the table and sighed, “We have so many questions to ask you.” She crossed her hands while staring at my eyes, the look of curiosity.

Interrogation, these guys clearly know so much about Veylen, I need to be careful. Despite merging with Veylen’s memories, I still didn’t grasp the full details of his situation, there were many hidden things yet for me to understand.

“Take a seat.” The man patted my shoulder twice before walking towards the table and sitting on the dark brown wooden chair. I sat as well.

I need to know where I am right now.

"Where are we?" I asked, the straight expression on my face was unreadable.

"The underground of a warehouse. We're nearly outside Roskaya town, this a secondary hideout." The man's mouth let out a jet of grey smoke with every word he spoke.

“So, what happened to your group? And what were you doing alone in Roskaya?” The woman’s dark-red lips twitched as she spoke.

How should I answer, it’s clear that the other group betrayed mine, but would they even believe me.

I struggled to figure my way out of this, but I eventually decided on what to say.

“The stronger group decided to kill us, and they did. I managed to survive, and went to Roskaya for a place to hide,” I said, trying to mimic Veylen’s way of talking.

“Betrayal?” the man rubbed his chin.

“Do you remember any face?” The woman looked deeply into my eyes, as if she suspected my answer to her previous question.

Should I tell them about the silver haired warrior… I stayed silent for seconds, before deciding on my next answer.

“When I went to Roskaya, I managed to escape… Your name?” I forgot to ask for their names, unlike in Hell, names played a huge role here for communication.

“Oh my bad, I’m Thaniel. She’s Liselotte,” The man said as he took off his hat.

A sign of respect?… Their names are hard to pronounce.

“When I managed to escape Thaniel next to the tavern, I got attacked by someone. That someone looked exactly like the person who killed— like the person I fought when my group was betrayed.”

“There indeed was so much noise in the town center,” The girl took small sip of her coffee. “We couldn’t manage to inspect it at the time due to the amount of guards. Was it you?”

I made a mistake.

“It was the person who attacked me, he was dressed in white golden clothes. I don’t know how but, he struck the area with lightning as he targeted me.”

“You don’t know how? Are your memories good?” the man asked me.

“No they’re not, since the betrayal incident they haven’t been.” I didn’t manage to word any differently.

“White-golden clothes, lightning, silver hair. That’s some rough pain in the ass.” The woman’s crimson eyes appeared annoyed.

“Is it that bastard of Ostyra?” the man said with a troubled look.

What are they talking about?

“Yes, if he’s the same person Veylen had fought, that means they already found a way to counter our plan.” She took the final sip of her coffee and added, “let’s hope they don’t get their hands on any hostages”

The two of them stood, they pulled black gloves from their pockets and wore them.

“We’re heading to one of our main hideouts, it’s in Korivale city, southwest of the kingdom,” the man said as he looked at me, “Veylen, you either join The Heretics, or die here and now.”

“The choice is yours, either throw everything you value and join us, or die.”

Everything I value… or die?

For the first time in this conversation, I stopped mimicking Veylen.

“Anything but death,” I, Ogon, said.