When Two Worlds Merge Into One

When Akira heard those words he immediately sobered himself up, putting his guard up: why did Leon want to know? And, more importantly, how did he get to that conclusion? And from which evidence? After all, he presented himself as a guy from a far east country, which could have effectively been considered another world from the people of the continent. Maybe that was what Leon meant when he said those words? After thinking this, Akira replied to that question with a smile on his face, as if taking Leon’s words as a joke, “Well, I effectively come from the far east, which can be considered another world, so in some regards you are right, but why would you call me here because of that? If this is a joke, then, okay, but you could have done it even down at the party: why bring me here?” However, seeing the expression that those words caused to appear on Leon’s face, Akira understood that that wasn’t what he meant, a thing that Leon made clear with his next words.

“That is not what I mean. I actually mean: you weren’t born and raised in this world, right? Do you perhaps come from Earth?”

Hearing those words, Akira tried his best not to give off his surprise, hearing Leon talking about the existence of other worlds like it was only natural – even though Akira had experienced the reality of that belief first-hand – and hearing him pronounce Earth. How did he know? For the time, he decided to play the part of the ignorant, trying to understand what Leon’s objective was here.

“Earth? What do you mean? I was raised in a country in Rèzenkal, what is this Earth you are talking about?”

“Do not act ignorant, Akira. I have some proofs about my hypothesis, even though they are not crushing ones, so don’t act like you don’t know what I am talking about”.

“And what would these proofs be? Because I am really curious to know what you have on me that could make me a person coming from that unreal place you call Earth”.

At that moment, Leon sighted, probably accepting him playing that game as the ignorant, trying to hide as much information as possible, then started to list what he thought were proof of him being not from that land.

“Very well, then. I will say what makes me think that about you. First, your language: it is not the Damoya we speak here, but it is also different from the variants that I have heard in the east myself. Instead, it is more similar to a language from that world. Still, your country could have a dialect that sounds like that, so it is not a decisive proof. Secondly, your fighting style: you have a peculiar sword style that seems to have taken after a martial art that is practiced in that world, specifically in zones where the variant of your language is also spoken. Thirdly, the money you exchanged: those were yen, weren’t they? I have never seen them in my life, but they were written in an oriental language, while practically all in this world is written with the roman alphabet, and I doubt that there is a country in the far east that is so advanced to have codified a particular language that became more used than Damoya. Apart from that, there is also the fact that you seem to have had no past history in this world before coming to this city with Priscilla and that you supposedly come from a country that had no interaction whatsoever with other countries, as it is still to be discovered. And I think that is all I could pick up about you from the brief time you have stayed there. Now, please, consider telling me the truth: are you really from this land?” Then, before Akira could answer, he clearly also whispered another thing, one that made Akira’s interest in Leon hit over the roof.

“Or are you just like me?”

“Just like you? What do you mean? Aren’t you Giorgio’s son?” asked Akira, with a hint of interest clearly visible behind his words.

Seeing the reaction those words provoked in Akira, he sighted, then stood up and turned his back to Akira, looking outside of the window, towards the garden, where the lights were illuminating the lonely gazebo that sat right in the centre of it. Then, he started talking to Akira.

“You see, I am sure you come from another word, as I am sure that what you just said is false. Still, I can understand why you don’t want to tell me that, and I will respect that choice. However, that also doesn’t mean that I have to say anything to you at all, have I? Still, to show you that I mean you no harm, I am going to share at least a bit of my past with you. Maybe then you will trust me enough to tell me something voluntarily. If not, then I will make sure to not cause trouble to you ever again, while you are in this house. After all, this is the second time I doubt about you, I can understand that you are not harbouring exactly the best positive feeling towards me”. After those words, he took a moment of pause, then started telling his story.

“The reality is that I am not Giorgio’s son, as my aspect can evidently provide proof for. Oh, that doesn’t mean I am an illegitimate child or anything like that. What I mean is that I am not the child of Giorgio nor of his wife: I was adopted by them, some years before Priscilla was born. I was a child when they found me outside of their house, fainted, and, as I didn’t have anywhere to go and Giorgio’s wife seemed to have really taken a liking in me, they adopted me, even though they didn’t give me another name, as I remembered it. When I talk about Giorgio’s wife, I talk about his first one, not about the parasite one that is his second wife. His first wife was really a great woman: beautiful, capable of doing anything, with an immense love for her husband and with a good eye for business. She was the one that started the book business that brought the Natò family to where it is today: it is thanks to her, and then thanks to Giorgio, who still had a good business intuit – even though he was never able to even come close to his wife’s one -, that we can live the life we have now. Still, she had a problem: she was seemingly unable to bear a child. She tried various times, but all of them ended with a dangerous abort that could have claimed her life countless times. That was why they adopted me: they wanted a child, and, when one appeared in front of their home, they thought it was a miracle, like someone had heard their prayers up there, even though no one believes in gods. Still, the boy they welcomed in their house wasn’t a normal one: the people around him considered him a genius, the children around him were swaying over him, trying to get into his good graces, and, later with the years, the girls were all trying to get him as a boyfriend. In the meanwhile, Giorgio and her first wife, Eleanor, succeeded in conceiving a sane child, one that brought them many joys, probably even more than me, who they considered like a natural son: that child was Priscilla. Yeah, she is the daughter of Eleanor, not of Valeriè, who in fact does not accept her because of that: that is why she sometimes acts like a mighty noble, because, when she does that, Valeriè at least considers her a human being worthy of being talked to. Geez, how much I hate that woman. Still, this was my story, not the story of my family, so I am going a bit back, to the part where no one knew about my past. No one cared, and neither did I, but for a different reason: I remembered my past very well, but nobody would have believed me if I said that. That is for two things: I had 36 years of memory inside my brain and they would have been impossible to understand for them. That is, because I don’t come from this world. So, please, let me redo the presentation again, this time with my real info”. After saying this, he turned towards me, smiled and then put his open hand towards me, making it seem like it was a formal western presentation.

“Pleased to meet you, my name is Leon Deulavière, a 36-year-old French man that lived for 25 years in this world as Leon Natò. A pleasure to make you acquaintance”.

When that happened, Akira looked at him as if he was mad: someone else had been transported in that world, apart from him? As he was thinking that, Leon laughed, as if to make his presentation look like a silly joke, but then continued with his story.

“That’s right, I am not from this world: to be more precise, I died back in the days. I was walking through the streets of Strasbourg when someone assaulted me with a gun, demanding my money, and, even though I gave it to him, he still hit me with his gun right at the head, instantly killing me. Back in the days, I worked as an engineer for many businesses, thanks to my amazing capabilities. But then, someone had to go and kill me, out of nowhere: what a bummer. Still, someone up there was not okay with that decision: I remember waking up in a wild field still as my old self, and then, I found myself talking to some old guy that presented himself as Ealaìn E Builè and offered me a second chance, saying that it was a waste that a talent such as myself was going to be wasted in the lands of dead. So, he gave me another chance: he made me reborn into the body of a young boy and deposed me right in front of the Natò family’s door, saying me that I would have had the opportunity to live the best life possible. And he was right, I did. Damn, if I think about the amount of girls that wanted me back in the days, and the things they would do in order to be with me… you can’t imagine that, that was beautiful. Even though at the end I have settled myself with my wife, and now I am going to have a baby: it feels kind of unreal, considering that I should have been dead without having left a great legacy to the world I left. Still, this is a short summary of my life between here and there, so, now, let me ask you again: Akira Demoni, do you really come from this world or do you come from Earth, just like me, just from a different country?”

What Leon had just said gave a lot to think to Akira: so even he met a god when he was resurrected in this world. Plus, he didn’t enter a door like him, but he was resurrected directly here, in another body, a bit like how Priscilla was brought back to life by Meilìs. Their ways of being teleported in that world were also different: Leon had been reincarnated as a child, while he was just brought there like he was in his world, without any changes. But that wasn’t the moment to think about that, he would have done it later. Being still unsure about Leon’s intention here, he decided to not reveal any info and to continue playing the part of the ignorant. That led him to give Leon a simple yet fake response to his question.

“No, I am not. And, honestly, what I have heard just now is crazy: you come from another world… and you have been reincarnated here because of the will of a god? I’m sorry to ask, but, are you sure the booze isn’t doing something strange to your thoughts?”

That was like saying to Leon that he wasn’t interested in sharing his history, at least, not for now. Understanding that, Leon looked at Akira with eyes full of disappointment, but then laughed and said to him “Yeah, probably I have drunk a bit too much of wine: it really makes me talk about some strange things when I am a bit too drunk. Still, if you have ever something to say to me, know that I am always available for you, and that I won’t try to extort anything from you”. Then, he turned towards the door and said, as a last farewell for that night, “Now, I think I am going to see how my wife is doing and then I am probably going to sleep. Return to the party, Akira: after all, what party is it when the one who is being celebrated is not in it?” After hearing those words, Akira made a quick bow and said farewell, returning to the party with a lot on his mind that he had to think about.

When Akira got out of the room, Leon continued looking out of the window and, while doing that simple yet somewhat attractive activity, an entertained yet somewhat sad expression appeared on his’s face, and, to confirm his story, he stated, in a language that clearly wasn’t either Damoya or Irgundàh, but that resembled a language of Latin origin, “I know you, Akira… she told me… I am waiting for you…”.

After returning to the party, Akira first looked for Samai, wanting to finish the conversation the two of them had, but Kjeo, which was near where he entered, said that she had gone to her room together with Priscilla, both a bit too much drunk and in need of a bed where to lay on and sleep. He then chatted a bit with him about how things had been while he was out of action, and then the two of them parted ways, one going towards the servant wing, apparently bringing something to drink to someone who was unable to come, the other going towards the tables, wanting to eat and drink something, but, most importantly, to think. The room had calmed down a bit, and now the orchestra was playing some calming and slow music He sat down at a free table, picked a pint of beer and a plate of some cold dishes that remained there, deciding what to do. He could have tried elaborating what Leon just said him, the new info he had acquired from that monologue, or he could have just done that tomorrow and just enjoyed what remained of the evening: after all, it was his party, wasn’t it? That was when a voice called him from behind, and, when Akira turned, he saw Giorgio, his face a bit red because of the alcohol, coming near him and, without asking him anything, sitting on the chair in front of his. When Akira asked him if something was wrong, he juts replied with a laconic no: however, after a bit of awkward silence between the two, Giorgio started talking to Akira.

“Akira, what do you think about Priscilla’s assassination attempt?”

“What do you mean what I think?” asked he, a bit surprised about the subject he just brought up.

“You see, before becoming the man I am now – a damned middle-age man who only trades and, when he doesn’t do that, doesn’t do nothing meaningful, with a hateful wife that cheats on me more than I cheat on her and with children that nowadays rarely see me if not for work -, I was happy. I worked as the captain of a guard force in Sehravla, a city near the border with Hreinleika, I had a beautiful wife that I loved with my whole heart and two beautiful children with whom I passed every moment of my free time”. After this interlude to what seemed to be a long speech, he stopped for a moment, like he was trying to think about what he wanted to say, then continued. “Sorry, didn’t want to do a brief summary of my life. What I wanted to say with that is that I worked as a detective, I worked on homicides and assassinations before, and, there just seems to be something wrong with this case”.

“What do you mean, something wrong?”

“I mean that this attempted homicide makes no sense whatsoever. If they wanted to hit me because of business causes, they would have tried to kill me or Leon, not Priscilla, who doesn’t even work for me. If they wanted to hit me on a personal level, that would have made sense, but why would someone do that? Plus, for how hate I receive from some environments, no one really has a motive to hurt my children more than my persona. What other motives are there to organise an assassination? Jealousy? For what, for a family that nowadays doesn’t even seem a family anymore? Money? I already excluded the business motives and, if they wanted money, they would have kidnapped Priscilla, not killed her, so even this motive has to be discarded. What other motives are there other than these? This is what makes me mad about this case: there is no motive whatsoever to target Priscilla. Do you have some ideas about why they would have done that, Akira? You seem to be a world person, one that experienced many things - and that is why I like you -, so maybe you can help me come up with a reason. So, do you have any?”

Akira was glad that someone else had doubts about that event, as he also had many, starting with who was their target, so he decided to give a hand to Giorgio. However, he was unable to come up with any ulterior motives why someone would have wanted to kill Priscilla, apart from a possible hatred towards Priscilla, a theory which Giorgio discarded saying that no one would have ever wanted to harm her, and, in the end, they did no step forward. Still, Akira also wanted to talk to Giorgio a bit about the case, so, when the two of them both fell silent after that discussion, he started talking.

“Giorgio, is it possible for me to take a look into the case?”

When he heard that, Giorgio lifted one of his eyebrows, making an interrogative yet somewhat intrigued expression come to his face. “Why do you ask? You want to see if the guards did the job right?”

“Exactly. Unfortunately, I had experience with cases being closed because of their incompetence or because there was someone who interfered with the investigation. So, if someone external to the guards could take a look at the case and try to look into it by itself, then maybe the case could come, if not to a conclusion, at least to a new stepping point”.

“And what makes you think that you are qualified enough to do the work they did better than them?”

“Honestly? I think I can do better than them, even though there is no ground to say it for sure. I have experience about things like these, but the reality is that I just want to make sure Priscilla is safe and that, if it is possible to put whoever did that behind the bars, then I want that to be done. The guards can’t do it? Then I will do it”.

A moment of silence fell between the two after Akira finished saying the last sentence, looking straight into Giorgio’s eyes, before his interlocutor exploded in an entertained laugh which lasted for some seconds. Then, with a joyful expression in his eyes, Giorgio said to him “Ah, that’s why I like you: straight to the point, without making a fuss about everything. All right: I will make some requests to the higher ups and ask that you can vision what they have about the case under my name. It should be fairly easy, considering my name has still a bit of weight in that environment. Plus, I have a request for you: if you can, please try to do whatever you can to resolve this case. I can’t stop thinking that someone wants to see my Priscilla dead, and I want that person to be found so that she can return living a peaceful life, for how unsatisfying it can be for her”.

“Thank you”.

“You do not need to thank me: I should be the one doing that, instead. I have not as much time as before to look into this case on my own, so I am grateful that there is someone willing enough to try and figure something that the other people probably haven’t. If you can, keep me updated on your eventual discoveries, okay?”

Then, after this conversation ended, Giorgio got up, saying that the alcohol was starting to get to his head and that he needed to lay on his bed and try to get at least a bit of sleep. However, before he could leave, Akira resolved to ask him one last question, hoping it would have not made him upset.

“Giorgio, you first said that you lived a happy life. What changed? What made you have a so bad turn in life?”

At those words Giorgio didn’t even turned behind, staying still in a stiff erect position that made it clear it wasn’t a pleasing subject for him. Nevertheless, probably in a moment of sympathy, he replied to Akira’s question.

“What happened? My wife… my wife was killed by some criminals who I was trying to catch, in retaliation for my investigation which meddled with their business. My revenge didn’t await, and that was why I was dismissed from my position: from there, I dedicated body and soul to my children and my wife’s business, the book one, and from there on, my life became only work and work and work, trying to slowly climb the social ladder to secure a place for my children. And what did that bring me? A life of loneliness and work”. Then, after a bit of silence, he added “Sometimes, I just wish to return to my previous life, or redo everything I have done. But that is not possible: the only thing you can do is move forward, but sometime, when I am alone in my bed, I just wish that life rewound itself. And I am scared that one of these days I am going to do something that I am going to regret”. 

Then, after saying those words, without looking back, he went away. Akira felt a bit bad after hearing the answer to his question, but, at the same time, felt like Giorgio actually didn’t mind: his love for his past was a thing that Akira never saw in someone, especially in himself, so he felt like what he did was just to make Giorgio remember about happy events that probably would have made him go forward for another day. After Giorgio disappeared from the room, Akira took a sip of the beer he had in front of him, contemplated the hall, now practically half empty and with the orchestra finishing their probable last song, and thought about the future and that case, letting his mind run free and his eyes run in the void around him, seeing the world through the glass of his beer as if to deform the reality around him, trying to find answers to the many questions he had in mind.