Garden of Eden

I slowly opened my eyes as I woke up, greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. “And I’ve forgotten about it too…” I quietly muttered to myself recalling that dream.

I was a real idiot back then… I probably gave that girl a lot of trouble, so I should probably apologize for it someday… but I can’t exactly do that now can’t I?

If I knew I was going to turn into a girl and disappear from my old life completely then I would’ve gone around and apologized to people first while I could’ve.

I hate myself. That memory just hurts… I thought as I heard someone knock on the door. “I’m awake.” I said then soon after Lumi comes in holding a tray of food while wearing a gray sweatshirt and black skirt.

So, she has clothes other than that white dress. “Good evening.” She responded with a bright smile as she walks over to the bed and sets down the tray on the night stand beside me. “You feeling okay?” She added.

“Yeah, I feel just fine, I think I just needed to rest.”

“I see, that’s good. Here I cooked you some chicken soup.” She’s nice after all.

“Thanks.” As I grabbed the spoon and bowl of chicken soup and started eating it on the bed. I blew on it and brought the spoon to my mouth.

“Delicious… “ I muttered.

“I’m glad that you’re okay…”

“Why?”

“Why…? Because you’re my partner and I can’t exactly have you dying on me before we even get started.”

“I see…” Even if she has an ulterior motive behind being kind to me, it still feels nice. As I ate the chicken soup, she quietly watched me, just standing there.

A dozen minutes later I finished the entire bowl and set it aside on the tray. I sighed. “So, what’s the plan now?” I asked as I turned to her.

“Well for starters, I need to get you accustomed to fighting and your own abilities.”

“I’ve been wondering this since morning but what exactly is my abilities?”

“To be frank, I don’t know the full extent of your abilities, I can only tell you what I’ve seen and analyzed.”

“That’s fine with me.”

“Alright then, now remember that time you fought me?”

“Yes, if I remember right… my body regenerated and there was also that red wall of liquid blocking you.”

“Yeah, that was you using the 2nd dimension’s capabilities to control your blood.”

“Control?”

“To be more specific, it’s like you can move your blood as an extension of your body, you can try moving it and form it into any shape within the limits of your own mental image.”

“I see, so that’s what it is…” I recall back to that night or rather… early morning.

“It’s certainly a good ability but if you use it too much you’ll die.”

“I’ll die? Will it be because of blood loss?” I deduced it.

Even if you can control your blood like your limbs, it’ll be very limited because I’m limited by my own body. By how much blood it continues to lose until it hits the limit and I die.

“Correct, that’s why let’s do an experiment.”

“What kind?”

“We’ll see if you can control blood other than your own, that way I can just supply you with my own blood.”

“Won’t you die too if you do that?”

“No, I won’t, I’m immortal remember? Even though my body functions as a normal human, my blood cells produce a lot faster than a regular human If I lose any blood.”

“Then let’s try it.”

“Great, I’ll be right back.” She said as she left the room.

I can move my blood huh… I wonder why is it only blood? Or rather why is it blood?

It makes sense but it doesn’t. In the first place how is it even possible for me to do that?

If I take the novels that I’ve read that has a similar plot to this situation I’m in right now, as reference.

What connection do I have to blood?

As far as I can remember aside from the times that I had a nose bleed or my teeth fell, I don’t particularly remember anything special with blood. Of course, it’s possible that I’m just overthinking it here and I can’t take any of the novels I’ve read for reference because it’s fiction. But this is all just insane.

A half-spirit, a serial killer, mauled bodies.

I don’t know what to make of it other than a convoluted mess. “I’m back.” Lumi said as she entered the room with both a syringe and a chair.

“That was quick.”

“Yeah, I have my things neatly organized so it didn’t take much time to find them. Now let’s test it out.” She explained as she set down the chair and sat on it.

She stabbed a vein in her right arm as she used the syringe to pull blood from it.

It’s a bit nostalgic, I remember those days when I was afraid of needles and thought there was no day that I would be fine with them but I grew up and I’m not afraid of them anymore.

She pulled out the needle from her arm, the area where she stabbed the needle in didn’t bleed, as if she never stabbed it with a needle in the first place.

“Here, try it.” She says she holds out the syringe half-filled with her blood, in front of me.

“Try how exactly?” I asked. Even if you asked me to try it, I don’t know what to do.

“Try imagining this blood moving.”

“If you say so…” I said as I focused and concentrated on imagining it. I stared intently at the blood, imagining it to move.

After a minute there was nothing but then after ten more minutes passed, the blood rose, albeit only for a moment as it fell back on its original position. “Ugh… I can’t do it.” I laid back down on the bed.

“Hmm… we’ll just try again later. Now before I move on to our plans in getting this serial killer, do you have any questions?”

“No… not in particu--- wait what is this 2nd dimension you’ve going on about? You told me earlier that it’s a place where you pull something? Something along those lines anyway.”
“Ah, right I forgot to explain it, that’d be an important thing for you to know.”

She stood up from her chair and paced back and forth for half a minute before she finally sat down again. “You know about the earth’s stratosphere, yes?”

“Yeah, it’s the second layer of the atmosphere.” I may not seem like it, but I remember the stuff I learn in class from time to time.

“Right… now think of the 2nd dimension as the layer covering our reality.” Oh I get it, a bit.

“I see… then what does these special abilities and powers have to do with it?”

“Another hard question huh…” She said as she scratches her head.

“Don’t you know?”

“No, I know, I know. It’s just that I’m not good at explaining things very well. Oh, wait that’s it- “

“Seems like you figured out how to explain it.”

“Do you know why humans or any other animal are conscious?”

“Our consciousness? No, I haven’t read any science articles covering that.” And also, because science hasn’t even advanced that far yet.

“It’s because our soul archetype, the physical manifestation of our souls, exists there in the 2nd dimension. Think of a puppet connected to strings, we are both the puppet and puppet master at the same time.”

“So, you mean there’s strings or threads connecting the soul and the body?”

“Yes, it’s why the 2nd dimension is also known by another name…. Eden.”

“Yeah? Why’d you say my name?”

“No, what I meant was that the 2nd dimension is also called Eden, The Garden of Eden. Simply put, because all the souls of all living beings are in one collected space no matter how good or bad the person is, they’re all together. From some views, it can be seen as Paradise hence the name.”

“I see… I got it.” Garden… of Eden, Coincidence? I think not. In the past I was never one to believe in fate but I can’t not believe in its core concept. Everything is being drawn towards each other by a mysterious force.

“Anyways, to get back to your question earlier about these abilities, it’s relatively connected to the origin of your soul. What your soul was before it was taken and made into a functioning soul.”

I was even more confused… “My soul origin… I wonder what it is, there’s plenty of things related to blood after all.” I muttered.

“I’ve also wondered about that back when I was just discovering my own abilities…”

“I see.”

“Well… that’s it for today, I’ll explain everything another time, but that should be the gist of it. It’s getting late too.”

“Yeah, it definitely is…” I said as I heard my phone ring from my bag. “Oh, crap I forgot to reset my phone…”

“Why do you need to reset it?”

“It’s because I have everything set up here, so I need to get rid of it before they can use it to track me down.”

“I can just buy you a new phone, that way we can make sure that you definitely won’t get caught.” She said.

“No, I don’t want to trouble you any further than I already had.”

“No, I insist just let me buy you a new phone.” She added as she moved her face really close to mine.

It’s close, too close! I internally panicked as I heard my heart beat louder than ever.
“Fine…”

“Yay!” She uttered as she stepped back.

“Are you sure about this? Phones nowadays are pretty expensive.”

“I don’t mind, after you’re my partner so a small investment like a phone is nothing.”

“Then thanks, I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, and do you mind lending me your phone?”

“Sure, here you go.” I said as I handed her my phone and in the next moment, she crushed it with her hands.

“Sometimes when you act like that, I forget that you have superhuman strength.”

“What do you mean when I “act like that”?”

“Nothing…”

“Well… I need to go to the toilet, okay?” she said as she walked out of the room with my broken phone in hand.

“Sure.” I muttered as I laid down on the bed. Wait, where is she going to sleep? Aren’t I using her bed? I thought.

Five minutes later she returns back to the room. “Umm… just to confirm this is your room, right?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“I see, then I’ll go sleep on your couch or something, you can have your bed back.”

“No need really, I can just sleep next to you.”

“Do you have no common sense? I’m a guy and you’re a girl, obviously I can’t sleep together with you.”

“Even though you’re a girl right now?”

Ouch that hurt…

“Even so, I’m a guy on the inside, so who knows what I might do to you when you’re asleep.”

“We’re bound in a contract, so no need to worry about that, plus I already completely trust you.” She says in a blindingly bright smile.

“Do what you want.” I wryly said as I lost the energy to argue back.

“Then if you don’t mind.” She mutters as she slides her way on the other side of the bed beside me. I sighed.

***

After she tucked herself in the bed right beside and turned off the lights with both of us facing away from each other, I couldn’t sleep.

My heart was beating much faster than normal as I turned to the other side.

She was asleep. I could hear her snore. I then turned back around facing away from her again.

Is this really okay?

Even though my body is now a girl and the fact that I'm bound under a contract, does it violate my moral compass?

“Ouch.” I muttered quietly as I experienced a mild headache.

I guess it’s fine, my moral compass… I think it's too late to worry about that. I’m used to sleeping with other people since I used to sleep with… wait who was it that I used to sleep beside again?

I can’t remember. Was it my parents? Probably but I can’t remember.

If I can’t remember then why do I feel so used to it? I don’t know. I’m tired…

This past few days has been insane. I met Lumi, my body turned into a girl, I ran away from home. Ugh… it’s too much. I'm tired.

I can’t remember the last time since I’ve been this tired.

Well anyways… I think I’m going to try to ignore the fact that I’m sleeping beside Lumi, a person who I’ve just met.

I’m really tired… of everything.

***

I woke up… as I heard the clock ticking in the silent room.

I opened my eyes and checked time on the clock hanging on the wall.

It was currently 3:39 AM in the morning.

I turned to the side to check the boy-girl sleeping beside me as I slightly smiled.

I finally found you.

After enduring centuries, I finally found you. Though I didn’t mean to accidentally kill you when we first met. It took control of me at that moment so I can’t help it.

But it doesn’t matter, no matter what form you take, I will always want to be with you. For now, I’ll keep it a secret.

I just want to enjoy our time together now that we’re here again.

It’s been a long journey.

After I finish the job of resolving the disturbance in this area. I think I’m going to retire from this self-proclaimed occupation. I took this on after all just to find him.

Well then, I think I’m going to get up and drink some coffee. I thought as I got out of the bed and stood up but in that moment a headache had struck. “Ahh…” I uttered as I held my right hand onto my head and felt like my brain was about to erupt.

Ngh...Is it about time again?

I-I don’t have a choice in this do I? I need to do it again…

“Preset #1” I quietly muttered to myself. At that moment my current clothes transformed into my white combat dress and went out of the room.

***

After my headache started to calm down slightly, I went outside of my apartment and headed to the building rooftop.

As I stepped foot onto the rooftop, I immediately felt the cold morning wind as the night sky entered my view.

Before I leave this building, I turned back to the door I just came through. “Forgive me…” I said as Eden’s face comes up in my mind.

“Effect Preset #2” I quietly uttered as I turned back and jumped down from the building and onto the roofs of houses while careful not to make a noise.

***

After a while of jumping from house to house, I found my target.

A middle-aged woman in a suit walking down the street at this time, I assume she’s either coming home or going to work given that it’s nearly 4 AM.

I quietly jumped down from the house I was on top of, and quietly walked behind her back. “Secondary Armament.” I muttered really quietly so as to not get caught.

A moment later a crystal red knife the size of a combat knife materializes in my hand. This knife is infused with my own blood connecting whoever I stab with this to it connects their soul to mine. I quietly breathed in and quickly dashed over to the woman.

I quickly covered her mouth and stabbed her in the neck. She resisted but as I drove in the knife even further, her body eventually stopped moving.

I sighed… Then I quickly dragged the body to a quiet corner where no one would even go during this time of the day.

I dropped the body on the ground. “Seal area, 10 meters...” I quietly uttered.

I picked up the body again and threw it at a wall hard enough that it stuck to it but not enough to completely break through the wall.

“Hehe… hahahahaha!” I heard a maniacal laugh, whose voice was it? The lifeless body in front of me? A random person on the street who somehow saw this? No need to question it as it can be none other than my own voice.

The next moment I walked just in front of the lifeless corpse in front me then… in a flash, I sliced through the corpse horizontally and blood had splattered everywhere.

Slice, Pierce, chop, cut, stab, slit, mince, divide, incise, penetrate.

The already lifeless corpse had been turned into nothing but chunks of meat. There was no more resemblance of the woman’s appearance.

I’m a murder.

I kill to live. Kill to survive. Kill to remain. Nothing else.

***

I woke up and opened my eyes to a concrete wall. I looked at my surroundings. I was sitting down on a park bench. “It happened again huh…” I muttered to myself as I looked at the sky.

It was still slightly dark but I could see the sun rise.

“I better get back to the apartment before Eden wakes up.” I said as I stretched my arms.

“Preset Off” I muttered then my white dress fades away and turns back into what I was wearing last night which was the sweater and black skirt.

I started walking but then it felt like someone was staring at me, so I turned back and looked. There was nothing but an empty park.

“Hmm…”

I was probably just being paranoid.

After staring for a couple more minutes, I turned around and started walking again…

***

A dozen minutes later I reached the apartment building and entered it. I stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.

Once it reached the floor my apartment is located in, I stepped out of the elevator as soon as it opened its doors and headed for my apartment.

I might’ve over done it this time… But it couldn’t be helped.

It’s probably going to be another several months before I need to do that again, so I guess I can relax with that in mind. I can’t remember most of what happened earlier, my memory cuts off when I jumped down.

I wonder why though… I’ve done this plenty of times and yet my memories always seem to fade when I pass out and wake up.

I guess it’s no use thinking about it. I reached the apartment and opened the door. I forgot to lock the door last night, didn’t it? I need to be careful next time.

This probably couldn’t be helped too huh… I was just so happy last night that I forgot to lock it. I stepped inside and locked the door behind me this time.

I walked over to the room on the left of this tiny corridor and checked in on Eden.

She’s still asleep. I thought as I slightly smiled at the sight of it.

I quietly closed the door and went to the living room which is the door across where my room is. What greets me when I enter is my couch, the 32-inch OLED tv and my kitchen to the right.

I walked towards my couch and sat on it, as I tried to relax my mind slightly.

I sighed… I wonder how long I can keep this up… It’ll probably be a few more years until that happens but I’m fine with it.

I already achieved my goal and all that’s left now is to finish this final task that I have. Well, I should probably think about this for later. “Right now breakfast is more important umu…”

But what should I make? I have plenty of ingredients I can use since I recently just went out for groceries so all that’s left now is what to cook.

Pancakes? Grilled cheese? I don’t know.

Wait, if I can’t decide then I can just cook them all! Yeah, that’s a great idea.

I stood up and walked to my kitchen. From the fridge I grabbed all the necessary ingredients for pancakes.

In a bowl, I cracked two eggs and mixed together, after that I opened up a pancake mix and poured half of it into the bowl then I mixed it again as I hummed happily.

After fully incorporating the mix into the eggs, I poured in a bit of room temperature water into the bowl and mixed it again until it reached a smooth consistency.

I turned on the gas and placed my pan on top of the stove.

I turned on the stove and set it to medium low heat then I grabbed two cubes of butter from the fridge and tossed them into the pan.

Once the butter was fully melted, I poured in the batter. “It’s looking good already!” I commented as I flipped it.

A few minutes later, it was done.

So, I put the pancakes on the plate and set them aside.

After that I repeated the process until I emptied out the batter.

“Phew…” I uttered as I wiped the sweat on my forehead.

I’m tired… I’ll rest a bit before I wake up Eden. I happily thought as I sat back down on the couch.

I wonder what reaction she’s going to have when she eats my pancakes.

I bet she’ll probably say it’s delicious.

“Ehehe…” A lot already happened today, so it’s no wonder I’m tired.

Days like these aren’t exactly that uncommon to me, even though I’ve lived for centuries, I still feel tired.

Compared to back then, this is heaven.

There used to be days when I would always feel tired for months but now, I rarely get to feel it. I wonder what kind of life; Eden has lived up until now.

Come to think of it, I never heard her mention her age.

From the current state of his previous body before I lost control and accidentally incinerated it into pieces.

I guess she’s around 17? Probably. She’s still young. Well, that’s to be expected, I guess… It would have been really great if he remembered me but do memories even transfer between cycles?

I haven’t died yet so I don’t know. The world of the dead is so far yet so close to me at the same time.

I’m curious about how people feel when they encounter death. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s mostly been fear.

So, after-death would be the phrase I’m looking for.

A world that’s unknown to me. Throughout my lifetime I discovered a lot of things so I don’t encounter the unknown as much.

Unknown… going by its definition, would not knowing people count as unknown?

The lives of other people are certainly unknown to me, so maybe it’s always been surrounding me.

I closed my eyes to rest.

Life, Death, Reincarnation.

I wonder why I’ve been thinking of it more often than I used to. I’ve never really thought about these thoroughly.

What use does death even have if it’s just going to be recycled. The cycle of life and death is something I don’t understand.

What use is there for life if it’s going to die anyways?

Why did I even search for his soul? I don’t know.

Suddenly a vision flashes through my mind.

An empty snow field surrounded by forests.

Why does it feel so nostalgic? I can’t remember…

All I know is that I wanted to see him, that same soul.

Why was I saying things about reasons, and wanting her to remember me in the first place? I don’t know.

I think I used to know him but… I can’t remember those moments. When did those happen?

It must’ve been really long ago for me not to remember anymore. But during these past few days, I feel like I know that soul of hers.

So that’s why I had us bound to a contract as partners. I really don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I hope that by the end of our contract, I can at least find out why.

Why that soul of hers feels so nostalgic? I feel like I know but at the same time I don’t know.

Ugh… this is so confusing. I want to know but what’s next after I find out? Do I continue on as I’ve always been or- ouch.

At that moment a mild headache had struck me…

It hurts… why is it like this again? I just did it earlier so it should be fine for a few months. Wasn’t it enough?

Why am I having a headache again…

I opened my eyes and walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a small white bottle that was sitting on top of the fridge.

From the fridge I grabbed a water pitcher and poured it in a glass that I took from my drying rack. I opened the lid of the white bottle and took out a single pill from inside it.

I put the pill inside my mouth then I immediately drank water. I then went back and sat down on the couch, closing both my eyes again to rest.

I continuously breathed in and out until the mild headache went away. I wonder what’s wrong with me today?

I don’t know what’s happening but everything will probably turn back to normal once I’ve had my rest so yeah… This is weird.

This is the first time that I’ve had that headache twice in a row.

I hope… everything returns to normal later.