The torch's emerald flame continued its flickering, then slowly turned back to its normal color. The woman lying on the ground suddenly moved; her body shook, convulsing, realigning every broken bone and regenerating her wounds, erasing all traces of scars.
And it stopped.
After a few minutes, she moved again... this time, she raised herself up and scanned her surroundings... She touched her body, searching for wounds, but found none.
"Lidien... Lidien!"
In the center of the dark room, Lidien lay flat on the ground. His fangs had turned back to normal teeth, and his white hair had shortened and turned black, now resembling a normal teenager.
The woman immediately knelt beside him, rolled him onto his back, and tapped his face. She frantically searched for wounds but found none.
"--come someone who take from others..." Lidien mumbled in his sleep.
"Lidien! Wake up!" the woman screamed.
Lidien opened his eyes to an angelic face staring down worriedly.
Then he looked down, seeing his topless, muscular frame... unlike his malnourished past.
'Where am I?'
As he sat up, Lidien's head throbbed from a flood of information searing his mind and very being.
"Lidien... "
The woman raised her hand. It glowed golden before she pressed it to Lidien's head...
"Purify... please... work!"
Yet the pain didn't stop.
Lidien shouted and cried, tears flowing uncontrollably, saliva scattering with every scream. He couldn't speak; he only gritted his teeth against the physical and emotional agony.
"Lidien! Calm down!"
With Lidien's one last scream, he smashed his head towards the ground to regain his sanity.
'What was that?' Lidien held his head; his eyes turned into crimson, fangs formed sticking out.
In just a few seconds, he relived the whole experience of the original owner of his new body.
The tragic life he lived, until he sacrificed his life for someone he genuinely loved.
Lidien stared at the innocent looking woman in front of him.
'Lily, a Corrupted Blessed, now a Demon of Lust... my adopted sister, and the one who truly cares for me... no, to the original owner of this body, also named the same as me.'
Lidien forced a smile. After calming himself, his crimson eyes turned back to normal, same with his fangs.
'So, I got reincarnated into someone who sacrificed himself for love, huh.'
He looked around. Towards the deeper end of the room, there he saw a single table, with a box on top, more like a small chest.
He then turned to his left and saw a corpse, skeletal, wearing heavy armor... the guardian.
His head throbbed again, replaying the scene where the original body unlocked his new demonic transformation upon witnessing Lily die from the guardian of the Relic, then killed it.
'And, this body is Demon because of his anger? What kind of reason was that...' Then he tried to put the cloth beside him, and smiled when he realized it was full of holes, much worse than wearing nothing.
Ironically, with the old memories being implanted into Lidien, or more likely he became a parasite inhabiting the old owner's body including his fragmented memories after he stabbed his chest and died...
Lidien still didn't know how to survive in this world full of monsters and unknown entities...
Last time he tried fighting he got shot in the head.
Then Lidien stared at Lily, eyes innocent, and smiled.
"Who are you?"
Lily eyes widened, gasped, then hugged Lidien's head and pressed it against her chest, her blonde hair cascaded to Lidien's back.
Lidien blushed, and tried to push Lily away from him.
"M-miss... I'm sorry... I'm too young for this... I-I also don't know you..."
Lily still hugged him, and embraced him fully.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... because of me... you lost your memory..."
Lily realized... she had died trying to protect Lidien, and with her final moments, she saw Lidien conduct a ritual before stabbing his own chest. Seeing both of them were okay, except Lidien who she thought lost his memories, made her realize one thing... Lidien offered something of great value for her to live.
'It's better to act I forgot the original owner's memories than to try escaping this hell... outside this place is much more chaotic!'
Lily helped Lidien stand and requested him to follow her, then they proceeded to the table where the Relic was placed. Lily then opened the chest, not empty, but full of ashes.
"With this... Mother will give you a Title... solely for you..." Lily smiled, so captivating that it made Lidien glance away.
Lily then giggled, and stored the Relic in her ring.
Though Lidien wasn't new to fictions he was reading when he got free time in the Library, seeing a space ring personally was different.
Gulping.
He gripped his hands, eyes gleaming.
'I will not waste this opportunity given to me... I'll be stronger, powerful; and explore the unknown... my daydream is now real... with this body... I'll conquer this world.'
"May I ask something, Miss? What is that small chest you got?"
"Ohh... that? I don't know either, but Mother wants it for the clan... to establish our kingdom... And don't call me Miss... 'Sis' is enough..."
Lily held Lidien's hand. Though their age gap was large, he almost reached her ears in height.
"Shall we go, my little brother?"
As they exited the ruined temple, Lidien saw a familiar cave where the original owner and his grandfather had prayed. He tried recalling the prayers from fragmented memories but failed.
'Yeah... I forget past memories too. How much more with fragments?'
They followed the cave wall until morning light greeted them, rays reflecting off the dewy mouth.
As they exited the cave, what greeted them wasn't birds' tweets and beast howlings, but a war.
It was chaotic enough that dead bodies were scattered on the ground, above the trees, or just hanging dangling at the branches.
Lidien couldn't force himself to stop from retching, though he prepared himself for this event. Having seen its brutality from fragmented memories, still, experiencing it and seeing it with his own eyes betrayed his optimistic goal.