Since I'm a free orphan now, let's take a look at what's going on in my new world, or this parallel Earth I've found myself on. According to the nuns who raised me, the apocalypse happened in the year 2000. Yeah, I know, classic 2000-apocalypse cliché or Y2K B.S, like the psychics always said, but on this Earth, it actually happened. Suddenly, without warning, a black dome opened up in the Atlantic Ocean and swallowed half the globe.
To describe the event, imagine Hades just got sick of the Underworld, opened the gates between worlds, and unleashed every damned soul from Tartarus to attack Earth. These souls look like the Dementors from Harry Potter, but way creepier, and they possess humans.
Anyone they enter instantly becomes a mummy—their skin looks like bloody, dried wood, their eyes are blood-red with black pupils, and all their body hair falls out. These terrifying creatures are called Shifters. Why? Because they can transform back into humans. They operate by taking on the guise of our family and friends, then suddenly preying on us.
Besides that, the sky also opened up, and angels descended, but they look a little different. Yes, they have four wings, but from their whole bodies, only their eyes are visible, and they possess humans too. The soldiers call them Watchers because what is visible are their eyes.
Naturally, the humans they possess become monstrosities. Their skin turns white, leathery wings—like four fused wings without feathers—sprout from their backs, and they have no face, just a single eye and a huge mouth. Of course, all their hair falls out too.
They're named Cherubs, and the worst part is, they also consume humans who "believe" in them and consider them as saviors. They appear in figures that look grand and full of spirituality, like false prophets. When a "believing" human starts to pray, the Cherub's mouth gapes wide open and, "Glup," it swallows the human in one gulp.
Now, the Cherubs and Shifters are constantly at war with each other. The big problem is humanity, because their battles devastate our cities, countries and wreck civilization. Adding to the misery, human civilization here essentially stalled out in the year 2000. So, for example, there are no smartphones.
Even the cell phones they do have could probably kill someone if you winged it at their head. Computers aren't nearly as advanced as they were on my previous Earth, so don't hold your breath for any AI on this planet. And forget about The Avengers—they only ever made it into comic books, never materialized on the big screen, hehe.
But human technology did advance in the military sector, and it might actually be more advanced than my original Earth in that regard. Light sabers, like in Star Wars, are real and used by soldiers to fight the Cherubs and Shifters. Also, neither Shifters nor Cherubs can pass through communal tree plantings or forests.
That's why my orphanage convent is nestled deep inside a forest to keep us safe. It's guarded by soldiers who now carry advanced weapons called Celestial Busters—light sabers-based weapons like swords, axes, rifles, bows, maces, and so on. It's like a fictional world came to life just to fight any Shifter or Cherub that gets too close or attacks.
"Right now, it's the year 2010, almost 2011. The remaining human population is only about 20% of the world's total, completely different from my previous Earth. All the remaining people are crammed onto the Asian continent, the only one untouched by the black dome or the white dome from the sky. On this Earth, the war between angels and demons is brutally real, manifested as Shifters and Cherubs.
"But to me, this was heaven. I'd been through worse in my past lives, and I was sure I could handle these Shifters and Cherubs. The most important thing was that my sister wasn't here. I was free. I was seven years old, and there was no way my sister could bother me now. Or so I thought.
"Ten years later, the year is 2021, when I was seventeen, something strange started happening: moments of lost time and memory. Not big losses, just a few hours at a time, but it was frequent enough for me to notice.
"Then I started realizing: sometimes I'd lose consciousness and not know what I'd done. Like suddenly waking up under a tree when I was just in the reading room. Or suddenly wandering through a ruined city and having to run from a Cherub, when I was supposed to be relaxing in the orphanage. The strangest thing was what the nuns reported: a white-haired girl would sometimes sneak out of my room, and the nuns would get angry and scold me, thinking I was fooling around with a girl in my room.
"Finally, I decided to sit still in my room. I locked the door, pulled the curtains shut, locked the window tight, hid the key in a secret spot, and waited on the edge of the bed. After the room fell so quiet you could cut the silence with a knife, suddenly, "Huaaaaah… nym nym," there's a voice someone 'woke up' in my head.
"Hey," I said in my own head.
"Oh… wow… hello, Big Brother. How are you? Sorry I slept so long. Hey, I'm inside your body now! We're actually one, just like the marriage blessing says, 'two shall become one flesh,' hehehehe," the voice in my head chirped.
"Aaaaaaaaa… waaaaaaaaaaa… whyyyyyyyy!"
"I could only scream hysterically. My psycho yandere sister was in my head! Then she explained that her soul was inside my body. She'd been with me since birth and would sneak out without my knowledge. The girl the nuns saw was her. In other words, when she came out, my body would change… like the Hulk, but instead of a giant green monster, I'd turn into a girl. This was terrifying.
"Oh, by the way, my name is now Grey, and my sister's name, the one from my first life, is Gizelle. This is the story of my seventh life… completely stuck with my sister in one body. Ugh."
***
Grey sat rigid, clutching his messy black hair with both hands.
"Hey, Big Brother… come on in here," Gizelle urged.
"How? Don't you dare try anything funny," Grey said, suddenly dizzy.
"Just try lying down, Big Brother. You'll come in by yourself. Hurry up, I wanna see you," Gizelle pleaded.
"But I don't want to see you! I'm trying to figure out how to get you out of my body," Grey shouted in his mind.
"Aww… doesn't Big Brother miss his beloved little sister? We've been together for six lives, you know. I promise I won't kill you again. I also want to tell you everything and apologize in person," Gizelle said, her voice sounding genuinely plaintive and desperate.
Grey paused. This was the first time his sister's voice had sounded so utterly miserable and desperate. Curiosity finally overcame his common sense. He lay down and closed his eyes. Moments later,
"Big Brother… Big Brother… open your eyes," Gizelle urged.
Grey felt someone shaking him and calling his name. He slowly opened his eyes, which immediately went wide. He was lying on a bed inside a completely white room surrounded by white consoles, with two large windows that looked like eyes. Grey shot up and saw his beautiful sister. She was seventeen, with long white hair, and looked exactly like him.
The odd thing was, Gizelle was completely covered in a tight, white spandex suit that clearly defined every curve. Grey looked down at his own body—he was wearing the same suit, clearly showing his muscular physique. He stared back at Gizelle.
"H-huh… are you Gizelle?" Grey asked.
"Brugh." Without answering, Gizelle threw herself at Grey and burst into heartbroken sobs. Once she calmed down,
"You finally came in, Big Brother! I've been waiting seventeen years to tell you everything," Gizelle whispered.
"Oh… I see. (Looking around) Where is this?" Grey asked.
"You are inside your Soul Room. Your sister has been with you since birth, according to her last wish and your last wish. Now, allow me to explain what's actually going on with you and your sister."
A woman's voice echoed in the room, which looked like a robot cockpit, or more accurately, a Jaeger from Pacific Rim, only entirely white.
"Wh-who is that?" Grey asked, confused.
"My name is Machina… I am a Goddess, and now I will explain the system inside your bodies."