Luca got to his apartment, along the way picking up some groceries— packets of noodles.
He finally arrived at his home, a two storey building where he got three rooms to himself. He skillfully avoided his landlady, as the end of the month approached. She gets a bit chatty.
His room was just frat house, a TV rested on the wall, an old PC underneath it. With dirty laundry scattered around.
He entered his room, threw his backpack into his bed and headed to the bathroom to wash the mascara off his face and took a bath.
After that he entered his small kitchen and prepared two packets of noodles. A few minutes later he was done.
Slurp!! Slurp!!
Luca slurped on his noddles, watching what came to be his best anime— Tale Of A Hero. He skipped the parts where the Hero tried to convince the female not to take her life.
And stopped at the part where it got steamy. Watching the Hero crack open the female. The feeling of jealously retuning.
"Lucky bastard!!".
Girls couldn't get enough of the Hero, quickly falling for him, while he couldn't get the liberty of yanking off.
All because he read a medical tweet on 'X' where he learned that yanking too much would reduce his essence. But he couldn't take the risk and quit yanking off.
But sometimes he couldn't resist the temptation and fail to uphold his promise. So to avoid breaking his promise, he burnt off energy by playing games.
---
Five hours later Luca was officially exhausted, he crashed into his bed, his hand reaching to grasp the squared shaped case used to hold the game disk.
And read out the contents in a drowsy manner.
"Tale Of A Hero..... a romance game set in a modern world with the flavour of the supernatural and fantasy". He chuckled slightly.
"It's basically a romance game gone wrong". The game cleaned up the gore, but the novel, manga and anime were hell. A world where a breathe could be your last.
The main character, Atlas was born from a family that fell from top, he eventually became one of the top students. Reaching unprecedented heights.
"In the game, help female characters with their quest and depending on how well it was completed, smash them". Luca continued.
"All those asses". Luca then let out a sigh. "Who knows tomorrow I might wake up to experience my dreams in real life".
What were the dreams you say, Luca's life revolves around a pair of 'three' words.
Luca then arranged his backpack on his bed, letting the foamy side face up, so as to rest his head on a soft surface.
Luca couldn't afford a pillow, one might say pillows were a rather cheap commodity, but one had to realise the dude could barely afford to eat.
Just as sleep begun to drag him away, a thought wormed it's way into Luca's mind.
'How did Lynn know my name?'. Panic gripped Luca's heart like a knife to his throat. That was the first time he had even met, saw or interacted with Lynn.
How come he had knew his name? He didn't remember telling him.
But the drowsiness was so overwhelming Luca fell asleep before he could solve the mystery. A white light emanating from the bag underneath Luca's head.
The light was coming specifically from the piece of paper.
That night, Luca dreamt.
---
Luca was dreaming, that he was sure off.
In dreams one could barely control they actions, memories were hazy, barely recall-able.
But this one was too real, it was a lucid dream. A lucid dream where he lived another life.
He found himself living a different life from his mandune one. Names of people, places, rested on his mind. Astrea Bathel. Clan Bathel.
He could had sworn that all of it was unrelated to him.
But his mind held the knowledge that at the age of seven, Astrea lost his father, an event that shaped a dark future for him.
At fourteen he was deemed a failure to the clan— for not awakening neither of the clan's two most prized traits.
While his sister was deemed once in a hundred years prodigy— she had not only awakened the clan's most prized trait, but she inherited the two.
A feat unheard off, only whispered in the clan's hall as baseless rumour, but she had shattered the logic and done the impossible.
More images of a life that wasn't his flowed into Luca's mind.
Just then the dream shattered into fragments, fragments that sank into Luca's awareness like jagged glass.
An overwhelming feeling to sleep overtook Luca's mind, but something told him that if he slept, he wouldn't be waking up.
Luca felt drowsiness surge into his mind, threatening to submerge his mind and eternal slumber.
But Luca fought against this drowsiness, his existence urging him to resist, but it was all for naught as black spots begun to appear at the edge of his awareness.
Just then a blinding light shone, a hazy square shape in the center, causing the sea of drowsiness to recede.
But the white light shone even brighter, causing Luca's mind to flinch, the light shone so bright his awareness faded.
---
Luca opened his eyes, gasping. His lungs felt like it was on fire, reminisce of holding his breath underwater.
As Luca took in the surroundings his eyes turned as wide as saucers.
The room he had found himself in was too big, clean and fancy. The walls was coloured in gold, with gold vases lying around, the window pane was gold. Even the bed sheet were silks in gold colour.
The rising sunlight spilling into the room through the gaps in the golden coloured curtains, was enough for him to make out of the details in the room.
Confused, he peeled himself away from the pleasure of the soft bed, his movements felt alien. His center of gravity, the reach of his legs were all different. Making even the simplest of acts needing constant and conscious adjustment.
His confused mind gave way for panic, as panicked thoughts rushed into his mind.
'What the hell is happening? Was i kidnapped?'. Luca thought, a strong feeling of fear beginning to well up in his heart.
But then he abandoned the idea. Who would even bother with him.
"Not like I have money". Luca reasoned trying to make sense of it, his mind subconsciously ignoring the feminine hint his voice now carries— the kidnapper would had clearly stalked him, to check if he was worth kidnapping.
'Or is it an organ trafficker?'. Luca face paled as he hurriedly felt his sides for his kidneys, but everything seem in place. No band-aid whatsoever.
Then where was he, this was clearly not his rundown overpriced dump. And why would a kidnapper put him in such a fancy room.
Taking deep breaths to suppress an incoming panic attack, Luca's gaze caught sight of a golden rimmed full body mirror.
His entire body froze, the individual staring back at him wasn't... him.
Gone was his skinny, lanky frame.
In the mirror stood a boy of about sixteen, about 170cm tall. Had clear skin, high cheek bone, a slightly pointed nose, sharp jawline that Luca sworn could cut through paper.
He had vivid scarlet hair that seemed to be perpetually soaked in blood.
The hair was braided at the front— a thick braid that naturally covered his right eye, the braid was so long that it almost touched his chest.
His scarlet irises gave him an exotic look, while the pale red circle around his eyes contrasted sharply against his overly pale skin. Giving him a tired look.
His mouth opened as he gasped at thin air, like a fish out of water.
A name came to the forefront of his mind.
'Astrea....?'.