Chapter 1
The gentle ticking of the clock echoed on the duo's ears, their corpses lying in the hospital bed. Yet, their fingers held their corpses, as if preventing themselves from floating away. The heavy flatline began echoing the entire hospital room, doors kicking in and nurses rushing to try and save them. The translucent figures glanced at each other, the wrinkled faces staring back into each other. Slowly their skin began smoothing out, looking like they did in their younger years.
Their backs began realigning and straightening up, the sounds of sobs from their children, their family, even their spouses. The film over there pupils began reabsorbing back into their eyes clearing their vision up, they finally let go of their corpses and took each other's hands. Pulling themselves into each other's embrace they held each other for a moment, they were happy to still be together even in the afterlife.
One figure was Lee Dawson, over confident, and wild child of a human. His hair reformed on his scalp, growing thicker and more lushes auburn with a golden ember in his eyes. His hair was light and fluffy, like a pillow, it had a little bit of curl on it but nothing too wild. He was slightly paler, and had some freckles on his cheeks but he wasn't the typical 'ginger' that people mocked, with his hair being a darker auburn.
The other figure was Sara Lin, she had darker black hair with sky blue eyes. Her hair slowly began darkening from white to midnight black. She was wittier than Lee, and made sure he knew it, along with the fact she also had a long streak of dark humor and poorly timed jokes. She was strong too, while she didn't look muscular, she was. Her skin was a paler, more natural color vs Lee's ghostly skin.
Slowly braking back from the hug they felt their bodies lifting up, phasing through the ceiling like ghosts ascending to heaven. They felt the speed accelerate, their hands gripping each other as the force had them spinning the faster they went. They laid in the air like propellers rapidly breaking the earth's atmosphere. It wasn't fear in their eyes though, they never feared anything as long as they were together. Smashing through the atmosphere they slowed down now in the darkness of space.
They were quiet, not minding any of the surroundings, not even bothered they were in space. "I…" Sara's lips finally quivered, her eyes lost in his. "Knew you were gonna die first!" She suddenly screamed her quivering lip busting into a laugh. "Excuse you! You died first!" Lee retorted, his voice a little more whinier. The two began the argument, who died first. Neither one of them took into account that their lives were over, neither one of them truly cared though.
"You definitely flatlined first!" She shouted with a cackle in her voice and a wheeze.
"Bitch you were dead at least 3 seconds before me!" He shouted, before sticking his hands on his hips floating in space. "85 years. Our family, friends, spouses, what a wild ride." Lee said, taking a deep breath in and exhaling looking up at the stars.
They let it all sink in for a moment, slowly floating around him she raised her brow. "Would you have done anything differently?" Lee glanced over at her and clicked his tongue.
"Nothing at all." His face slid into a smirk, being returned with her smirking at him. "So, if this is the afterlife it kind of sucks." He started crossing his arms and began floating up through the black void of space.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to go talk to a manager!"
"Lee, who do you think there is to talk to that's a manager?"
"God, I wanna give them a piece of my mind! I prayed for a mansion and instead got debt!" Lee shouted down towards Sara who began floating up with him.
"Jesus Christ Lee."
The further he floated, the more they argued, slowly the stars flickered past them with rapid speed as they picked up the pace. They hadn't a care in the world, an eternity of floating and arguing together brought them both peace.
Tic…Tic…Tic.. There were soft beats in both their ears the further they flew, however their shouts were too loud to have noticed. Arguing over old actions, old events from their past life like two children being left unsupervised. The sound felt like tendonitis in the ears slowly growing in sound.
"Why are my ears ringing!" Lee finally snapped, "It's space, I'm dead, why are they ringing damnit!" He shouted into the void, no planet in sight, no star, just a simple void of darkness. Sara's face palmed, "Maybe it's because you're SCREAMING!" She shouted back at him, sending his reflex to flip her off.
Sara opened her mouth to curse him out, but nothing left her lips. Lee went to ask what, but he also went quiet. The words no longer left their lips causing their eyes to lock in on each other. The translucent glow of their bodies began fading, their colors dimming. They both knew they were fading, their hands quickly latching onto each other trying to prevent themselves from being torn apart.
It was seconds when their hands faded through each other suddenly. They realized it right away, they were about to be torn apart. 'Ill find you.' Lee mouthed desperately, tears forming in his eyes. Sara quivered and began trying to mask her pain, but the tear rolling down her cheek showed her fear. 'You owe me money.' She tried joking as they painfully laughed before they vanished.
What is death?
What is life?
Some are remembered in death, but forgotten while alive.
While others live in life, but are forgotten in death.
Does fate hold the strings for all humans, or do humans pave their own path?
"Let there be light. Those words that are well known, from a belief that is even more known. Lee and Sara, two souls lost in time and space. Let them be the light." The words echoed through space, it was soft, sad, it felt broken. The soft sounds of a dice roll echoed the empty void.
'Where am I?' A thought formed, Lee tried to move his head but felt a tiny little foot pressing his head. He couldn't move, it felt like he was floating in liquid. Slowly light pierced through the darkness, 'Oh, this is disgusting!' Lee internally shouted when the sudden sounds of a baby crying filled the small hut deep in the fields of Creswen Province, an outer rural belt far from the big city and nobles of their new world.
In front of him was another baby, one with a familiar shaped head, and piercing eyes. The two locked in on each other, the instant recognition. Sara, who was born 3 seconds before him, was held and Lee knew one thing for sure. 'I'm never going to live this down.'
However, there was a second thing he had noticed. His little baby eyes widening, 'Holy shit Sara is now a boy!' Which led to an eruption of crying from laughter and kicking and squalling, while Sara was crying and trying to kick their new sibling. The new world they were brought into was far beyond what they had expected.
The age old question continues though, what happens when you die? To many it believed that you were reincarnated, to some it was heavens and hells, and to others you sat floating in void with no consciousness like you were before you were born. However, to Lee and Sara, it was a world that was only in the media that they consumed in the lives that they had previously lived.
During their early lives they decided to keep their isekai journey a secret, while they had much time as infants to reflect on their old lives and the families they left behind they felt they needed to continue with the new life as it was.
Their parents, hard working farmers, were gentle people. They were lucky in that aspect, especially given the time and age of the world they were now living in. Their continent Virelia was shaped by war, magic, and heavily devine influences. The climate was vast, one of the largest continents in the western hemisphere of the earth. However, there were dead magic zones, areas that were corrupted to prevent magical use.
As for the power dynamic, it was much like the world they came from. The more of a noble you were, the more power you held over the smaller people. Politics, rich people, heavily influenced guilds all ran the society as a whole. There may have been a king, but they were as useful as a mayor of a 5 person town.
As for Lee and Sara, who was renamed Seran they lived in the region of Creswen Province, located on the Elarith outer rural belt, filled with rich farmland and rolling with a few chunks of woods and ruins tossed in the region it was a land of the poor. Most nobles even avoided it, stating there was no reason to even tax them there was no money being made.
Their village, Darrowmere, 80% farmers, and all small and tight knit communities that helped each other all year. Lee and Sara on the other hand, always mocked it for the semi-redneck vibes that it gave them.
At the time they could walk, they possessed no sign of magical or special talents. They lived a pretty typical life, at a young age they practiced swordsmanship with sticks in there yard. They heard the stories and tales that the world had to offer, from the multitude of Gods that roamed the earth and the dragons that had been killed by the warriors of old.
They spent alot of them time exploring the woods around there house, eventually finding a massive oak tree with the insides carved out. It became there home away from home, they would escape in the massive tree as a way to escape from there responsibilities of farm hands.
Around the age of 12, they began building a small little base inside the tree. It had a hammock and a small area to cook, the tree seemed to pulse with life when they were around it. There little hide out, there comfort, it brought them peace no matter what was going on in there new lives.
As they hit the age of 16, they became technical adults, however they refused to follow the same traditions as this world. With the old views still in affect, they decided to live at home still and work with there family. They did manor labor on there farm, and in return they were given food and housing, while they discussed it as child abuse they remembered it was just another day in the new world they lived in.
Lee and Sara's jobs consisted of similar things, and they swapped off daily. Today Lee had pig duty, while Sara was bailing hay. The sweat ran down Saras brow, there hair had a streak of white in the bangs and was kept tied up in a ponytail. Sara kept there face clean shaved, while they were physically a male, they had remembered over 80 years of being a woman. They were stockier built, broad shouldered, and about 6'2 which made their nimbleness even more impressive.
Lee on the other hand, kept his hair like he did when he was younger, his sides were shaved and the front was rolled over to a swoop. He had a scar over his eyebrow, one from his past life that somehow followed him into his current life. His piercing sky blue eyes and inability to grow facial hair gave him a baby face. He pierced his ear lobes though, and stuck two nails in the holes like his old earrings he used to wear. He was skinnier, and was the same height as Sara.
A pig suddenly slammed its head into the slop bucket flipping it over, Lee grumbling as he squished through the mud of the pig pen. "Died old as hell, and now i'm back to feeding fast bastards like its a divine punishment."
"Oh shut up, it's a rotation system. Tomorrow you can bale the hay." Sara said with a roll of their eyes, even though deep down they had agreed with Lee they couldn't admit it. Especially since he would get cocky about being on the same page.
In the background their mother had been making stew, their father was repairing a fence, and their youngest 3 year old sister was splashing in the mud from the recent storms that had been traveling through.
"Remember when you tried to get a ferret, and it bit your nose?" Sara suddenly said, shoving a pitch fork into the hay pile and tossing it into the wheelbarrow.
"I remember having to get a few stitches on the bridge of my nose because of it."
"You sucked with animals in two lives now."
"If I could use magic, this pig pen would be on fire."
"If you could use magic, you would have burned the house down twice by now."
The sudden shout from the house made them perk up, "Could you two run out and get me some oats, dried fruid, and herbs for the porridge?" Dropping the pitch fork, while Lee began climbing out of the pig pen "Yeah, we will!" Sara answered, "only cause you want free samples." Lee grumbled and rolled his eyes.
The trip to the market wasn't an awful one, however the rain washed a lot of the road out making it messy. The two strolled hands in their pockets and began the small banter they had been accustomed to when they were alone from others.
"You think I could re-invent the light bulb in this world?" Lee asked glancing at Sara
"Do you know how the light bulb works?"
"Isn't…it like a key on a kite?"
"That…isn't a real fact you know that right?"
"Shut up, yes it is!"
"If google existed, you would owe me money."
"Ha, but it doesn't!"
The rest of the trip was pretty average to say the least, the village wasn't huge, most of the main town was just shops and taverns, a black smith closer to the edge of it, the rest of the people lived in the farm lands surrounding the village.
Holding an extra apple, Lee bit straight into it with a loud crunch. The sound of gossip moved quickly, people whispering and pointing, "Are people pointing at me?" Sara suddenly slapped Lee's arm as he turned and saw four nobles in gleaming blue and gold robes were moving through the village.
Accompanied by warriors, they looked anxious and nervous, their eyes glancing at the people surrounding them. All except the one in the very middle, a warrior with shaggy black hair, and intimidating eyes. "He looks familiar." Lee said in a quiet hushed tone, Sara nodded, "I think he is the so-called chosen one."
They watched, having less of an excited expression and more of annoyed ones that they gotta wait for them to pass by. Lee continues his apple eating endeavors with lack of interest, finally moving on with their day and beginning their trip back towards their home.
The walk back, boring as every other, Lee was tossing an apple up and down casually. Sara was whistling, hands in their pockets. "Smells like rain." Lee said, pausing and wiggling his nose looking up towards the cloudy sky. Sara paused and glanced up rolling their eyes, "southern boy." They remarked smiling before they turned to keep walking.
BOOM
A bright flash of light off in the distance towards their home filled the skies, it was a swirl of blue hue. They stood there frozen for a moment before they dropped everything and sprinted. They could feel the rain beginning to pour down over them while they ran, their feet beginning to stomp over cracked roads in the process.
Sliding to a halt just as they came over the hill they saw it, there was a large crater where the house had been. They gritted her teeth, the figure cloaked in blue and gold accents, he stood like a statue, his eyes scanning the area. His head turned showing a mask over his face only showing his mouth.
"If any of the Gods wish to allow for this incident to happen again, let this be a reminder to you. We will not allow errors in this world." The voice boomed, as if talking to someone. "Reincarnated souls, lose their memories." He clarified.
The realization made Lee gasp, just loud enough for the keen hearing of the figure. His head tilted and began turning. Sara grabbed Lee and shoved him into the ditch falling into it with him their heads buried into the dirt and mud.
Slowly the blue hue erupted again and with it the figure had vanished. Sara and Lee's head slowly lifted up, their adrenaline was rushing and they took off running towards the crater. "Susie was taking a nap." Sara said with wide eyes standing at the edge of it. Lee slid down the hole and began looking around. The hole was clean, like perfectly carved earth. The existence of it snapped out of reality like a black hole.
Lee screamed and began pounding the ground, two lives, two families, and they lost them both. Sara stood frozen, silent, eyes dried yet to emotionally process what had happened. In an instant just fire, ash, and the sound of a storm over them.
All they could think was was six words.
'They weren't special.'
'So why them?'