His eyes felt heavy.
Slowly, with effort, he tried to move them—just to see, just to understand where he was. But there was nothing. Not darkness. Not a void. Just... nothingness.
It was beyond description, a place without form or meaning. A space where even the idea of existence seemed absent. There were no shapes, no colors, not even darkness—only the unsettling absence of everything.
He tried to move his body, but it felt impossibly heavy. Restrained? Maybe. Or perhaps he was simply too tired, too detached from whatever world he had once known.
Strangely, his body felt enormous. There was no reflection, no ground beneath him, no sense of proportion—but something told him he was massive.
Am I a titan?
The thought came, uninvited and absurd. He shook it off. Useless. What mattered now was understanding. Where was he? How did he get here?
Time meant nothing here.
Had it been minutes? Days? Years? Centuries? He couldn't tell. The very concept of time had unraveled, slipping through his fingers like sand in a dream. He had lost count long ago—if he had ever counted at all.
Am I going to stay here forever?
Loneliness crept in like a chill wind, even in this place devoid of air. He wanted to speak, to hear a voice—any voice—but there was no one. Just the endless expanse of nothing before him.
At least give me a mirror, he thought bitterly. Let me see what I've become.
Then, without warning—
A flash.
Not of light, exactly, but a memory. It struck like lightning across his mind, foreign and terrifying.
A voice escaped his lips, trembling and uncertain.
"Oooh… old man… scary."
He didn't know why he said it. The words felt strange, like they didn't belong to him. But the fear—that was real. The memory, or whatever it was, had left something behind.
A shadow.
A presence.
A warning.
"Wuuu…"
The sound escaped him soft, uncertain.What did he do to deserve this kind of death threat?Who even was the old man?
"What did I even do to you…?" he murmured into the void.
Then he paused. Wait… he could talk? But before had he ever even tried to speak? He couldn't remember. It had felt like he couldn't, but maybe he simply never thought to.
Testing it again, he opened his mouth and let out,"AAAA."
The sound echoed strangely—or maybe it didn't echo at all. It was hard to tell in a space that had no walls, no edges, no reality.
Still, the noise stirred something in him—excitement, maybe. Like a child discovering a toy after ages of dull silence.
He played with his voice, muttering, humming, making nonsense sounds just to break the monotony.
But no toy stays exciting forever.Eventually, even the thrill of sound dulled.
Boredom returned like a blanket, heavy and suffocating.With nothing else to do, he decided to take a nap. Just a short one.
His thoughts dulled. The weight of eternity tugged at his mind.And in the haze of sleep, he dreamed.
In that dream… a voice.Someone called him—Mother.
He stirred, confused.Wasn't he… male? Yet, the green-haired person who called him that—there was warmth in their voice, something strangely comforting.
A flicker of happiness passed through him.Was this what it felt like to have a child?
He opened his eyes again, slowly.
And once more, he was greeted by the same endless nothingness.
But something had changed. The dream still lingered, its presence soft but persistent.That voice, that face—it felt familiar, even if he couldn't place it. He wanted to meet them, to see them again. But it was just a dream… wasn't it?
He sighed, deeper this time.
"Maybe another nap..." he muttered.
But as he began to drift off again, he felt something strange subtle, but unmistakable.Something ...
A piece of him… was leaving.
A fragment was being pulled away.
He barely noticed it, too tired.
Maybe it was just exhaustion.
Maybe… he just didn't care anymore.
So what if this place was empty, endless, and senseless? Whatever. Let him dream again. Maybe this time, the dream would be more interesting—maybe it would even become real.
He closed his eyes slowly, drifting off once more. A quiet hope flickered in his mind:
I wonder what I even look like now…Maybe one day… I'll see myself.
And then—A shift.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing.
The world around him had changed.
A narrow alley stretched out before him, cobbled and faintly glowing under the warm hue of flickering lanterns. The stone walls of the surrounding buildings curved and twisted in strange angles, almost too whimsical to be real—like something out of a fantasy novel. Vines hung lazily from balconies. The air shimmered faintly with magical residue.
He blinked, confused.Was this… a dream?
No—it felt different. This world had weight. Sound. Smell. Texture. The cool breeze brushing against his skin, the scent of bread from a nearby bakery, the soft murmur of voices in the distance—it all felt real. Too real.
Then he caught a glimpse of something in a glass window.A reflection.
He took a step closer.
The figure staring back at him was… not what he expected.
A girl.
A girl stared back, with soft light-blue hair, a flat chest beneath a short blouse with oversized sleeves that hid her hands. Her eyes were pink with star-like pupils that shimmered subtly, and atop her head, two massive horns curved outward strange and heavy. She could feel the weight of them now that she noticed.
Is… that me?
No. Not 'he'... She.
She was a girl now?
And not just any girl. She recognized the look. The outfit. The eerie beauty.Tiamat. Larva Tiamat.
Slowly, Tiamat stepped closer to the window, studying the reflection.Her face barely reacted, expression blank, as if emotions were distant things that had to be remembered instead of felt.
So that's why the green-haired person called me "Mother"…That must've been Kingu.
And the old man from her memory? That terrifying presence…King Hassan?The Grand Assassin?
Her eyes widened slightly.Don't tell me… I'm Tiamat from one of many parallel worlds?
She touched her reflection, fingertips brushing the cold surface.
A goddess. A monster. A mother?
scream. Sharp, distant, but human.
Tiamat blinked, head tilting. A young man's voice, tinged with panic.
Curious, she began walking toward the sound.
Her strange appearance drew eyes from the street. Passersby stared, a girl with horns, starry eyes, and sleeves too long to reveal her hands. She paid them no mind.
Another scream.This time quieter. More strained.
Then a single word echoed faintly:"Mother…"
Her pace quickened. Instinct? Emotion? She didn't know. The word tugged at her, pulling something like some kind of her favourite word.
She turned the corner—
And there, in the alleyway, a young man lay bleeding.
He wore track pants with an orange stripe down the leg. Unlike the robed figures and armored knights she'd passed earlier, this one… looked modern. Out of place.
Tiamat narrowed her eyes.That face. That hair. That voice.He seemed familiar…
But before she could step closer, something shifted.
The world around her shimmered, bent—and reversed.The buildings flickered, rewound like an old film reel.
And suddenly, she stood once more at the entrance to the alley, staring at the same window that had first revealed her face.
Time…? Did time just reverse?
She blinked, trying to make sense of it.
The man…Was that Subaru?
Her mind raced.So I'm in Re:Zero now…?
------------------------------------------------------
Tiamat stood silently atop the edge of a building, her long sleeves drifting slightly in the wind. Her presence was veiled, hidden from mortal senses, but her star-like eyes were fixed on the alleyway below.
There, just as she expected, stood the black-haired young man—Subaru.He now faced three thugs who looked eager to corner him.
This is the part where he yells for a knight, Tiamat thought calmly.And then that red-haired one should appear...
Sure enough—
"Help! Somebody, help!" Subaru shouted, panicked and flailing.
Within moments, a blur of crimson swept into the alley like a blade of justice.
Reinhard van Astrea.Bright red hair, steel-blue eyes, a holy aura so strong even Tiamat could feel it from above.He stepped between Subaru and the thugs with effortless confidence.
Tiamat narrowed her eyes, watching the interaction unfold with faint amusement.Reinhard made quick work of the troublemakers, his movements precise, controlled.
Then suddenly he turned his head.Directly toward her.
Tiamat's eyes widened ever so slightly.
She quickly turned her gaze away, tilting her head to face the opposite rooftop..
Down below—
"Reinhard? What are you looking at?" Subaru asked, following his gaze up toward the rooftops where the nothing.
"...Nothing," Reinhard said smoothly, turning back to Subaru with a smile.His tone was casual, but his eyes had briefly narrowed, thoughtful.
The two soon went their separate ways, with Subaru wandering off again while he unaware of the attention still fixed on him.
Tiamat's gaze returned to Reinhard for a brief moment. She watched as he walked away, his presence glowing like a flame against the dim streets.
I forgot how ridiculously overpowered that red-haired kid is… she thought.Of course he'd notice someone watching him from above with all of that devine protection.
A small, rare smile tugged at her lips.
He must've downloaded his life from the Lucky Mod.
(A/n: mother wanted to make chocolate for you)