_Chapter Begins_
Crystals. The smell of blood. Distant figure. Unholy sounds. Blurry vision. Shaky breaths.
These were the only details that she managed to discern before a giant wooden fang bit down on her skull—of course it did not stop there, it continued to go down until her body was split in half.
Thankfully she did not have to experience that last part, since the obliteration of her skull immediately sent her into a world of pure darkness.
She was dead.
But if she was truly dead then how was she thinking about being dead right now, that made no sense.
And the world seemed to agree with that logic. She could still think so she had to be alive.
Suddenly, her body just started to grow back from thin air. It was a relatively short process, with her sense of touch being the first to come back to her. The joy of being able to feel the rough terrain below her had never felt so liberating—the amount of pure happiness consuming her mind was almost maddening.
But as her ears were reformed, that happiness quickly turned to primal fear. Jane could hear breathing—loud, loud breathing that blew past her like a gust of wind.
This breath felt like an omen of death to her and yet she could not explain why that was.
In fact, Jane really could not explain a lot of her emotions right now. She felt so different from her usual self, and her memories were so foggy and misplaced.
Her name was Jane and she was a victim that managed to get revenge on her horrible family. Using her intellect she destroyed everything that her family had built and then left with not an ounce of regret in her heart. Eventually she ended up on the streets and became a criminal.
That was who he was.
"He... I am a he?... Oh yea, I guess I am."
Jane was a boy. He had dark hair and ominous black eyes, paired with smooth pale skin that hung tightly to his bones.
He had a big brother and a little sister.
His big brother Hans was a brilliant human being that always knew the right decision to make, a symbol of competence in a world of rot. He was also very kind and took care of everyone in his family, including Jane.
This truly made Jane...
Hate him.
He hated his big brother with every fiber of his being.
"No, that's not right. Why would I hate him?"
His body was whole again now, every detail reformed to its original state. Jane could see again now.
What met his eye was a wide open maw that was made entirely from wood. And it was coming straight for him.
Before a single thought could even form in his mind, the wooden teeth of the abomination shredded his body to bits and pieces.
Instant and foggy, that was what his first death had been. This second one was different though, because while his mind was undoubtedly still very foggy, it was to a lesser degree than before.
So what did this mean?
Well it meant that Jane could feel every second of his body being torn to chunks by the wooden terror.
Inside his mind, Jane screamed in agony. And outside his mind he did the same.
But why, why did the inside of his mind feel so different from his outside self? It felt like he was two people mushed together—
Before he could finish that thought, the darkness of false death consumed him once more.
He was dead now.
And then, after a few seconds he was alive again.
After coming back, he managed to get some distance away from the fiend by running between the rubble of crystals.
But his escape did not last long and the wooden beast caught him and ripped him open once more.
Dead again.
Alive again.
And then dead again.
Darkness.
Alive again.
Rinse and repeat, over and over again.
Hell. Hell. Hell. This was the only thing that she could think about.
"She... wasn't I a he?"
The emotions of two people were mixing inside and Jane did not know which were true to the soul.
Though as time passed, Jane ultimately decided to not bother trying to understand which emotions were hers and instead focused on what she was reliving.
All of it was so much, she could barely comprehend it.
But at a certain point, her perception of this world would completely change with a single notice.
As she sat inside the eyes of the wooden abomination, far in the distance she saw a certain someone.
"Is that... me?"
Without a single thought, Jane jumped out of the reflective eyes of the wooden titan and sprinted toward herself.
And as she ran, an unexplainable thought made its way into her mind.
Inside her mind, these strange words echoed.
"Why is my hair so long?"
She remembered growing them out so why was she even questioning this—she simply did not know.
Something did not make sense though. If this person that she was dashing toward was herself then—
"Whose body is this?!"
The taboo was finally broken, and Jane finally realized what was happening to her. She was currently reliving William's memories. And it seemed that these memories also carried a bundle of William's emotions and feelings as well.
With her awareness now back, Jane could now see and feel things much more clearly—all fog gone from her mind. She saw what William had seen and felt what William had felt.
She finally saw what her brother truly was like on the inside, all of his emotions and feelings being jumbled into her own.
_Chapter Ends_