The blue moonlight shimmered beautifully across the sky alongside hundreds of glittering stars, making the scenery feel magical, utterly mesmerizing, and calming to the mind of the young man staring at it with a face burdened by pressure.
From the ground-floor living room window, Liam Tirarty realized he was inside an unfamiliar house, accompanied by the strange feeling that had haunted him ever since he awoke from death.
He only remembered two people: a woman he believed had been his friend, and a man lying on the ground with a knife embedded in the side of his abdomen.
Other than that, he remembered nothing at all, carrying only the memories from before the terrible incident that had thrown him into prison.
For a moment, his gaze settled on the cobblestone road outside, where not a single person could be seen passing by, making his chest tighten at the sight. Confusion clouded his thoughts. Where exactly was he?
"Who is he? How did I end up inside this person's body?" he muttered in confusion, his blue eyes faintly glimmering in the dim light as he stared at his own reflection in the window glass.
'I'm confused because the body I'm inhabiting right now had already died, yet it came back to life the moment my soul was dragged into it.'
Liam tried to recall the details of how he had risen from death itself.
'The moment that knife was pulled from the left side of my chest, I felt a cold sensation that emptied my mind for a brief moment before the wound regenerated on its own as if nothing had ever happened.
I don't know. I'm so confused about how I ended up here.'
8:30 PM.
Liam realized something was wrong with this world when he read the newspaper reporting a series of deaths that had occurred that morning, learning about it after his mother returned home carrying two copies from the town square.
The report described the same incident that had happened to Zavi. Today, he had not died alone, but alongside dozens of people from different districts. The cathedral bells had continued ringing throughout the previous day and night, mourning the tragedy that had struck Moran while also serving as a warning for people to remain cautious during their daily activities.
'I just remembered seeing a shadowy human-like figure with wings in the central room while I was cleaning myself and wiping away the bloodstains on the floor.'
He realized, or rather, this world resembled the city where he had once lived on that cursed Earth.
'There really isn't any difference.'
Across various cities, especially in Havanuheta Province, supernatural incidents occurred frequently and often ended in horrifying tragedies that claimed lives in gruesome ways.
The cause of those deaths had never been clearly identified, and even now, on Saturday, October 20th, the news had reached its peak regarding the numerous deaths across Moran's seven districts, while the authorities had no answers for any of it.
Only Zavi himself and several others whose deaths remained unconfirmed were exceptions.
At the same time, prophecies about the coming apocalypse were spreading everywhere. No one knew when it would happen. There was no definite date, month, or year.
Even the main church, Morotuane, which worshipped the god Auneron, the bringer of fortune and virtue, seemed somewhat concerned about all of this and instructed citizens to remain calm and avoid panic.
Several hours had passed since Liam's soul had transferred into the body of a twenty-year-old young man named Zavi Actitus. However, he had only fully regained consciousness that afternoon, as if his soul had needed time to adapt to this body and this world before sinking into something strange and unknown.
Inside a modest two-story house with a total of seven rooms, Zavi lived with his mother, Mei Actitus, his older brother, Ren Actitus, and his younger sister, Isabelle Actitus.
He was the second child in the family.
Or rather, the first.
When Zavi was five years old, his father left without any clear explanation. Isabelle was only one year old at the time. Zavi's mother, Mei, simply said that his father had remarried. That was all. No explanation. No reason.
Some time later, his mother remarried as well, to one of her former upperclassmen from school. He brought along a son. Ren. Ten years old. His mother had passed away, leaving behind only the family name. From that point on, their family gained another member. But Zavi's biological father... would never return.
On that very same date, October 20th, 1543 according to the Star Calendar, on a Saturday at 8:15 AM, Zavi ended his own life by stabbing his heart with a knife.
Why did he do it? Because on Thursday, the 18th, he had visited a place known as the sacred land called Eaurealis Castle in Tezny District together with a former female classmate, and by Friday night he had begun experiencing an unbearable sensation throughout his entire body.
It was as if two black marks appeared on either his left or right wrist and on his neck, shifting from place to place, accompanied by a feeling as though his heart were about to explode.
On Saturday morning, immediately after breakfast, the sensation became so overwhelming that his body reached its limit, and Zavi stabbed his own heart with a kitchen knife. That day, none of his family members knew anything about it, as though the incident itself was connected to something supernatural!
That death triggered Liam Tirarty's soul to forcibly take over his body, and somehow, the stab wound completely healed afterward, as if the entire event had been nothing more than a nightmare fading away after waking from a long sleep.
Even tonight, Liam still could not speak fluently after experiencing that strange incident, downloading Zavi's memories as they overlapped with his previous ones, while those moments continued replaying endlessly in his mind, making his chest tremble violently.
'School? Insulting each other? That's all I can remember for now. The rest is Zavi's daily life, constantly stressed and staying up late searching for work until he exhausted his own savings.'
After learning all of that, he realized he had to hide the knife inside a cabinet, clean the blood from the kitchen floor, and wash himself in the bathroom before his older brother returned home with their mother that afternoon.
Stay calm, suppress the effects of overwhelming anxiety, and play the role of Zavi for the time being. Liam had already decided to figure out how this world worked and uncover the mystery of his existence inside the body of a twenty-year-old young man named Zavi Actitus.
"Damn it."
Then... a voice filled with curiosity and slight confusion came from the direction of the stairs.
"What's wrong, Zavi?" his younger sister asked with a puzzled expression. "Did your heart get broken again after another woman rejected you?"
Isabelle's gaze swept across the dimly lit living room before she quickly added,
"Or are you upset because you still haven't found a job after running all over the place?"
His younger sister, Isabelle, stood on the first step of the staircase, and she was somewhat mischievous toward him. Ever since childhood, she had barely spoken to her older brother, Ren, for reasons unknown. Even their mother wanted the two of them to reconcile and behave like a real family.
Liam turned toward her with a faint smile, stepped forward, and decided to humor her for a moment to ease the tension and curiosity weighing on his mind.
As if hearing their conversation, their mother, who was inside her room on the left side of the living room, stepped outside.
Liam immediately abandoned that intention as his footsteps came to a halt.
"It's late. Aren't you two sleepy?" their mother said softly while rubbing her eyes and turning on the light.
The gentle glow from the chandelier illuminated the three of them, allowing Liam to clearly see everything around him.
His mother stared deeply at Liam as she watched him approach. Then she spoke in a voice as soft as silk, "Has Ren come home yet?" She carefully observed both of her children.
Isabelle's previously cheerful expression turned gloomy. She climbed the stairs with her jaw clenched, leaving the two of them behind without saying a word.
Liam tilted his head after witnessing that. He still didn't understand why Isabelle hated Ren so much. Even within Zavi's memories, he couldn't find a single clue about it.
He let out a sigh while looking at his mother's face, filled with concern and exhaustion from carrying two roles at once, as the head of the family and as a housewife.
"Just leave it. You should go back to sleep," Liam said clearly and firmly as he guided his mother back toward her room.
'He went out again after coming home at five in the afternoon, and about my memories from Earth... why can't I remember them? Is it because they keep overlapping while this body's memories are dominating my thoughts right now? And what exactly was I doing before I transferred into this body?'
Liam wanted to remember what he had been doing before inhabiting this body, but failed because he instead found himself trapped in the memory of Zavi graduating and attending a commencement ceremony in a prestigious building within Tezny District.
'Damn it, what am I supposed to do to remember?'
Liam was completely consumed by his emotions as his steps grew heavier while he pushed his mother back into her room.
Click...
His mother's bedroom door closed from the outside. Meanwhile, Liam switched off the main light before walking toward his own room because there was information he wanted to investigate.
His room was located on the right side of the living room.
As the door opened, a gentle night breeze greeted his face with a sense of tranquility that briefly emptied his thoughts.
Realizing the window was still open, Liam had no choice but to shut it tightly. This time, he chose to turn off the bedroom light and use a candle for illumination while resting.
"So... what exactly am I supposed to do?" he muttered softly.
"A strange prophecy? Supernatural phenomena? Shamans? And how did I end up in this world?"
He wanted to free himself from the stress of being trapped inside the house.
'Looks like I just need to find my memories and... those memories keep overlapping, and what was that black figure I saw an hour ago?'
Liam was confused, unsure of what he should do as he picked up the pocket watch in front of him and opened its cover.
Click...
'Almost nine o'clock at night, huh?'
Not long afterward, he heard faint footsteps passing outside his room. The footsteps were rhythmic, as if the person carried malicious intent, perhaps planning to rob the house.
A sense of alarm gripped his mind, his breathing became uneven, and horrifying memories resurfaced of the humanoid shadow walking through the central room before moving to the street in front of the house.
Liam immediately stood up, pushing his chair backward. Then he walked to the right and slowly opened the door to peek outside.
"Is that Ren? I wonder why nobody questioned his absence this morning and why he's only coming home this afternoon."
Because the living room was fairly dark with the lights turned off, and he was nothing more than an ordinary human incapable of seeing clearly in the dark, he could only make out the silhouette of someone standing in front of the window.
Accidentally, he pushed the door wider open, causing the unpleasant creak of its hinges to echo briefly throughout the room.
'Damn it...'
Liam suddenly felt nervous. His hands trembled violently, and even the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
From the doorway, his gaze briefly landed on a man with straight black hair and blue eyes filled with exhaustion, staring back at him with a weary expression.
Ren lowered the hood of his cloak and cast a brief glance toward his younger brother before climbing the stairs.
'Is he some kind of criminal?'
Liam didn't know what to think. He let out a sigh, and when his gaze shifted outside, the door moved and emitted another ear-piercing creak; with heavy steps, he quickly shut it.
Back inside his room, sitting quietly while staring at the neatly arranged books on the desk and the soft, steady candlelight, Liam suddenly remembered something from a fragment of Zavi's memories.
'That man was hiding something in his left hand. I'm sure of it. He's hiding something from the family... but what is it?'
Those questions continued spinning endlessly through his mind without answers, irritating him until, without realizing it, he slammed his hand against the desk.
Not long afterward, unexpectedly, his ears caught the sound of rapid footsteps descending the staircase like a series of sharp knocks. He wondered what kind of person could run down the stairs that quickly. Did that person possess supernatural abilities?
Then came a knock on the door from the right side, where he was sitting.
His pupils widened while his breathing grew heavier, and his gaze immediately locked onto the polished wooden door.
Suddenly, he stood up and decided to open it.
He saw his older brother standing there with a gloomy expression and an unreadable look in his eyes.
"Why are you here?" he asked flatly while looking at his brother's face, his breathing gradually returning to normal as Liam examined him from head to toe.
Ren inspected every corner of the room as though making sure there was nothing strange hidden inside. Suddenly, he grabbed Liam's shoulders with both of his cold hands.
"It's nothing. But be careful."
'Be careful?' Liam thought, his heartbeat slowing as he considered the meaning behind Ren's words.
After saying that, Ren left without explaining what he meant, leaving his own younger brother trapped within a circle of uncertainty.