Loki stood for a full minute, staring at the empty space where the window had been before it disappeared.
The silence it left behind wasn’t comfortable. It was the kind of silence that made you feel like someone was watching you from a corner you couldn’t see.
"Alright." He shook out his hands as if brushing away an annoying thought. "Let’s assume I’m in a novel. Let’s assume I’m now in the body of someone named Loki, and that this person was destined to die so the protagonist could develop. Great." He laughed without amusement. "The only problem is the author didn’t ask me."
He looked down at the creature lying at his feet, examining it from a distance without getting too close.
Small body. Dark fur. Fangs too sharp for its size.
"If this is the weakest thing in this forest, I’m in trouble. And if it’s the strongest thing, then I’m luckier than I deserve."
He didn’t know which was true. And that alone was enough to worry him.
He tried summoning the window again. "Status Window."
It appeared immediately, as if it had been waiting for him to call it:
[Host Status: Loki]
Level: Novice
HP:100/100
Strength: E
Stamina: E
Intelligence: D
Agility: D
Inner Energy: E ??
He stared at the fourth line for a while.
"Inner Energy... and two question marks. Why?"
He waited for an answer. Nothing came.
"You really are a silent system at the important moments."
He paused, then smiled, differently this time.
"But that means one thing: I’m the only one who can even see this number. If that’s true, then that’s not a small advantage."
He decided not to jump to conclusions.
He sat on a fallen tree trunk, and used a piece of cloth from his clothes to wipe the blood from his palm — the mark of his first punch — while he thought more calmly.
New body. New world. A system that didn’t explain anything completely.
Every piece of information he got now would be valuable, and any rushed conclusion might cost him more than he thought.
"No point running before I learn how to walk in this place."
He watched the forest around him with sharper eyes this time.
The trees here were taller than any he was used to. Their leaves were a deep green that leaned toward blue at the edges, as if something in this world dyed even the plants with something strange compared to what he knew.
He heard the rustle of a distant bird, and the faint sound of a stream somewhere behind the trees. None of it was familiar enough to reassure him.
"Alright, Loki. Or whatever your real name is." He muttered to himself. "One step at a time."
It wasn’t long before he heard a distant sound cut through his focus. Footsteps.
Not an animal this time. Human footsteps. Heavy and fast. And a voice calling a name he didn’t expect to hear so soon.
"Loki! Loki, where the hell are you?!"
His fist clenched on instinct, then he realized how pointless it was and relaxed his hand.
Whoever was coming, it was unlikely they came to fight him while shouting his name first.
He stood where he was and waited, trying to look as normal as possible even though he had no idea what "normal" meant in a body that wasn’t his.
From between the bushes came a boy and a girl, looking close to his age.
The boy was panting like he’d run a long distance. Strands of hair stuck to his sweaty forehead.
The girl looked calmer, despite the worry on her face, as if she was used to being the rational one between the two of them.
"There you are, Loki." The boy said in a tone mixed with anger and relief, stopping to catch his breath before continuing. "You shouldn’t have gotten so angry at what the caretaker said. You know he didn’t mean it."
Loki looked at him in silence, studying every detail of his face without showing it.
He watched the way he stood, the way he spoke. There was something different about him. Something Loki couldn’t quite put his finger on.
It made Loki feel that this person was different from any ordinary person who would live in a small orphanage village.
He had no solid proof yet. But instinct alone was enough to make him more cautious.
"Who are you?" He said finally.
The boy froze in place, stunned. He looked at the girl, then back at Loki with eyes that couldn’t believe what they’d just heard.
"What? You don’t know me? I’m Kaiden. And this is Lucy. We’re your friends."
Loki looked at the girl. She was watching him more warily than Kaiden, her eyes moving between him and the forest behind him, as if she was trying to figure out what had made him wander so far from the village.
She didn’t speak yet. She just watched. And that alone made Loki feel that she might be noticing more than Kaiden was saying.
"I really don’t know you." Loki said. And at least that part was true.
"I woke up with a headache. I don’t remember anything. I don’t even know who I am."
Kaiden’s eyes widened. "Amnesia?" He turned to Lucy with clear worry. "Have you ever heard of something like this?"
Lucy shook her head. Her eyes still fixed on Loki.
"No. I’ve never heard of a case like this in the village. But... maybe he hit his head? Did you fall?"
Loki thought quickly before answering.
"I don’t know. The last thing I remember is vague. Like a dream more than a memory."
It wasn’t a full lie. It was the closest description he could give without revealing anything he didn’t want to reveal yet.
Kaiden took a step closer, examining Loki’s face with genuine concern this time, not fake.
"Are you in pain? Do you feel dizzy?"
"A little." Loki said, adding a touch of truth to make the lie more convincing. "But I can walk."
Kaiden stayed silent for a moment, his eyes moving between Loki and the forest around them, as if he was trying to understand how his friend ended up this far away.
Then he finally sighed, as if deciding to postpone the rest of the questions.
"Alright. Let’s go back first, then we’ll figure out what to do. The caretaker knows you ran off. But he doesn’t know you came this far."
The three of them started walking slowly back the way Kaiden and Lucy had come.
The forest faded behind them with every step.
No one spoke for a few minutes. Silence hung between them. Each one keeping their questions to themselves.
Lucy finally broke it.
"Do you remember anything at all? Even something small?"
Loki considered the question with deliberate seriousness.
"I remember my name. I remember... a feeling that I know you. Even if I can’t remember your faces exactly. A strange feeling. Like part of me trusts you, while another part doesn’t know why."
Lucy looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped.
Instead she looked at Kaiden, who was walking ahead of them with confident strides, as if he was leading a group bigger than it actually was.
Loki noticed that look. Short, but intense. And he stored it in his mind without comment.
"Kaiden." Loki said after another stretch of silence. "Tell me. Who exactly are we? I mean... where do we live? Who are we?"
Kaiden stopped for a moment, then turned with a confident smile, as if he was happy to have a chance to explain.
"We’re orphans. The three of us. We live in a care home on the edge of the village, run by a man we call the Caretaker.
We’re not blood siblings. But we’ve grown up together since we were kids. That makes us closer than a lot of real siblings."
"And what about the area we live in?"
Kaiden looked at him with a strange expression for a second, as if the question seemed too basic.
Then he smiled, as if he understood why.
"Right. The amnesia.
We live inside the Empire. That’s all I know, honestly. The village is small and the Caretaker doesn’t talk much about the outside world.
But don’t worry. We’ll... I mean, we’ll ask him for details when we get there."
Loki didn’t continue the conversation. He just nodded slowly while his mind worked in silence.
_Empire_... but no specific name yet. No details. Just one word that pointed to a governing system far bigger than a small village on its edge.
Not enough information to draw any conclusions. But it was a start. And any start was better than nothing.
They kept walking. The village began to appear in the distance. Scattered wooden roofs among the trees. Faint smoke rising from one or two chimneys.
Loki felt something like anticipation creep into him.
Not exactly fear. More like the feeling that comes before entering a completely new place, when you know every detail in it will be a lesson you have to learn fast if you want to survive.
"We’ll be there in a few minutes." Lucy said suddenly, as if she was trying to break a silence that had lasted too long.
"Don’t worry about the Caretaker. He’s... harsh with his words. But he’s not as bad as he seems."
Loki looked at her with a faint smile that didn’t mean anything clear.
"We’ll see."
They reached the edge of the village.
Loki looked at the houses in front of him, then at Kaiden and Lucy.
He didn’t know either of them.
And yet, one of them was looking at him like an old friend...
and the other like a stranger.
"How entertaining."