The sun climbed higher in the sky, its warm rays shining over Millus face as he lay motionless on the charred ground where he had fallen. Slowly, he started to wake up from a deep slumber, his consciousness felt strangely whole. His soul had finally fully merged with his body, yet the details of how that happened were hazy.
"…Hey, system… are you there?" he asked aloud, his voice sounded hoarse.
A serene voice echoed in his mind. "Yes, host, I am here."
Millus stared directly at the clear sky, he was watching the clouds drift lazily. The morning air felt calm, it's almost surreal. The weather is also nice, he thought idly before speaking again. "Can I ask you something?"
"Ask away," the system replied to him.
Millus lifted his hand, staring at it as if seeing it for the first time. "What… happened to me?"
The system's response to his question was measured. "Your journey ended on your old world, and now you have begun anew, your soul and body has fully merged together. Are you not happy, host?"
Millus fell silent when he heard the answer to his question, he fixed his eyes on the sky. "…It's not that. It's just… what about my…" He paused for a moment, as he was searching for the right word.
"Family?" the system offered the answer, filling the gap.
"Yes, my family. I chose to remember them, even if it's just their faces. I can feel it, I wasn't wrong to pick that choice," he said quietly, a faint melancholy in his tone.
"..."
The system didn't respond immediately. Its silence felt heavy, almost sympathetic.
Millus broke the silence and asked, "Then… What are you exactly? Are you a parasite? Or are you planning to take over my body?"
The system replied, "I am but a guide, host. A fragment of your consciousness, I am not what you described. If you wish to terminate me, I shall accept without question."
"…No, you can stay," Millus said after a moment. "I welcome your company. If you're part of my consciousness, does that mean you could… live in a body of your own someday?"
"It is possible, if the host wishes it," the system answered. "But for now, I would rather stay by your side."
'For now, huh?'' Millus thought, mulling over the system's answer.
"Since we'll be together for a long time, instead of just calling you 'system' which sounded so distant, how about I give you a name?"
"You may call me whatever you wish, host."
Millus smiled faintly. "You can call me Millus, since that's the name I go by now. And as for you…" He paused and thought about what name to give. "What about… Veda?"
"Then my name is Veda. Thank you, Millus," the system said, its tone turning soft.
"Yeah, no problem, based on your response you like that name." Millus sat up, shaking off some kind of metal and earth that melted on his clothes. "Now, tell me about the girl who's been leaving me… offerings?"
"She appears to be approximately sixteen years old, though her growth is stunted due to malnutrition and vitamin deficiency," Veda explained. "She began consistently bringing food and water yesterday, after the temperature in your vicinity became tolerable."
"So she thinks I'm some kind of celestial being that has fallen from the sky huh," Millus mused, chuckling. "She's not entirely wrong, I guess, but I'm no celestial being tho." He glanced down at his youthful form.
"…I look unusually young for my age. Is this normal? Or can I change how I look?"
"Unfortunately, Millus, your physical form is now permanent, and as for your age from the past, your age this time is not entirely new, your body age is approximately nineteen years old. This is the body that you created long before your transfer," Veda replied.
"I see, fair enough," he said with a shrug. "Now, where's this girl who's been so generous to me even though she barely had anything for herself, I'd like to thank her for her generosity."
He extended his hand, and a fruit, plump and guava-like, floated from the offerings and landed gently in his palm.
Crunch~
"It's sweet," he murmured while taking a bite. Closing his eyes, he focused on his surroundings, he expanded his senses outward. Then a dimensional diagram formed in his mind, allowing him to perceive every detail of the area, from birds gliding in the sky to the smallest insects crawling on the ground.
He scanned the mountain and soon located the girl near her tent. She was cooking meat over the fire.
"She looks… European? Wait… what's a European?" He scratched his head in confusion. "Hey, Veda, what is a European?"
"I do not know, Millus. The transfer process affected me as well. However, based on your reaction, 'Europeans' may have been people from your previous world. Perhaps they were from a country called Europe."
"Oh, as expected of you, Veda! You're like a built in computer in my brain!" he said while giving a thumbs-up.
"Thank you for your evaluation, Millus," Veda replied, its tone neutral with a hint of humor.
Millus turned his focus back to the girl. "Her clothes seem odd, animal hides and fur. Hmm… the technology level here is…" He snapped his fingers, trying to recall the term.
"Bronze Age," Veda said flatly.
"Yes! That's the word," Millus said, laughing. "And it seems she has a friend, a very big one at that. It's hunting for her, and she's preparing the meat to cook them or she's preparing to offer it to me, I don't eat raw meat tho, wait… why am I thinking it's for me?."
He leaned back, finishing the fruit in his hand as he contemplated what he'll do next. The girl had shown him kindness. Perhaps it was time to repay her, and satisfy his growing curiosity about this strange and primitive world.
Before Millus's Awakening.
Lina stood at the edge of the massive crater, her breath was getting faster as she peered down. Her heart pounded with excitement and trepidation. The wide crater stretched nearly 300 meters in diameter and descended 50 meters deep down to its center.
She crouched down, looking for a way to descend carefully. The sheer size and devastation left by the event filled her with awe.
'Mother… if what you said is true…' she thought, as she gripped the rocky edges for balance. 'No, I need to see it with my own eyes.'
Lina circled the perimeter of the crater, her sharp gaze searching for a safe slope to climb down. Then eventually, she found a narrow path and began her descent, each of her steps carefully placed on solid ground to avoid slipping down.
'Mother, if only you were here to witness this. The scene you described to me as a child… then the being in the middle is… '
Her cheeks reddened as she recalled her mother's teasing stories. 'You shouldn't have joked about such things back then…'
A few minutes passed, and Lina finally neared the base of the crater. The air was thick with lingering heat, making it difficult for her to breathe and come closer. She wiped the sweat from her brow, her heart raced faster as she caught the sight of the figure lying at the center.
Her breath hitched.
"…!" She froze, her mind struggling to comprehend what she was seeing.
'H-how can someone survive this?' she thought, her wide eyes fixed on the figure. And then it struck her, everything her mother had described during her childhood was now before her.
The person lying in the crater's center looked ethereal, and otherworldly. His clear and fair skin reflected the light of the embers around him. His silver hair shimmered like a metal she'd never seen before, catching the faint rays of sunlight. The strange clothes he wore were adorned with intricate patterns.
The heat and glow of the surroundings only enhanced his radiance, even making him seem like a god who had descended to the mortal realm.
Lina's heart pounded. 'Mother was right…' She stared for a moment longer before a thought jolted her back to reality.
"I-I need to make an offering!" she exclaimed while her voice was trembling. And without wasting any time, she then turned around and began climbing back up the slope where she came from, she moved as quickly as the rugged terrain allowed her to.
Then she finally reached the top of the crater, she immediately collapsed onto her knees, she was panting heavily trying to catch her breath.
She then wiped her face of sweat mixed with dirt and exhaled softly, then she glanced back into the crater, the image of the person who was laying motionless was burned into her mind.
Back at her tent, Lina emptied her primitive bag, her hands trembling slightly. She picked up the obsidian knife of the chieftain, then she secured it to her side with a twine, and brought it with her for protection.
'...Meat is out of the question. I'll have to gather fruits from the forest,' she thought about what she needed to do, she clenched her fists. As she looked at the pitiful state of her supplies which frustrated her, but she resolved to do what she could.
'…It's fine. I'll manage somehow,' she thought determinedly as she left the tent, she planned on descending the mountain toward the nearest forest to gather edible plants and fruits.
As she walked the path she took to get to the crater, a familiar figure appeared before her, stopping her in her tracks.
"You survived, child," said the towering wolf. Its deep voice rumbled like distant thunder. "It seems that being is not as malevolent as I feared."
Lina gasped softly, her eyes widening. She immediately dropped to her knees to show her respect. "I greet the mountain guardian."
"Do not kneel, child," the wolf interrupted her, its golden eyes fixed on her. "It is I who owe you respect. I used you to gauge the intentions of that being, if you had died I would've judged that being as dangerous."
Lina blinked, her awe was momentarily replaced with confusion. She looked at the wolf. Although it still radiated power, it was much smaller than the night they first met, now the wolf is standing at roughly 15 meters, half of its former size.
"What form does it take?" the wolf asked before Lina could reply.
"I-it looks like a person. A-and his appearance is… beautiful. The most beautiful I've ever seen," she stammered, her face flushing.
The wolf then tilted its head thoughtfully. "A person, you say? Hmm… perhaps a celestial being that fell from the stars, as the moon itself welcomed him."
The wolf's golden eyes gleamed while looking at her and it continued. "Very well. I shall assist you. What is it that you need?"
"I can't hunt animals… so," Lina admitted with a small voice. "I… I was planning to just gather fruits"
The wolf let out a hearty laugh, its rumbling voice echoing across the mountainside. "Fruits? Worry not, child. I shall bring you fresh meat."
Before she could respond, the wolf already leaped into the horizon, disappearing in a single bound.
The wolf returned soon after, carrying its prey, a pair of moose. Lina stared at it, she was stunned by the sheer size of the animals the mountain guardian hunted.
"…This is too much, great deity," she hesitantly said, she was overwhelmed by the abundance of meat.
The wolf chuckled. "Then I shall eat half of it. Now where is your den?"
"Then p-please, follow me," Lina said, leading the wolf back to her tent.
When they arrived, the wolf's eyes narrowed as it sensed something in the air. 'A heavy, unfamiliar aura hung over the area. How does she not feel this?' the she wondered.
The wolf set down the moose and shrank further, now the wolf is only slightly larger than Lina. Lina, who was preparing to ask how to butcher the meat, watched in silence as the wolf easily tore a chunk of flesh from the moose and handed it over to her.
"Now it's your turn, use your blade," the wolf simply said to her.
Lina nodded and quickly got to work, using the obsidian knife she neatly cut the meat into smaller portions.
As the sun rose higher, the wolf suddenly lifted its head, its ears was twitching.
"The being seemed to have woken up," it said.
Lina froze and stopped what she's doing, her hands halting mid-motion. Then slowly, she turned to face the wolf, then she glanced toward the crater.
Her heart raced as a mix of fear, excitement, and uncertainty filled her chest. 'What should I do?'
End of chapter