Chapter-63 Worlds Apart

Frederique trudged through her front door, exhaustion weighing on her limbs like lead.

The pebble... Heavenly Demon, she reminded herself with a dry smirk... rested snugly in her coat pocket, silent since their bizarre conversation in the park.

She barely registered the dim lighting of her room as she stumbled inside. The desk, cluttered with notebooks and a few trinkets, was as good a place as any. With a dull clink, she dropped the stone on the worn wooden surface.

" I'll deal with you in the morning," she mumbled, stifling a yawn.

Sleep pulled at her, overwhelming any lingering curiosity about the talking rock. Her body ached from the night's emotional storm... Lira's drunken antics, the sting of seeing her parents, and now this strange new complication.

Too much.

Collapsing onto her bed, Frederique's mind drifted into darkness.

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The body shifted.

Awareness returned as the barrier of sleep lifted, and a different mind stirred behind Frederique's eyes.

Frideria blinked.

The dim glow of early dawn filtered through the blinds, painting the walls in pale gray. The sensation of rest was strange... foreign... like being allowed to breathe after endless hunger. But Frederique's exhaustion lingered in the flesh, pressing against Frideria's restless instincts.

She sat up, absently stretching the host body's limbs.

Her gaze fell on the stone atop the desk.

Faint, magical threads lingered around it, teasing at her senses, but Frideria felt no threat.

No sustenance either.

"Hmph."

The hunger inside stirred, low but constant.

Without a word, Frideria turned away from the strange pebble. The instinct to learn tugged at her, the same way it had since she'd first begun understanding.

She drifted into the living room.

The glowing box Frederique often stared at... the television... sat against the wall. Frideria narrowed her eyes. The remote lay nearby, the buttons strange yet familiar.

Experimentally, she pressed one.

The screen flickered to life, flooding the room with pale blue light.

Humans, moving and speaking.

Frideria settled into the couch, silent, watching intently as an old movie unfolded. Words and images.

Fear.

Joy.

Sadness.

So many emotions.

She would understand them.

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Morning came.

The smell of stale air and the hum of the television stirred Frederique awake.

Her neck ached.

She blinked, disoriented.

' The couch?'

The remote lay loosely in her lap. The TV continued playing... some old documentary, the voices droning on about migration patterns.

"Frideria?" she whispered, more annoyed than surprised.

A faint, lingering sensation echoed in her chest.

Satisfaction.

Curiosity.

Frederique exhaled, sitting up and rubbing her face. The fuzziness in her head slowly cleared, and memories returned.

The mission.

The pay.

The dinner.

The pebble.

Suddenly more awake, Frederique scrambled back to her room, heart pounding.

The stone still sat on her desk. Exactly where she left it.

No movement. No voice.

Just a smooth, dull rock.

Frederique exhaled, running a hand through her hair.

"Well?"

The silence stretched.

She extented her arm to touch the rock.

"...You are still in there, right?"

" Yes."

The voice bloomed in her mind, deep and calm but strangely muted.

She blinked.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

" I... cannot sense anything beyond myself. The world is a void when you are not touching me. Sightless. Soundless. There is only darkness. And waiting."

"So... you really can't feel anything if I'm not touching you?"

The deep voice echoed faintly in her mind.

" Correct. Your warmth... this... sensation... is all I can perceive. When you let go, there is nothing but void."

Frederique frowned.

"That's... creepy. So you're totally cut off when I... "

She lifted her fingers off the stone.

* Silence.*

"...Hello?"

Nothing.

Sighing, she touched the stone again.

"...Ah. Yes, you have returned. My apologies... I can only speak when you make contact."

"Yeah, I noticed. That's seriously messed up."

She adjusted her grip on the rock, eyebrows furrowed.

" So... you said you were from another world. But you don't know how you ended up like this?"

" I was... ascending. Pushing beyond mortality itself. Then—darkness. And now, I am here."

Frederique tilted her head.

" Ascending? Like... dying? Or turning into a ghost or something?"

" No. It was... cultivation. Mastery of Qi... life essence. I was a cultivator, striving to transcend flesh and become... something greater."

"...Sounds kind of like magic."

" Magic? Explain."

She blinked.

' How do I even begin with that?'

"Okay, uh... so. You said there's no magic where you're from? What about monsters? Vampires? Werewolves? Fairies?"

" No. Only men and beasts. Why? Are you saying those things exist here?"

Frederique exhaled, leaning back against the wall.

"Yeah. Sort of. It's complicated. Most people don't know about them. But, uh... I'm kinda mixed up in all of that. I'm... what you'd call a Changeling."

" Changeling? Elaborate."

She hesitated, gripping the stone a little tighter.

" I'm... was human. But I share my body with a fairy. Her name's Frideria. She's... dangerous. And powerful. I didn't exactly ask for this... it just kind of happened when she possessed me."

The voice responded carefully.

" You share your body? How does this work? Are you... whole?"

Frederique grimaced.

"Yeah, we take turns... kinda. When I'm awake, it's me. When I sleep, she... takes over. We're... still figuring things out."

" So you are bound together. Are you her prison? Or is she yours?"

" ...I don't know. Sometimes it feels like she's trapped in me. Other times... I feel like I'm the one who's losing control."

" Hmm... Intriguing."

The way he said it made her feel exposed, like he was dissecting her words.

"So... what about you? You said no monsters. Just humans and animals? No magic at all?"

" Qi is not magic. It is the life essence within all things. Mastery of it allows a cultivator to rise above mortal limits... harnessing power from the self, not from outside forces."

She nodded slowly.

"That... sounds pretty close to magic where I'm from. Though here, it's way more secretive. The supernatural world's broken into tribes. Kinda like factions, but more... complicated. Each group has its own powers and rules."

" Explain these tribes. I must understand the structure of your world."

Frederique shifted, thinking.

"Okay, so... you've got vampires. They drink blood, live forever, super creepy. They can do stuff like control minds and turn into mist. Then you've got werewolves. They're big, furry, and angry. Real territorial types. Feys... like Frideria... are more complicated. Some are... well, like me. Fused with humans. We call it being a Changeling."

" And these 'Changelings'... how many are there?"

" Not a lot. Most humans don't even know we exist. We're... rare, I guess? Each of us has different abilities. Mine are all tied to hunger and, uh... eating things."

" Hunger? Is that your... power?"

She nodded.

"Yeah. Frideria feeds on emotions... fear, dread, stuff like that. She makes me stronger, tougher. But we're always... starving. No matter how much I eat, it never stops. It's part of what she is."

The stone was silent for a moment.

" Fascinating. And the other tribes? Are they also bound to such... urges?"

Frederique shrugged.

" Kinda. Vampires drink blood to survive. Werewolves lose control when they get angry. Even mages have limits. They can rewrite reality, but if they break too many rules... reality bites back. Hard."

" Mages? Reality can be rewritten?"

" Yeah, but they're super rare. And super dangerous. Most people can't handle that kind of power without going crazy."

The Heavenly Demon's voice grew thoughtful.

" Your world is... strange. So fractured. In my time, there was only discipline. Strength earned. Here, power seems... chaotic. Hungering. Desperate."

Frederique exhaled, brushing a thumb along the rock's surface.

"...Yeah. That sounds about right."

" You have answered much. But there is still much I do not grasp. I will learn."

She gave a dry chuckle.

"Yeah? How exactly? You're a rock."

" For now. But knowledge is the first step to power. And you, girl... you will teach me."

Frederique blinked.

" Teach you? What, like a mentor? Look, I'm still figuring out my own mess."

" You understand this world. I do not. That makes you my guide. And in return..."

The voice grew heavier, tinged with an ancient promise.

" Perhaps... I may help you. If my power can be restored, this prison broken... You will not face your hunger alone."

Frederique fell quiet, watching the stone glint faintly in the dim light.

" ...Yeah. Alright. Deal, rock guy. But no weird mystical vows or soul-binding crap. Got it?"

" Agreed."