I awake in pain, my lower abdomen feeling as though someone had reached into it, grabbed all of my intestine, and started twisting. My nightgown feels wet, as if I might have peed a little in my sleep, the warm wet feeling only increasing my discomfort. My face feels flushed as though I am running a fever. I feel hot, beads of sweat dot my forehead and my hair is damp around my face. I groan and curl into a ball while I wait for the pain to end.

  I am never eating anything spicy again, no matter how good it tastes.

  I hear my bedroom door open and look up to see the blurry shape I have come to recognize as Mary entering the room.

  “I d-d-don’t feel s-so good.” I say, gritting my teeth in pain.

  Mary comes over to the side of the bed and coaxes me out of the ball I am curled into and into a sitting position. She places a hand to my damp forehead and tuts before withdrawing it.

  “Miss, you are running a low fever,” she says. “Maybe you should stay in in bed for the day.”

  Embarrassed despite the pain I am in, I don’t want to tell her that I may have peed in the bed, but I know that I can’t just lie in the wetness either. I swallow my pride and tell her that I have had an accident in bed prior to my waking.

  Mary pulls back the blankets that cover me to assess the mess that I have made in the bed and an unpleasant odor hits me. I look down and see a red stain on my on my night gown.

  “B-blood?” I stammer, confused about why there would be blood on my nightgown when it hits me.

  “Oh my,” is all Mary says, understanding in her voice. “Come, let’s get you cleaned up, into a change of clothes, and do something about your bedding.”

  “I’m s-sorry about the mess.” I say as she helps me climb out of bed.

  “It’s nothing to worry about, Lady Beira.” She replies with a kindness in her voice that normally isn’t there. “Menarche comes for us all eventually.”

  Mary helps me get out of my clothes and deposits them in the corner. She grabs a small towel from beside the washbasin in my room and wets it on one corner before bringing it to me so that I can clean myself. While I clean myself, she takes my soiled garments out of the room and soon returns with what, as best as I can tell, appears to be a thick bundle of cloth which turns out to be this world’s version of a menstrual pad.

  Well, Damian did say that that I would have all the bodily functions that come with being female so I really shouldn’t be surprised that I got my period, but does it hurt like this for everyone? Just standing is hard because of the pain.

  After explaining how to wear the pad, which turns out to be rather simple, Mary helps me get dressed in a clean gown before stripping the soiled bedding off of my bed and replacing it with clean. She helps me back in to my bed where I immediately curl back into a ball. After making sure I am as comfortable as possible, which isn’t very, she leaves to go tell my parents that I won’t be joining them for meals today.

  I lie in my huge bed, trying to distract myself by playing imaginary games in my head.

  I miss my Nontendo Svitch. If I had a nice turn-based game, it would probably help more than using my imagination. I never got to finish Flame Emblem: Four Houses or the newest Legend of Linkle game.

  I groan as a particularly painful cramp hits me.

  Hell, even one book would help, but I can’t exactly read anything yet due to my stupid eyes not focusing right. Plus, I doubt they have any of the series I was reading before. I’ll never find out what happens to Carl and Donut if they reach the end of the dungeon, or how things end for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng.

  “I can tell you if you like.” Damian says cheerfully, his voice blasting in my already aching head.

  No, no spoilers! It’s no fun if someone just tells me how things end.

  “Are you sure? Pity, I honestly think you would get as kick out of the insanity that befalls Carl towards the end.” He replies with disappointment in his voice. I can almost feel him shaking his head. “Anyway, I come with some good news for you. Apparently, starting your cycle earlier than I intended has accelerated the process of your soul’s integration with your body. By the time you finish your period, your sight should be restored.”

  You mean I’ll finally be able to see properly and maybe even read some of the books in the library for myself?

  “If you’ll remember, I have already told you that while verbal language is translated for you, written is not.”

  Oh, that’s right. I had forgotten. I’m going to be illiterate until I can learn how to read and wri-… Wait a second. If it doesn’t work on written language, how was I able to write Izzy’s, Angus’s, and my name legibly enough for Angus to read back when the three of us were experimenting to see what basic knowledge I had that carried over after my transmigration?

  “What?” Damian asks, sounding perplexed. “Give me a minute to review what happened when my attention was turned elsewhere.”

  For a couple of minutes, there is blessed silence in my head, but soon enough Damian returns.

  “Well, that’s not normal.”

  What’s not normal?

  “You shouldn’t have been able to do that.” He says, sounding a bit miffed. “Because of that, I went ahead and reviewed all of the times that I hadn’t had my eye on you.”

  I thought you were always watching. I say cutting him off.

  “I’m not omniscient or omnipresent, Beira.” He sighs. “Anyway, as I was saying, I went back and reviewed what was going on with you all of the times I had my attention elsewhere. That means your dreams, in particular the one about the night Beira was killed, and the memory flashes you have had of Beira’s life. Both of those should be impossible so I’m bringing you here for a bit. I need to check something.”

  As soon as he finishes speaking, the world around me goes completely dark and the cramps I have been dealing with suddenly stop. Damian is standing in front of me, still in his fancy tux, but he appears to be around my age now. I’m struck with how handsome he is like this with his sharp features and slightly longer and tousled hair.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Y-you’re older now.” I say stating the obvious.

  “Yes, and much more handsome. I know. I only appear older than before, but my actual age is much, much, older than this forms apparent age. I need you to hold extremely still while I do this and I apologize for any discomfort in advance.”

  He reaches his hand towards my chest and I instinctively take a step back and cover my breasts with one arm.

  His right eyebrow starts to twitch as he tries to keep his irritation from showing.

  “Beira, I said I need you to stay still. I’m not trying to grope you, but I need access to your chest. This is important otherwise I would have left you down there in pain dealing with your first period. Now, be a good girl. Get over here and stay still. I’ll make this as quick and painless as I can.”

  I hesitate for a second before stepping forward and lowering my arm.

  Damian’s hand shoots out and plunges into my chest, causing my body to go suddenly cold. I gasp and try to stay as still as possible. He soon withdraws his hand which is holding a crystalline orb. The orb has wisps of light that flow off of it, making their way back into my chest. There is an ache in my chest where Damian had pulled the orb from, but as best as I could tell, there is no cavity that was left behind. I examined the orb closer, noting that it was as clear as a high-grade diamond and that it also glowed with an inner golden light.

  Damian rotated the orb, as if looking for something and I noticed that something was off. The orb wasn’t as flawless as it has initially appeared. In the back side of it, almost obscured by the inner glow was a thin icy blue shard piercing into the crystalline structure. The only reason I had noticed it was because of how Damian was rotating the orb, causing it to sparkle briefly which drew my eye. I focused on the spot where the shard was located and noticed that under the crystalline surface, there was tiny tendrils of light blue light. They were same color as my hair and they were intertwined with the golden light glowing within. Had I not noticed the icy shard, I would have never noticed the tendrils.

  “Damian.” I say, trying to get his attention.

  He just shushes me and continues to look at the wrong side of the orb.

  I sigh and speak up again.

  “Damian, this is important.”

  “What?” He asks, clearly irritated. “What is so important that you have to interrupt me as I examine your soul for any flaws that could be causing the abnormalities you have been experiencing?”

  “Um, d-do you mean flaws like this?” I say pointing to where the shard is located.

  “What?” He says, spinning the orb quickly and pulling it a bit closer to his face for examination. “Ah, I see. Yes, flaws like this. Now hold still, this may hurt.”

  A pair of forceps appear in his left hand and he attempts to grasp the shard using them. It takes him a few tries, but eventually, he is able to grasp it by snagging a slight edge of the otherwise smooth surface. He starts to pull and a shooting pain suddenly stabs me in the back of my head. The harder he tugs, to worse the pain.

  I cry out in agony and everything goes black.

  ******************************************************************

  I don’t know how long I was out for but when I finally return to consciousness, Damian is kneeling beside me, the orb gone as was the ache in my chest.

  “Ugh, w-what happened?” I groan, raising a hand to my still aching head.

  Damian helps me sit upright which causes my head to swim.

  “I, um, made a mistake.” He says, his head hanging low. “Um, how do I explain this?”

  He sighs and sits beside me.

  “After Beira was attacked, I checked her and I thought her soul was completely gone.” He explains. “I was apparently wrong and a tiny piece of it remained, a piece small enough to be over looked multiple times while I searched for a soul that was completely compatible with her body, which is where you came in.

  “I needed a one hundred percent compatible soul that could also either match her affinity, or be a nul, which is to say, no affinity at all. I found several people who were close matches but you were the first I found that fit the criteria completely, as best as I could tell at the time, and I was pressed for time because her body appeared to be dying. So, I may have rushed the process a bit.” Damian says looking embarrassed. “The end result is, there was still that tiny fragment of Beira’s soul in there and I then added your soul to the mix. It’s something that shouldn’t happen and wouldn’t have happened had I been paying closer attention to what I was doing. Because of my mistake, that fragment of Beira’s soul has mostly merged with yours. I tried to separate them, but it has been too long and could destroy you and what little remains of Beira if I continued to try.”

  I sit there processing what he has said so far but a couple of things aren’t quite adding up.

  “Ok.” I say slowly as I mull over everything he has told me since we first met. “I have a few questions.”

  “I know, and I’ll answer them.” He replies. “The first answer to some of your questions is, while I’m not omnipotent or omnipresent, I maintain several realms. The one you are from is one of them. In fact, I’m only one of two gods that oversee Earth. There are twelve that oversee Eidolyn, that’s the name of this world, by the way. That said, I have to divide my attention first between the realms I oversee, and second, between the individuals that occupy those realms that fall under my jurisdiction. You were one of them, as was Beira. Some of those individuals are more important that others, especially when it comes to things I need done in the realm they occupy, so they tend to get more attention. Beira was one of those. You were not, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t ever pay attention to you. That is why I knew of your prayers and how annoying as you were about it, that doesnt mean I listened to all of them, though.”

  He pauses to give his explanation, which covered a couple of my questions, time to sink in.

  “I want to remind you there are some things I am prohibited from telling you because it would break some of the rules set in place that we gods have to follow.” He adds quickly.

  Seeing that I had no additional questions that tied into his explanation so far, he continues.

  “As I mentioned, the tiny fragment of Beira’s soul that remained, has mostly merged with yours. The issue with this is that as your soul merges with hers, the existing two souls will cease to exist as they were and a new one will be created in their place. This won’t affect you overly much since you are the primary soul used in this merging process, but it does mean that you will get, and have been, getting a bleed over effect causing your and Beira’s memories to be intertwined. It will likely even get to a point that you won’t know which memories are yours, and which are hers.

  “Another side effect is that you will eventually gain access to her affinity, though there is no telling to what degree. Also, I was wrong about you being a nul. You know how your soul glowed with a golden light? It turns out you have an affinity for light; it was just miniscule, likely because there is no magic in the realm you originate from. Being brought to Eidolyn seems to have sparked your affinity to life, so to say… And you may be on a similar level to Beira when it comes to potential, but I don’t know how having her affinity mixing with yours will manifest exactly. It could be that you will have access to both, but to a lesser degree than you would have had otherwise, or you could end up with a hybrid that is a combination of the two. Luckily, neither affinity is opposing so there shouldn’t be any issues there. But to be honest, this is all new territory and I’m speculating based off of theoretical hypothoses that I only recently came up with after consulting with a couple of my colleagues. Only time will truly tell in this case.”

  He pauses again and before I can ask, he already starts to answer my follow-up question.

  “This is different from the Soul Drain spell in that both souls are occupying the same body. With Soul Drain, one soul is imprisoned in a gem and the person who has that gem embedded in their skin can then access the soul that is trapped. The two souls never touch.”

  “But what-“ I start to say but he holds up a hand, cutting me off.

  “If the gem were to break there are three things that can happen. First, the soul housed in it could return to its original vessel, should that vessel still be alive. Second, should that vessel not be alive, it passes on the afterlife. Or third, it could be consumed by a powerful practitioner of necromantic magics, like Soul Magic, to extend the life of the one who consumes it. King Bandaerl is an example of such an individual.”

  Damian pauses and cocks his head slightly to the side.

  “It’s time for you to wake up, Beira. Your mother is here to talk to you.” He says as light floods my eyes and the painful cramps return.