23 23_

Toronto, Canada.

Ji Xia and Ji Ke Mu were both sitting across each other in the living room. Ji Xia had long abandoned her thesis paper and was deep in thought since a few hours prior.

"Our memories were sealed due to travelling too far from our land." Ji Ke Mu started.

"Yes. A spell was immediately activated because of that. As an Olympian, we can't afford to reveal our identity to other beings." Ji Xia agreed with her younger brother.

Ji Ke Mu sighed as he reclined onto the couch. His expression hard and serious.

"For goodness sake. We really did forget our goal and live like a human being all this time. I'm speechless." he said.

"Well.. it's not too late. We remember everything now, right? Even Harmonia is with us." Ji Xia tried to pacify Ji Ke Mu.

She knew how hard it was for him. It was because the ones involved in this play was none other than his brother.. and his ex-fiance. He loved them both. They were very important to him.

"Let's pray for the two of them to be safe out there, Hephaestus." said Ji Xia.

"Oh, where's Harmonia?" Ji Xia noticed she hadn't seen the doll for some time now.

Then, as if it was being called forth, the paper doll emerged from the air. Paper particles flew over and were scattered about. The cute robotic sound was heard.

*Athena, Hephaestus, I'm back!*

"There you are." Ji Ke Mu said. He wanted to poke the poor stickman but his hand was slapped away by Ji Xia.

"It's delicate so don't touch it." Ji Xia warned, as if she was referring Harmonia as just a powerless doll.

*Hey! I'm still a goddess so don't treat me like a doll!*

"Alright, alright.. now tell me what you know."

The stickman cleared its robotic voice and began explaining.

*The two of you aren't able to maintain your memories because of that automatic spell. Meanwhile, I could maintain mine because I took a detour!*

"Detour?"

*Yes. I didn't forcefully travel to this world line like you guys did.*

*Instead, I sneaked into the Underworld and asked for Persephone's help.*

"What?? You did? And she helped you?" Ji Ke Mu was surprised. He always thought that Persephone was someone not so compassionate.

*She did! She said it was fun to see us running around desperately so she lent me a hand.*

"What? So twisted!" it was Ji Xia's turn to be surprised.

*Well, at least she helped!*

*So, to make it short, I went into the Line between Life and Death. I looked for a piece of their soul and saw that it was tossed here, in a planet called Earth.*

"I see.. that makes sense."

*The reason why I've only arrived now is due to the long waiting line of reincarnation. I had to wait for a chance to follow one reincarnated soul here.*

*Meanwhile, you guys traveled here by yourselves. You used your powers to jump from world to world. Exhausting your power and activating the spell.*

*The moment you guys arrived here, you've long forgotten about your own identity. The two of you were dormant inside your reincarnated bodies, Ji Xia and Ji Ke Mu.*

"Then, why are you like that?" Ji Ke Mu asked, referring to the stickman-like paper doll.

*It's because I didn't have the time to wait for my turn in reincarnation. It was too long, it would take me at least five thousand years for that to happen!*

*So I opted to just sneak in with another soul and followed it here.*

*This form is for me to store my soul inside and also to save my power!*

"I see.. so that's why.." Ji Xia nodded in understanding. One hand on her chin.

"Ahhh we're too reckless..!" Ji Ke Mu exclaimed in frustration. He didn't know such method was possible. He could have gone via Underworld too had he known about it.

Ji Xia looked at her younger brother and sighed "We might be reckless but there's nothing wrong with that, Hephaestus. We have our own reincarnated body now. It's worth the risk."

*Yes. The reason why the two of you aren't bound by the law of Absolute Reincarnation is because you two took the riskiest path. You guys practically forced a reincarnation upon yourselves when you straightforwardly traveled into this world.*

Ji Xia and Ji Ke Mu faced each other and neither spoke. They were deep in thought as if taking in the information.

"So.. in this world line, it took you exactly 24 years to come here via Underworld.."

*Correct! I just arrived!* the doll jumped three times in delight.

"That means we've been here since we were born but just without our memories.."

*Absolutely correct!* it jumped again.

"Alright, I get it now." Ji Xia nodded. She didn't dare to ask how much time had passed in Olympus because she knew it would devastate her.

Ji Ke Mu then slowly turned to face the doll and asked "Harmonia, how are they? Are they.. together now?"

Ji Xia faced her brother when she heard his worried tone. He really tried to not sound that way but he failed miserably.

*They've met! I made them participate in the game but I didn't tell them about the real purpose. I modified it a bit.*

Ji Xia hummed in approval "That's good. They can't know about the real Game of Fate. It's more awful than what they should know."

The cruel fact was that this Game of Fate was in no way just a game for bored gods and goddesses..

"Yes. For now, let the course run its flow. They'll fall for each other soon." Ji Ke Mu said as if it was obvious.

"By the way, what kind of game did you modify it into?" the stickman flinched a bit but turned to normal again after some consideration.

*Um.. it's.. I.. I swapped their bodies.*

"WHATTTT????!!" the brother and sister screamed histerically. Eyes popping out of their socket. Did they hear that right?

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"Like.. you swapped their souls into.. wait- you did?!!"

"Why did you do that?? Can't your game be more decent??!"

"Like- I mean- she's in HIS body and he's in HER body??"

"Oh please take my life Olympus!!"

"The people in our land would definitely make an issue out of this!"

"For goodness sake Harmonia!! They're your parents!!"

"Have pity on them!!"

At this point Athena, the goddess of wisdom and Hephaestus, the god of fire were both too shocked to even blink their eyes. Their mouth kept rambling on and on.

*Hey! I didn't mean to make it worse! I didn't have any idea how to make them closer!*

*I thought if they both switch bodies then they're going to have to live together! They have to cooperate with each other! Isn't that good for them to generate feelings??*

The doll's ramblings sounded just and it made sense but both Ji Xia and Ji Ke Mu were feeling apprehensive.

Ji Xia groaned and asked "Okay, fine. So who are they in this life?"

"Please make them Chinese or else I don't know how to have a decent conversation with them!" said Ji Ke Mu.

He said so because he wasn't like his sister, smart and knew seven important languages. He really was hopeless in that department. He only knew English but what if the couple was Scottish? Or even African? Oh the accent would be so hard to understand!

*They're Chinese just like you two. In fact, my dad is your elder cousin, Ji Haishan.* the doll said like it was to be expected. Why were they so clueless?

Ji Ke Mu and Ji Xia turned to face each other in a flash they could get whiplash. Their eyes were wide opened like they couldn't believe it.

"Oh no! If that's true then- then he's in danger!" Ji Xia exclaimed loudly. She suddenly became worried.

"Oh my goshh! It's OUR Gege!" Ji Ke Mu also exclaimed in frantic.

But despite his initial worrying, he still added with sparkles in his eyes "He's my brother in the land of Eden and he's my cousin here in this world! I'm so lucky!"

Ji Xia could only facepalm herself.