Are you done settling in?

In that dark place, I couldn't even tell where I was drifting to, if I was moving at all.

I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move, see, smell, feel, or speak.

Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, I couldn't tell if it was far or close, but it was there, a white dot in this place of nothingness.

I could see it, but I couldn't. I could feel it, but I couldn't. It was hard to explain, but somehow, I just knew that there was a white dot, hanging in the nothingness.

It started coming close to me, or was it me who was going close to it? Perhaps it was neither and it was that dot that was growing in size.

Soon enough, the dot became bigger and bigger and, in a few seconds, I knew that it was me who was moving closer to it.

Just as I realised that the white dot was actually a tunnel, I passed through it, or rather, I was pulled through it.

"Ouch!" I groaned as I fell on my butt, yes fell.

Here in this white place, I could see, speak, and feel my body. There was ground, although everything here was white like in those reincarnation novels I'd read in the past.

I stood up as I rubbed my bum with a pained expression on my face, and then a realisation hit me like a truck.

"Wait..."

"Wait wait wait, Wait just a f*cking second!"

"Did I die again?! How?! When?!"

While I was trying to get a grip on myself, a familiar voice greeted me.

"You didn't die, Ryan."

Yes, it was Ryan, not me, but the owner of this body.

He was right there, a boy with silver hair and ocean blue eyes, standing with his hands behind his back, like a spectator enjoying the show.

'Wait, I am in my own body now,' I thought as I inspected myself.

I was a man in his mid-twenties, with black hair and brown eyes and not so outstanding features.

'Talk about a twist,' I mused to myself with a nostalgic smile.

"Done settling yourself?" Ryan asked with a smile, let's call him Ryan1 for the sake of it.

"What do you mean?" I was genuinely curious. "You mean like, in this world?"

"No. Here, in this place," he said, pointing at the white, hard, ground as if it was the most known fact.

'Why is he looking at me like that?!'

"Don't tell me you plan to live in MY body forever."

"Um... But you already died... right?" 

As far as I knew from his memories, that Obsidian Serpent's attack should have killed him, but... Dad saved him!

"Are you insane or something? As you can see, I am here in our soul space and healthy as I can be."

"I can see that…. So, let me get this straight, you want me to leave this body's control to you and live in this space, am I correct?"

"So you are not as stupid as you seem, yes that is precisely what I want you to do, and just so you know like you saw my memories-"

"You saw mine," I cut him off coldly, to which he again smiled.

"You can live one more day as you have spent the last couple of days, after which, you will come here again and switch places with me," he said as he waved his hand in a 'see ya' manner.

"No, wait!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I threw my hand at him, but the scenery around me morphed again and darkness dominated everything.

***

"No, wait!" I screamed at the top of my lungs in order to stop him.

Soon I realised that I was back in the bed in my house, in SilverMoon.

As I wondered if it had all been a bad dream, I felt a light touch on my forehead.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Mom's concern-filled voice reached my ears, from next to the bed.

"I hope it was," I replied, with a reassuring smile, as I got out of the bed.

"That's good then. Breakfast is ready, so eat it before it gets any colder."

"Are you going somewhere, Mum?"

"Yes, I need to get some groceries and stuff," she replied.

"Good luck, mum." I waved with a smile.

"Thank you."

—Click

And she's off.

'What was that all about, Codex? I know you know something.'

[From your reactions, it seems that you failed to convince him.] Codex replied.

'So that really was you...'

[That wasn't me. It was Ryan1.]

I feel like crying at my naming sense.

[Do you want head-pats?]

'Are you making fun of me?' I asked as the corners of my lips twitched in order to not open them.

'Anyway, let's think of something else for now.'

Troubled, I looked for distractions.

"Mhmm... Ah!"

Right, how could I forget them? The mana pearls, of course!

"Codex, what else do I need to reach the Zeroth Rune?" I asked Codex.

[You need to tire yourself out. As in, you shouldn't have any energy to do anything.]

"Such a hassle," I muttered as I scratched my beardless chin.

But I still stood up and got on the ground, and started doing pushups…

1... 2... 3…

"Codex, play 'Thunder' please."

[Sure.]

[Music:

Now playing: Thunder

00:01->--------------02:40

(repeat)

End of que]

I resumed the pushups as a couple of very small, metallic, but soft earbuds formed in my ears.

After an hour or so, my hands started to ache. As for sweating, I had started to sweat a while ago.

When I felt that I couldn't continue anymore, for fear of my hands breaking and my legs giving out, I went towards the balcony door and bent down. I put my hands in the creak I had made myself a day ago.

I brought out two glittering balls the size of ping pong balls, with one being brighter than the other.

With both the pearls in my hand, I approached the middle of the floor and sat down cross-legged, with sweat-drenched clothes.

[Ready?]

"As ready as I can be," I replied with a serious nod.

[Good, then I am starting. It might hurt at first, so endure it.]

Giving a wordless nod, I took both of the pearls in each of my hands and closed my eyes.

Soundlessly, some whitish glow came out of the seams in my closed fists, from the pearls, and started surrounding me and concentrating in my chest.

—Sssss

Feeling some pain in my chest, I sucked in a sharp breath, but I neither stood up nor opened my eyes, with my brows tightly pinched, I endured it all.

After a while, everything subsided. The glow, the pain, everything, and I opened my eyes.

'Hmm, I don't feel any difference, other than feeling as if I overate.' I examined myself.

As for tiredness, I couldn't feel any more energetic!

I couldn't feel a difference within my body at all, except that I felt full. As if I had eaten till there was no space left in my tummy.

Hmm? Food? Oh, shit food! Mom said to eat it before it gets cold

'Uh... Dia? Are you hungry?' I depended on my last resort.

[Hungry as ever, Master!] Dia's cheerful voice resounded in my ears.

"Hahaha That's my Dia for ya!"

Then Dia, for the first time in her life, tasted my mum's cooking!