Time to Learn

GRIM POV:

What did she just say? How did she find out? Have I been acting too weird?"

"Hey...are you okay Grim?" Alice asked while looking at me with concern and then said, "You're sweating and you're panting."

Alice used the towel that was in her hands and wiped the sweat off my face. As she wiped, I wondered if I was just hearing things. She had asked me if I was grim as if she knew I wasn't him.

Once she finished wiping my face, she asked, "You were talking while you were sleeping, therefore, I assumed that you had a nightmare."

Relief washed over me, but I didn't show it. If I acted any weirder than she had already seen, then she might get suspicious.

I nodded and responded, "Yes, It was a nightmare, obviously. What else would it be?"

"You were talking in your sleep. What was your dream about Grim?" I looked up to act as if I was trying to remember and said, "I don't know, I forgot."

"I'll let you know if I remember again Alice, thank you for checking on me." I opened my arms and embraced Alice.

Since I was still in bed and Alice was standing, the hug was...awkward to say the least. It seemed to do the trick as Alice dashed out of my room.

I laid my head back down and wondered what to do from this point. Why was I reincarnated? Just what is my purpose here?

It seemed a bit too much for me to handle. The thought of starting over from scratch sounds like work I don't want to do. I put all my hard effort into becoming a King Arthur's knight just to die at twenty-two.

Now that I think about it, though, it was mainly to appease my father's expectations of me. He provided everything I needed, but my mother was the one who saw me as her son and nothing else.

Yeah, I think for her, I'll at least try. If I'm going to do that, though, I need to find out more about this world. Mana might not even exist in this world at all. This world could use an entirely different system, if that's the case, I might have to start from scratch.

"Shit," I realized that I should have asked Alice if we had books. Well, it's too late now, she left and sprinted her way out the door. I'll see about the books tomorrow, then, for now, I'll try to fall back asleep. Hopefully, it will be better this time. I didn't think that my situation would be way worse than in my previous life.

Does this mean that I'm not the main character of this story? I let out a small chuckle at the dumb question. I started to focus on my breathing. Pretty soon, sleep came and embraced me once more.

***

I found myself in a black void. Everything was pitch black and nothing was to be seen. After what felt like minutes, I could hear voices. They were a bit distorted, but I could still hear them. The darkness started to clear, and I could finally see.

There was a large room that seemed to be taking place in a castle. It was night and moonlight was shining through a hole that led it onto an altar. On the altar was a sphere with an outer ring that was spinning.

On the altar, two bodies whose faces looked empty were placed next to each side of the sphere. The sphere was placed on a tiny pillar in the middle of the altar. The pillar looked ancient and luxurious at the same time, with symbols written all around it.

In front of the altar were people kneeling, covered in black robes, and wearing masks that represented a human skull. As the voices became clearer, I finally understood where the noise was coming from.

The people in masks and robes were whispering among themselves.

"His majesty must be very angry. It's because the runes on the outer ring of the Dylik sphere say, "𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘖𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘮," Supposedly it meant we were supposed to get two warriors from another world.

"The ancient Dyliks tricked us even years after. Damn them. Do you know how much money went into deciphering the runes? Not only that but the cost of the materials to activate the Dylik sphere. His majesty has the right to be mad."

"The sphere was only activated just a few hours ago though, maybe the souls are taking their time becoming one with the vas-"

A loud voice that showed power and anger yelled, "Silence!"

Despite wanting to see where the voice was coming from, I couldn't. My view only extended as far as the whole altar and a bit of the crowd. It was almost as if I was on the ceiling.

A man with white hair and an eye patch came onto the altar. He wore a cape and what seemed like black armor underneath.

He spoke to the crowd of masked people, "The ancient ones have indeed tricked us with this useless relic of the past. Fear not, we do not need elite warriors from another world, it was simply a luxury. We are Valkens, we do not need foreign help to win the war against Aloa. Rise up my brethren, we will rise to victory, we do not need help for something as insignificant as them."

Schwing!

With a slash of his sword, the man standing on the altar slashed the sphere on the pillar into two. The people in the robes chanted in celebration. The chants soon began to become distorted again as the sound seemed to die down until I couldn't hear anything.

My vision of the room began to darken until it disappeared. Just before it disappeared entirely, the man with the white hair looked up, and I met his black eyes. Whether he noticed me or not, I don't know. If he did, he didn't show it in his expression, he just looked at me.

Everything became black again until my body disappeared as well, and along with my thoughts, I was no longer conscious.

***

I opened my eyes and everything was a bit blurry, as I focused, I saw someone looking at me. Out of reflexes, I sat up ready to disarm them, but the person's head was above my own. Our heads collided, causing us to cover the area of contact.

"Dammit Grim, why did you do that?" Fay asked me and I asked him, "Why were you just looking at me, you creep?"

"Creep?" Fay said with disbelief, "I'll have you know that I am as pure as a saint."

As I rubbed my eyes to adjust, I responded back in a mocking tone, "A two-faced saint."

"Whatever man, I came to talk about something else." Fay looked at me with straight eyes and said coldly, "It's about my sister."

"Apologized to her yesterday last night," I said while relaxing back onto my bed before pointing into the hallway.

Fay looked towards where I was pointing and was confused until I asked, "Could you be a "Saint" and go fetch me some books? Something that'd be in a school, I'll let the selection of them be up to you."

Fay gave me a surprised look before accepting my request, he left my room and went downstairs. I made sure he was out of hearing range before shouting to myself, "Holy shit!"

My reincarnation into this world now made sense. I was meant to be a weapon against Aloa, whatever that is. Why go to such lengths is the question. Is it because they are too weak?

As I pondered on the question, I thought back to what they were saying and something caught my attention. One of the masked members said the meaning of the runes was that "𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘖𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘮."

Two souls...shall redeem...

The meaning clicked into my head instantly, someone else was also brought with me into this world, but the question is who?

In my mind, I made a list of whom I thought might have reincarnated with me. It wouldn't be someone without great combat skills since the runes specified a period of time when people would need something. If it's a war that's going to happen then it's definitely strength that will be needed.

Tap Tap Tap

I looked at the doorway, and there he was, with my books. In Fay's hands were at least two stacks of books that seemed to have around six books in each.

"Um, don't you think that's a bit too much?" I asked him as I watched him bring the books closer to me.

He brought the books and dropped them onto my bed and said, "Nope, you need all the help you can get."

I looked at the books in awe until I realized I had been insulted. Before I could make a comeback towards Fay's insult, he had already begun to leave the room.

I asked him, "Where are you going?"

He turned back to me and said, "Getting the other stacks of books. They are in the hallway."

I was flabbergasted, just how many books did he bring me?

Grim spoke within the hallway, "Grim, Don't tell Ms. Shiva that I used my wind link. I lack the strength to bring all the books in here and I need to go cook breakfast for the other orphans. Need to do this fast, can't waste any more time on this."

Before I could even ask Fay what he was talking about, he walked back into the room. Behind him were five stacks of books being carried by a small wind. I was filled with both excitement and despair at the same time, at the fact that magic exists in this world and the fact that was six stacks of books in my room.