Chapter 10

The memory moves on again, except…it doesn’t. It begins to replay again, starting with the conversation with Rachel. My heart leaps into my throat - I can’t let Vic go through this for a third time. He has probably relived this many times already, in his nightmares.

I have to break the cycle. Vic has clearly gotten stuck in this memory - understandably. It’s his last memory as Victoria.

Still though, I don’t know how to get Victoria’s attention. I can’t touch her or anything in these memories and I have no idea if Vic can hear me. I have to try though.

“Vic. Tevic. Can you hear me?” I ask, walking in front of Victoria. She has just finished speaking with Rachel; there’s not much time. “It’s me. Ven. The Lord of Death? From the other world. From that book?” I try, watching as Victoria shivers.

Fuck.

There’s not enough time.

“Do you miss this body? Do you miss being Victoria?” 

She had been about to run, but she suddenly stops, for a fraction of a second. And then she starts running towards her death again.

It worked. Just for a fraction of a second, but it worked. Catching up to Victoria just before she will reach the corner around which she’ll meet Jack, I ask another question. “Do you miss the life you had? Do you miss Rachel? Do you wish you still had a woman’s body? Is it awful, having everyone see you as a man? As Prince Hector?”

Victoria stops still, about to turn around the corner. She doesn’t speak, but I know that she can hear me. “It must be difficult, living out someone else’s life. But surely anything is better than this? I’ll protect you and Lisette; together we can change Fate’s plans. We’ll survive together, alright? But now it’s time to wake up.”

Victoria takes a step towards the corner. A step closer to Jack. A step closer to her death.

“Come on, Vic. Wake up. I promise I’ll help you. I won’t let him kill you again. He will never hurt you again. You’ll be safe, so long as you just wake up. You need to wake up now.”

The memory is suddenly ripped from me and I snap my eyes open, sitting up abruptly. Vic is turned over away from me on his side, shaking gently. Slowly reaching out, I lightly touch his arm. “I’m serious. I won’t let any more harm come to you or Lisette. You’ll both be safe here with me. We have two spirits on our side; we can easily defy Fate. I won’t ask you to trust me, because you have no reason to. But I gave you the benefit of the doubt on the whole book thing, so…give me a chance on this. Let me protect you.”

Vic suddenly sits up, his back still facing me as he presses a hand to his chest, over his heart. That was the final blow; the killing one. 

“Get out of my bed.”

Not arguing with him, I leave the room entirely, carefully shutting the door behind me. Neither Death or Life responds to me when I try to speak with them, so I have to assume that they need to recharge a little after expending so much energy to help us with those memories. Going to find a notebook and a something to write with, I bring them back to the infirmary, gently knocking on the door. 

After a moment I enter to find Lisette gently hugging her brother. From what I understand, Vic hasn’t told her that he isn’t Hector, but I got in the way of any contact between them since I insisted on asking Vic questions from the moment he woke up.

“Tevic. We need to record all the memories. I’ll write down what I gathered from that, but I’m sure you’ll remember it more clearly since they were your own memories. You can dictate and I’ll write if that’s helpful, or I can just leave you to it,” I suggest, sitting back down on the chair against the wall.

Vic takes a deep breath as Lisette releases him from the hug before leaving the room. Tavatta has been in charge of looking after the princess, so I’ll just hope that my trusty warrior is taking proper care of Lisette, for Vic’s sake.

“First, I have to say something. I can’t say for sure, but…” Vic starts, running a hand through his long silver hair. Did he grow it out because he misses being a woman? That must be beyond confusing, but then again he has lived as Hector for a decade now.

“What is it?” I encourage him, curiosity biting at my nerves. 

“I think I know whose soul is in Lyon’s body,” he says slowly, not meeting my eyes. 

“What? How?” I ask, desperate to know about the man who is apparently going to kill me, when I try to kill the king.

“I spoke with Lyon once, a few years ago. He knew that I was supposed to be dead and at the time I was shocked and worried for Lisette, since he was trying to kidnap her - anyway I didn’t notice, but going through all those memories…” Vic chews on his lips before sighing. “I’m pretty sure that Lyon has Jack’s soul.”

Oh fuck.

My promise to not let Jack hurt Vic ever again just got harder to fulfil, if that scumbag is now in our world. I have to make sure that Lyon never gets near Tevic.

“What makes you think that?” I have to know if this is true, if this theory has some meat to it. If it does, then I’ll kill Lyon myself for what he did to Victoria. For what that memory is still doing to Vic.

Tevic swallows, shaking his head. “It was just a feeling. Jack always prickled my instincts, like I knew that being with him wasn’t a good idea. And when I saw Lyon…I don’t know. There’s just something similar about them.”

“Well, it would make sense,” I muse. “Fate brought Lyon’s new soul here, right? If Fate wanted to put things back on the correct path, which would mean having you die, then bringing someone who wants to kill you would be an effective way of doing so.”

“I don’t think he knew it was me though. If Lyon is Jack then unless Fate was somehow talking to him like Life and Death do with us, then Lyon couldn’t know it was me,” Vic points out. Humming, I tap my fingers against the notebook in my lap.

“I don’t think Fate can talk. At least, not like how Death and Life can. They used to be mortals or something - I don’t really get it, but they’re different to Fate. Fate has always existed, and it is the most powerful spirit. Or at least it was, before Life interfered and brought you into this world, thus changing the flow of paths. Every deviation from Fate’s paths weakens it, makes its one job ineffective,” I explain. I don’t know a whole lot about the spirits, but Death has been in my mind for ten years so I do know some. “And it’s not just you who has deviated from their intended path. Agnaria has as well, and Lisette, and most likely Lyon, although he may have a new path granted by Fate instead.”

“Right, all my actions have had knock-on effects. Hector’s whole family was supposed to be wiped out, but in this timeline both Lisette and Hector’s body are still alive.” Vic nods, starting to understand what I’m getting at. 

“So, you think that if you, Lisette and I all continue deviating then Fate will be weakened?” He asks, touching his shoulder in pain slightly. Poor guy, getting slashed to protect his sister. Quite admirable.

“Feasibly. When Life has recovered from this stint, ask it. Even if that doesn’t work though, you and Lisette can live here with me and you’ll be safe. The king won’t dare piss me off; he knows how powerful I have become. He doesn’t know it’s because of Death, but that doesn’t matter regardless. He can’t kill me, and the rumours keep most people away. That guard who followed Lisette in was the first intruder we’ve had quite some time,” I explain, crossing one leg over the other. 

We still kill intruders, unless they give us some kind of reason not to, like Lisette and Tevic did. Otherwise Tavatta would’ve ended up helping Fate by getting rid of them. Perhaps I should start vetting those who appear here, instead of just killing them.

I’ll see what Tavatta thinks. They are in charge of all that stuff; I’m just here to be the big scary Lord who keeps the little fish away. I rarely show myself to the townspeople, but since they all entered at one point or another, they know that I’m not quite what the rumours say.

The rumours aren’t entirely accurate, but they are far from lies. I make examples out of those who enter my territory uninvited, to discourage more from following. It works, and it allows myself and all my people to live peacefully. Our lands are mostly barren, since we live in a rock field, but we do have some farms, and the rest we trade. There are many caves with rare crystals in, beneath my lands. Traders are scared of me, but they know that if they want high quality ore then they must ignore the rumours. 

My life here has been what I’ve always wanted: peaceful and simple. I live in a small house, the right size for me. Tavatta lives closely to me, and we tend to keep to ourselves. Tavatta is more social, since they run a lot of things and are a bright and warm person. I mainly just speak with Death and Tavatta, which was fine for me, but…I’ve been enjoying spending time with Vic, even if it’s just to interrogate him and snoop into his memories. 

Sometimes, human interaction isn’t so bad after all.