Of course, it couldn’t have been that easy— but I was still irritated by the response. Annoyingly short and uninformative, there was nowhere that information would take me, so I began typing again. 

[ Why are you calling me ‘Heliodoros’? That’s not my name ] —

The reply, once again, came all too quickly.

— [ Well, then, what is? ]

 Well, of course it’s…huh? Suddenly, the name I was so sure of just seconds ago disappeared from the tip of my tongue. There was nothing there, just the heavy emptiness of a place that had once held an important something. I stilled myself before I could shiver, something all-too-cold seeping into my bones. Dream or not, I wasn’t about to show weakness. A soft beep signalled another message coming in…so it wasn’t an automated system.

— [ See for yourself and tell me who you are. ]

Once again, the hologram twisted itself into a new form, a glowing apparition of an oval-shaped, overtly ornate frame. A picture? A painting? A young-looking man with short blonde curls and sparkling lavender eyes stared at me. Even with his clearly masculine features, his face was naturally set in an overly gentle expression that softened them. I squinted, looking closer at it, and the face squinted back at me. Suddenly, I could feel my body again— but it felt all wrong. My arms felt heavier than they should’ve, and the brush of hair against my nose was never there before. I felt as tall as I should’ve been, but this body had far more muscle. The face staring at me was dressed in swanky aristocratic clothes…and that was when it finally hit me.

It was like the last puzzle piece clicking into place, but it was at that moment that I knew with certainty that this wasn’t a dream. I wasn’t me anymore. The person I saw in the mirror wasn’t the person I was, but someone that seemed naggingly familiar. Nobody I knew dressed like that, after all, these were the clothes of a fantasy novel that approximated the real world of centuries ago. And yet, ‘I’ was wearing them.

[ What the **** is this. ] —

The word I had written to express my anger had gotten automatically filtered out. So that was how it was going to be, it seemed. Clearly, whatever this thing was couldn’t even handle a little criticism. Loser. 

— [ Don’t use that kind of language with me! ]

— [ And after all I did to help you, too…]

[ **** you. ] —

— [ …Seriously? ]

— [ Are you still a child, or something…]

For a moment, I wondered if I’d be free of all this if I said yes. I highly doubted it. If they’d managed to transport me into another body, they must’ve known who I was to some degree at least. They’d even taken my name from me, hadn’t they? They had to know enough. This whole thing was too unsettling…honestly, how was any of this even feasible? Just thinking about it again made me even angrier.

[ **** you. ] —

— [ ...Again? ]

— [ Maybe it was too much to expect you to pick up on anything about this situation. ]

I knew whatever was on the other side of that chat window was most likely deliberately provoking me…but still, something in me couldn’t stand that condescending tone one bit. Besides, it’s not like I’d have believed anything told to me that I couldn’t confirm myself. 

The most crucial thing to consider was the appearance of the person I was possessing: something that didn’t suit my time period, but didn’t suit the time period of any part of recorded history either. It was too ornate, a mishmash of designs that looked good and designs that could be accurate. It seemed like the base of the outfit was conceptualised with Western royalty in mind…though it looked more like a fantastical depiction of the same. More obviously, the face of the person stared back at me with lavender eyes—that wasn’t something any human could have. (The hair was weird too, but that might have been more because I wasn’t used to seeing blonde hair.) 

That meant I had to be in some kind of world that was more fantasy-aligned. That was weird in and of itself, even without the possession thing. Then again, if this person possessed significant power within this world, it would at least be tolerable…I could work with something like that.

Still, something about this man’s appearance felt naggingly familiar. Fantasy world, a man called ‘Heliodoros’, someone who smiled kindly no matter what…ah.

“It’s that third-rate Webnovel my sister had a poster of,” I muttered under my breath, the situation that previously felt like a blur snapping into focus around me. “That garbage one that everyone’s been talking about.”

I’d never read the damned thing, obviously. For one, I didn’t read Webnovels. Secondly, even the thought of reading something in that genre made me sick. Disgusting, worthless drivel that solely exists to make a cheap buck off of losers’ pathetic fantasies. If I’d designed the universe, there’d be no such thing as ‘romance’, whether in novels or in real life—the whole concept was just absurd. 

I was so enraged I couldn’t help but laugh. Ah, seriously, these people were insane. There was no way I was going to cooperate with this nonsense.

— [ Do you need some time to get it out of your system? ]

— [ If that is the case, I have plenty. You, on the other hand… ]

On the other hand…? Usually, in a bad situation, there was always some sort of catch (not that it couldn’t be thwarted), but this seemed to be full of nothing but catches. The insinuation that I didn’t have time was concerning, most importantly. If I was to proceed with the assumption that I was a ‘different person’, and thus in a ‘different world’, was time still flowing in my ‘original world’? And, more importantly, where was my ‘original body’? As much as I wanted to just echo the same sentiment a third time to this obnoxious chat window, the best course of action would be to figure things out first…and then beat the crap out of them.

[ Where’s my original body? ] —

— [ Well, it’s certainly not anywhere you can reach for the time being. ]

— [ But there is a surefire way for you to get it back if you so wish. ]

If I so wished? Was this guy looking for a beating—would there ever be a case in which someone didn’t want their own body or their own life? All that time and effort put into making a good life for myself, just to be whisked somewhere else—there’s no way I wouldn’t want it back!

[ What is it? ] —

— [ You’ll just have to see this story through till its end, of course. ]