“The world is so vast and the universe so unknown, that we could be living six lives simultaneously without ever realizing.”

Parallel universes and multiple lives are concepts widely discussed no matter the version of Earth which you live in, be it in an era of science, one of magic or one of none. The possibility of past lives or even simultaneous lives in different universes is something most consider it to be mere speculation or even a superstition. Religions are even based in the concept of heaven, hell and reincarnation. The chance to live again is something a lot of humans dream of, but may never be sure if it is even possible.

Having faith that your soul will be reincarnated in a new life doesn't guarantee that it'll happen for sure.

The universe itself works in ways that even the gods that care for each of those different worlds, don't understand its reasons.

But something is certain, the universe sure acts in mysterious ways.

❥

A man slowly opens his eyes, two gorgeous golden irises stare at a fancy marble ceiling; the man is one of gorgeous appearance. His golden eyes are complemented by long silver eyelashes and a short shiny silver hair that reaches his well trimmed - also silver - eyebrows. A symmetrical face that could be the envy of many regardless of the world he was born into. A groan leaves his small pink plump lips as the man turns and lays on his side, he slowly stares at the room, processing the information around the unfamiliar place before jumping with a scream.

The man stares around with a surprised expression, confusion clear in his golden eyes. The door of the unfamiliar room opens and four men enter, by their clothes and demeanor, one can assume that they're servants. Two of them are wearing simple black clothes with a white waist apron, the other two are wearing more fancy white clothes with a black waist apron. The ones in white also have a golden pin on their shirts, the pin is a beautiful coat of arms with a phoenix at its center.

“How can we help you, your highness?” One of the servants in white speaks, he’s short in stature, his posture is however quite elegant, he has dull black eyes and light brown hair, his tone is monotone and his expression is calm, almost as if he's used to the man's screams. 

“Your highness?” The man finally speaks, his voice is low and hoarse, he pushes his hair back with his hands in confusion. “Who are you and where the fuck am I?” His tone is harsh and crude, for a second the servants are taken aback, not only by the man's words but also by his beauty. Of course, his slightly parted lips, his fierce eyes and his hair aback showing his forehead complimented by his white shirt that barely covers his well defined chest, is a beauty that none can resist. 

“Pardon me, I'm the son of Baron Gasser, Andreas Gasser”, the man that spoke previously speaks as he slightly bows, his eyes are still dull but they seem more annoyed than calm now. “And this is your room, your highness”. The other servants only observe the conversation without speaking a word, almost as if they're walking in eggshells around the man.

“My room?” The man scoffs, almost as if he just heard a joke. “Is that a joke? Because it isn't a very funny one. I don't have a home, much else a fancy room like this”, he speaks with his hands, pointing at the ginormous luxurious room around them. The whole room is covered in gold and precious stones, almost as if the person sleeping there is scared of the dark, everything is white and clear with gold and precious stone adjournments, even the curtains are made of white silk, allowing the sun to creep slowly into the room in the early morning. 

What bad taste, the man thinks, as he looks around the room he notices a mirror at the corner, in front of a tacky golden desk adorned with jewels. He gets up from the comfortable bed he was in, the sheets made of silk are certainly smooth on his skin, as the man walks towards the mirror he can feel the eyes of the servants accompanying him. I feel like a zoo animal. 

While the man walks across the room, his servants can't help but think that he has lost his mind again. What a pain, Andreas thinks, staring at the man with a sour expression. When the man finally reaches the mirror, he feels like the world stops for a moment. Who is this man? He thinks, staring deeply into his own deep golden eyes.

More rare than reincarnating in a different world, it's the so-called exchange of souls. Where a soul that shouldn't have died enters the body of another dead soul. That process rarely happens, as the universe doesn't like to admit its mistakes. The problem with a soul exchange is, not only the paperwork the gods receive, but also the changes that will proceed in the world where a foreign soul enters.

Even though remembering past lives isn't rare, the exchange of souls is something that can't be considered such, as the soul that entered the body can't recall the life that body had, and only has the memories of their previous body. They don't go through the memory erasure process as well. That's why it's such a rare thing to happen, it messes with the perfect balance of the world in question. 

The gods hate it when this happens, as they need to change the ways of the world and be ready for the butterfly effect that it might cause. But it's not like they can question the decisions of the universe.

Golden eyes, silver hair… Where did I see this before? The man turns to his servants. “What's my name?” One of the servants in black seems shocked by the question, his eyes go from the beautiful man to one of the servants in white in front of him, a question that could be easily misinterpreted. One might answer it without thinking, after all what's the problem with telling someone their full name, if the person asking it wasn't… Well, him. Could this be a test? The servant in black wonders, differently from the ones in white, he can't answer that question lightly.

Andreas is the one that answers the question, which in the eyes of the servants in black, was quite the risk. You can't say the name of royalty like it's nothing. Names carry weight. “You're the second star of the Empire, Prince Nikias Gregor Chrysl”, all four servants bow to him, this time they don't look up immediately after, they wait a couple seconds, as if they're paying their respects. Thankfully he isn't aggressive… only slightly insane, the servant in black thinks as he steals a glance to his brother next to him, who's also staring at him. The brothers exchange a careful nod, they must stay silent, no matter what. 

The man known as Nikias starts laughing, appearing almost maniacal. Nikias? You must be joking? To understand the thoughts of the man, a few pieces of information need to be relayed first.

In the life he lived before the soul exchange, Nikias was known as Vahe, in a world dominated by science he was an unemployed and homeless lad with a terrible personality and no family, as science was so advanced, he ‘’lived’’ inside a pod made for homeless people in a poorly funded shelter and tried finding cash in hand jobs around the city. He was crafty with his hands and mostly did machine repairs around the town he used to live in. 

By natural rule of the universe he was supposed to die in a landslide in the homeless shelter at age 36, but he died because of a machine explosion at age 17. Therefore his soul was transferred to Nikias body, as a reparation for ending his life previously than planned. The explosion was supposed to occur six minutes after Vahe went through that path. It's easier to kill those that had to die at that moment, but harder to bring life back to those that weren't supposed to die.

Fortunately, Vahe was the only one there that wasn't supposed to die at that moment.

So, Vahe was transferred to the body of Nikias, in a different dimension of the world he called home. But what shocked him the most isn't his handsome appearance or the soul exchange, what shocked him the most was that he recognizes the name of the body he's now in. He recognizes who he is now.

Second Prince Nikias Gregor Chrysl is a character from the popular historical fantasy romance novel series named ‘Odd Eyes’, and he's the villain of the story that dies at 17 years old after barely escaping the consequences of his own actions.

‘Odd Eyes’ is the story of a couple that needs to stop the rise of the ancient god Vremes, the god of time that resents humanity for banishing him from the heavens. The story actually starts with the fourth rebirth of the protagonist Evangelia, who always dies when Vremes succeeds in raising and destroying humanity, almost as if the other gods are turning back time to give her one more opportunity to kill the ancient god forever. 

The fact that Nikias had died shows that this is the fourth regression and the timeline of the first book. There are four volumes, each with more than 600 pages, and Vahe read them back to back more times than he can count. He even listened to the audiobook while working! 

Nikias is the brother of Crown Prince Alkaios, the male lead of the novel, and for the previous three timelines, he's the reason for the Crown Prince's weak body and bad health, as he's been feeding his older brother poison for years. Evangelia only finds out about the poison when she reborns for the fourth and last time, and as the result of such, she gives Nikias the same poison that he was giving Alkaios.

As a result, Nikias dies at age 17, before being able to cause more harm to his brother and torment the protagonist. You see, besides the poison, Nikias also tormented them with false rumors, traps and even kidnaping the protagonist to try selling her as a slave. Yeah, he was trash.

His personality is a result of a doting yet neglectful father and mother, who couldn't resist their son's pleas and therefore allowed him to roam free and terrorize those who opposed him, and at the same time neglecting him enough to never know the consequences he was suffering. After his death during the novel’s timeline, his father goes crazy and speeds the rise of Vremes, causing the death of the Empress, his wife.

It's better to continue pretending amnesia, I don't have Nikias previous memories as well. What the man seems to fail to understand, though, is that he is Nikias now. The original soul is gone and his original body is also gone. Either he accepts his life as Nikias, or he dies for good. Not that he's aware of this right now.

“I don't have any recollection of being a Prince” he says after minutes of silence, his attempt to imitate the language of the novel is somewhat successful, even if that probably wasn't how Nikias previously spoke like. The servants seem to not believe the man, but Andreas tells one of the black clothed servants to go fetch a physician.

The physician arrives ten minutes later, an old man with an annoyed expression, he was carrying a light brown suitcase and wearing fancy nobility clothes. He didn't seem happy to treat the Prince. Nikias, on the other hand, is now back on bed and his expression is calm, well… he is relatively calm on the outside, but inside the man couldn't be more desperate. If Nikias is dead, then that means that my presence here changes the original flow of the story. I wonder if the changes my survival makes will still make killing the ancient god possible. The man is engulfed in his own thoughts, so much so that he doesn't realize the old physician has been talking to him.

Maybe I should go to the countryside and lay low, since I was supposed to be dead anyway. Nikias' train of thought does have some logic to it, but what he forgot to remember is that he's a Prince, not any noble, he doesn't have the luxury to run away from his position and future.

His thoughts are interrupted only when a woman bursts into his room. “Nikki!” The woman, clearly in her 40s, has beautiful skin, even with a few expression marks, no one could deny the fact that she was stunning. The woman looks like an older female version of Nikias, silky and shiny long silver hair that is up on a complicated hairstyle, soft yet strong features and a curvy lean body, however the only thing that made them apart was the glowing pink irises the woman possesses. She looks like one of those models I saw at the museum, the man thinks. All the servants bow when the woman enters the room, but she doesn't pay attention to them, it's almost as if she doesn't see their existence. “My sweet son”, the woman exclaims with tears in her eyes. She seems to truly love the man, but how can he say that he's not the son she loves so much.

That's so cruel to think, that her son is forever gone, and now an impostor became him. I'm sorry, the man thinks, truly sorry for the woman weeping for someone who isn't there anymore. But what Vahe, now Nikias, still fails to understand is that he is Nikias now and he isn't an impostor, at least not in the way he thinks he is.