"Ladies and gentlemen… welcome to the Winter Solstice Festival." A man walked onto the stage as the music quieted down. He was dressed in a dark-brown coat and pants, with a white shirt underneath, and held a black cane in his right hand.
His posture was straight, and he was quite tall. He looked almost exactly like the reflection Ethan had seen in the mirror. It was easy to guess—he was Ethan's current body's father.
There was a slight smile on his face that made Ethan shiver. But after that smile, Ethan's mind spiraled into chaos as memories returned.
'That woman said the Winter Solstice had arrived. I wondered why she said that when the actual solstice is still eight months away… Did she know something about what's happening to me?'
Back then, Ethan hadn't paid much attention to her mumbling, but now he was starting to think she knew exactly what she was saying.
By the time Ethan snapped back to his senses, he noticed the whole crowd staring at him—some with anticipation, others with excitement. He had no idea what was going on. He hadn't heard a word the man on stage had said.
A man approached him, also dressed in dark colors. He was clearly older than everyone else in the room, his face full of wrinkles and his thin lips tightly pressed together. His expression was stern.
"Lord Kael… you're not supposed to be here. There's a special ballroom for young lords and ladies like yourself," he said quietly, bowing slightly.
Ethan nodded instinctively as the man led him away. Somehow, Ethan knew the man was the family butler. But as he followed him, a sudden, intense pain stabbed through his head.
'Fuck! What's happening!'
"Argh!" Ethan tried to scream, but all that came out was a beastlike sound.
The butler stopped and rushed toward him. "Lord Kael, are you alright?"
Ethan couldn't hear him. Memories were flooding his brain—painfully. He dropped to the ground, sweating and drooling, holding his head and screaming.
These memories weren't his. They were foreign—memories belonging to the real Kael. It felt like he was living through them. Seventeen years of someone else's life, crammed into his mind. And though it lasted only an hour, it felt like a lifetime.
The butler, unsure of what to do, had called Ethan's—Kael's—parents. When they realized he couldn't hear them either, they sent a messenger to the cathedral to summon a priest.
His parents returned to the ballroom to continue hosting the event. As nobles, leaving their guests too long could ruin their reputation. And if there's one thing nobles cared about most, it was their reputation.
Ethan eventually calmed down, the memories slowing. They were fragmented, with missing parts, but he understood most of them.
His emotions were complicated. He had suddenly found himself in another world—no friends, no family, no one. He was completely alone, with no one to talk to.
'Even if I tried to explain, no one would believe me. Worse, they'd think I'm mentally unstable.'
A knock came at the door. It creaked open, and a man in white priest robes walked in, holding what Ethan assumed was a Bible under one arm. In his right hand, he held a chain with an angel pendant at the end.
"Praise the Eternal Goddess," the priest murmured as he tapped two spots on his forehead and placed a hand on his chest.
"I see you're doing better than before."
Ethan didn't respond.
The priest didn't seem to mind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rectangular piece of yellow paper. An angel's wing was drawn on it in red ink.
"Keep this with you. It's a charm that offers protection."
'Protection from what?' Ethan nodded but said nothing. He was too mentally drained to speak.
The priest walked around the room, sprinkling water and murmuring a few chants before leaving.
'Why is he so dramatic? I would've thought this was all staged… but there are no cameras.'
After the priest left, Ethan's mother entered the room. She saw him sitting on his bed, legs pulled to his chest. She smiled warmly but said nothing and quietly left to return to the ballroom.
Ethan stayed on his bed. It wasn't until the double red suns began to rise the next day that he left the room. He had already made up his mind—he would learn everything he could about this world. Maybe, just maybe, if he gathered the right ingredients and repeated the wealth ritual, he could return home to Earth.
As he stepped out of the building, he paused. The streets were narrow and crowded, filled with nobles and horse-drawn carriages moving up and down.
"Kael, are you staring at Old Sam's house again?" a voice called from behind.
Ethan turned—it was Kael's mother. He still wasn't used to being called Kael, so it took him a second to realize she was talking to him.
He shook his head.
"Old Sam's mentally unstable, which is why he doesn't interact with anyone. Don't be mad when I scold you for going near his porch."
"I don't…" Ethan tried to respond but couldn't. Kael might be angry, but he wasn't Kael. He didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet.
"I went through the same thing. When I was ten, I had an awesome kite. I used to fly it so high you couldn't even see it. One day, it crashed. I followed the string and found it over there—right at the edge of his lawn.
That's not the point. The point is, I saw him talking to his house. He got mad at me and demanded my parents hand me over. But since he was unstable, we called the guards on him… and he killed my parents months later."
Ethan couldn't sympathize with her. She was a stranger to him.
'He killed your parents, yet you still live across the street, seeing him every time you wake up and every time you come home?'
"You must be wondering why I still live here?"
"No," Ethan replied quickly, then ran into the streets. He felt familiar with the area, but he remembered—those weren't his memories. They were Kael's.
He ran to the stalls where goods were sold, only to realize he had no money. Apparently, Kael had spent his allowance at a brothel the night before.
Ethan cursed a few times before heading back home. He needed to find a way to get money and buy the ingredients for the ritual.
When he arrived, he saw his mother still standing where he left her, staring at Old Sam's house. Old Sam was outside, tending to his lawn…
Then, suddenly, Old Sam looked up and locked eyes with Ethan.
And smiled.
But it wasn't a smile.