This is a remake of my Old Story, The Butterfly effect, with hopefully better chapters. So if you hated my stories before, please at least give this one a shot. Thank you.
Anyways-
I do not own anything, Everything belongs to Intelligent systems.
"I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens."
― Woody Allen
"Huh? Where am I?"
"You have died, and are awaiting judgment."
"Is there any reason why I don't have a body?"
"Did I forget to mention you died, Luke Heartwell?"
"Huh?"
"Luke Heartwell, Asian, captain of the Kendo team, black belt, plays the cello, don't think you can sneak out of this one. By lying or by skill you will not escape death. Get used to it. Cry all you want. Nothing is going to change. And if I hear a request for a chess board, you are going down."
"My name is Luso. That's not my name! There has got to be some mistake!"
"..."
"..."
The world reformed before him. The voice that had spoken was no longer a voice, but a youthful looking business man. In his right ear was a small dark blue earpiece and in his left hand was a small tablet computer.
At the same time, his own body was being formed from the dust surrounding the area. Piece by piece came together and formed into a new whole. When his eyes were formed he could see. When his arms and legs were made he could walk and clench his fists. The body he had was new, and completely alien to him. It was strange.
The man sighed and fiddled with his tablet. Without a hint of emotion, he said. "Explain yourself, Luke or Ludo, or Luso, or whatever your name is."
"Can you explain why it took so long to get me a body first?" The boy said with a snarl.
"Don't be arrogant, in thinking you are alive mortal. All that is, is a spiritual body, I can dispel it in a blink of an eye. I need to see your body to read your body language, I don't want to make a hasty judgment. Repeat what you said, and don't think about escaping."
"My name is Luso, Luke is my neighbor, Although I do practice swordsmanship as a martial art, I am only a red belt not a black. I don't play the cello but I do play the Violin."
The businessman was silent, scouring for any trace of the boy lying. Unable to find a single one, he snapped and shouted angrily. "You're lying!"
"I'm not! Admit it when you make a mistakes!" Luso said indignantly.
"Oh? And a human is lecturing me? Like you haven't done anything like this before!"
"You're sending an innocent to the afterlife! I a human! Jerk! I DIED because of you."
"You think that's bad huh? Death?" The businessman shouted. "I'm going to get fired because of you! My boss is going to use the sickle that I use to reap souls on me!"
"Wait you REAP souls? You're a grim reaper?"
"Angel of death is the corre-"
Luso burst into laughter.
"The grim reaper, wears a pinstriped suit, and is worried about his boss killing him!"
The man started to grow red in the face and shouted, "This is no time to be joking around fool! I'm going to lose my job, and you are already dead! What are you going to do about my job?"
Luso shrugged and rolled his eyes. "There is no need for anyone to know about his, you know. You could probably stick my soul back into my body. "
"Are you really going to be flippant with death? My lord in heaven, make the humans more polite! The problem is, Luke Heartwell was supposed to die in a car accident!"
"I don't have a license! I'm fifteen! My parents didn't want me to get a permit!"
"That isn't the problem nitwit! The problem is that you have a prearranged death, and I already set it up. Here! I'll show you!"
The reaper snapped his fingers, and the pure white scenery changed to an image of a street. His mother's sedan was smashed into a blue Prius, the front bumper crumpled. The window in front of the driver was shattered, apparently from the driver being thrown from the vehicle, and the broken glass lay across the front side of the broken car.
Lying cold next to a tree smeared with flesh and blood was an almost unrecognizable corpse. Luso covered his mouth in dismay before starting to cry.
The reaper tapped his tablet's display twice before rattling off a bunch of statistics. "Head turned back 176 degrees, arms broken, ribs crushed, broken and scattered into various organs, heart and spleen ruptured, and digestive tract exploded. Although I can place a soul in a body, that thing isn't going to hold one any time soon."
In reaction, Luso turned around and yanked the reaper's tie. The blue silk tie was made of the finest materials. Even under the huge amount of pressure it didn't snap.
"Hey stop it! Stop it! You're choking me big guy! I can put your soul into a new body, stay calm!" The reaper said frantically.
"Calm! You sent my body driving in a car at god knows what speed-
"184 miles per hour. Without a seat belt." The reaped interrupted.
"And made it look like that! And you want me to be calm!" The boy roared. He drew his hand back to punch the reaper in the face, but before he could the man started to protest again.
"Like I said! Wait! Just stick around with me, and when a millionaire or someone like that is assigned to me I can stick you in his body. I know you want your body back, but that's impossible. I'll do my best for you, okay?"
Luso hesitated for a second before preparing to smack the reaper. Then he decided that despite the efforts that the servant of god was making, he still deserved to be punched.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would you?" The reaper said while slipping on a pair.
Luso's grip on the reaper's collar tightened.
"Oh you would. You dirty, rotten, ungrateful moron! "
"I am not ungrateful!"
"Then let me go! I'll get you the greatest body!"
For a few minutes Luso and the reaper struggled. Then the reaper's headset vibrated softly.
"Hold up, I got to take this call."
Luso backed away, and waited as the Reaper started to pale, stutter and mumble as he spoke with the person on the phone.
"We have a problem."
"What!?"
"Inspection, my boss declared a random inspection of the workers to make sure we aren't soul smuggling."
"What is the punishment?"
"A thousand years of suffering. And I lose my job. Oh my God, I'm going to get fired."
"They can replace grim reapers that easily?"
"There are more reapers than you can count. We do have to manage every death. I can be replaced as fast as one of your McDonald's employees. It just pays better, and I get dental, don't forget dental."
"When is the inspection?"
"At lunch time. I have three possible candidates for you to chose from before inspection starts. Keep in mind that I have to take them in the manner recorded."
Luso covered his face with his hands.
"Alright tell me"
The reaper searched through his pockets and pulled out a Smartphone. He scrolled through a list on the screen and said, "your options are a homeless man, who gets stabbed in the street, a citizen of the red light district who... Let's skip that option actually. There is a third option but the world that particular death is in is completely different."
"Those aren't really great options. What is the third?" Luso said with a frown.
"You mentioned you can wield a sword right?"
"Yeah, I can."
The angel of death sighed, and said "Then you have a chance, there is a bandit who died from a fever in the parallel universe of Ylisse. It's an medieval world, and on the brink of war. If you want I can give you that body but there will be a huge culture shock. No electricity, less technology, so on so forth."
Luso nodded, "Will I be able to speak the language?"
"Yes, if the previous person was able to then you will. The data transfers."
"I'll do it."
"I'll get the necessary materials. I'll send you there, check out the body."
Space and time were once again warped, inverted and broken to pieces. The road on which the lost soul was standing on vanished and was replaced by a rudimentary camp on the forest.
A series of tents were haphazardly placed around a series of trees, and a cluster or men were conversing amongst themselves, most complaining about insects or the humid weather.
One man, evidently the leader of the group turned to a man wearing a pointed wizard hat, and said "My friend, tell me how this war cry sounds, does it sound like a bandit's. Or how about this laugh? Does it sound perverse and dirty enough to be a barbarian?"
The man then proceeded to laugh in a disgusting manner. It was so realistic that the man in the hat flinched and took a step back.
The man said, "It's perfect leader, those Ylisseans will be sure it's a disgusting bandit. But I have one question."
"What is it Issaic?"
"Why is Gangrel doing this? If he wants a war, then why not just send in the army and strike? Is there a reason he has us attack ordinary people?"
The leader of the bandits looked at his feet and groaned.
"I don't know. But it is not my concern Issaic. I am more worried about the soldiers that are suffering due to this strategy. We can't have any clerics, so we are all suffering. We are almost out of vulneraries and Matt is almost dead. His fever is picking up. If we had just one damn healer this wouldn't be happening!" The leader of the bandits lifted up a tent flap, and showed Issaic something.
Luso drifted over to where the bandits were walking and peered inside.
A brown haired man was gasping in pain, his face completely red from heat. He groaned slightly and rolled on his side. In Luso's opinion, the soldier looked tall, and strong. But all the strength in the world was useless against a disease.
"I don't think he will last much longer sir."
"Call the men together, let's raid early. We need some vulneraries."
The magician nodded, and started to rally people together in the center of the camp. As they were doing so, Luso drifted over to the feverish man and waited.
"Matt I think right?"
"God? Naga? Grima?"
"Don't worry it isn't so bad." The grim reaper said while materializing into the dimension.
"Reaper!" Luso said with alarm. The man had come holding a sword as long as he was tall. It was black and shimmered in the dusky light that faded through the tent fabric.
"Rest in peace, Matthew. You have done enough for Plegia. Your friends in a few weeks will make us work overtime on the Ylissians."
Then he tapped the sword on the dying man's chest. A small blue clock face appeared where the sword had touched, the hands only five minutes away.
When the clock's hands hit zero, Matthew's eyes closed he died with a smile.
Luso raised his hand and touched the dead man's face, his fingers going straight through the man body.
"How come he died so peacefully, and I died like that?"
The reaper glared at Luso for a few seconds and turned away. He removed a small marble from his front pocket and rolled it around in his right hand.
"What is that?"
"This is an Aum crystal. It disturbs a body's reaction to a spiritual presence so your soul doesn't get spit out within two seconds. Don't worry, you won't have to live with it, the body will get accustomed to a parasite soul after all. So after a while, the body will learn to put up with your leaching off it, and stealing it's vital-"
"Can you please not speak of me like a flea or something?" Luso said with a grimace.
"Fine. Good luck Luso, sorry about screwing up."
The reaper slipped off the Myrmidon shirt and pushed it into the man's chest. A quarter of the dark blue crystal poked out of the man's chest after it was inserted. After it was, Luso touched the crystal with his forehead. His ethereal form was sucked into the crystal, and once again Luso had control of a body.
A new adventure was beginning. And a whole new story would awaken. The butterfly's wings had flapped, and the tempest was well on its way.
"UUWAAAAGGHH!"
The first experience he felt in the body of the bandit was pain. It was a track record Luso had no intention of keeping. Unfortunately for the plucky swordsman, it was to be something that would be following him around his entire god damned life.
The fever that had killed its host, still raged within the body causing nausea and vomiting.
This adventure was not off on a good start.
The Reaper wrinkled his nose then walked over and touched Luso on his back. A dark blue wave of energy rippled across his back, destroying the pathogens infecting his body.
"That's the last favor I can do for you Luso, Here's a tip. Don't focus on things like walking and the like. The previous owner already has it down. The more you concentrate the harder it gets."
Luso nodded in thanks as he watched the ethereal spirit vanish into thin air. With the sickness gone he was feeling better, but waves of nausea were still reverberating in his body. For about two minutes he stared into the tent ceiling wondering what he was going to do now in the strange new world. During the midst of his ponderings a boy his age ran quickly into the medical tent. He wore a cloak like the magicians in old stories and somehow seemed oddly familiar.
The blonde smiled cheerily, and said. "Hey Matt, how are you feeling? I ran back as fast as fast as I found medication for your sickness. "
"I'm feeling better Issaic. I think I am all cured actually." Luso said nonchalantly. "See? No fever!"
Then he processed what he just said. How the heck did he know him?
Issaic touched Luso's forehead with the palm of his hand. The boy bit his lip for a few minutes as he made sure that the fever had vanished.
"Fine I guess you are well enough. I'll take you where the others are. Just wait, I'll get your armor."
Issaic returned with a set of armor traditionally worn by mercenaries. It was leather with metal plates interwoven, and had a small detachable shield on the left shoulder. The armor only took a few minutes to put on with Issaic's help, and was actually not that heavy.
"Here's your sword. Standard Iron." Issaic said while dropping the sheathed weapon on Luso's back. "And follow me. The others will be thrilled to see you back! Let's fight side by side like we always do! "
The magician removed an elfire tome from the inner pocket of his robe and started walking towards the woods.
Luso paused for a second and glanced around the tent. The tent did not only hold the sick, but also a good portion of non perishable goods. And lying on top of the pile was a small blank book, and a katana.
The boy grabbed the both before rushing off after Issaic.
"So where are we going?"
"Aren village. Our colleagues are performing a raid. After that, in a few days we'll hit Southtown. Let's hope that we aren't too late."
Luso stopped running at the word raid. Right. This was a bandit's body.
"Issaic, remind me again. How long have we known each other?"
The magician stopped and bit his lip. "Umm, what brought this on Matt? We grew up together, in the same village, so I guess since birth? Well we did separate for a few years when we went to different refugee camps."
"Refugee camps?" Luso said uneasily. For some reason with just the sound of that word, a spot just below his right shoulder started to ache.
Issaic sat down on a nearby stump.
"You were only three, but you should still remember it if the camp was anything like mine. I was four and I still recall everything about it. Those damn Ylissians burning and pillaging everything, men worse than monsters forcing us to move every three weeks to prevent them from finding us. Every day, they would call men out from the camp and arm them. The call to arms I suppose. It's ironic, the call that took my parents, both of our parents actually, the call I feared, I eventually answered. Living in the rebuilt village for the rest of my life didn't really suit me right?"
Issaic chuckled and flipped the pages of his book and thoughtlessly glanced over them.
So the bandits had their own motivations for doing what they did. Luso bit his lip. Banditry was wrong. He had no intention of starting off his new life with crime.
"Issaic, What if I told you a I became a whole new person. " Luso said carefully. "Due to a certain encounter with death?"
"Eh? What do you mean Matt?"
"I don't think that doing this kind of thing is right. I don't want to kill people. I mean, Ylissians are people too right?"
Issaic was completely taken aback. The man shook his head and said. "But what about revenge? Didn't the Ylissians kill your father? What happened to that? Are you going to forgive them for what they did to you?! What they did to us!"
"... Are we going to kill more people then? Kill innocents for innocent blood? You are a good person from what I've seen, stop doing this Issaic. Does rampaging through towns give you your revenge?" Luso pleaded.
The magician closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly. "I don't know."
The two had been unknowingly walking towards the burning village the whole time.
But now they were at the gates of the town, both of them had to make a choice.
"Issaic, I am going to stop the bandits."
"Matthew! They are our allies! They fought alongside US! How can you say such a thing? And even if you could fight them, they still outnumber you! Are you in your right mind?"
Luso silently unsheathed the killing edge he had taken. "Who knows? Probably not. This all feels real, but maybe this is all just a hallucination? Or perhaps I am already dead and this an illusion? I may think this is real but in my heart I still believe this all fake. Everybody knows that if you die in a dream, you wake up."
"This isn't a joke Matt!"
"Will you fight along with me Issaic? Or will you fight against me? Make your choice! I'm not spending my second chance at life as a bandit! I'm going to do the right thing!"
Issaic closed his eyes and slumped against the village wall.
"I can't. I'm sorry Matt. I can't do that."
Luso pointed his weapon at the mage. "I tried to convince you, I'd rather have you as an ally, but if that's the case then we will be enemies. I will not degrade myself to being a bandit! Prepare yourself!"
"Matthew?"
"Here I come!"
Luso raised his sword over his head and slashed downwards towards the Plegian mage. The metal sword cut Issaic's cheek painting a thin bloody line. Issaic leaped backwards to rush out of range before Luso could swing again. "What in the name of Grima are you doing!"
Luso paused for a second, before tensing his legs for a charge. "I'm going to do the right thing!" The killing edge flew forward as the mercenary charged towards the magician, its tip pointing towards the robed man's chest.
"Ngh, Damn it! Back off! Wind!"
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I hope that you will read more!