Volume 1. Chapter 2. Selection
After I finished talking to Dotai, and as I began to wait and watch his body take form from nothingness, a strange thought crossed my mind: why not jump into the vortex? On one hand, considering what I heard, I initially thought it better to avoid the whirlwind. But a peculiar idea surfaced in my mind: if I jump, I won't forget anything, and if I die, I'll find peace. However, I don't want someone or something to engulf me, strange as it may sound. I don't want my memories to haunt someone at night, although it would be interesting to see. Nevertheless, it's better to refrain from such actions.
After ten seconds of contemplation, I came to the conclusion, why not take the risk? What could I lose, except my sanity? In reality, nothing.
After a few more seconds of contemplation, glancing back and forth between Dotei and the vortex, it became clear to me that there was no other way out. Dotei was on the verge of creating his body, and although I didn't understand why he needed a physical form at all, it no longer mattered. With these thoughts in mind, I gathered my courage and leaped into the vortex.
As I plunged into the whirlpool, a sharp pain came over me, as if I was being torn to pieces. It was impossible to escape or withstand this pain, and I wanted to scream, but it was impossible. The only thing left was to accept it and come to terms with the pain. But it was hard and unpleasant.
Although the sensation of being torn to shreds didn't last long, only a few seconds that felt like an entire eternity. Then the pain vanished, and in its place remained exhaustion. At that moment, all my emotions were wiped away, leaving only fatigue that grew and grew until I fell asleep, if it could be called that.
When I woke up, I was surprised that I was still alive and capable of thinking and feeling. What could this be? Sensations I hadn't experienced before, but now they were accessible again. Perhaps I found myself a donor? But why am I still here? It seems I wasn't consumed. What could have happened then?
I began to pay attention to my sensations. At first, I didn't feel anything unusual, but then a strange change occurred. It seemed to me that another person appeared next to me, not just as a separate individual. It was a strange sensation, as if I felt both myself and someone else simultaneously.
When I tried to separate my sensations from those of others, I realized that it was impossible. This feeling became for me like an immovable web that couldn't be torn or detached.
I don't know how much time passed before I learned to separate my sensations from others, but I managed to do it. There were several advantages to this: firstly, my mind could finally rest a bit, and secondly, if they couldn't be torn apart, I could use this connected network in the future.
As I tried to do this, I realized that this other person I felt was very close to me, a few centimeters away. I could even touch him, although it was difficult. He also touched me involuntarily, and I felt his touch on me and felt it as a double effect with a different vision. And it was a strange and very amazing feeling.
When I realized that I was someone's twin, one of the two about to be born soon, it was an indication that I was still alive as an individual, as a separate personality. I could also listen, but it didn't help much since I didn't understand the language, and most words were unfamiliar to me.
My first childbirth was stressful because it was the first time I remember, and it was strange. I saw the light and heard sounds, but they were not mine; they belonged to the child born with me. Her cry was louder than mine, but it was challenging to distinguish in this cacophony of sounds.
When I came into this world, I was engulfed by a sense of confusion and vulnerability. My infant body was a mystery, and I tried to control it. Although I understand the mechanics of my physical form, deciphering it with my adult mind was extremely challenging. I used to be strong, but now I felt small and helpless again. If I truly ended up in a parallel universe, it was both a gift and a curse. However, I hope that this world will help me fulfill my deepest desires.
It was challenging to determine how many days had passed since my birth, but I managed to adapt to the state I found myself in, although not completely. I became better at hearing and seeing, though not perfectly. The first person I could clearly recognize was a little baby, swaddled in a crib beside me. Although I expected to see my mother or father first, fate had other plans. It happened at night when I suddenly woke up not from the cry of a baby but from the moonlight streaming through the window, blinding my eyes.
When I woke up, the first thing that caught my eye was the ceiling above me and the radiant light streaming through the window. When I turned my head to the right, I clearly saw the same baby with whom I was born. In the moonlight, I could make out her hair, which was light and almost white, and looked very beautiful. My observation of this child continued until the moonlight dimmed, and the baby's face took on a sad expression, as if she had been abruptly pulled from a peaceful sleep. After that, the baby woke up and cried from the depths of her little soul.
Literally a few seconds after the start of the little baby's cry, I too joined in this sad moment, hoping that the parents who would come now would not notice my peculiarity. They shouldn't know about my rebirth. Feeling like a child, I tried my best to conceal my consciousness.
After I started singing along, the lights turned on and a dark-haired woman in a dark blouse with a beautiful body walked in. Behind her was a blond man with blond hair, who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt the same color as his hair, and had an athletic build.
As they approached, I noticed the color of their eyes. The man had blue eyes, while the woman had red eyes, which surprised me greatly. In my world, I had never seen people with red eyes in real life, even though I knew it was possible through genetic mutations that could alter not only eye color but also hair and skin. Despite scrutinizing her for a considerable time, I couldn't identify a condition like albinism or any other genetic disorder. Eventually, I concluded that in their world, having such eye colors was simply a normal trait.
While I contemplated and pretended to cry, Mom and Dad began to comfort and take care of us. It was at that moment that familiar names reached my hearing - Raven and Taiyan. It seemed to me that I had heard these names before, but I couldn't recall where.
When all the commotion subsided, and our parents went to sleep, I was still trying to remember the names I heard. My brain was on the verge of exhaustion, but there were no memories. My efforts continued for a while until I grew tired and fell asleep.
In the following days, I spent countless hours trying to recall where I had heard those names in my previous world. This world around me was no different from my previous one, except for one fundamental aspect - magic. When I witnessed magic here, my thoughts became clouded. Magic here was an individual property of each person, but there was something extraordinary about it. The peculiarity lay in the fact that using it required an aura. The aura revealed the manifestation of your soul and depended on your intellect and mental state.
When I saw my parents wielding magic, my mind suddenly awakened, reminding me that I had seen this world before. It was the world of RWBY, which I had once observed on my phone after school. However, now that I found myself here, it didn't seem like such a wonderful place to live, especially with all these Grimm monsters lurking around every corner, ready to attack.
This revelation struck me like a blow to the heart. Understanding that the world around me was both captivating and dark shattered my mood. It continued to deteriorate as my thoughts returned to the storyline of this world and all its nuances. Meanwhile, a little girl with light hair and fair skin played with her toys beside me, carefree. Her unwavering energy and youthful inspired spirit might seem melodic, but my thoughts kept turning back to her fate, further dampening my mood. I knew a challenging destiny awaited me here, and it troubled me deeply.
The task at hand lay before me like a dark, unpredictable storm, stirring the waters of my thoughts. How could I alter the course of the story for this little girl, ensuring she doesn't face an untimely death?
As I woke up the next morning, the looming question persisted, refusing to grant me peace: what to do in a world where I know what awaits us in the future? Should I help them change their fate or leave everything as it was in the original story? In this world, it seems there's room for music and video games, at least, which is an advantage. I could leave everything as it is and do all the things I failed to do in the past.
Looking back, I remembered that I once loved music and dreamed of creating it, but life had its own plans for me. I joined a criminal organization, hoping to save my father in another world, but it also led to failure, and I became a puppet on their strings. But that's another story. It's better not to dwell on the past and focus my thoughts on the future.
And in the future, music awaits me.