[Caught you]
The moment the author's arrow pierced through my chest, my vision flickered as Ethan's memory flooded my mind. From the moment he was born until the moments before I possessed him, the memory was vividly playing in my head.
When I opened my eyes again, my soul was floating in the void. The lone figure of child Ethan was in front of me, crouching. It wasn't until I got close to him that I realized he was crying.
[Why does no one love me? Why does everyone leave?]
His sobs were painful to hear, which made me raise my hand trying to comfort him, but my hand passed through his body. With no way to help him, I stood there motionlessly as I observed him.
Sorting through Ethan's memories in my head, I realized when exactly this happened. It was the moment when Oliver, his most trusted guardian, stabbed him in the back.
That day, Ethan was kidnapped by a group of thugs. Oliver wasn't there that day as he asked for leave with the reason of being sick.
Though in the end, Ethan got saved, the trauma left a scar in his mind. So, when he was older and dug out the truth of that day, he found out Oliver was the one selling his private information to the thug. All of it just to get more money.
When Ethan told his mother about him, he got chased out with one sentence.
"Don't make up lies."
Ethan was only fifteen that year, his still fragile heart couldn't handle his mother's distrust and disdain, so he was forced to back down and leave. He realized Oliver had wrapped his hand around his mother so tightly that even her son's words couldn't shake her image of Oliver.
That was one of the triggers that changed Ethan's behavior. This family forced him to become so twisted that even when Wilson returned to his side, it was already too late.
I could hear faint whispers in the void, then sudden pain surged up from my heart.
[Get out!]
When I opened my eyes again, I was back in reality – in the ruins inside the gate.
A dulling ache kept rising in my chest, so when we finished the gate and returned to the bureau for a brief moment, I checked what was affecting me. To my surprise, purple veins were pulsing in its center.
The author's last word echoed again in my head.
Get out.
It was a rejection of my existence here.
.
.
The worn-down yet clean apartment was already familiar after almost months of going back and forth to this place.
Though the outside was familiar, the inside wasn't. Every time Ilyas invited me in, I rejected the offer, not wanting to bother him. But now, I had to step inside whether I wanted to or not. The narrow hall brought back nostalgia of my previous life, my family also lived in this kind of apartment.
Stopping in front of room 105, Ilyas pulled out his key and opened the door. He said with a sheepish smile.
"It might be a bit cramped in here, but bear with it for a while, okay?"
"Don't worry, I don't mind at all."
CLICK!
As soon as Ilyas opened the door, an old woman with grey hairs stepped out of one of the rooms, her scrutinizing gaze landed on me.
"You're finally here huh? Come inside."
Without saying any more words, she walked back inside the room, gesturing me to enter.
'So, this is the power of a shaman.'
It's amazing how she already knew about my arrival and anticipated it.
I nodded to Ilyas, excusing myself to follow her. Contrary to my expectation of a shaman's room, there were no incense lit or any ornaments related to rituals, it's just an ordinary room.
Noticing my gaze, she said, "I might be old, but I keep up with the current era's trend. I won't display or use my tools if it's not needed. Anyway, sit down on that table over there, and call me Grandma Zaza."
I obediently sat down on the floor as the table was low and there were no chairs. Grandma Zaza placed down a bowl with clear water inside, some beads and few other tools I didn't know what it's used for.
"You're here to ask me about the red pouch aren't you? First, let me ask you something, who sent you here?"
'Sent me?'
"So you don't know either huh? Did you get sent to this world without knowing your medium?"
All this time, I thought my transmigration was just like the other cliché transmigration story, a transmigration as a start of a new life, but me being sent here was to actually fulfill someone else's agenda?
Grandma Zaza wrote down several papers with a brush as she explained.
"The universe's gaze is literally what its name suggests, a universe that is observing every detail of the world so it rotates on the right axis. Your transferred soul wasn't complete, that's why the universe detects you as a defect in their system, forcing you out."
"Then… What should I do?"
Grandma Zaza didn't immediately reply, she finished the words on her paper before slowly opening her mouth, "There are two ways to turn away the universe's will to eliminate you, either your soul completely settled on this world or you finish the task your medium gave you and be sent back to your original world."
I unconsciously clenched my fist. I wanted to go back if I could, but not knowing what task my sender assigned me would just make me walk in circles.
"Take off your clothes."
Confused, I froze on the spot, immediately shielding my body with my hands while inching away from the table.
Grandma Zaza gave me a disgusted look and kicked me on the leg.
"Show me the wound on your chest you brat!"
"Oh, that, alright."
Embarrassed by my misunderstanding, I loosened my tie and unbuttoned my shirt. Grandma Zaza observed the dark veins for a while before slapping the paper she's been writing on my chest.
"Endure it."
"What?"
Reading some kind of mantra, Grandma Zaza closed her eyes. A sharp pain launched from my heart to my head, making me nauseous as the pain was tearing through my brain.
"Argh!"
Enduring an excruciating pain rising from my insides, I curled up on the floor. After a few minutes, the pain vanished, leaving me panting as sweat dripped down my face.
"Well done, most people collapse the moment I start reciting, guess you need that kind of resilience to jump between worlds."
"So… Does that mean… I'm safe for now?"
"Yes, I patch your soul up and shield you with a spiritual barrier. I can't entirely sever the attention you have gained, but the universe's influence on you will be reduced."
"Grandma Zaza…"
I raised my eyes at her, "Please don't tell anyone about this, even Ilyas."
"… If that's your wish, sure."
"Thank... you..."
Receiving her answer, I lost consciousness.