Kyle opens his eyes to the smell of jasmine and the intricate design of a battle on the ceiling.
It was a weird battle. They didn't have battles where he came from but from the historical and mid era novels he read in college battles didn't involve hugging. It didn't involve the two parties weeping, one side dressed in pure black and the other side red and gold.
His eyes focused on the man at the front of the people wearing black. He looked like their leader. Something about him was quite familiar. He saw something in his mind like a fleeting memory, gone before he could grasp what it was about.
But that shouldn't make any sense because he hadn't been here for a day.
Here. This didn't look like the room he first woke up in.
Then the memories came like a flood.
The study. The book. The whispers. The voice.
He shot upward into a sitting position and winced immediately. His still hurt badly.
"Fuck… shit..."
"Colorful language you've got there."
Kyle looked up to see a man. A god like man. He was the epitome of handsomeness. With silver white hair and silver eyes. His cheekbone sharp enough to cut him into pieces. His long lashes touched his cheeks. His nose more perfectly positioned than any he had seen before.
Although the person was seated behind he could tell there was a strong physic under all those royal robes. His robes screamed royalty and prestige, the color gold and red creating a stark contrast with his eyes.
He looked like something made in heaven.
'Why are they all pretty? This is so unfair. Why couldn't I have come as this guy?'
Kyle screamed in his mind still unable to look away.
"Are you dumb or something? Can't you speak?"
Alex watched many emotions pass through the boy's face, from awe to jealousy and now annoyance.
"I just woke up in a foreign place, bruised and sore and a handsome stranger in front of me! Cut me some slack."
Kyle snapped at the person sitting there.
Alex cocked a brow. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that. Not even his little sister.
"You should have known the consequences of try to sneak into my room." He replied coldly.
Kyle froze.
Kyle had been so fixed on the stranger and so mad about everybody treating him like shit that he hadn't paid attention to his surroundings. Now the stranger said Kyle tried to sneak into his room, he looked around.
He was still in the study. The crown prince's study. And this stranger is sitting at the desk wearing the castle's colors. Realization dawned on him.
'Fuck.'
He had messed up. He snapped at the crown prince and now even his borrowed, stolen or whatever, life was over. Maybe he would go back if he died here. Or maybe not. He had to come up with an excuse.
Alex watched Kyle's wide eyed panic.
"Your Highness. I'm sorry I didn't know it was you just now. I had a concussion when my head was hit. But now I recognize you."
Kyle mumbled his head bowed low.
Alex watched wondering how so many emotions could pass through the boy's face in a minute. He was suddenly tempted to find out. He wanted to see him squirm more. He perished the thought and asked a serious questions instead
"Why did you try to sneak into my room?"
He watched Kyle's face went blank this time around.
Kyle thought of something to say. He wasn't used to giving excuses. Years with his parents had thought him almost perfection. To everything they preferred that is. So Kyle blurted out the first thing that entered his head
"I wanted to sleep with you."
'Oh my… I'm dead this time.'
He had been desperate for what to say and just said the first thing that came to his mind. He didn't know why the original owner tried to sneak into his room in the first place. But now he had sealed his fate of death by telling this cold man he had wanted to sleep with him.
That may have been the owner's thought before he died but now he realized that he shouldn't have said that. Even in this life had the worst luck. Maybe death is for the best after all. How foolish of him to think he could live peacefully as a maid here.
"And how did you intend to do that?"
'What?? Don't tell me they don't sleep with each other here… except… does he want me explain how?'
Kyle's face flushed red at that thought. He pressed his lips together and lowered his head.
Alex watched the boy on the couch with narrowed eyes. He really thinks I'll fall for that. Naturally he believed it at first but then everything about the statement was wrong. Sure enough he should have known the prince wasn't around yesterday when he tried to sneak in.
"Fine, if you don't want to say anything about why you did it. But tell me why you went towards that book."
Right. The book.
Kyle had forgotten about that. He knew he had to think this time around before saying anything.
"I *mumble* the book shelves."
"What?"
Kyle cleared his throat
"I was cleaning the bookshelves."
Silence.
'Why is he looking like me like that? Like he knows… except… He knows! Oh my.. he fucking knows."
Panic kicked in. He decided to say the truth this time
"I was cleaning when I heard the book whisper, I wanted to see what the book was about."
"You wanted to see? Your didn't tell you run away from a whispering book."
'Well… where I come from books don't just whisper.They don't whisper at all'
"What do you know about the book?"
"Nothing."
Kyle saw the crown prince eyeing him suspiciously like he didn't believe the word.
"Nothing at all. I really know nothing."
'Except that looked really familiar to the original owner of this body."
But of course he couldn't say that. The crown prince finally believed him or just decided to, whichever worked fine for him.
"The book is called the dark book. The previous owner, the dark mage, used it to cause harm to other mage around him. It wasn't like that from the beginning but I don't trust you enough to tell you the whole story. But one thing you should know is book hasn't responded to anyone for years since the last dark mage."
Kyle listened with rapt attention. The crown prince continued
"There had always been a dark and light mage right from the beginning. It is said that the god Zeupa had two children who fought endlessly with each other. Their endless fight drove away the believers and the worshipers of the god. The god didn't know why they always fought or how to stop the until their fight ended taking the life of their mother, his wife. Enraged and blinded by grief he used his life force to restrict one to the day and to the night. It held for a few decades until the restraint broke due to their constant struggle. The outbreak of their fight caused something to leak into the air and it formed magical cores in humans. Mages started awakening. Some with high magical amplitude, some with low one. Some with magic other turned into some creatures. Finally humans used the new powers they had gotten the stop the centuries long fight. Although they were powerful enough to stop the fight didn't mean they could kill the demi gods so they had to try another form of magic, hence the spells in the dark book, to try to pull out their soul and scatter their essence. The result of this was of course not good. It backfired. And the souls of the demi gods went into two of them. Hence the light and dark mage. Now that they were nothing but essence possessing human beings they became comparably weak. Stronger than any other mage but weak compared to their powers of before. So once the previous owner dies the essence would find a new body. And the book was passed from dark mage to dark mage. The book found them itself." A pause. He was hesitant
"The last dark mage had a vision before he went on rampage. He was trying to speak with the dark soul in him amd that's what killed him and since then, which was about centuries ago nobody has been able to touch the book. The fact that the book responded to you doesn't mean you are the dark mage. But I have to consider the fact that the book responded to you when you tried to touch it."
'Ah.. so he saw through the lie.'
Kyle was still trying to process to process all the information that was just dumped on him. So what does this mean for him? Is the original owner's body it responded to or his own soul inhabiting the body? He was still pondering when the prince spoke again
Don't think about it too much. Go to your room. Rest and treat your injuries. I'll tell the housekeeper not to give you work while you recover."
'The problem is not the house keeper tho…' Thought Kyle.
" The head maid too wouldn't disturb you. At least for now."
Kyle visibly relaxed.
"When you have fully recovered we will begin your training."
"What?"
"I'm sure you've noticed you have low magical amplitude. Although I would not make the fact that the book responded to someone public yet. But you should be trained properly so things don't get out of hand. Again."
"Leave now."
Kyle stood up, bowed, wobbled from his spinning head and too much information. He sauntered out and closed the door behind him.
Alex sat still for a while until the door opened again. Lucas walked in. He stood quietly and asked
"Did you tell him everything?"
"No, not yet. We have to make sure he's not the one from the prophecy first."