“Aunty Caera! Aunty Caera! Aunty Caera! It’s bad! we were playing Gilli when Cyclos suddenly fainted! We checked him and he had a snake bite and he is now he is burning up!”

The woman named Caera immediately dropped the tray of herbs she was holding and caught the boy by his shoulders.

“I need you to calm down and try to remember how the snake looked. Can you do that?”

The kid was obviously a bit rattled however he still nodded and started thinking hard and spoke.

“It was a snake about this big, and it had both green and black scales and….and….Aha, It also had a crown on its head like a rooster crown.”

Suddenly the woman stumbled a bit backwards and her back touched the wall of the house.

“It’s over, it is the green nightmare viper. Divines! Why do you have to be so cruel and take my only child!” and Caera started wailing.

Hearing the wailing an old woman came out of the neighbouring house to inquire what happened, however, Caera was unresponsive so she had to inquire what happened from the boy. After learning what happened even the old woman had turned a little pale and had visible sadness in her eyes. She turned to Caera and spoke

“Caera, Now is not the time to break down, we first need to bring Cyclos back before other beasts get to him, otherwise I am afraid….”

What would happen if the beasts got to him was left unsaid, however the sheer possibility seemed to snap Caera out of her wailing state.

“No! Not my Cyclos! I have to get to him before the beasts! There is still hope! If Cyclos fights through the nightmare but ends up dead because of me abandoning him I would never forgive myself. Dray, take me quickly to Cyclos! Thank you for snapping me out of it Nana, but I need to bring Cyclos home first, sorry for being rude and not being able to invite you into my house”

"Don't worry doll, go get your son to safety first."

Dray quickly started running and Caera followed behind him. However, they were halfway through the village when Caera saw something amazing. A young boy of a similar age to Cyclos and Dray was running through the village, while this alone might not be a surprise it was what was on the boy’s back.

Tied to the boy’s back was another kid that Caera immediately recognised as Cyclos, she didn’t have time to process what had happened before the boy, noticing her ran over to her.

“Aunty Caera! I bought Cyclos with me! I was worried if some other beast would hurt him.”

Now looking at the boy from up close Caera recognised the boy as Cylix one of the recently orphaned kids during the last month’s beast wave. Seeing the boy risking his life by bringing Cyclos even with the dangers of beasts nearby, Caera decided that she would adopt the boy and raise him as her own or she would never be able to forgive herself as she was in his debt.

“Thank you Cyclix! I owe you a debt! You have already helped me enough, now give me Cyclos so I can carry him, and follow behind me.”

The young kid untied Cyclos as Caera caught him. Now that Cyclos was out of immediate danger, Caera also calmed down a bit however one could still see the despair in her eyes as her hands holding the body could feel the obvious heat coming from her child.

“Dray, thank you for informing me first, I will be taking Cyclos back home. You too should go back home as your mother might be worried.”

“Uh, no problem, Aunty Caera, Cyclos is my friend so it is my duty. Will Cyclos be okay now?

“I…I don’t know young one. It's all in Cyclos’s hand right now. There is no known antidote for the snake that bit Cyclos, however, the venom itself is not lethal.

A person bitten will experience constant nightmares throughout the entire time the poison finishes running through the body. It takes 24 hours for the venom to run its course. Adults generally have the mental fortitude to resist the nightmares however…. children generally become broken…. Sigh, why am I telling you this, you are but a child yourself it seems my mind is not with me. If you want to know further, you should ask your parents, Dray.”

Dray turned paler and paler as Caera explained the effects of the venom however after the warning Caera gave Dray abandoned his line of questioning and went home.

“As for you, Cylix. You are coming home and staying with me from today.”

“Ah? Bu-bu-but I am an orphan, and I don’t want to replace Cyclos. Please don’t give up on him. He can fight it, I know it!”

Seeing the boy misunderstand her, Caera quickly interrupted him.

“I am not asking you to replace Cyclos, I know Cyclos is more mature than the other kids and can fight the venom. No, I am asking to adopt you into my family as Cyclos’s brother.”

“Bu-bu-But why?”

“You rescued Cyclos while putting yourself in danger for that I am in debt and from what I have heard around the village you are also a good kid. So don’t argue anymore and follow me.”

Caera finished saying her part and started speed walking towards her home while cradling Cylos and Cylix after a few seconds of thought also followed her.

Meanwhile

Angelo was in a nightmare, He was in a nightmare where wherever he went nobody knew or recognised him, there were no traces of his existence anywhere. He put all his efforts to try and be remembered but no matter what he did nobody remembered him. Even as he was dying nobody came to him, nobody organised a funeral after his death, and in the end, he didn’t even have a tombstone.

He noticed that as he was starting to lose his will, he was feeling that he was dissolving into another person, into what looked like a kid from the silhouette.

“No! I don’t want to disappear!”

So, Angelo put every ounce of will to stop the process of himself dissolving slowly, the dissolving process reversed as his image became more and more solid until he was in perfect equilibrium with the dissolving force. He didn’t know long he kept this situation however eventually Angelo was feeling fatigued and his will wavered every now and then dangerously as the dissolving process started again before he regained his focus and pushed it back.

Right as he was feeling that he was on his last legs he noticed that the dissolving force slowed down eventually the force started to drop until he finally couldn’t feel it anymore. All the tension Angelo had left as he let himself relax eventually knocked himself out.

“Wha- where am I?”

“Hey Cyclos, you are finally awake!”

“Wha-”

“You were bitten by a green nightmare snake; wait here I bring Aunty Caera right away she was worried sick for you!”

Cylix immediately ran out of the room, meanwhile, I ended up trying to make sense of the situation I was in before eventually, I was awake enough that my muddled state was gone and understanding of my condition dawned on me.

I was not a normal person, I was the reincarnation of Angelo, a guy from earth into the body of Cyclos, a kid from the middle hill tribe When the snake bit me yesterday the venom somehow attacked Angelo’s fading essence inside of me instead of my newly developing Cyclos’s essence. Angelo’s battle against the dissolving was true because unknowingly since he had reincarnated, he was slowly being dissolved into Cyclos. A couple more years and Angelo would have truly vanished into nothing more than some unknown instinct.

Fortunately, I had found fortune in misfortune as both Angelo and Cyclos' essence were clear enough now and I was both of them. I have been mostly Cyclos since Angelo died on earth but I am happy that I have managed to fight off the venom and reversed the loss of my memories as Angelo. However, any further thoughts were waylaid as my mother came running into the room.

“Cyclos! Cyclos! My baby boy! Mama was so scared! I was afraid I was going to lose you forever.”

I was about to reply when I heard booming laughter that I recognised as my dad who started boasting

“What did I say? No son of Roc would be so weak as to let a bit of nightmare break him. With now succeeding to stay sane after the bite, he is already half the warrior. Rest up, son! Tomorrow, your training starts! We will make you Atalpa reborn, why we shoul-”

Whatever dad was trying to say next was stuck in his throat as he was fielding the angry glare of mom.

“Hmph! Don’t worry son, you won’t have to train if you don’t want to. You can always become a healer like me.”

“Hey! Don’t -”

Dad was again stopped mid-speech by mom’s glare. By this point, I understood that my dad was probably whipped in earth terms. While I would enjoy viewing the world with the lens of my newly unlocked knowledge for now, I had a more urgent need. I gathered my strength to speak with my dry throat and mouth.

“Wa- Water!”

Mom immediately noticed and said panicky

“Oh! What am I doing! You are probably parched from the fever! Even though the fever was non-fatal it still made you sweat so much you must be thirsty. In the same way, you are probably hungry as well since you haven't eaten since yesterday. Hmm, what should I cook-”

Great, now she was panic mumbling, before I could say anything, dad spoke first.

“Honey, you should probably get him water first before thinking of what to cook.”

“Oh yes, yes. I'll be right back.”

“So, son, now that she is away. What do you say about training to be a warrior? While being a healer is a noble job, it doesn’t get the blood pumping as a good hunt or a battle.”

“Can’t I be both?”

An expression of surprise flashed across his dad’s face as if he didn’t express that answer.

“W-Well, of course, but nobody has ever practiced both the paths before as we warriors tend to stay out hunting most of the time. But, if you think you can do it, we would always welcome a healer that can help immediately after a battle.”

Just then mom returned with a pottery jug and glass and proceeded to fill the glass before giving it to me. I greedily drank three glasses of water before I felt satisfied. However, now that I was sated my thirst my hunger decided to make itself known by a loud stomach grumbling that everyone in the room heard.

“Well, it looks like you were right in thinking that Cyclos would be hungry. You better cook something for him.”

“Yes, let me ask if Nana has some leftovers. I am afraid if we start cooking now, you will have to wait for a long time.”

Then she proceeded to kiss me on my forehead as she said.

“My baby, never scare mother like that again. You are the light of my life, I can’t think of what I would do without you.”

“Hey, what about me?”

Interjected dad from the sidelines, ruining the moment.

“Hmph, go and talk to Priscilla and Misa, but you are definitely not that high in my list of priorities.”

He immediately put on a wounded face and acted as if an arrow had struck his heart.

“Then it was all a lie? Those vows to accompany me on the journey to the spirit land were all lies?”

“Hmph, I don’t have time to play your silly games, go play with your other wives. I have to get my baby some food first.”

Just like that she ignored him and went out. All this while however I was wondering why Cylix was here. I remember him being an orphan so he should be staying at Nana’s house instead as she is the one that takes care of the village orphans. Cylix noticed me staring at him and started to get flustered as he tried to muster up an explanation before Dad noticed and started explaining the situation instead.

“Son, you partially owe your life to Cylix over here. When you were bitten by the snake all of the other kids ran away scared. Only Dray came running to your mom and Cylix was the one who took the risk of being bitten by the snake to take you away and bring you back to the village. Your mom, therefore, decided to adopt him so Cylix here will be your new brother.

Now that we are on this topic, however, how dare you kids go into the woods!”

“Bu-But we just trying to get the gilli and it wasn’t even that far into the trees.”

“WHAT! You went into the trees for a stupid stick! There are so many gilli sized sticks if you search the village but you had to go into the woods? Is your awareness of danger so low? If so, I have to reconsider training you as a warrior!”

I had to agree that it was a dumb move on my past self's part, if I had even had an inkling of experience that Angelo had at that time, I wouldn’t have made such a dumb mistake. But I can’t tell dad that so I will have to settle for some scolding instead.

“Sorry.”

My sudden apology seems to have startled him as he had probably expected some resistance.

“W-well, if you know that you made a mistake then it is fine. But expect extra training as punishment and Cylix you will be joining too.”

Phew, at least I escaped a long session of scolding, however throughout this entire interaction I have at least formed a new understanding of my family’s characters and dynamics. While the extra training would probably be much harder, I probably won’t notice since I don’t have anything to measure it to.