Who was I? Even if I took a name of my own, was I a person of my own right or just an amalgam of two other people, Cadence Troupe and Arthur Foster. The latter hailing from a different world than the one I currently reside, two vastly different yet very similar persons. Arthur from a young age excelled at her studies, athletic endeavors and carried home so many trophies and certificates that they filled a room of their own. A true super human overachiever to put it. Well that overachiever, the moment she turned a legal adult, instead of heading to medical school like planned she, taking all her legal papers, stole as much cash as she could find in the house and booked it for the mountains. By the time her birth givers realized what happened she had disappeared from the face of the planet as far as they were concerned.

Naturally their pride didn't allowed them to ever report neither the disappearance nor the theft and Arthur, having thrown away her last name, was too fast on her trail for the private eyes they hired. The main reason she did it wasn't her family situation, she wasn't aiming to get back at anyone with her actions, that only played part in how she did it. No, the actual reason behind it was albeit a simple one nonetheless important. The reason why she made a fresh start was to pursue her dream, that being "Seeing beautiful women in breathtaking outfit designed by herself". The state of what was referred to as 'fashion' in her world had left her in tears, so with a steady hand and a fire burning in her eyes she set out to redefine fashion. Well I don't feel any animosity or regret on how her life actually turned out so I guess "all's well that ends well", if only her ending wasn't that bullshit power move...

But that's enough covered about her, there's another person involved in this. Cadence Troupe, the daughter of Comte Pierre of Troupe. A bright child to say the least, she absorbed knowledge like a newly opened sponge, manners, chants, the 'values' and behaviors of her father, after all she was still in the age where a kid godified their parents, despite them acting as less than stellar living beings. The only positive influence in this girls life was Estelle, eldest daughter of Chevalier house Elvgurd, a noble family who earned their rank through great contributions on the frontier. Naturally, being of 'lower birth' by 'pretenders' and 'brutes' didn't sit well with the 'pureblooded' Comte of Troupe. Cadence was strictly instructed to 'teach that wretch of a child her place' as he put it, when Estelle was assigned as her lady-in-wait. Most likely a large amount of money, or something equivalent, must be hiding behind this assignment but that's just speculation of a third party.

Back on topic, Estelle always faced Cadence wearing a smile on her face and even through the subjective memories of Cadence I can see that the girl was quite quick-witted for her age, only lacking the opportunity for a proper education. That's why she took her employment as that opportunity to siphon as much as she could from me... Cadence. They wouldn't go after her. Right? To have your entire life, everything you know uprooted just becuase you met a person, isn't that just rotten luck?

Well they'll see to inspect the scene, find my body along all the signs of combat, connect the dots and draw a very convincing conclusion. Estelle is also bright enough to refuse any interactions between us, stating something or another of Cadence being too weak to utter any words. With me out of the picture and Estelle's silence guaranteed whoever went to such lengths for this type of cover-up, they wouldn't go out of their way to target her. Logically speaking some kind of reprimand will befell their house but I doubt it'll escalate to an execution if her family played Estelle's 'victim card' good enough. Push it and you'll pay the price is it.

Only I need to be present for myself to be informed. In the first place what am I? Dead? I don't feel particularly dead right now, nor alive for that matter. I... With all that happened so suddenly I forgot that a mind can be so tranquil, my thoughts were no longer interrupted by the pain nor had I to keep ahead of anyone. And now that I had all this time to myself, I returned back to the fight, everything is still so vivid, so fresh that I can't help reliving the events, every time I used magic, every mistake I made, every scream that echoed inside the warehouse. Enough time passed inside the dream that I wasn't content with only replaying it, I started planning, seeking alternative paths to victory, revisited my actions.

Of course the fight had long concluded and I couldn't change the result no matter what. Still if there are battles to come in the future those are mistakes better not repeated... Is it considered luck to get to recover enough for me to join the fray again? I do need to live up to my name, being the one who picked it and all, then again if not me then who? And even if they succeeded in taking Cadence out of the picture, their rotten luck lead them to make an enemy out of me.

Well that's just technicalities before the fact that I wear Cadence's face and to top it all off I have to think about living expenses, keeping a roof over my head, keeping my face from becoming a target, damn why can't I be a therapy-needing orphan with a huge inheritance, that's just vigilantism on easy mode. Any type of manual labor's out of the window for three very obvious reasons so that leaves me with... finding a suck- I mean a visionary to invest on my knowledge and ideas...

If, if, if... That's all just a bunch of ifs without any true meaning, wishful thinking to distract myself from the present, from this uncertainty that I find myself in, from the fact that I can't even tell what is going on with my body or if I have a physical body to begin with. No let's leave that aside for now, thinking about it will lead me to absolute madness. Cadence theorized a progenitor of chanting, there were far too many hints thrown at her face for her to ignore, chanting relies on spoken language, proper pronunciation and an understanding of the result. Meaning the person must know how to speak, what to say and most importantly having seen, live or illustrated, the chant beforehand. That coupled with the fact that the neighboring country had their own language and in turn chants grounded the question in her mind what came first "the effects or the chants".

Due to the royal degree placed forbidding any further research into the matter she left it at that, a question without an answer, regardless of how much it gnawed at her. Until, that is, she found herself inside that barrel and deciding to both save herself and finally get the answer she so desperately desired by producing a result without a chant she got exactly what she bargained for. As a result I was born, an amalgam, something that cannot be explained with any rational or logic from both worlds a... demon. So be it, if it takes a demon to change this situation then I have no problem being one.

And I suppose as a demon I get my own special power or whatever that field was since no matter how much Cadence researched the topic she never found anything like it, I bet she would be quite envious of me for it, given that all of my own research and breakthroughs were the results of that field. Truly an absolute marvelous ability and as such it deserves a befitting name... my own personal field of influence, my realm.

A warm feeling was enveloping me, slowly becoming more prominent as time passed on, like life itself was embracing me, only I still was all but powerless to control my body, let alone moving I couldn't even open my eyes. Not to add that the concept of time was still a stranger to me, even with my life intact what was the point if I wasn't able to head out immediately... Head out I say, when I don't even know in what condition my body is. Gangrene, sepsis, blood loss, further complications after amputation. I highly doubt that the medical level of this world is enough to keep me alive...

And as time passed, more and more strength I felt gathering in my body, my connection with the outside world was becoming clearer I could clearly see the blackness of my closed eyes instead of that deep nothingness. My consciousness had become lucid enough for snippets of the world around me to reach. Someone was taking care of, well for me to still be alive it goes without saying. That someone was specifically Estelle, although I couldn't make what she was saying I could identify her by voice and wave, her and one other person, a man of who's voice Cadence never had heard before. That girl, when I went out my way to warn her, she still dragged me to a doctor... I hope she knows what she's doing.

My hands were suspended mid-air, bare for all to see with nothing other than a weird viscous red liquid, a miraculous salve that heals burns or something, given how flawlessly, and without complications, they had healed. The treatment is absolute different from what I expected but if it means I can use my hands again then I'm all for it.

Man: You actually pulled through!

Surprise colored the man's rough voice, not that I didn't understood his reaction.

-I'm...

A knot in my throat prevented me from speaking, anything more than breathing was a task to high for my body.

Man: Don't push yourself too much, only yesterday did the fever fell.

So I did get infected by something and apparently fought it off.

-Time.

Man: How long were you out for? Two whole weeks and that lil' lass wouldn't leave your side. She ended up ruining her health herself.

Estelle, that girl... For now I have bigger problems to worry about.

Man: Man you look ready to bite, is that how you repay your savior? Relax I ain't selling you out.

-Know?

Man: I thought that I had seen everything being a doctor and all, had to rethink that after the lil lass knocked on my door that night. Really did a number on them didn't you?

-Know?

Man: The smell raised quite the noise, had to pull some favors to inspect the scene myself. Officially they're looking for those responsible, both the criminals and you.

Man: That fella Blau, I never expected to see him done in.

Blau? Never heard that name before but for him to bring someone up like this in our conversation, a member of that group perhaps?

Man: He made quite the name for himself you know, sharp as a knife, careful like a rat, trusted by his men, there wasn't a person in this city that haven't heard his name. To think he got done in by a bite.

Oh! That guy... Yeah I can see, looking it calmly all the rest combined didn't even compared to him, so he was someone with a name around the 'city'.

Man: Again with that look. It's ma' job to keep an ear out for those things. More importantly I asked the lass why I couldn't send a letter to her parents, they must be sick from worry, and she said you warned her against it. So I'm asking you why is that.

-...

I really couldn't speak anymore, even opening my mouth no sound came out.

Man: Guess it's wrong of me to expect much from a patient who just woke up, given the terrible fevers you were running up until the other day and the bruises on ya face's still visible.

A fever he says? But I never felt more relaxed in my life before. I wonder what temperature I was running.

Man: Still colour me surprised. In all my years I've never seen anything like you. Any ointment or bandage that I put on them hands just got washed aside by that slime-thingy you got secreted purring out'a you. I couldn't do anything other than to make sure it doesn't go everywhere and leave the healing up to you.

The fuck's this man saying? Was this not a salve that he applied but rather something that my body naturally produced to fix injuries? I guess that does it. It's not just mental.

Man: For now you are my patient and I will see to it that you leave that bed healthy. After that though... That's another discussion.