Chapter 51: Heine (2)

The dream was abnormal.

It was a surreal mix created by how close the experience was to him. Like he went through every single action implied in this 'dream'.

Just not in the same lifetime he was currently in.

The premise was that he got reincarnated.

The Fae King Heine was the reincarnation of a person called Astarte.

In the dream world, there existed a monument called the Tree of Origin, Yggdrasil.

It was the source of all life. 'Astarte' was born from this tree.

He also had an elder sister born from the same tree.

His sister was a carefree person. Maybe even more than Minerva. She liked the color white the most, and would usually wear white oversized robes because it was 'comfortable'.

She was the most powerful person he knew, aside from the Creator. She would sometimes go down to the lower realms and interfere with things she didn't like, which wasn't supposed to happen.

The Creator who ruled over all, the one who created her, scolded her every time she got found out. But alas, the scolding was futile.

The woman would never learn. She was born with a free spirit.

The Creator knew this the best. Prior to Astarte's birth, the woman had accompanied him for countless years.

The Creator's first creation. That was Astarte's sister.

One time, she descended into the mortal realm and appeared before a pointy-eared race. She saved them from a deadly threat because she couldn't bear to see beautiful people die with an unjust cause.

Thanks to that, traces of her power had been left behind in that specific race's land. The mortal world was insignificant compared to her presence. Just by helping them a little, she was able to leave remnants of her power inside the race.

Luckily, her authority made it enough to justify her actions and let it slip by.

She was then recognized as a Goddess by that same race. They weren't wrong though, she was really a Goddess.

They just gave her the wrong title.

Astarte's sister embodied innocence and kindness.

Maybe even naivety.

She particularly loved challenges and struggles the most.

From the very start, she was born as the most powerful being under the Creator and couldn't experience how it feels to be struggling.

She liked to discover new things. Solve mysteries.

Unlike other, who wanted to avoid troubles, she sought for that same trouble.

For it gave her a sense of thrill. Something that livened up her emotions.

The dreams continued.

Like chapters, Astarte's life played before his eyes in form of a memory roll.

As if he was watching a movie.

Every night, without fail, there'd be a new chapter.

At first, he doubted the meaning of the continuous dreams. However, as time passed, he began to accept it as a part of himself.

It brought him a sense of loss.

He was sure that the memories was his. It laid somewhere within him.

The memories seemed so close to being unlocked. Yet, the moment he tried to recall more than what the dreams showed him, it created a backlash that caused him pain.

In the end, he gave up on forcing things and continued the dreams like watching episodes from his favorite show.

A dream came where he saw Astarte's sister accompanying a teen inside the mortal world.

It was so vague that he couldn't even recall his face or voice, but he knew that the boy was important.

They seemed very close.

And then, the next dream showed a tragedy.

A large chapter had been skipped.

It only showed chaos and demise.

He couldn't recall what happened, but the afterfeel was so agonizing that he cried in reality when he woke up.

His body was still shaking uncontrollably.

Then, he realized something strange.

'Astarte' was beginning to fuse with him.

Heine felt what Astarte felt.

What was the tragedy?

The next dream.

He remembered that the boy survived, but his elder sister had perished without a complete soul, so she couldn't be saved.

Her soul had shattered into pieces.

The Creator wept.

When he woke up, he had tears streaming down his cheeks.

'Astarte'.

Someone Heine had never met or heard before.

But he felt like Astarte was himself. No, he was sure.

Not only was the entity fusing with himself, his memories and emotions also began to affect Heine's own.

And the dream was trying to convey something to him.

A message from Astarte to Heine.

His body no longer felt like it was Heine's.

He recognized himself as Astarte.

He laughed at himself. He ridiculed Estelle for trusting a fleeting dream that might've just been a coincidence, but here he was.

Doubting his existence over dreams. A series of dreams.

He kept secret of the ongoing experiences, but he soon realized that the dreams had went away.

He didn't know for what reason.

Perhaps, Astarte had died after the tragedy.

He began to regain his logic and struggled to go on with his day.

It still felt like he was missing a part of him.

He thought the dreams ended for good.

But then, he had another dream.

This time, it was still vague but it strangely felt fresh.

It was set in a place he could've never imagined.

The buildings were tall and futuristic.

There were tons of carriage-like things moving a lot faster than the carriages he knew. Some were supported by four wheels, others two, whilst the rest varied largely.

Lots of devices and electric-powered objects.

He himself was an avid user of it.

This time, his name was Yuuma.

He had a room filled by monitors and wires. The room was dimly lit.

The temperature was cold, and the only furniture present was a black rolling chair. Papers were scattered loosely, bound into packs by some clips.

Water and daily necessities.

He spent most of his day working inside the room, but it didn't mean that he was a recluse.

He lived in the same house as his two childhood friends. He would go out and meet those two whenever he exited the room.

In this world, he also had someone who resembled him, Astarte's elder sister.

Her name was Reina. Kirisaki Reina.

She was one the 'two childhood friends'.

Unlike her elder sister, Reina was very cold. Perhaps it was because of the conditions they had to go through, but she never showed genuine emotions. It was like she couldn't feel anything.

He knew that she was very loving and warm, but couldn't show it.

Something prevented her from doing so.

There was one thing that reminded him strongly about his elder sister. It was the love for challenges and trials.

She never backed down in front of anything. She would always believe, and believe. In the end, she stood on top of everybody after rigorous hard work.

Reina and Astarte's elder sister were complete opposites.

But he was sure that they were connected somehow.

The dreams went on like the first world did.

Years of memories were packed into scenes which played before him.

After the first moments of confusion and dysphoria, he had begun to look forward to these dreams.

Sadly, Reina also had a bad ending.

Just like the first world, a huge part was skipped. It was frustrating.

He remembered Yuuma breaking down when he heard the news of Reina's death.

The dream ended there. This time was no exception. Tears were once again, streaming down his face.

In the dreams, the two lifetimes never overlapped.

Yuuma didn't have the Astarte's memories.

However, he had eerily similar circumstances.

He wondered why he was having these dreams.

What did it mean?

What was his 'role'?

If Estelle was a villainess, what was he?

He wanted to ask Estelle if she too had continuous dreams, but he held himself back.

The dreams ended shortly after the tragedy happened.

From then on, he didn't have any dreams relating to the two worlds.

He continued on with his days like usual, but realized something after spending time with the Clareste Dukedom's little princess.

Estelle Clareste.

She was similar to the two figures he watched inside his dreams.

At first, she had thoughts befitting that of Reina. Then, she started gaining 'emotions'. Her personality grew to become similar to Astarte's sister.

It was a strange hypothesis, but his instincts told them it was true.

He had cracked the code, or something like that.

If he recalled correctly, Astarte's sister had a name that possessed syllables from both 'Estelle' and 'Reina'.

He just couldn't piece it together.

In the end, he chose to keep everything to himself.

He befriended Estelle and made a successful cooperation with her.

The Spirit Tree also advised him to stay near her, which he did.

For now, he would just follow Estelle and see how things progress.

He was still missing a part of him.

Sticking with Estelle wasn't only because of the decree. It was fun. He discovered a lot of new things. He genuinely liked the girl's presence, it made him feel complete.

_____________________________________

'Heine' had a role.

Unlike Estelle, he wasn't told of his role.

Instead, he was given cryptic dreams.

After long nights of thinking, he drew a conclusion from it.

Estelle stood out from the rest. She was a strange individual who went against common sense. If Astarte's sister and Reina were truly connected to Estelle, then she would eventually meet a tragic demise.

She had a role.

Everyone had a role.

To Heine, his role was to stay beside her.