Natasha the Halve

I kept silent for a few seconds to let it sink in.

Alyssa slowly nodded, a small smile on her face. Yolin was more surprised, and I noticed she had a worried expression.

Lapia spoke first.

“I had my suspicions.” she smirked. “When you told us your trial was in Hell, I questioned your knowledge. Did you learn things from a demon? I doubt it. While you Halves are ignorant, you’re more like an empty shell as far as I know. How come you know of atoms, music, and art? Where do these preconceived notions, like what a relationship should be, come from? Now I get an idea why. My guess: the world you lived in was similar to ours.”

My eyes were wide open.

“How come?” I asked. “I mean, I don’t really talk that much.”

“Really, Natasha?” the Elf raised her eyebrows. “Why would you be surprised by our culture if you don’t have a previous world-view? When I first told you about Gods, you didn’t ask what they were. Instead, you were surprised there was a 'living one'.”

I nodded. “Point taken.”

“True…” Alyssa began. “When we met, you asked me if we were going too fast. Now it makes sense.”

“Were you as powerful as you are now?” Yolin asked.

“I wasn’t. There was no E’er over there.” I sighed. “I guess a bit of context wouldn’t be bad.”

The three nodded.

“I was born in a world where only one sentient species ruled. We were similar to Humans here in Galeia, but much more varied. We didn’t have E’er and monsters didn’t exist. There were no such things as levels, stats, spells, skills, etc. We conquered nature pretty easily thanks to that.” I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair.

“That made us conceited in my opinion. Seeing ourselves as something outside nature for some reason. Anyway, I went to art school after finishing my education and became a full time artist. That’s why I can draw. I also picked up the piano as a hobby. I fell down and hit my head, then died. Next thing I know, I’m on this world.”

I let out a long sigh.

The three stared at me for a few seconds.

“How long did your species live?” Yolin asked.

“No more than seventy years on average.” I leaned back on the chair. “That’s only for the last fifty years I was there.”

“So short.” she sighed with relief. “I thought you’d be older than me.”

I technically am. A chuckle escaped me.

“How long did your species exist for, then?” Lapia asked.

“Around… one hundred thousand years? I wasn’t very good with history.” I smiled awkwardly.

“What about civilization?” Alyssa asked.

“Five thousand the oldest, I think.” I answered.

“Okay.” Lapia nodded. “How old were you when you died?”

“Redacted.” I sighed.

“So young…” Alyssa covered her mouth.

“Compared to people in this world, yes. Some things changed when I got here. I get overly excited about things that wouldn't interest me before. It’s like my mind regressed to my early twenties.”

“Hmm.” Lapia nodded and rubbed her chin. “How about culture? You were surprised when I told you a bit.”

“We didn’t have Halves to protect us, nor Gods to guide us, so we had to hunt to survive. Men fought while women took care of the children, basically. This led to men being the ones in power. That way, they were the ‘strong’ side of society, and expectations became toxic. From women and from themselves.”

I put my elbows on the table and rested my chin on my hands.

“What about you?” Alyssa asked.

“I was a pretty famous artist in a certain circle. I drew avatars for talented people, and their audiences also became fans of mine. I was making a lot of money, and I got to buy a big house for myself.” I chuckled.

“Redacted… out of seventy.” Lapia whispered. “Can’t imagine.”

“And your family?” Alyssa asked.

“I had a brother, a father, and a mother if you could call her that way.” I shrugged. “She left us when I was ten.”

That left an awkward silence for a few seconds.

“Did you also have a penis before?” Lapia asked with a flash of interest in her eyes.

“No!” I laughed. “I didn’t. I also didn’t look that much different.”

“So you were hot before, too?” Yolin smiled.

Alyssa giggled and nodded.

“You could say that. I had smaller boobs, too.” I looked down at my chest. “Pretty nice change, to be honest.”

“So men were in charge.” Lapia nodded with a smile. “Would be nice to live in a world like that.”

I shook my head.

“It wasn’t all fun and games. People can be pretty shit if they can get away with it.”

“Right… no higher beings to keep them in check.” Lapia let out a long sigh.

“Why did you decide to tell us now?” Alyssa asked with a smile.

Yolin nodded and waited for me to talk.

My cheeks burned. “After last night, I figured I could tell you.”

The Luzo smiled widely. “Thank you.”

“Reincarnation is not that outlandish. Gods do that.” Yolin shrugged. “They don’t hop worlds as far as we know, so that’s new.”

“Would that be a norm for Halves?” I asked.

Lapia shook her head. “No. While it’s not my tale to tell, I can assure you Desseyr isn’t like you. He was ignorant of pretty much everything.”

“Was he born recently?” I asked a little interested.

The Elf sighed. “He didn’t move from his birthplace until he was found, the idiot.”

I bit my lips. “That’s pretty dumb.”

“It was such a chore to teach him. Then, the imbecile went for riddles.” the Elf pinched the bridge of her nose. “Nobody could get anything out of him since he knew scrap.”

I laughed at that.

“Were you scared of sharing?” Alyssa asked me with a smile.

“A little.” I nodded. “I hadn’t thought about telling you since I’ve been focused on understanding the world.”

“I will accept you no matter what, Natasha.” she smiled. “You’ve accepted me, and that’s all I care.”

“Same.” Lapia laughed. “I took your virginity, so it’s my duty.”

I shook my head and covered my face.

“You did?” Yolin turned to her. “Damn. How was it?”

“Really good for her first time. I guess being hung is a pretty big advantage for a woman. We know where to touch.” she chuckled.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” the Oni laughed loudly. “It was really good.”

“Aren’t we… going on a tangent now?” I asked.

“True. My bad.” Lapia gave me a cheeky grin.

“Can I ask you something?” Alyssa looked at me.

“Go ahead.” I smiled.

“Where did you get your equipment?” her red eyes locked on mine.

“About that… it’s a little complicated. I don’t know how, but I know where it came from.” I sighed. “I was playing a game before I died, and the character I was using had classes similar to mine, along with every item in my inventory. Think of it like this. You’re reading Kingdom Fall, then suddenly wake up in another world as the Queen.”

“I don’t get it.” Alyssa giggled.

“Me neither.” Lapia shook her head.

“Same.” Yolin added.

“Alright.” I sighed. “In my previous world, we had literature and all that.”

They nodded.

“A very long time ago, someone came up with the idea of a different world with magic, I mean E’er. Or something similar.” I explained. “They had people shooting fire out of their hands like Lapia does. Since that didn’t exist in reality, it was called ‘fantasy’, because it was so out there. As any piece of fiction, it had characters, places, events, and all that.”

They nodded again.

“Later, someone thought of making the book interactive, letting the readers ‘become’ one of the characters in the story. Or make their own story. Then, someone invented a game where you, the user, take an active role of the story. You go on an adventure and collect loot from enemies, dungeons, vendors, etc. Usually they have pretty big plots to them, since magic allows for cool shit to happen. Like… uh… killing a dragon, or an evil King. Or being a hero who saves the world.”

They were looking me with skeptical faces.

“Magic… means ‘odd’ in Dragon Tongue.” Alyssa smiled. “It’s a little confusing hearing the word being used like that.”

“Ah. Well, think of it as E’er.” I chuckled.

“So you were… playing this thing and then you died?” Lapia asked with confusion.

“Yes. I fell back on my chair and hit my head.” I explained.

“That’s… a pretty silly death.” Yolin bit her lips.

I sighed. “I know.”

“Was the story you were… playing similar to this world?” Alyssa asked, a little excitement in her eyes.

“Not at all. So I don’t have knowledge of the future if you mean that.” I chuckled.

“The chance was there.” she shrugged, a blush on her face.

“That’s really weird.” Lapia sighed. “For our world to be a genre of literature in another.”

“This world is pretty neat and logical.” I shrugged. “There were books where people got a class first and then learned spells and skills out of nowhere.”

“Now that doesn’t make any sense.” Yolin shook her head. “How did that work?”

“Aren’t you more interested in that than my previous world?” I asked, leaning back.

“Well, a real world is ruled by logic.” the Oni shrugged. “Fiction can be whatever you want.”

“True, but it still needs realism.” Alyssa pointed out. “Suspension of disbelief is crucial.”

We all nodded at that.

“There was this series of books where people needed wands to cast spells…” I sighed. “And without them, wizards were pretty useless.”

“That’s bullshit.” Lapia laughed. “How did the stats work, then?”

“There were none.” I shook my head. “Most fantasy don’t have them.”

“I see.” Alyssa nodded. “Because the ‘real’ world didn’t have them.”

I nodded.

“Do you think it’s weird for there to be stats?” Yolin asked me.

“Honestly, yes.” I nodded. “Stats growing by themselves… pretty weird. There’s no notifications either.”

“Notifications?” the three asked.

I chuckled. “Like… ping! You’ve killed a Me’ik, E’er granted. Or something like that.”

“That’d make life a lot easier.” Alyssa sighed. “Knowing when your enemies die, that is.”

“But that’d be boring.” Lapia crossed her arms. “Imagine notifications spread to other aspects of life. It’d change the world in ways I can’t begin to imagine.”

We all nodded at that.

“Ping! Your cycle has arrived!” Yolin said. “That’ be pretty useful.”

“Ping! You lost your virginity, congratulations!” Lapia chuckled. “That’d be lame.”

“Ping! You’ve been poisoned!” I offered. “That’d be useful as well.”

Alyssa nodded. “If I get that too, otherwise you’d be busy fighting until you noticed.”

“Still, that’d take away agency.” Lapia thought for a second. “You’d grow dependent on the notification. Imagine you’re learning a spell and are waiting for the notification and it just won’t show up.”

The other two nodded.

“That just means you have to put a little more effort.” I shrugged.

“That right there.” the Wizard pointed at me. “You work until the notification.”

“Only if you want to optimize it.” I nodded. “Who wouldn’t want to, anyway.”

“Good thing the world doesn’t work like that.” Yolin chuckled. “It’d be really weird to have a thing in your head all the time.”

“Ping! You’ve agreed with Natasha! You are now immortal!” I joked.

They laughed at that.

“Anyway, thank you for sharing.” the Oni smiled at me.

I nodded. “Thank you for not freaking out.”

“Well, it’s still a big surprise.” Lapia nodded. “It doesn’t change the fact that you’re pretty new and all. If anything, it’s better.”

“That’s right.” Alyssa nodded. “It also doesn’t change the fact that I love you.”

My face burned. “I love you too, Alyssa.”

She offered her right hand and I took it.

“Can you tell me about the dungeon a little?” I asked. “I’ll do the killing, so it’d be better if I know more.”

The three nodded.

“Sure.” Lapia smirked.

“Sounds like a plan.” Alyssa giggled.

“Let’s begin, then.” Yolin smiled widely.

Aren’t I a lucky woman? My heart squeezed with happiness, and the anxious knot I hadn't noticed dissolved.