Chapter Text
Chapter 1
ȧ̵͙́͊ ̵̙͙̫̔͑͆c̵̡̨̫͙͛͑̕ṳ̷͓̀̏ṟ̶̱̤̬͐s̷͇̞͕͌̔͌͘e̶͈͒͑͝ made upon in my dreams
The sound of screaming stormed into the knight’s ears as he felt the ground shake beneath him. His limbs ached and his mind was foggy. All he heard were cries for help, for someone to defeat this evil. The blonde felt someone shake his shoulders, “Tenma! Stand up! He’s going to the head palace!” A man’s yell pierced his ears suddenly, his eyes shot open.
There was a ginger haired knight in front of him, his attire, bloody and shriveled. As for his location, all he could see were flames, burning sheds, crying families and people trapped under the pile of their broken homes. The chivalrous knight then looked over to his right, seeing a pink-haired knight bleeding out from their gaping wound across their chest, the brunette next to them putting pressure on their wound while muttering comforting words as if to soothe them in their last moments.
Tsukasa stood up like a puppet. His body seemed to move on its own.
Rushing with dragging feet, he headed towards the assumed head palace, the remains of what the orange-haired warrior had described.
His breath hitched as he saw the destruction of the palace. An ivory statue melted away, only a metal nameplate remaining. ‘Goddess of song, Hatsune Miku.’ The spiral staircase falling like broken glass. The Tenma coughed as dust flew everywhere.
Several nobles hid or sustained injuries, and a young girl tugged at his sleeve while tears streamed down her face as she said, “Please.. Help my mommy.” Tsukasa kneeled down, wiping her tears away. “I will.” He pulled off his cape, gently wrapping it around the child., before moving on.
Entering the throne room, he tried not to let a scream at the limp bodies of multiple nobles. Multiple familiar faces among them: Princess Otori, Prince Toya, Knight Hinomori, the kind-hearted servant Mochizuki, his beloved sister, Saki Tenma. His legs gave out, a hurricane of emotions rushing through him. But his only question was: Who?.
The knight slowly lifted his head to the throne, seeing the immoral yet handsome man in front of him sitting on the bloody throne. His gaze observed him from behind his mask, waiting for something.
“You monster!” The knight screeched, his fists clenched as he drew out his sword.
“Can’t you see?! Look around you, LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE CAUSED! All this death….” His voice shook, his eyes fixated on Saki’s pale face. “Why…WHY? Why did you take her from me? She did nothing! You deprived her of her dream of becoming a musician!” The knight bawled out, his throat and body burned from both his anger and the heat of the surrounding flames.
The man’s face remained unreadable as he ran a hair through his purple hair. His unique cyan streaks looked abnormal, like he was. The arcane master sighed, “Why you ask? Is it not obvious? You nobles really are self-centered."
Tsukasa shook his head as if to shake off his words.
“What do you mean?” Tsukasa interrogated
The man suddenly frowned, as if disappointed.
“Even in the end, a noble like you, my dear knight, Tsukasa Tenma, can’t realize the cruelty of his own actions.. Tsk.”
The noble could not contain his anger anymore. He leaped forward., his sword hitting a magical shield. Instead, the coward had put a shield up, a powerful one too. Tsukasa banged against it, calling out to the villain. “CRUELTY?! You hypocrite! Look around you! You’ve ended multiple families, honorable knights. YOU KILLED THEM!"
The bangs against the shield were getting louder, sword cast aside and fists bloody and bruised.
Cracks appeared.
“YOU…….. I’ LL KILL YOU!”
Magic was leaking out. The magician seemed in awe.
The knight’s arms hovered in the air, under the influence of a mysterious gravital force. He fell down to his knees, resisting.
The man stepped towards him. Standing in front of him.
He wanted to strangle the man so badly, yet his body trembled in fear.
“Tsukasa…. Look at me." No way in hell was he doing that. The knight refused to appear vulnerable to him, especially him.
He felt a finger lift his chin up. Golden eyes met amber ones. He knew those eyes.
“Rui..? No way…You…. Why…” Sobs escaped him as the shock was too overwhelming.
The cyan streaked man kneeled down, his expression soft as if he were admiring a treasure.
A sharp pain entered Tsukasa’s body as he felt a dagger dig into his abdomen.
The blonde cried out. He felt his own cold blood in his hands. A breath hit his ear, a pair of slender hands delicately caressing his face.
“Tsukasa Tenma, I curse you. I curse you into reliving this life until you fix your mess. I curse you over and over. Until the true you springs back to this world."
Tsukasa felt something soft on his forehead as the fog clouded his vision once more. Leaving him in darkness.
.
.
.
.
“Wake up……"
“Tsukasa……”
“WAKE UP!"
He gasped as he immediately clasped his stomach, beads of sweat on his forehead.
Pink eyes stared at him in concern. “Are you okay, big bro?” Saki asked, putting her hand against his forehead to check if he had a fever. "Uh, yeah, just had a strange dream.” Tsukasa said, sitting up. “Well, you can tell me about it later. You’re late for work, idiot!”
The blonde jumped out of bed. Rushing to the bathroom to get ready, he worked at a theater and often played the piano in their musicals. Originally, he wanted to be an actor, or well, he still wishes for that dream to come true. Yet, the man still was nowhere near to reaching that fantasy. He stuck to reading novels and daydreaming about what he would do if he were in such a fictional world.
“I’ll be home late. Don’t forget to take your medicine!” Tsukasa yelled before leaving, hearing the girl groan.
He headed towards the nearby train station, barely dodging bird shit. The sun peeked out from behind the horizon. Dyeing the sky a morning orange. The pianist treaded down to the underground metro, clutching his small bag filled with music sheets. There was a big show later that evening.
His theater group had been preparing for this show for months now. He remembered how his sister practically begged him to let her go tonight. He reluctantly allowed her, wanting to relive his childhood memories of playing soft tunes to her as she laid ill in bed.
His lips turned up at the thought. He raised his head as he heard the monotone voice from the speakers. "Line 88 arriving in 1 minute.” Tsukasa stepped forward, seeing the railcar’s bright lights illuminate the dark tunnel. A gust of wind hit him as a music sheet flew out of his bag into the air, blowing it to the railway. “Shit!” It was the music sheet for tonight’s show. He couldn’t lose it now! The blonde jumped onto the railway, clutching the sheet. “Got it, now to just get out of- “
His words died out as he felt the train rails shake. He felt the vehicle approach close until he saw its sturdy structure in front of him. No time to process anything before the light blinded him as he felt a powerful force hit him as he closed his eyes.
.
.
.
Tsukasa felt like he was being sucked into a tunnel, waves of color flashing before his eyes. He felt like his body and spirit were being squashed, fear and anxiety filled his heart. A burning sensation bursted from nowhere. His head hurt. Was this some punishment of a higher deity? His thoughts inside his head became entangled with uncertainty and panic.
The pianist felt like the burning and ache throughout his being would last forever. Was he going to go hysterical? He might if this mistreatment kept going on for longer. Sadness lurked upon Tsukasa’s subconscious as Saki popped up in his mind once more. She can’t be alone. He can’t leave her by herself, not when her health is declining. If it was really a higher deity doing this to him, he wanted to beg it to stop, plead for his life.
Tsukasa didn’t want to disappear, he wanted to see his family again. Hear his sister lecture him that working until late at night is bad for him, or cook him his favorite meal, fish and chips. His mother, playing melodies on their grand piano, the moon glowing on her blonde streaks of hair. Making it glow as she tapped away on the piano keys. His father, bowing his violin, strumming the strings ever so elegantly. He wanted to go back, return to those cherished times. Back when he wasn’t so tired all the time.
The burning sensation smothering away. His body still ached, yet he felt like he was sinking. The ‘tunnel’ he was in had led him into an ocean. Tsukasa felt like he was in a bubble, protected but in a fragile defense. His senses were dulling by the second. He could only feel his own existence. A twinge of Déjà vu overcame him, shards of unfamiliar yet familiar memories brushed through his head for a moment until it disappeared within in the mist. The mist overtook his entire form as his consciousness slipped once more.
.
.
.
“Tsukasa Tenma, I curse you, I curse you into reliving this life until you fix the mess you’ve made. I curse you over and over until the true you springs back to this world.”
Those words slide back into his mind. He repeated those words multiple times. Tsukasa felt an odd warmth wrapped around him. A bright light shining against his eyes, which were still shut. He wanted to open them, but he still felt like a hammer was being bashed against his head.
Multiple indecipherable voices surrounded Tsukasa. They disagreed about something, from what he could hear in their tones. The two voices finally stopped their bickering, and someone slammed a door shut while Tsukasa heard stomping going down the stairs.
He cracked his eyelids open, seeing a girl sitting on the edge of his bed. His vision unblurred after a few blinks. What he didn’t expect was to see his sister, dressed in a frilly dress. A laced headband with dark blue bows on the ends. (Inspo from the Valentine's day card) She definitely didn’t look like her usual pale self. Her complex was much more healthy, which made Tsukasa loosen up. Saki turned to him, gasping as she saw him.
“You’re awake! Thank goodness!” she sighed as she embraced her brother, choking him slightly. The joyful girl muttered an awkward ‘sorry’ as she rushed out of the room with a wide smile on her face. She returned with a maid. The maid had gentle blue eyes and her dusty rose hair was in a side ponytail. Tsukasa recognized her. She resembled someone.
“Look! He’s awake, Hona!” Saki said, shaking the poor girl's shoulders. The blonde could barely hide the surprise on his face. Was that Honami Mochizuki?. A character from one of his recent novel reads. ‘Chronicles of deception: a battle for the throne’ was right in front of him.
Tsukasa did what any rational adult would do and yelled in his (usual) loud voice, “HONAMI?!” making her jump. Saki gently patted Honami’s shoulder in pity. “Uh…. Tenma-san, I have some medicine that should help you heal up a bit. After all, you passed out so suddenly during your sword training.” Honami said, placing the pills inside a drawer next to Tsukasa’s bed. The blonde asked for a moment alone, promising he’d take the medicine.
Once the door closed, he walked over to the neat desk in his room, grabbing a random notebook and pen from the desk drawer before sitting down. He needed to arrange his thoughts, if this was what he thinks it was. First, he needed to remember what happened before he awoke here. The strange dream.
Then he woke up and headed to the train station. Then….. Oh. Tsukasa didn’t know what to add after he drew a series of arrows. His last memory was that of the train hitting him.
He wasn’t the smartest, but he knew he didn’t wake up in the same world he was in just this morning. Did he reincarnate after he got hit by the train? Was this some kind of hallucination? What happened to his body in the real world?
He wrote all the questions down using keywords. His head throbbed again.
“Tsukasa Tenma, I curse you, I curse you into reliving this life until you fix the mess you’ve made. I curse you over and over until the true you springs back to this world.”
That smooth voice saying those words as if it were not a threat, but a devotion. Tsukasa remains confused by the sentence. He didn’t even need to note the sentence down because it ran inside his mind endlessly. If he really transported into the world of ‘ the chronicles of deception.’, Then he would need to find his way out as soon as possible. This world was no comedy or heartwarming romance.
It was a fantasy thriller, one that very few people read. Tsukasa found it at the bottom of some illegal website.
This place was brutal, and he wanted no part in it. He wanted to see his actual sister. Escape and find his way back. He has to survive. No matter the mess he’ll leave behind in this fictional world. It’s not real anyway, right?
FANART CREATED BY @Shizucookies on tumblr)
