Reborn as the Lycan Beta

Chapter 11. You Always Had Hearts for Eyes

Somewhere Out There

Duke POV

When the blinding light was gone, I suddenly found myself alone in a field of… white.

Like pure white.

I looked around, three hundred and sixty degrees, trying to make sense of where I was or where the light source came from.

There seemed to be none.

I looked up and around. Still, no light source. All white. It reminded me a bit of that pocket rift back in our main pack territory, yet it was also different because there just was no roof, no ceiling, no skyline, or anything.

I looked down at my feet.

I had no shadow.

“Hello, Duke,” a female musical voice suddenly spoke. “Or should I say… Kerrick Valentine?”

Huh?

When the name was spoken flashes of visions suddenly flew before me.

A young carrot top, pushed around and beaten to a pulp in a school toilet (strange enough I seemed to know that the urinals, sink, and mirrors were part of a school — a ringing bell indicating homeroom and sounds of lockers being smashed close could be heard from the corridor outside).

An older version of me played around by a group of varsity students, like a puffer fish between dolphins, in some darkened corner of a football field (again, for some reason, I know where I was and what those kids were).

Then me again, sitting in the dark in gray sweats, playing with a computer with my hoodie on, surrounded only by snacks, tissue, game and anime characters, and magazines for gamers and L***Q.

Wait.

How do I know they’re all me?

“Of course, you should know,” said the voice. A while ago it seemed to be neither near nor far, somewhere yet also everywhere; now it seemed to be just within wherever I was in.

Suddenly, all the images stood still, like gazillions of postcards and snapshots floating all around me.

Wait. Postcards? Snapshots?

“You should know,” repeated the female voice. This time, behind me. “They’re all your memories.”

And just like that, every bit of memory flooded into me, making sense of things that had not made sense for a while now. I tried to grab each and every flash like how one would flip the pages of a book, yet everything went by so rapidly and I could feel my brain filling up.

If I was some computer this was probably how it would be like when a s**tload of terabytes of memory is suddenly dumped into your system. Only I was no computer. I was a sentient being, and though I’m not sure if I’m still within my body, I have memories of what it was like to have a mental overload.

I screamed.

—

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” the female voice said once again. This time, it seems to be hovering above me.

I opened my eyes, blinking once, twice, then sat up.

I found myself in a… borderless, shapeless white world.

Like, really… all white.

“Welcome to my abode, young one,” came the voice that seemed like a combination of a bubbling brook, a wind passing through chimes, and a peaceful wisp of wintry air. “Or should I say, Kerrick?”

That’s right.

Kerrick was my old name. Kerrick Valentine, the former shut-in who was struggling to rebuild himself and to get into college by being a convenience store worker.

Only… I never made it to college. I would’ve — I passed with flying colors for an IT major slot after being out of school for a couple of years. I even planned to get a minor in MBA later on, yet I never made it to either course. No thanks to a botched incident that killed everyone in our grocery store.

And speaking of everyone… where am I?

“Your attention is flying off again, Kerrick,” came the voice, giggling… and closer this time.

I turned as I sensed the source of the voice — and flinched back a bit, while still sitting up in this field of white — when I came face to face with this… golden mask that reminded me of those from the islands of my hometown, in the Far East.

A second later I realized that it was a female, robed in blues, indigo, and gold, reminding me so much of my hometown’s summer night sky. Her fair skin was a glowing tan, much like an islander, and her long flowing black hair glittered with pearls, gold, and sea glass. She wore bracers and warrior anklets of gold, and her eastern sword — one which I knew truly well to be from that of my hometown, was in a golden scabbard also inlaid with pearls, moonstone, and glass.

Somehow, I knew this one from those scrolls Ori and I used to look at way back when we were kids…

“Y-you’re…”

“Teehee, indeed I am,” she stepped back, then removed her mask to reveal a silver-eyed beauty wearing a warrior king’s golden crown.

“Your region knows me by so many names,” she chortled, her voice music to my ears that I only realized later that I had been chuckling, too. “But your own pack called me Haliya and Libulan.”

“Selene?” I said, finally uttering her name.

“Aye, that is me,” she grinned, putting her hands on her hips — and just as she did, the all-white place I sat up on suddenly became soft and grainy… and I found myself on a fine white sandy beach, surrounded by breezy and whispering seawater, that reminded me so much of this volcanic island in my home region.

I felt a pinprick deep within my chest, but it was only momentary. After all, ever since I’ve been in the Imperial Capital, I haven’t gone home to see my own Mum, grandparents, and everyone else out there. Still, I’d expected I’d feel a bit more… homesick, but right now for some reason…

“You’re still out of sorts,” Selene reached out to me, pulling her up. I hesitated, but she extended her hand even more. “Go on, take my hand.”

“T-thank you, my Goddess,” I took her hand then, for some bold and crazy part of me, I suddenly gave her hand a kiss.

Selene’s laughter was an orchestra mingling with the nearby sea waves.

“C**ky little b**t**d,” she laughed. “And for your brazenness, you shall be rewarded.”

“Will you grant me a harem, like multiple mates?” I said — or at least I think that’s what my Duke side said.

“I know you’re kidding, little one,” the moon goddess c**ked an eyebrow at me, chortling as she wagged a finger at me. “You know that’s not what you truly want, right?”

She was right. Even as Duke, I never found comfort in having multiple partners no matter how much debauchery I’ve been through. Those sessions — they were just all… mechanisms. Masks.

It was only then I realized that my memories even way before I was born in TwinWorlds, have been truly restored.

“With all due respect, my goddess,” I bowed my head. “I’m willing to accept whatever you give… but I really am curious.”

“Very well,” Selene sighed. “You will discover your reward later on when you fully understand your Mystic Art.”

“When will this be?” I asked.

“Soon,” she said. “After all, you’ve already met your mate.”

What does my mate have to do with this?

“Oh my dear child,” Selene pat me on my arm, chuckling once more. “You should remember everything by now. You always had hearts for eyes whenever you meet him in the convenience store.”

“Who—” I cut short, for it came to me suddenly. “A-are you talking about Mr. Cop?”

“No one else,” she grinned. “Actually, if things had only gone the way they’re supposed to go, you’d still end up with dear Morty.”

“Eh?”

“My brother Helios would gladly tell you about it, buttt…,” she said. “He’s not here because he has to take care of something else. Anyway, you and Morty are finally here and are free to carry out your true destiny, so… enjoy?” As she spoke, Selene began floating, distancing herself as a gigantic moon suddenly rose over the sea’s horizon.

“Wait… what’s up with that question mark?”

“It’s time, dear,” she said. “You and Morty — Sebastian in this world just as you are now Duke — will meet me and Helios soon. Take good care of each other okay?”

“W-wai—!”

My voice got cut off as the island and the sea surrounding me suddenly blared to whiteness once more.

—