"Ugh..." Dylan Ford groaned.
'Why is it so dark again? Where did the Cosmic God Mansion go? What was that voice just now?' He thought to himself.
'Wait, why does my entire body hurt?' He felt like his entire body was too heavy to move. There was an intense wave of exhaustion he was feeling right now.
'It feels like I just ran a marathon...'
Suddenly, some intense shaking was happening.
*Shake* *Shake* *Shake*
The "space" he was in was shaking violently. Dylan was in a daze because of this. It felt like there was a Magnitude 10 earthquake happening to this space right now.
'Wait am I still in that unknown space or is it just my eyelids are too heavy to open?' Dylan had a thought cause he was trying to open his eyes. But for some reason, he could not!
But after several seconds, it stopped. But there were no signs of opening on the gate. 'If that's the case, why can't I open my eyes? Also, what was that quake supposed to be?'
"?!"
Then, he felt that his body was falling to an abyss. Free falling until he hit its end.
When he hit the end, he heard a crashing sound of wood breaking and pain from his head soon followed.
*Crash*
"Ouch!"
He woke up from the pain and found that his head was stuck on the floor. He could see an unfamiliar interior of a house but he was upside down. This house was antique and dilapidated. There were obvious signs that this house was decaying from the presence of termites.
"What the hell? Where am I?" Dylan said in surprise. Everything about this house was new to him.
Dylan felt his blood uncomfortably rushing towards his head because of his head being stuck on the floor. His head was still stinging from the pain that he just endured.
'What's happening to me right now? Why am I upside down?' He felt that his entire body was also upside down.
*Creak*
Fear crept into his mind as he heard a creaking sound and saw cracks appearing. So, he immediately withdrew his head from the hole and pushed his body off the ground with his hands. Yet, he could not control his strength and is now standing atop his bed.
'That was just a light push up though?' He could not understand how his body was pushed off the ground so easily.
He looked at his body and he was shocked to see that he was muscular. Despite wearing unfamiliar clothing, his biceps and triceps were big enough that filled up shirt he was wearing and his body was larger than what his body should look like.
He used to be very muscular and lean but this body of his right now was one size bigger.
'What's wrong with my body?' Dylan thought to himself while looking at his body.
Then, he saw a mirror in the corner of his eyes and he immediately took a look at himself and saw himself.
"What?!" He couldn't believe what he just saw. His body, his face. This was someone he knew. He was the muscular youth with heterochromia that he met in that unknown space where the Cosmic God Mansion was found.
'Isn't this that Dylan's body?! Did I just reincarnate in his body??' He looked at his arms as he tried to make sense of what's happening to him right now.
But he tried his best to calm down and assess the situation calmly. Dylan Ford was someone who was always on top of things and dealt things calmly, but even he could not help but be surprised but what just jappened.
He tried recounting everything that happened to him.
'Wait, does that mean I really reincarnated? That weird vision of me falling into a planet and hitting this Dylan was real? Was that the moment I entered his body?' Dylan deduced.
Weirdly enough, he was remembering memories that were not originally his. This was the younger Dylan's memories.
'I'm in his house right now?' The more he looked, the more memories came to him. It was a very weird experience for Dylan Ford.
'Is it because I'm in his body that I'm able to see his memories?' Inhabiting someone's body and seeing his memories, it would feel invasive for anyone especially if you knew that person
"*inhale* and *exhale*" Dylan scanned the room in order what was happening to him right now.
Standing on top of his bed, he saw the head size hole which was only a few centimeters away from the bed. The floor around it was already cracking.
'That was a close one. I nearly fell.' He sighed in relief as he felt like he had escaped the clutches of death just now.
As he scanned further, he saw a ten year old girl standing on the left side of his bed.
She was giggling mischievously as she looked at his shocked expression, "Hehehe."
The beautiful scarlet hair of the girl was tied back on a ponytail. Her eyes shone like a ruby while her little porcelain face hung a smile. She wore a ragged brown dress but it gave people who saw her an impression of seeing a little fairy who was pretending to be a poor girl. One could predict that this girl would become a woman who could bring the downfall of cities or nations.
"So, it was you!"
When Dylan saw this little scarlet-haired girl, he immediately remembered who she was. She was Scarlet, the adopted little sister of his the younger Dylan.
He recalled his memories of her. Scarlet was still a little child so she was quite mischievous. She would often pull pranks on her like jump-scare him by waiting on the door, putting a bucket full of water on top of the door, drawing faces when he is fast asleep, etc.
'She loves pranks, huh? How cute.' He now understood that he fell headfirst because someone mercilessly kicked him off his own bed. Of course, the culprit was none other than this cute little girl.
'How would his brother react to moments like this?' Dylan Ford immediately saw how angry the younger Dylan would be every time she plays a prank on him.
Although he could see that he was also just playing with the prank, these pranks and him chasing him were acts of endearment between the two siblings.
That's why he could not help but reminisce the times where he an Dale would often get into fights and then laugh it off after the conflict, 'I remember Dale and I used to be like that as well.'
But he shook off his melancholy as he thought, 'I need to act my part, I guess.'
He deliberately made a darkened expression so he can show his "displeasure".
"Finally, you're awake! Good morning!" The pretty little scarlet-haired girl chuckled as she saw her brother standing atop his bed.
"Wahahaha! You'll never catch me! Bleh!"
Then, she laughed heartily as though she did the right thing but her expression changed as she saw that 18 year old man`s grim look. She immediately took off from the side of the bed and fled for her life.
"You little... Come back here, Scarlet!"
Dylan immediate gave chase to Scarlet as he got out of his bed and intercepted Scarlet at the door who was running towards it.
'Wasn't that a little too fast? A cultivator's body sure is different.' Dylan thought again. The strength and speed of this body was something he needed to adjust to first.
"Aaaaaah!"
The terrified little girl was grabbed by his elder and was locked into one of his hand. The girl struggled as she was carried by her brother in a helpless manner.
Dylan rubbed his fist on the hair of the little girl. "Take this!".
The little girl cried indignantly, " I... Ay jas wanned to- to wayk ap, b-big brooow! Waaah".
As tears flowed down through her pretty little face and snot coming out profusely from her sculpture-like nose, she tried to say 'I just wanted to wake up, big bro'.
"Okay, okay. There, there. I'm sorry for hurting you, okay? But you did not have to go as far as kicking someone off his bed when he is comfortably sleeping, right? You could just have shook me to wake me up." Dylan apologized to his adorable little sister and lectured her about what she should have done instead of ruthlessly kicking him out off bed.
Although he was only acting angry, the loving memories of his past self overwhelmed him as he himself showed such a loving expression to another person's sibling.
'A younger sibling, huh?' The truth was he was still afraid of trusting someone even more so for a supposed younger sibling. It might even be a trauma, because of what happened with him and Dale
'I shouldn't implicate this innocent child with my distrust for others. Since I don't know what happened to the other Dylan, I'll have to be her older brother for now.' Dylan Ford thought. He figured that he should not treat the younger Dylan's little sister because she did not have any fault about the fallout between him and Dale.
"Ay deed. But- but, big brow did nat wayk up. I- I ownli did becows id's awready nine in da morning." Little Scarlet defended herself while she tried her best to say 'I did. But, big bro did not wake up. I only did that because it was already nine in the morning.'
Then, it hit him. The cause of the shaking was from Scarlet's gesture of trying to wake him up.
The reason why Scarlet reasoned that 'it was already nine in the morning' because 'Dylan' would usually wake up at dawn to open the shop and wake her up after he was done preparing breakfast.
After which, they will eat together and Scarlet would wash the dishes. She was worried because something might have happened to her elder brother.
Besides, she was already so hungry so she did the sure way to wake her brother up but hesitated at first.
She knew that her brother was brought home unconscious. She did not know what caused him to pass out but the person who brought him back to their home said,
"Don't worry, he's just exhausted after getting you medicine." Victoria said.
This made her worry even more that was why she strengthened her resolve and pushed her brother off the bed to wake him up.
Even though she was naturally inclined to laugh at her prank, her genuine concern for her brother outweighed the impulse, as he was the only person who truly cared for her.
She was terrified that if something were to happen to him, she would be left completely alone.
Seeing the concerned expression of his little sister for him, he softened up while he thought, 'That stare is got to be a cheat. There's no way a person could be this cute. No wonder the other Dylan was a pushover for the cute troublemaker.'
He felt that his resistance was futile as he looked in Scarlet's watery scarlet eyes. Those eyes were like the eyes of a pleading cute dog to his owner to caress it's tummy.
He then gave in to those eyes and that cute face, and offered to Scarlet, "Okay. Let me make it up to you. I will cook something good for you today. What do you want?"
"What I want? Anything I want?" Scarlet pondered and smiled.
"What... You..." Dylan found it difficult to get angry because those cheating eyes are pleading in that cute manner again.
"You wants to make it up to me, right? Hehe. That means you will cook me anything I want, right?" The mischievous girl maintained her pleading look and paired it with a pleading cute voice.
It was like an irresistible force coercing him to obey what this girl said.
"Ugh, okay, fine. You win. Anything you want." Dylan said defeatedly. How could Dylan resist such an eyes in the first place?
"Yeeey!" Scarlet celebrated.
"Now what do you want?" Dylan helplessly shook his head.
'Being an older brother is sometimes hard.' This was simply injustice. How could he fight the cuteness? He felt as though he was being taken advantage of. Well, he exactly was being taken advantage of by his trouble-making sister.
The mischievous light immediately resurfaced as soon as Dylan agreed to her request.
" I want a seasoned chicken, pork ribs, cattle's milk..." the little girl spoke the list of what she wanted to eat in an exciting manner.
She just can't help but be blissful thinking how she would eat all her favorite delicacies. She continued to order seven more and then finally stopped.
"Wh-what?" Dylan was stunned because his little sister knew exactly what type of food her elder brother had in storage in his storage room.
He nearly spat off a mouthful of blood from regret.
'She's a glutton!'