Chapter 8: So Apparently We're the Main Characters… No Pressure
In which we get hit with existential truth bombs, and I discover I'm dangerously allergic to fate.
The journey toward the floating palace was kind of… quiet at first. Not uncomfortable quiet, either. More like the kind you get when you're walking beside someone who understands exactly how insane your life has become because his life has become equally insane. Clouds squished softly beneath our feet with every step, puffing around our ankles like we were walking through the world's biggest pile of cotton candy.
"So…" I said eventually, glancing at Kaito. "Things on your end?"
He exhaled and dropped onto the nearest cloud, crossing his legs like we were about to start some kind of celestial yoga session. "They figured it out almost immediately."
I blinked. "They?"
"Master Jin and the others. Apparently, waking up in your body and screaming that I was Kaito Hoshino was a pretty big clue."
"Yeah. Subtle."
"I panicked!"
I laughed, and Kaito groaned before continuing. "Anyway, they checked my memories. They know I'm really from Earth, and they've got me training so I don't accidentally get your body killed while they figure out how to reverse this."
That made something tight in my chest loosen.
"They're okay?"
"Yeah. Master Jin's worried, though."
Of course he was.
Kaito held out his hand, and I shook it. Firm grip. Serious face. Very warrior-brotherhood.
Which was weird considering this was the same guy who apparently wanted to become something called a Harem King.
"Tell him I'm fine," I said. "I've been training too. Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"I've learned that spinning kicks hate me personally."
Kaito grinned. "Welcome to being normal."
"Normal sucks."
"Tell me about it."
I sat down beside him. "I'm trying to keep your body healthy. Studying too."
Kaito stared at me.
"Studying?"
"Don't sound so surprised."
"No, no. I'm impressed. Terrified, but impressed."
I elbowed him.
Then I hesitated.
"There's something else."
Kaito immediately looked suspicious. "What did you break?"
"Nothing!"
"Yet."
"I met a Magical Girl."
Silence.
He stared at me.
"A what?"
"A Magical Girl."
His mouth slowly opened.
"She had this ridiculous frilly outfit, sparkles everywhere, and she healed my hand with magic."
Kaito continued staring.
Actual staring.
Like his brain had left and forgotten to tell his face.
"You're serious?"
"Yeah."
"The real Earth has Magical Girls?"
"Apparently."
"I lived there for fifteen years!"
"Maybe you weren't looking hard enough."
"I was looking at girls constantly!"
"Not helping your case."
Kaito grabbed his head.
"I leave Earth for a few days and suddenly there are Magical Girls! I haven't even seen a card trick!"
I shrugged.
"Your world's weird."
"My world? You have an ancient death monster sealed inside you!"
"Fair."
He pointed at me dramatically. "Next time we meet, you tell me everything."
"Deal."
Then I remembered something more important.
"Anything I should know about your life? Friends? Enemies? Secret grudges? Girls who are going to slap me because of something you did?"
Kaito coughed.
"That last category might be complicated."
I narrowed my eyes.
"But nothing major," he added quickly. "We only moved there last year. I don't really have close friends yet."
That actually explained a lot.
"What about school?"
"If you fail, don't worry about it."
I stared at him.
"That's your advice?"
"My parents won't kill me."
"Kaito."
"They'll be disappointed at worst."
"Kaito."
"Fine! Try not to fail."
"Much better."
We laughed.
Then I stuck out my hand.
"Don't die in my body."
Kaito shook it.
"You don't die in mine."
"Deal."
For a second, everything felt almost normal.
Well.
Normal if you ignored the clouds, floating palace, body swap, hidden magic society and the fact that neither of us knew whether we were technically asleep or having some kind of shared spiritual breakdown.
Eventually, we reached the palace.
And let me tell you, whoever built this thing really wanted visitors to feel insignificant.
The building floated above an endless sea of clouds. White stone steps climbed toward enormous golden doors. Pillars rose so high I had to tilt my head back to see their tops, and strange silver symbols drifted slowly through the air around them before fading away.
Behind the palace stood mountains.
Not on anything.
Just floating.
And farther away grew that enormous tree we'd seen earlier, its branches stretching across the sky like it was trying to hold the entire place together.
Kaito stopped beside me.
"Okay."
"Yeah."
"That's definitely an immortal palace."
"Definitely."
"Should we knock?"
I looked at the doors.
"You first."
"Why me?"
"You're older."
"By two years!"
"Exactly. Respect your elders."
Before Kaito could respond, the doors opened.
By themselves.
Slowly.
Of course they did.
Apparently normal doors weren't dramatic enough for mysterious cloud palaces.
Beyond them stretched a vast hall filled with pale light.
And standing in the middle of it was an old man.
I froze.
Not because he looked dangerous.
Actually, that would've been easier.
He looked…
Familiar.
Long white hair fell past his shoulders. His beard reached almost to his chest, and his robes were ancient—white layered with pale gold and grey, covered in patterns I'd seen hundreds of times in history books, old temples and Sect paintings.
A wooden staff rested in his right hand.
There was no pressure coming from him.
No overwhelming Ki.
No killing intent.
Nothing.
Yet every instinct I had told me I was standing in front of someone so far beyond me that trying to measure him would be like an ant trying to calculate the size of the moon.
My mouth went dry.
"No way."
Kaito glanced at me.
"What?"
I couldn't answer immediately.
The old man smiled.
Warmly.
Like somebody's grandfather greeting children who had finally made it home.
"Welcome, Ren Kisaragi. Kaito Hoshino."
Kaito's eyes widened.
"He knows our names."
I barely heard him.
I knew that face.
Everyone in my world knew that face.
Not because anyone had actually seen him alive.
Because his statues were everywhere.
Paintings.
Ancient texts.
Sect records.
Legends.
I swallowed.
"Yunhai Tianren."
Kaito looked at me.
"Who?"
I turned toward him so fast I nearly hurt my neck.
"Who?"
"Earth boy, remember?"
Right.
I lowered my voice.
"Yunhai Tianren. The First Ascendant."
Kaito blinked.
Nothing.
"The Old Immortal."
Still nothing.
"First Guardian of Mankind. Ancestor of the Dao."
Kaito looked toward the old man.
Then back at me.
"That is a ridiculous number of titles."
"He's the reason half the cultivation systems used today even exist!"
"Oh."
"He lived before most modern Sects were founded."
"Oh."
"He protected mankind when humanity was still getting eaten by things with names nobody uses anymore."
Kaito looked at Yunhai again.
"…Big deal, then."
"Very."
Yunhai Tianren chuckled softly.
"You needn't be so nervous, Ren."
Which, naturally, made me more nervous.
"You know me?"
"I know both of you."
Kaito raised his hand.
"Before we go any further, are you dead?"
I slowly turned toward him.
"What?"
"I'm just asking! Ren said you're ancient!"
Yunhai smiled.
"My mortal life ended long ago."
Kaito leaned toward me.
"So, ghost."
I elbowed him.
Yunhai's smile somehow widened.
"Not quite."
Of course.
Immortals were never allowed to give normal answers.
"Come," he said, turning toward the palace. "There is much you deserve to know."
And because apparently we had no survival instincts left between us, we followed him.
Inside, the palace was even stranger.
The floor looked like polished white stone until you stared too long and realized clouds were moving beneath it. The ceiling wasn't a ceiling at all. Stars drifted overhead in slow patterns, entire constellations moving like someone had sped up the night sky.
Yunhai Tianren stopped in the center of the hall.
Then turned toward us.
His expression became serious.
"I am responsible for what happened to you."
Silence.
I blinked.
Kaito blinked.
I pointed at myself.
"You?"
"Yes."
"You switched us?"
"Yes."
Kaito stared.
"Bro."
I threw both hands into the air.
"WHY?!"
My voice echoed through the palace.
"You couldn't send a letter? A warning? Maybe ask permission before throwing my soul into another universe?!"
Kaito nodded enthusiastically.
"Consent would've been nice."
Yunhai didn't become angry.
Didn't raise his voice.
Didn't even look offended.
That somehow made it worse.
"I understand your anger."
"Oh, good."
"But the exchange was necessary."
And there it was.
The word adults used when they had done something insane and wanted you to stop complaining.
"Necessary how?"
Yunhai rested both hands over his staff.
"I have watched the paths of mankind for longer than either of you can imagine. Lives are not fixed, but they leave possibilities behind them. Roads that may be taken. Futures that may come to pass."
Kaito glanced at me.
I shrugged.
Sounded like Immortal talk.
Yunhai continued.
"Both of you were approaching dangerous crossroads."
I frowned.
"What kind of crossroads?"
"The kind from which neither of you was likely to return."
That shut us up.
Yunhai walked past us slowly.
"Ren Kisaragi. You possess extraordinary power, but you have built much of yourself around it. Your identity, your confidence, even your understanding of your own worth have become tied to strength. You rush toward danger because you believe enduring pain is proof that you are moving forward."
I opened my mouth.
Closed it.
Okay.
That was annoyingly accurate.
Then he turned toward Kaito.
"And you, Kaito Hoshino, possessed almost no direction at all. You dreamed constantly of becoming someone greater, yet rarely acted toward becoming him. You desired adventure without hardship, rewards without effort, affection without understanding."
Kaito looked personally betrayed.
"Wow."
"You wished for honesty."
"I don't remember wishing for emotional murder."
I almost laughed.
Yunhai's eyes softened.
"Neither of you is a bad person."
That stopped both of us.
"But left on the paths you were following…"
He paused.
"…you were both overwhelmingly likely to die young."
The humor vanished.
I stared at him.
"How overwhelmingly?"
"Nine chances in ten."
Kaito's face went blank.
"Ninety percent?"
"Yes."
"Like… ninety out of a hundred?"
"Yes."
"I know what ninety percent means," I whispered.
"I'm panicking!"
Fair.
I looked back at Yunhai.
"How?"
"The details change with every path. That is the nature of possibility. For you, Ren, power without restraint eventually draws enemies beyond your ability to survive. For Kaito, a lack of preparation leaves him vulnerable when his world inevitably reveals dangers he never knew existed."
Kaito frowned.
"My world?"
Yunhai said nothing for a moment.
Then:
"Earth is not as ordinary as you believe."
I glanced at Kaito.
He looked like someone had just informed him his house had secretly contained a dragon for fifteen years.
"The Magical Girl," I said.
His head snapped toward me.
"Oh, come on."
Yunhai continued calmly.
"The exchange disrupted both paths. Ren has been forced to exist without the strength upon which he relied. Kaito has been placed in a body of enormous potential, yet can use none of it without discipline."
Kaito folded his arms.
"So you body-swapped us for character development."
Yunhai paused.
"In very simple terms…"
"Yes."
Kaito stared at me.
I stared at him.
Then back at Yunhai.
"You rearranged our souls because you didn't like our life choices?"
"I acted because both paths ended in tragedy."
"Still sounds insane."
"It may."
At least he admitted it.
I looked down at my hands.
My real hands.
Or dream hands.
Whatever these were.
"So we're staying switched?"
"For now."
Kaito groaned.
I immediately looked up.
"For how long?"
"That depends on you."
Of course it did.
Immortals loved answers like that.
Yunhai raised one hand.
The palace shimmered around us.
"This realm exists between your worlds. So long as your souls remain linked, sleep will allow you to enter it."
Kaito looked around.
"Every night?"
"If both of you are asleep at roughly the same time."
I blinked.
"So we can meet here?"
"Yes."
"Talk?"
"Yes."
"Share information?"
"Yes."
Kaito raised his hand eagerly.
"Can we punch each other?"
I stared at him.
"What?"
"For training!"
Yunhai actually laughed.
"Yes. You may spar here. Your souls appear as themselves within this realm, so Ren may continue practicing the skills of his original body while Kaito learns to understand what Ren already knows."
That caught my attention.
I clenched my fist.
Ki responded.
Faint.
But there.
My eyes widened.
I hadn't felt it since waking up on Earth.
Kaito looked at me.
"You can use Ki here?"
"I think so."
I grinned.
For the first time in days, something familiar stirred inside me.
Then another thought hit.
"Ballom?"
Yunhai's eyes stayed calm.
"His connection to you remains."
I relaxed.
Mostly.
"So this place is basically a shared training ground."
"And a place for you to understand one another."
Kaito leaned toward me.
"This is so anime."
"Right?"
"I literally got an interdimensional training room."
"Don't get excited. I'm punching you first."
His grin disappeared.
"Why?"
"Character development."
You know how people say dreams are supposed to be relaxing?
Floating clouds.
Nice music.
Maybe your crush tells you you're amazing.
Yeah.
Not my dreams.
My dreams apparently involved cosmic intervention, unwanted therapy, and an immortal telling me I had a ninety-percent chance of becoming dead teenager number one.
Kaito paced across the palace floor.
"This is insane."
"Yup."
"My whole world has hidden supernatural stuff."
"Apparently."
"There's a Magical Girl."
"You're stuck on that?"
"I lived there!"
Yunhai Tianren watched us patiently.
Too patiently.
Like he'd already seen this exact conversation before.
Which, considering everything he'd just told us, maybe he had.
I rubbed my face.
"Okay. Slow down."
Yunhai waited.
"You're saying you saw our futures."
"Possible futures."
"And most of them sucked."
"Crude, but accurate."
"So you decided to pull a cosmic body-swap on us because this version gives us a better chance?"
"Yes."
Kaito stopped pacing.
"What happens if we undo it?"
"You are free to try."
That answer surprised me.
"You won't stop us?"
"No."
"Seriously?"
"Your lives belong to you."
That sounded good.
Too good.
Then he added:
"But restoring your original path without first correcting the weaknesses that doomed it would return you to roughly the same probabilities."
Kaito groaned.
"There it is."
I pointed at Yunhai.
"So technically we're free to go back."
"Yes."
"But if we do it now, ninety-percent chance of horrible death."
"Approximately."
"Wow."
I crossed my arms.
"What a generous choice."
"I feel extremely empowered," Kaito added.
Yunhai's eyes crinkled with amusement.
"We are always bound by consequences, Kaito. Freedom does not mean freedom from them."
Okay.
That sounded annoyingly wise.
Probably because he was the Ancestor of the Dao.
Still annoying.
I dropped onto one of the cloud-like cushions lining the hall.
"So what's the point?"
"Growth."
"That's vague."
"Then let me be specific."
Yunhai looked at me.
"Ren, learn who you are when strength is taken from you."
Then Kaito.
"Kaito, learn who you can become when strength is placed within your reach but cannot be gained without effort."
Neither of us answered.
Because…
Yeah.
That hit harder than I wanted.
Back on Earth, I had spent the last few days rebuilding everything from nothing.
Running until Kaito's lungs burned.
Studying things I hated because his future wasn't mine to ruin.
Making friends without anyone caring how strong I was or what was sealed inside me.
And Kaito?
He hadn't run away.
Master Jin could terrify grown warriors, and somehow this idiot had stayed.
He was learning.
Trying.
Protecting my body because it belonged to me.
Maybe Yunhai wasn't completely wrong.
I hated that.
I sighed.
"Fine."
Kaito looked over.
"Fine?"
"We train."
I pointed between us.
"We learn. We figure this mess out."
Kaito considered it.
"And maybe don't die?"
"Preferably."
"And eventually get our bodies back?"
"Definitely."
He nodded.
"Deal."
Then Kaito pointed at Yunhai.
"But we're still complaining."
"You are free to do so."
"Good."
I leaned back against the cloud cushion.
"So what do we call you?"
Yunhai raised one eyebrow.
"You know my name."
"Yeah, but you've got like five titles."
Kaito started counting on his fingers.
"First Ascendant. Old Immortal. First Guardian of Mankind. Ancestor of the Dao…"
He looked at the beard.
Then grinned.
"Oh no," I whispered.
"Grandpa Cloud."
Silence.
I covered my face.
Yunhai Tianren—the First Ascendant, Old Immortal, First Guardian of Mankind, Ancestor of the Dao, one of the greatest figures in human history—
laughed.
"As you wish."
And somehow that made me trust him a little more.
Which, looking back later…
was probably exactly what he wanted.