[Altar of Sacrifice, Crete, 2019]
"FATHER, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!" A teenaged boy adorned in white robes asked frantically. He was blindfolded and restrained on top of a grand looking altar.
"Son, your sacrifice will not be forgotten. REJOICE, YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE SACRIFICED TO OUR GRACIOUS AND GLORIOUS GODS!!!" His father flared his arms outward in religious fervor, as the rest of the room began to pray. Various men and women in white robes began to light the candles around the altar and his father was given a white book.
"Oh Artemis, Goddess of the hunt, please take this offering, my own son, and grant us your eternal blessing!" His father was handed a dagger wrapped in a white silk. He walked over to the altar and began to mumble a prayer under his breath and the rest of the room followed.
"BULLSHIT! THIS IS BULLSHIT! I'M YOUR FUCKING SON AND YOU'RE GOING TO SACRIFICE ME TO SOME SHITTY GOD WHO DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU?! TO HELL WITH THAT!!! AND TO HELL WITH YOU!!" Despite the young man's extreme declaration, his father was unbothered and raised the dagger in the air.
"To you Artemis, a gift. VERO!" He brought the dagger down and stabbed his son in the heart. He twisted the blade and his son's blood trickled down the altar into a small pool below. His father stepped back from the altar and moments later, a bright blue flame engulfed the boy and the altar.
"It seems you have been mistaken in who you're offering to mortal. Artemis doesn't take male sacrifices you buffoon, you sacrificed your own son due to your ignorance. I should make you pay, but I believe living with this fact is punishment enough." A female voice sprung from the flames. The flames turned into a dragons head and the boy's father fell down to his knees.
"T-Tiamat, but that can't be true! I've done extensive research, IT CAN'T BE TRUE!!" The boys father yelled as tears streamed down his face.
Tiamat laughed, "Clearly you haven't done enough research. Farewell buffoon." The flames spiraled before poofing out of existence, taking the boy with it.
————-
[Tiamat's Dimension, Abode of the Dragon Queen]
"Arise boy." Tiamat's voice boomed and the boys charred body was healed and he opened his eyes. They widened in awe and fear as they looked upon a titanic 5-headed dragon. He then immediately prostrated himself.
"GODDESS TIAMAT, THIS HUMBLE MORTAL IS GRACED TO BE IN YOUR PRESENCE!" The boy yelled and Tiamat chuckled, "Raise your head boy, I've brought you here in lieu of your fathers extreme ignorance."
The boy raised his head but anger was evident in his body language, "That piece of shit can't even be considered my father anymore, not after what he's done."
"I agree, hence why I have brought you here. I could've let your soul burn in Tartarus for eternity, but since you were technically sacrificed in my sake, although not in my name, I've decided to be a benevolent goddess today. As such, you will be given a new life in a relatively younger universe." Tiamat said and the boys eyes widened in shock and his jaw couldn't stay closed. Coming back to his senses, he immediately prostrated himself again.
"YOUR KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY ARE BEYOND MORTAL COM-" Tiamat interrupted him.
"Stop with all the bootlicking boy, I don't enjoy it as much as you think I do. Speak to me like you would speak to your teacher or something…" The boy coughed and rose to his feet.
"I truly am grateful for this opportunity Goddess Tiamat." The boy bowed at a 90 degree angle.
"Much better, now, onto the nature of your reincarnation. Because I feel an inkling of pity for you, I won't reincarnate you into that world without a boon." Tiamat said as a golden light shined in front of her and soon a tiny nine-tailed fox asleep in a golden orb appeared.
"I'm sure I don't have to explain who this is to you. I was going to make little Kurama here a pet of mine but I believe he will have better usage being fused with you." Tiamat said as she floated the orb closer to the boys chest.
"Fused? He isn't going to be inside of me?" The boy asked and Tiamat shook her heads.
"He is going to become you and you will become him. He will be your body and you will be his mind, but you will be one being. So @$#% and Kurama will become one. Like the fusion technique from Dragon Ball." With the final analogy, the boy finally understood.
"Doesn't that mean we both basically die to become someone else?" The boy asked and Tiamat nodded.
"Like I said, he will become your body and you will become his mind, or would you rather burn for eternity in Tartarus?" Tiamat asked the boy and he shook his head rapidly.
"It takes a life to live a life. One must die in order to become renewed, you've both already died and so this is your renewal."
"I…I understand," Kurama's soul was inserted into the boys chest and he looked at Tiamat one final time, "Thank you so much! I will never forget this! I swear!" The boy then disappeared in a golden flash.
"I'd sure hope not kid…"
————
[Seoul Metropolitan Hospital, South Korea]
*Beep*
*Beep*
*Beep*
What the hell is that noise? I feel so groggy and…confused?
I opened my eyes and they met the ceiling of a hospital.
"BIG BROTHER YOU'RE AWAKE!" I heard a young voice to my right. Big brother? I turned my head and a young girl, around 10 years old? Was staring at me with tears in her eyes.
"H-Haewon…" This was my little sister Yon Haewon and I'm…Yon Kyung-Soo.
I ruffled her orange hair, "How long was I sleep?" She held up 3 fingers, "3 whole days! I-I thought you were gonna sleep forever!!"
She started to cry again, which aches my heart. I picked her up and sat her on my lap, "Haewon, I promise I won't ever do that again okay?"
"You promise?" She looked at me with tears in her eyes and I stuck my pinky out, "I pinky promise."
"*Sniff*, Then Haewon promises to get strong and protect big brother!" She wrapped her pinky around mine as I laughed, "Make sure you don't break it, okay?"
She nodded rapidly before hopping off my lap, "I'm gonna go get the nice nurse lady okay! I'll be right back big brother!" She ran out the room before I could even respond.
But now that I'm alone, I can mull over what happened to me. I remember being knocked out by an orc…but I also remember being in front of a giant dragon? Something about me…being fused with something?
My mind is all over the place…it's like I have the memories of two entirely different people. Who am I? Am I Yon Kyung-Soo or am I the other guy? I slowly got out of bed and looked at my reflection in the glass window.
My hair is the same length and color, but my eyes have changed…along with my strength. I closed my eyes and tried to figure what else changed but when I opened them again I was inside of a giant sewer?
"Hello?" My voice echoed but no one answered. Just my luck, I hope I'm not trapped in here…
I walked around until I was met with a giant cage but the only thing inside that cage was a giant mirror. When I looked at my reflection it wasn't me who stared back, but a giant nine tailed fox!
"Ah!" I fell on my ass in shock before standing up again and looking at the reflection. When I raised my hand, the fox raised its hand, when I stuck out my tongue the fox did the same. It's like we were…the same person?
But that doesn't make sense! Why is there a mirror in this random dimension and my reflection is a giant fucking fox?! And why the hell is it behind a cage?!
I punched the bars of the cage out of anger and the echoing ringing sound reminded me of something…a bell.
A sacrificial bell…I was sacrificed…I was dead! It's coming to me now, that fox is the something the giant dragon lady fused with me!
He will become my body and I will become his mind…how did I forget this? I was broken out of my stupor by the sound of Haewon and the nurse entering my room.
"Big brother, I brought the nurse, are you sure you're okay to stand?" I turned around and smiled, "Yeah, I'm feeling better than ever!"
