Entering a new house was always strange. Everything I saw was a new experience. Stairs revealed themselves to me, two different stairways leading up the sides of the room. Straight ahead there was a door that led further into the mansion.

I stepped forward and there was a cough from behind me.

It was Amanda’s father.

“Shoes and socks off in this household, please.”

I looked over and saw that Amanda had already taken hers off. There was an indent beside the entrance for me to put my shoes in. She shot me an apologetic look and I shrugged.

It didn’t make any difference to me.

I placed my shoes down and when I stepped onto the marble floor, I realised it was heated. A soft, pulsating warmth that permeated from the ground and into my skin.

I activated my mana sense and a pool of red revealed itself to me. There was magic underneath me. I hadn’t been able to feel it because it was so gentle, but it waved at me and I waved back.

“Interesting.” Amanda’s father stepped beside me. “Can you see the fire-touched?”

Fire-touched?

A hand latched onto my wrist before I could respond. I saw Amanda rolling her eyes at her father and she dragged me forward.

“He doesn’t have time for the spiel.” She picked up the pace and we were quickly bounding up the stairs.

I looked back at Amanda’s father as we made our way into the first floor. His eyes followed me until he disappeared from sight.

He was smiling.

Amanda stopped as we found ourselves in a corridor.

“Sorry about that.” She panted, and Agni rose into the air. “My dad is really big on his traditions. It’s… A bit weird to people that aren’t used to it.”

“Traditions?”

“The shoes and socks.” Amanda pointed to the roof. “We don’t have a ceiling on the top floor either, but don’t worry, our guest room does.”

No shoes and no ceiling. This sounded familiar to me.

“Your dad is a follower of Mehta?” The pieces fell into place.

Amanda nodded. “He won’t stop talking about it if you get him going.” She walked further into the corridor. “I’ll show you the study first. I need to drop off some books.”

I followed closely behind her, my mind deep in thought. Mehta, the divine. The people of this world had another name for the being.

The Oracle of nature.

Each divine had impacted society on their ‘arrival’. Usually, it was followed by a period of drastic change such as when Artus had left the world devoid of history.

Mehta was the only exception.

Divines communicated through dreams and visions. Some claimed to have seen them in person, and others in their memories. The divines had no physical bodies, or proof that they existed.

When Mehta had made itself known, the world thought it saw the grass turn greener, the fires more vibrant and the seas calmer. There was no change, only a strengthening of something that already existed.

Nature.

Like every divine it had a church and followers, with their own customs that they believed their divine endorsed. Mehta’s following was the smallest of the seven.

That they had to be in tune with nature was their belief and oneness with the world was their goal.

“I’m more of a skeptic myself.” Amanda broke the silence, and I could see a tinge of red on her cheeks.

Unprompted religious conversations were awkward in every world.

“If there’s a divine to follow then Mehta seems like the nicest one.” I examined the walls for any symbols or religious items, but there were none.

“Nice is one word for it.” Amanda stopped in front of a door and pushed it open. “Ta-da.”

She stepped inside and held the door open. Gold and Agni flew in front of me and I found myself inside a library.

There was no other way to describe it.

Lines of bookshelves were pressed against the walls. Five, ten, twenty. I quickly stopped trying to count them. I’d thought that Amanda had bought too many books, but they were a drop in the ocean.

“If you keep staring, I’m going to get embarrassed.”

Amanda stepped carefully towards a pile of books on the ground. I moved beside her and saw that they were the books that she had bought today.

“I can’t help but notice there aren’t any math books in here.” I knelt to pick up a couple of the books.

Amanda turned her head toward me and frowned.

“I'm trying to trick my dad into thinking that I’m studying.” She waved her hand and a new book appeared. “If he saw a math book then he’d know something was wrong.”

She passed the book to me, and I took it curiously. This was one of the ones she had put in her inventory. It was heavy, and on the cover was a picture of a glimmering city. Above it the skies were red and black, and the clouds grabbed at the city menacingly.

“Lucia’s Last Stand. Volume 3.” I stood up. “That must be one heck of a last stand if it’s filled this many books.”

“You think a classic like this can be contained in so few words?” Amanda tutted. “It’s the third volume out of seven.”

Seven? That sounded like a lot.

I walked over towards the nearest shelf and saw that it was filled with similarly themed novels. Almost every one of them featured a city or person being beset by an unknown evil.

At least, that’s what their covers told me.

I realised there was something different about this room. The floor at the entrance and the floor in the corridor had felt different.

“This room isn’t heated.” The chill seeped in.

“Are you crazy?” Amanda looked horrified. “The books would dry out.”

I raised an eyebrow at her and then gestured towards the door. Her dad seemed pretty clear about how he wanted things done here.

“He lets us have our private spaces to ourselves. We can decorate them however we want to.” She waved her book at me. “If we can sneak the decorations past him.”

That explained the educational books she’d used to distract him. More books appeared in her hands as she walked from shelf to shelf.

There was a method to her madness, as I walked beside her I saw that the books were all gathered in different categories.

Romance, action, adventure, romance, horror, and romance.

“I’m noticing a trend here.” I commented as we passed the fourth romance section.

I brushed my eyes over the bookshelf. I’d never been a big reader on earth. I was more into anime. Then we reached a new shelf that caught my attention.

My eyes wandered over the titles, and a smile appeared on my face.

Hrüm: The Marked One’s Defiance, Marked by Death, Yumi’s Rage (A Marked One story).

“Is this whole section stories about Marked ones?” I took in the books with a grin. “I’m guessing it’s not biographical?”

Amanda glided towards me and chuckled as she heard what I said.

“The authors want you to think they are. Marked one fiction is really popular. Everyone wants to be the chosen one.” Amanda traced her fingers down the spines of her books. “You should see our main house’s library. They’ve got the good stuff.”

We perused through the books, and she gave me several recommendations. I think she was surprised about how much interest I was showing. There was only one thought in my mind as I looked at the books.

What did Gerial think of this trend?

Being a Marked one wasn’t as glamorous as the covers of these books made it look. There was a lot of hiding, and I don’t think we had lightning coming out of our eyes.

“Which of these are the most popular?” It wouldn’t hurt to read one.

There were some crazy perceptions and theories people had about Marked ones.

Gerial gave me advice and life tips, but he didn’t deep dive into personal stories. His discussions were centred around not letting people try to cook you in a pot.

“Popular doesn’t mean it’ll suit your tastes.” Amanda pulled a book from the shelf. “This is the single most popular book about Marked ones.”

I took the book from her hands.

‘A Marked One’s Reincarnation Journey’.

My heart murmured as I read the title of the book. It sounded exactly like what I was going through.

“What’s this book about?” I turned to Amanda.

“I don’t think you’ll like this one.” She tapped its cover. “But I’ll give you the cliff notes. The main character is a weakling but gets hit by a carriage and reborn as a Marked one-”

She outlined it for five minutes.

“-and by the end of the books he’s bedded all six female Marked ones and their friends.”

I sat back and took in the information. Okay. That wasn’t the book I thought it would be. It had nothing to do with adventure and everything to do with getting into the pants of the main character’s companions.

There was still one part of the book that interested me.

I passed the book gently back to her. “Is this kind of genre written often? The reincarnation one, not the romance.”

Amanda’s eyes twinkled and she started sorting through her other books on the shelf.

“People have always dreamt about fixing their mistakes.” She spoke. “It’s nice to imagine that a spell exists to be able to do it.”

That brought a smile to my face. It was nice to know that reincarnation wasn’t a completely foreign concept in this world to the average person so long as they read books.

A new book appeared in front of me. “I think you’ll like this one. You can borrow it if you want.”

She had a smaller book in her hand, and it was a lot more worn out. I took it from her hands and looked at it.

‘I Am Marked.’

“It’s the book that hooks you into the genre. It has a lot of the basics about Marked ones. Well, it has the fantasy tropes that are often written. Factual information is hard to come by.” She brushed her hand over the cover. “It's an adventure book. Easy to read, and it follows the Marked one of Crijik. So, I figured you’d have an interest.”

I looked up sharply, but she’d already gone back to sorting through her books.

Oh, right. She meant because of Gerial.

He was the most famous person in the academy. Fue’s Marked one had yet to arrive, and even when she did their popularity would likely be equal.

I took the book in my hands and worked on placing it into my inventory without dirtying it. The rest of the time was spent fiddling with the finer details while Amanda put away the rest of her collection.

I looked up at her as she made her way back to me.

“Have you eaten?” I asked.

I was still full after my dinner, but Amanda had come straight home from book shopping, and I didn’t want to keep her from dinner with her father.

“I grabbed a bite to eat between stores.” Amanda shrugged. Then she pursed her lips. “I wanted to show you around the house but it’s getting late now. I’ll show you your room.”

Amanda made her way out of the room and held open the door for me again. We made our way into the corridor and the birds followed. As we walked past the rooms, I got a sense of the mansion’s personality.

It was emptier than my grandma's house.

Their sizes were roughly the same, but the rooms were themed completely differently. Amanda’s family took a minimalist approach to decorations, and each room we passed looked almost the same as the last.

Most of them had papers strewn across a desk.

“-down the hall, Alexis’ study is to the left, and the bathroom is to the right.”

I nodded my head absentmindedly.

Wait. What? I’d missed part of the conversation.

Amanda had stopped in front of a door. She pushed it open, and we found ourselves in a large bedroom. To my relief it did have a ceiling. I wasn’t against sleeping directly beneath the stars, but it wasn’t my first preference.

I took a step inside and then felt my feet heat up further. I hesitated, but it didn’t hurt. It was soothing.

I activated my mana sense and saw the mana around us gathering towards myself and Amanda. It wasn’t the work of symbols, there was a spell cast in this room.

“Ugh.” Amanda brushed back her hair. “That’s my dad’s fault. He wants us to be covered in our element when we sleep. It’s one of the mansion’s specialties.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Isn’t he a fire magician?”

“He’s not going to set his children and guests on fire.” She poked her tongue out. “He makes it hotter.”

I didn’t mind it. The heat was nice on a cold day like this, and I was already used to sleeping with mana. I walked up to the bed and realised Amanda had grown quiet beside me.

“I know some people can find it weird.” Her voice was strained. “Our, um, eccentricities.”

“Actually, it feels kind of familiar. I sleep in a dirt bed.” I fluffed the pillow. “Voluntarily.”

I grinned at the confusion on her face. “My parents thought it would increase my magic abilities. Not for religious reasons, I think they just didn’t know what to do with a magician. Then I got used to it.”

Amanda stared at me and then she started to giggle.

“That’s not what I expected to hear.”

“What were you expecting?” I pushed my hands against the mattress.

It was strange. The feeling of dirt was a part of me now, and I had grown used to being surrounded by it. An ordinary mattress was softer, but weird in a different way.

“I don’t know.” The bed wobbled as Amanda sat down on it. “You’re pretty quiet about yourself, did you know that?”

I hadn’t noticed.

Then I thought about what she knew of my life. She didn’t know about my parents, or if I had siblings. She also hadn’t known where my home city was or what my financial situation was.

“I’ve been a real pit donkey today.” Amanda spoke. “Yapping on about all the stuff I’ve got and not asking a thing about you.”

“That’s not true, you asked me where I lived.” I sat beside her. “I’m a pretty quiet person in general, but you’ve done a great job. As a host, and as a friend.”

I had grown used to keeping information to myself. My mark, and my reincarnation, had influenced my conversation topics.

“Thanks.” Amanda smiled. “This is the first time I’ve had a friend over. I was nervous.”

I looked at her and she shrugged.

“Am I supposed to show you my books? Am I not supposed to talk about them?” She waved her hands in the air. “It’s not like there’s a manual!”

She paused. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, what would you like to talk about?”

“Well, there’s a fun story about how I met this guy.” I pointed at Gold.

Amanda’s eyes lit up.

We spent the next few hours talking and laughing. I fudged the details on a couple of stories, just a tiny bit, to not give away important information, but most of our talk was mundane.

We touched on my dad’s work at Zodiac, the outline of Yêlat and several stories about my magical mishaps. My Indra impression got the best reception.

I did not give him a flattering portrayal.

It felt good to talk about my life and to have someone be genuinely interested in it. Amanda’s situation was interesting as well, but before we could deep dive into conversation her father called up to us.

Amanda jumped off the bed and put her hands behind her back.

“This was fun.” She turned to face me. “I’ll wake you up for breakfast, if you want.”

She made her way to the door and passed through it, Agni flying behind her.

Then she poked her head through the doorway. “Goodnight.”

I smiled. “Goodnight.”

I brought out my pyjamas and the bed folded under my weight as I laid back into it. The thick blankets caressed my sides, and the heat that permeated the room didn’t bother me, and instead brought a sense of rest to my body. The night enveloped me as I fell asleep.

It was comfortable...

... Right until the moment I had to go to the bathroom.

My sleep was disturbed, and I poked my head up and listened for the sounds of other people. There was silence. I wondered if it would bother them if I got up now.

Amanda and her father were sleeping on the above floor.

Surely, they wouldn’t hear me walking downstairs?

I’d have to take that chance. I made my way out of the bed and towards the corridor. I knew there was a bathroom on this level, but I’d forgotten where.

Had Amanda said a right or a left?

Before I could take a guess, I spotted a red light. It zoomed through the corridor and then stopped in front of me.

It was Agni.

She hovered in the air, wings flapping and her flames lighting up the corridor.

“Hey Agni, do you know where the bathroom is?” I whispered.

Agni stared at me and then turned around. She flew down the corridor and I followed her, then she stopped in front of a door to the left.

“Thanks.”

I opened the door gently and came face to face with William.

“Wha-” I paused as I realised it wasn’t William.

It was a painting of him.

The canvas was destroyed underneath William’s head, his painted body torn to shreds. Agni’s light lit up the room from behind me and I saw it was filled with paintings. Dozens of them. There was a desk to the side, and I could see one of our school’s textbooks laying on it.

A feeling of dread clambered across my skin as I looked at the painting.

This was Alexis’ study.