Part 1
Shiro walked behind a caped man over what seemed to be an endless white
plane.
“What is this place? Heaven?”
“Once every thousand years or so, one person in every world switches
with someone in another.”
“And I’ve been chosen to switch?”
“Chosen might be too strong a word – don’t get it into your head that
you’re some kind of messiah or something; that really won’t work out well for
you.”
“What about my family?”
“You were planning on running away anyway, Shiro. You just didn’t have
the resolve or the capability.”
“I…”
“You don’t have to explain yourself; I know everything after all.”
“But why are you doing this?”
“It’s all very complicated.” The caped man pointed to a gate far ahead.
“In the end maybe it’s all just for my entertainment.”
Part 2
Shiro woke up in on a hard mattress. His neck ached; around it was a
metal cuff. He got up and looked around the small room. It was night time in
this world.
- Is this real? Am I really in another world?
There was a creek above the bed.
- Bunk beds? Was this a school dorm? What’s with these chains and ragged
clothes?
A girl looked over the side of
the bed and down at him. A realisation dawned on Shiro of the possibility that-
- No way, did I switch places with a girl?!
He felt around and sighed in relief. Then he looked back up to the girl
who was staring at him.
- What should I do; I don’t really know who I am to her; if I ask her
about who she is, and we are childhood friends or something, it could cause
major problems for me; she probably already suspects something’s up.
The girl jumped off the bed and landed next to Shiro.
“This might sound strange, but are we friends?”
The girl didn’t say anything but continued to stare at him.
- Was it possible that this world had a different language from mine?
What about my name?
The girl pushed him hard against the wall. “How can you ask me that
after yesterday, you coward!”
- What did I do yesterday?
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
- Wait, what was I sorry about? I wasn’t here yesterday, was I. But if I
ask her what I did, it will look like I forgot; God of Worlds you are certainly
about to be entertained.
“You’re sorry, huh?” She kneed him in the groin. “I’m sorry too.”
“I’m an idiot, I made a mistake, next time I…”
- God that hurt! At least finish the sentence girl, give me a hint?
“You will protect me? Really? You expect me to believe you?”
- Protect her? What could I protect her from?
She got me on the ground with one kick!
“I promise.”
She paused and thought for a minute. “If you’re
serious, will you make a slaves promise?”
“A what?”
“Swear by the lock that you will protect me
from now on, swear.” The girl was tearing up now.
“What happens if you break a slaves promise?”
“Then that cuff around your neck will burn so
hot that it cuts your head off.”
Shiro got up and looked at the girl.
- She needs me; for the first time in my life,
someone needs me.
“What’s your name again?”
“Rin Kibiyashi.”
“Miss Kibiyashi, I swear, from now on, no
matter what kind of trouble you are in, I will be by your side and make sure no
harm comes to you. This promise I make to the lock.”
- I’d expected the lock to glow or give some
indication that it heard me, but it was silent.
“Did it work?” Shiro asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“No one’s ever made a slave’s promise to me
before.”
“Whether it worked or not, I will stand by what
I said. So, what do we do now Miss Kibi?”
“What did you call me?”
“Well, we’re friends now, aren’t we? I’m Shiro
Kanjo. You can call me Shiro.”
Part 3
- Over the day, I started to build up a picture
of what Kibi and my roles were in this Mansion. We were both non-magic elves,
yes elves, known as Bases, and there was a social divide between Bases and
Mages. This seemed like a sensitive topic for Kibi and it didn’t make sense to
ask too much – I, supposedly, grew up here after all. Our role in the Mansion
was as cleaners and we got paid with food. It was certainly not as bad as I
thought it would be; we weren’t starved.
“Hey, come here Slave.” Said Mistress Tenorin,
the eldest daughter of the Lord of this mansion.
“Yes, Mistress.”
- I was a real suck-up in my old world so,
apart from all the manual labour, I found that being a slave really fit my
nature.
“I’m going to take a bath now, warm up some
water for me.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“When I’m ready I’ll call you when I’m ready to
go in.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Shiro went to find Rin. She was outside
collecting in the laundry.
“Mistress Tenorin told me to warm up the
water.” Said Shiro. “How exactly should I do that?”
“The furnace in the lower levels.” She looked
at me hard. “I hope you haven’t forgotten your promise – if the Master is
planning something, I want you to stop him.”
“What exactly do you think he’s planning?”
Rin coloured.
- Huh, the young master made a move on her. That’s
what this is about? I know my morals should have been going off, but in a
master-slave dynamic – Kibi was super cute after all…
“I can’t really blame him really; I would have
tried something too if I were him.”
“What?”
- That was not the right thing to say, abort,
abort!
“Right, I’m off now.” Shiro raced back into the
mansion and hid behind a cupboard.
- Well, on the bright side, if the master kills
me in the confrontation, she won’t be able to kick me again… I am such an
idiot.
Part 4
Although Shiro wasn’t told where the dungeon
actually was, he was able to find one of the many secret passages in the
mansion, just next to where he was hiding in the laundry room.
Through the door, there wasn’t a stairway like
he had expected, but a drop.
“Hey, why are you just standing there, jump
down; I need your help with something.”
The young master was standing nest to a large
boiling cauldron. The furnace was a bit further past him.
“I’m sorry Master Tenorin, I’m scared of heights.”
“No matter, I order you to jump.”
Shiro felt his cuff heat up.
- I guess this is the end. Mum, Dad, I know we
never got on and, to you, I was and always will be a disappointment, I just hope
my replacement will live up to your standards, poor bastard.
Shiro closed his eyes and jumped and hit the
floor, face first with a thud.
“Hey, I’m alright!” He said, getting up and
dusting himself off.
“Of course, what did you think would happen?”
- I get it; elve’s bodies are much tougher than
a human’s so they can survive massive falls, that could definitely come in
handy.
In the dungeon, there were tonnes of strange
artefacts, not just pottery and paintings that glowed and moved, but orbs that spoke
and rotting limbs.
“What do you need, Young Master?” Calling him
master seemed a bit weird, even in this situation.
The boy pointed to a cage.
“There is a vicious animal in there, I want you
to take it out.”
Shiro picked up the cage.
“It’s a cat.”
“I didn’t ask you what it was, take it out.”
Shiro took it out.
“Now hold out one of its paws.”
Shiro did what he was told. Suddenly, the other
boy took out a blade and cut the paw clean off the poor cat and held it in his
hand.
“Watch this.” The boy laughed as he dropped it
into the cauldron. Meanwhile, the cat squirmed and jumped out of Shiro’s grasp.
“What the hell is your problem? The cat – you cut
it’s hand off!”
“Calm down, and watch.” The boy produced some
rope from his hand and dropped it into the potion when he pulled it out
attached to it was-
“No way! Did you clone that cat?”
“Yeah. So, what did you come here for?”
“To turn on the furnace for your sister.”
“Oh, let me help you out.” He snapped his
fingers and the furnace was set alight. “Now I need you to do something for me.”
“What do you need?”
The boy tossed his knife to Shiro.
“Bring me the Slave girl’s hand.”
“Huh?”
“The blade heals wounds and numbs pain – you
can take off her hand while she’s sleeping.”
“Why?”
“You Bases really are useless. Why do you
think? She won’t let me have sex with her willingly – when an animal is cloned
it does not keep its memories so-”
“-So, you think that making her forget that you
are a piece of hum- I mean elf trash is going to make her fall in love with
you?”
Master Tenorin laughed.
“Yes, she will, just like a pet loves her
Master.”
“You’re into that?”
“What, are you disgusted?”
“Not really, I would even have helped you out
it wasn’t for the fact that you need Kibi’s hand?”
“Kibi?”
“It’s her nickname.”
“Cute. Look, I already thought of the arm thing,
so I found this.” The boy produced a hook from the inside pocket of his coat.
“A pirate hook, really? You can clone someone,
but you can’t grow back someone’s hand.”
“This stuff isn’t as easy as it looks you know
– besides, I nicked most of the ingredients off my dad’s store, so if we are
going to get screwed for this we might as well make it count.”
“What do you mean we?”
“At least have a look at the hook.”
The boy handed the hook to Shiro. The moment he
touched it, it seemed to turn into a hand. Shiro almost dropped it in surprise.
“Some kind of illusion magic?”
“Pretty cool, right?”
“I can’t believe I’m considering this, but it
might just work. But about the new Kibi where, will she live?”
“I’ll hide her somewhere in here. Common, will
you do it or not?”
“No.”
“What, why?”
“Because what you’re doing is wrong – you are
trying to enslave someone, a person.”
“You Bases can hardly be called people.”
“Says the guy who cut the paw off a cat – I
mean, who does that?” Shiro began to back away towards the door that he had jumped
down from.
“Not so fast, I can’t let you just walk away
now that you have heard my master plan.” The boy shot out some rope from his
hands and they wrapped around Shiro.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No, I’m in enough trouble already with my
dad.”
“Shiro, are you ok?” Someone called from where
the door was. It was Rin.
“The young master is into boys; now that he’s
got me, he’s not going to come after you anymore.”
“You’re going to sacrifice yourself for me?”
“Hey, he’s lying I’m not into boys; I was
planning to clone you-” The young master gasped. “You tricked me!”
He walked to the tied up Shiro and pulled the
magic knife out of his hand.
“You have to stop this.” Shiro said. “It’s not
too late – there are other ways to get girls.”
“I’ve come too far to stop now! Come here girl
slave or I’ll hurt your friend.”
“Don’t listen to him, Kibi, he’s bluffing.”
“Am I though?” He placed the blade on Shiro’s
trousers.
“It’s not balls that make a man.”
“The last words of a virgin.”
“Fine, Master, what do you want?” Rin said,
walking up to the Master Tenorin.
“Hold out your hand.” Rin did so hesitantly,
and the boy cut her hand off. Laughing as he did before, he tossed the knife
aside and turned to the cauldron. “Finally, I will get a girl to love me.”
Just as the limb was falling, Shiro jumped and smacked
it out, but then he lost balance and fell in.
“Shiro!”
“My potion!”
The cauldron tipped and Shiro fell out. Two
fluffy cat ears grew out of this head and a tail behind him.
Master Tenorin dashed for the exit.
“Shiro, are you alright?”
“Yeah. Why, is there something wrong?”
“Nothing really, it’s just that, you’ve turned
into a massive cat!”
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