"You're early." General Ana's accented voice came from the entrance to the cliffside garden where she had arranged to meet.
Tharon was already waiting on a small stool in the garden when General Ana arrived, as he wasn't one to risk being late to a meeting with such an important figure.
He was surprised to see that she wasn't wearing her usual armor. Instead, she wore something that made medieval clothing look normal in comparison.
It was something in the realm of a red, knee-length, long-sleeved dress over a pair of grey pants. Odd as that might be, what stood out most was how distinctly fluffy it looked.
The entire outfit looked shaggier than a sheepdog.
"Amused by my fashion choices?" She smiled as he realized he had been staring.
"I've never seen anything like it." Tharon averted his eyes quickly, feeling trace amounts of blood rush to his cheeks.
"That's because I designed it myself." Ana said with a proud look on her face.
"It's certainly… one of the most unique dresses I've seen." Tharon felt the need to redirect the conversation. "Is it something that was normal in your old world?"
"Not really." She admitted, "In my old world, I wore bare minimum. They didn't have the resources to fully clothe every soldier."
"So what inspired that?" Tharon thought out loud.
"I never had anything soft in my old world, so when I could afford good clothing, I went overboard." The general admitted. "I know it's odd, but by the time I got over the fluff obsession everyone was used to it, so I kept the style."
Tharon found her explanation oddly endearing. It was almost cute to think such a serious person would have such an interest.
"Regardless." She said, walking down a path in the lush garden towards the railing at the cliff's edge. "I invited you here so we could both learn more about each other's worlds."
Tharon walked over to the railing beside her, unsure if it was too presumptuous to stand next to such an important figure. He decided to keep some distance just in case.
The garden was built out of a dark grey stone and attached to the edge of the cliff that the fortress sat on. Down below, Tharon could see the edges of the capital and over the city wall, where tightly packed buildings gave way to fields with scattered farms and suburban housing.
It was a view that Tharon found both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. While the world felt still from such a vantage point, Tharon was never exactly a fan of heights.
"I wonder," Ana broke the fragile silence the garden held. "How similar are our worlds, really? From what I've heard from you and your brother they share so many similarities, but there must have been some divergence somewhere."
"Do you think there's a specific point where the worlds diverge?" Tharon asked, and Ana shook her head.
"It's an idea I've been exploring. There's just as much chance they're connected, but have never been aligned." She said, "What was the last major war in your world?"
"Probably World War II." Tharon wondered if this conversation was heading towards Cold War territory.
"My world had no such war."
"Odd."
As important as it was, Tharon didn't feel too inclined to figure out how their worlds were connected. Whenever he thought about it, it felt too daunting of a question for him to grasp, and one that might be pointless even if he figured it out.
The general seemed to think for a moment as she backed away from the railing of the garden, moving toward a table in the center, where she gestured for him to sit.
Sitting across from someone of her status made Tharon's muscles tense as he tried to figure out the etiquette to do so.
"Tell me, what is your family like?" She crossed her legs as she sat down in her chair.
The question shouldn't have been a hard one. It was something that people asked all the time, and had an answer that anyone should be able to pull off the top of their head.
"I…" Tharon began speaking before realizing he didn't know what to say. It was almost as if he didn't know what his family was like, even though he knew that wasn't true.
General Ana's expression turned curious as he tried to recall the details to answer her question.
"Is something wrong?" She said softly. "I'm very sorry if I touched a sensitive topic."
The memories of his family began to surface slowly but surely, the sluggish pace starting to scare Tharon a little.
"Calyx is my only sibling." Tharon began as he remembered. "And our dad was an accountant, and our mom was a… nurse."
The fog in his mind felt almost as if it was fighting him as he tried to pull out his memories.
"I feel like something unnatural is interfering with me." Tharon felt himself get lightheaded.
Ana's expression shifted to one of concern as he took deep breaths to calm down whatever was going on.
Thankfully, whatever was doing this made it very easy for him to not think about it, and he soon regained his balance.
"What was that?" Tharon asked as he looked back up at her, wondering how odd he must have looked when he was trying to recover.
"I don't know." She admitted. "Memory blocks exist in this world, so it might be something like that."
"I felt something like that before when Lady Hiva asked about my last name." Tharon recalled. "What…"
"I wouldn't keep prying." The general said. "If you've undergone some sort of memory block, trying to figure it out without a professional could be dangerous."
"Alright." He said, slightly relieved he didn't need to go deeper into it.
"If you're feeling better now, it's your turn to ask me questions." She moved on quickly from the issue. "It's not fair for me to ask everything from you with nothing in return."
"Okay." Tharon scratched his back a bit. "How much have you found out about these new bodies we were reincarnated into?"
"Not much." She said, "I've been looking into it and the best information I could give you is that these bodies don't produce any natural energies."
He already assumed that much.
"I'll keep looking into it, so you shouldn't worry about it." She waved dismissively. "Anyway, how much have I told you about my old world and life?"
"Well," The shift in conversation caught Tharon off guard. "You talked about how you died to get here. Not much on how things worked."
"Then I have much to tell you." She smiled sincerely.
The wind seemed to pick up for a moment as Tharon took in the scene around him. The flora in the garden was mostly green, with the trees being the only plants bearing any flowers.
"First off, the name Ana is an abbreviation." She told him. "My real name is considered rather odd."
"Both me and my brother have odd names." Tharon shrugged. "There isn't much that can surprise me."
"Then I'd like you to refer to me as Anaphora." She said almost cautiously. "If we're going to be working together, we should be familiar with each other."
~=~=~=~=~=~
Upon hearing about Anaphora's past, Tharon felt much more grateful that he was born on his own Earth.
She was born in London before it was destroyed in the Eternal War, and then became a refugee in the United States. In her world, children were all raised in a 'collective upbringing' by the government, and she was no different.
She told him she joined the army because the alternative was being put into a government repopulation program. In the army she was used as a test subject for enhancements, which made her stronger than even the average man in the enemy armies.
The way she spoke about her world felt detached. She looked back as if she was looking at another person's life.
"...And once the grenade went off, I found myself here."
Anaphora fidgeted with her hair as she finished her story, leaving Tharon with the echo of its anticlimactic end. It had been that way for him and Calyx, with both of them dying before they properly knew what was happening.
"So what happened after you arrived? Where were you?" Tharon asked after a moment.
"That's confidential." Anaphora said in a slightly teasing tone. "Perhaps another day."
The atmosphere between them went quiet as they both searched for the next thing to say, only interrupted by the wind. It had become dark, with his ears and fingertips beginning to feel cold.
"What do you think of your brother?" Anaphora asked, filling the moment of silence. "You two seem very close."
"Calyx is…" Tharon tried to find the right words, "My best friend. He's an impulsive idiot, but he's my brother."
"He seems like your total opposite in many ways." Anaphora said quietly.
"We're more similar than we look. While we think differently, our ideals are pretty much the same."
"What would you say he's like?" Anaphora looked up towards the rising moon.
"He's smart." Tharon admitted. "Smarter than I am by a long shot, and he barely has to try."
"How do you feel about that?"
The question threw Tharon off for a second. Not because of what it was, but because Tharon wasn't used to being asked things like that.
"It's pretty annoying." He mirrored her, looking towards the sky. "He went through school without studying, and always came out on top of everything. I wasn't even surprised at how good he was at magic, because I'm used to it."
"Is it possible he envies you as well?" Anaphora pressed.
"I doubt it."
She gave a quick nod before thinking to herself. She was a bit of an odd person.
"I let you be the one to decide his punishment because I wanted to see what you would do." Anaphora said as she turned back towards him. "Normally I should have had him kicked out or executed for such an offense, but the shift in worlds seems to have made me soft."
"Executed?"
"It's the highest punishment I could have given for the crime, although very few generals would go that far." She said, "Regardless, you two are too important to drive away."
"Why is that?" Tharon asked.
"You may have invaluable knowledge." She slowed her speech, as if grasping for a stronger answer. "And I'd prefer to keep those in my situation close."
It made sense, but the way she said it made Tharon feel she didn't believe in her own reasons.
"Is it possible you've grown attached too quickly?" Tharon tried to joke, but the air still felt tense.
"Doubtful." Anaphora gave a half smile, closing her eyes.
"Well, Calyx might need more time to break you down then."
"Is that how Calyx responds to authority?"
"He tries to press until he gets what he wants, but he's all bark."
"Does he act differently in private than he shows in public?" She asked, her voice dropping noticeably.
"Not much." Tharon said, finding her line of questioning odd. "Why are you asking so much about Calyx, anyway? Are you interested in him or something?"
"Please, he's the total opposite of my ideal man in many ways." Ana opened one eye and looked him over, before closing it again. "I just don't believe he'd give as direct answers about himself as you would about him."
It was natural for people to ask about his brother. Calyx didn't seem like the type to be an open book, so Tharon was used to it.
But at the same time, it felt strange. She came off as very gentle, but she felt somewhat prying. He had guessed when she invited him that she wanted information, but it felt almost off after their whole conversation previously.
Another gust of wind blew through the garden, pushing up the faint smell of stone and night air.
"You should talk to him yourself." He said at last.
Anaphora smiled, but didn't answer.