Page 160 of The Fifth Life of Alicia
“Go ahead.”
“The world I now live in is stuck in a time loop, correct?” I paused, and he nodded. “It resets every time the being named Alicia Vermillion dies, but it’s not supposed to be like that. You tried bringing another soul to fix things, but it went to the wrong place, and that made it all worse. The cycle was going to reset again when I died, and you brought me to Alicia’s body.”
“That about sums it up.”
“So, the other soul you said you brought to that world was Lillia’s soul, right? In the book I read back in my past life, she’d transmigrated.”
“Ah-ha, very good. Yes. Lillia’s soul is also not of that world. It’s caused too many problems. The more cycles Lillia repeats, the more corrupt her soul is becoming.”
“Corrupt? What do you mean?”
He stared at me for a moment. “I suppose I can tell you this much now—she can remember the last few cycles.”
My jaw dropped. “What? How is that possible?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Yeah. Of course he couldn’t.
Him and his stupid laws of the universe.
“So, what happens when Alicia dies? Does Lillia just wake up one day with a full memory of the world restarting?”
“That’s a somewhat simplified version, but yes. Whenever the world regresses, she can remember both her original life on Earth and some of the lives she’s lived in the Sada Empire, but she’s recently begun remembering the entirety of Lillia’s life.”
“No wonder it feels like she hates me.” I stretched my legs back out and lay back on the lounger. “She has lifetimes of resentment built up against Alicia.”
“Mm.” God held out a colourful drink with an orange slice and a little umbrella. “Want one?”
I blinked. “Where did that come from?”
“Divine power. I’m a divine being. I made it.”
Right.
Of course he did.
This was why I thought he was a weirdo.
“Sure, thanks.” I sipped and was pleasantly surprised at the sweetness of it. “It’s good.”
“It’s divine power. It’s always good.”
“Lies. Your divine power knocked me out.”
“Correction: the combination of uncontrolled divine power and mana expelling at once knocked you out.” He pulled the orange slice off the rim of the glass and bit into the orange’s flesh. “Honestly, I didn’t know it would explode out of you like that. It was quite shocking.”
He didn’t need to tell me that. I was probably the most shocked of anyone. It wasn’t like I’d had any idea I could use either of those powers before that moment.
I sighed and leant back. “God, why did you take my memories of our first meeting?”
“You asked to keep all your memories, remember? Both the ones accessible to your soul and your body, and I agreed in exchange for the one of our meeting.”
“Right.” How was it possible it was that simple? “Has anyone ever told you that you’re not very helpful?”
“Millions of people. Every single day.” He shook his head forlornly. “At least this one is justified.”
I laughed quietly. “So… how long do I have to stay here?”
