Transmigrated as a Ghost

Marcus visibly winced when he heard how Miguel had died.

Certainly, dying was never a good experience but at least Marcus had died without his knowledge. 

This kid had been stabbed and Marcus doubted that it had been a painless death like his.

In fact, from the way Miguel was grimacing just recalling the memory, Marcus imagined it must have hurt terribly.

Of course, even though Miguel seemed pained to remember the experience Marcus could tell he wanted to talk about it.

It was likely that this kid had no one to really talk to in this world, and all the bravado he had been putting out was just to cover up how hurt and scared he was.

Eventually though Marcus could tell Miguel was having a hard time getting it out on his own and said, "Feel free to get it off your chest, I am here to listen."

With this last push from Marcus, it seemed that Miguel managed to work up his nerves and began telling the story of how he died.

"I was on my way home from school. I did not live in the best neighborhood but most of the people were pretty friendly. But when I passed by one of the alleys, I saw two of the local thugs roughing up my friend. He had just gotten a part time job at a fast-food restaurant, and they were shaking him down for his money."

At this point Miguel started to breath heavily and it seemed that talking about this was pretty hard for him, but after a minute Marcus urged him to continue.

"I could not just let them rob my friend, so I picked up a piece of nearby rubble and got close to them. I managed to sneak up behind them and smashed the rubble into the first guy's back, and when the other one turned around, I threw the rubble in his face and kicked him in the balls. My friend looked at me like I was his savior, but that was when everything went wrong."

Miguel's face then distorted into one of extreme pain as he remembered what happened next, but he had already come this far, and he really wanted to tell someone about what had happened.

"The guy I knocked down first, I guess I did not hit him heard enough because he got up and pulled out a knife. He stabbed me multiple times in the back before I was able to turn around and punch him. I do not know how I managed to retaliate but I guess it was the adrenaline. But it did not last long as I felt the horrible pain in my back and the warm blood flowing down my legs. It hurt so bad I feel onto the ground and could not move. And my friend had already run off, leaving me all alone. After that the thugs scurried away and left me bleeding in that alleyway. It hurt so much, but I did not want to die, so I tried crawling back towards the streets."

Miguel began crying as he relived his last moments on Earth but bared through it and finished telling what happened.

"I never made it though. Soon the pain was too much, and my body felt so cold. I just could not move and so I laid their until I could no longer stay awake. I kept hoping that my friend would come back to help me, or a passerby would call for an ambulance, but help never came."

Going up to him Marcus gave Miguel a comforting hug.

He had been through a lot an obviously needed someone to console him, and while he may have been considered an adult by this world's standards, to Marcus he was still a kid.

After that Miguel's told Marcus about his experience once he died. It was much like Marcus' in that he got offered the chance to come to Mirrion and decided he wanted another chance at life.

"I see so you have been here for three months."

Miguel then went on to tell Marcus about what he had been up to. 

He apparently started off near the capital city of Scriven Dutchy and after exploring around for a bit discovered the adventurers guild.

"Yeah, it was something like out of a video game. I suddenly got this panel where I could choose my stats and skills, and I got to pick out quests to go on to make money."

Unfortunately, Miguel soon found that this world was not like a video game. 

He was seen as the rising star at his branch of the adventurers guild and when he made it to silver rank some veterans invited him to join their party.

Of course, Miguel had wanted to make some friends in this strange new world and accepted only for them to take him to a remote area where they tried to rob and kill him.

"I see so since then you have relied on yourself not being able to trust others. I understand your feelings, but that road will just lead to sorrow. I have met my fair share of nasty people and had to deal wit a betrayal of my own, but I would say that there are more decent people than not."

However, it appeared that Miguel was still going to have trouble trusting people for the most part, but at least he was opening up to Marcus.

"That is enough about me. So, what are you doing here working as a tournament healer?"

Now it was Marcus' turn to tell Miguel about himself, but he now realized that it was going to be difficult.

The kid already had trust issues and Marcus had basically been misleading him from the start.

"Oh, sorry I nearly forgot, but this is not my body. I just took it over to get you to follow me so we could talk alone."

Miguel hearing this looked shocked and abrasive.

The power to take over someone's body was pretty creepy and also terrifying.

"Sorry I just did not think you would come and talk to me alone if I approached you as myself. Here give me a minute and I will come back normally."

Leaving the room Marcus headed back to the infirmary where he unpossessed the healer he had been using, and left him in exactly the same spot where he had taken him over.

The guy would probably have a bit of a freak out once he realized that he could not remember where he had been for the last forty minutes, but the human mind could typically come up with a rational explanation for any situation.

Floating back to the room he had left Miguel in Marcus wondered exactly how much to tell the kid.

Certainly, they were both from Earth, but that was pretty much their only connection. 

Marcus did not have any other reason to trust him, or to really help him.

Still, he decided to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. They had both come from the same world and it was a bit comforting to know that someone else like you was around.

Of course, Marcus also thought that with the right mentoring the kid could become a valuable ally in the future.

Unfortunately, when he made it back to the room, Miguel was gone.

'Damn it.'

Marcus thought this might happen, but he had been hoping that the kid would still want to hear him out.

'Roxene, can you find him.'

Popping her head out Roxene began sniffing around before saying, 'He went down the hall and took a left.'

Following Roxene's instruction Marcus went after Miguel, but as they got closer to the arena's exit and more and more people were moving around, she lost the scent.

'There are too many other people, sorry Marcus but I cannot get a good read on him anymore.' Roxene said to Marcus telepathically.

'Damn, I should have just lied to him. Of course, he would get afraid if I said I could take over people's bodies and control them as my own.'

Looking around frantically Marcus tried getting a bird's eye view in the air, and even used his life sense to see if he could find Miguel.

Nevertheless, the kid had run off in a hurry, probably not willing to have his trust betrayed again.

'Great, if I had known he had trust issues from the start I would have gotten in contact with him another way.' Marcus thought while mentally berating himself.

For a moment Marcus thought about running off to the adventurers guild to see if Miguel had gone there, but he quickly realized this was not the best idea.

The kid had decided to run away and if he wanted nothing to do with him, there was nothing he could do.

Sighing, Marcus decided ultimately to let it go.. If their paths met again in the future, he could try to make things up to the kid, but for now he had other priorities to worry about and his own life to live.