Alia scrunched his eyes shut until the avalanche of new information began to subside. It was almost like having a pile of random papers dumped on a table and trying to put them in order. While the new memories were beginning to come into focus, the original Alia was beginning to panic. This had to be some hallucinogenic dream, right? Maybe a mental break?
Slowly, Alia opened his eyelids. While the closed store in front of her still had that niche vibe, there was something different about it. It looked worn and rustic. And the street was getting darker, much darker than normal. The sporadic lanterns in the dusk provided much less light than electric lamps.
Wait, lanterns? Alia squinted, and realized that instead of concrete streets and modern architecture, what surrounded him was a town that looked like something out of the Middle Ages. But even more shocking, it felt...familiar. Like he had seen it before, like it was part of those memories. He even knew how far it was to his quarters, and where the best pub was located...
Alia shook his head, and felt his ears twitch, which evoked another memory. More than a memory, more like a ingrained rule. He had to hide the ears, and his two tails, otherwise humans would find out he was a spirit. Two tails??!
Sure enough, there was not one, but two fox tails behind Alia. Although Alia really wanted to curl up in a corner and pretend this was not happening, he let the new memories take over for a moment, for the pragmatic reason that even if Alia was somehow now a man, he at least agreed with the new memories that he should look human at least. Concentrating, Alia felt something shift, both physically and in a non-physical sense. Stumbling towards the nearest lantern, he looked behind him and reached his hands up to feel his head. Sure enough, his ears now felt human, and the tails were gone. Just as he breathed out a sigh of relief...
"Hey, Alia, why're you daydreaming over here? The boss and everyone else are waiting!" a voice called as someone grabbed him by the arm. While Alia was a stranger to the person, he knew who the person was, and that the person knew him. It was...