You look down condescendingly upon the rather small, effeminate man who has just entered. Your new memories of him are not clear, but they are definitely not fond ones. You do remember that he is a noble, and considers himself far above speaking to a wild hooligan like yourself, as further evinced by his snobbish attitude. However, he is forced to put up with you since you are the leader of an enormous army, and one of the strongest warriors in the land. You have no affection for him either, but must bear his presence due to his status. You have no doubt that either of you would gladly slit the throat of the other given half a chance, although the man before you is probably too much of a sissy to cut anyone's throat himself.
"His majesty," the noble, whose name you remember to be Duke Evrue, sniffs, "is satisfied with your progress thus far, it seems, Gorvind, although I cannot say why. A real general would have already cleared out those vermin."
"You mean 'Lord Gorvind', I'm sure," your body responds with a feral grin, despite your muddled memories. "And this country has no real generals but me, that is why I control the army." You are not certain if your response is appropriate, but Duke Evrue does not seem to notice anything unnatural. On the countrary, he turns a shade of red which your new body seems to take pleasure in.
"What a sad state of affairs, when lowborn trash consider themselves officers," Evrue spits out. You feel your body becoming truly angry and are aware of the blood rushing to your head. You are not sure what your body intends to do, but it won't be good. You attempt to stifle your furor, but something strange happens.
Almost as though your soul is a cork in a shaken bottle of champagne, you feel something that can only be described as a pop, and an extreme discombobulation. You eventually have the sensation of falling, and as your soul comes to a rest, you blink in surprise.
You are aware of the tip of a sword against your throat, but it is the person holding the sword which shocks you. Towering over you is the body which you had just inhabited, that of Lord Gorvind the Terror. However, it only lasts for a second, as Gorvind's body begins to crumple to the ground, and you feel a strange tugging, as though you were being yanked back on a bungee cord. Coming to, you find yourself lying on the floor, once again in Gorvind's body, the body of Duke Evrue crumpled before you, the cowardly noble obviously having fainted. You are confused by what just happened, and try to make sense of it.
I was obviously in Evrue's body for a moment, but how did that happen? Is there some loose connection between my soul and Gorvind's body? More importantly, will it happen again? You sit on the edge of your cot, staring at Evrue. It wasn't like when I was in Gorvind, I didn't sense any of Evrue's memories...Evrue fainted, maybe that has something to do with why I could enter his body? And Gorvind's body passed out when my soul left. Maybe I can enter other bodies when the owner has no control of the body?
You turn over the implications of this theory in your mind, then come up with a possible method for testing it. Rummaging around inside the tent, you find something from Gorvind's memories: a mild sedative. Your new memories tell you Gorvind sometimes doused weapons in it in order to slow down opponents. You have a less violent purpose for it now. Opening Evrue's mouth, you insert a few drops. Then, leaving him on the floor, you proceed to your cot. Nervously, you take a drop of the sedative yourself, but before you become woozy, you concentrate on your memories of Evrue, and the wrath you feel towards him. Your blood boils, but this time, instead of fighting the anger, you ride it like a wave right out of Gorvind's body. Coming to, you find yourself on the floor, and raising a hand to your face, you know you are no longer in Gorvind's body. You are in Evrue's.
You lift yourself off the floor and look back at the large body laid out on the bed. It is obviously unconscious, but still breathing deeply. The closer you get to it, the stronger the tugging sensation on your soul, but you will your soul to cling to Evrue's body for the moment. You try to pick up the large sword which you used to inspect yourself earlier, but are astounded at its weight, which would be too much for a normal man, much less for Evrue's skinny body. Instead, you stand over it and look down.
While Evrue is a bit too knobbly and bony to be handsome, he is nothing like the brute that is Gorvind. His fine, limp hair is about shoulder length, and you raise a thin hand to tuck it behind Evrue's ear. As for his clothing, you realize that Evrue is a bit of a fop. Fancy silken clothes on the battlefield don't exactly strike you as common sense. However, you do feel oddly more comfortable in this body than Gorvind's, even though it is also male. The proportions are more similar to your body in your first life, and since it isn't really your body, you can probably leave it at any time and return to Gorvind.
"Well, this is an interesting development," you say to yourself out loud, surprised for the second time today at the change in your voice. While the tugging at your soul is uncomfortable, you feel you can bear it for a while, and you guess that while both bodies are passed out, you can control Evrue as much as you want. You grin slyly at the prospect. Since there are no consequences for you no matter what happens to Evrue, his body will prove more useful when exploring this world, and perhaps eventually you can learn to use other bodies as well. You flash a devious grin worthy of Evrue himself, straighten your clothes, and head for the exit of the tent. You step outside into this new world with the intention of...