Slowly yet surely, Jason felt his awareness returned back from the nothingness of his dreamless sleep. He idly realized something odd with his state. Firstly, he couldn't feel the familiar springy and soft texture of his small, single bed. Secondly, the temperature was chilly, and he remembered it was almost summer. Lastly, he felt back pain. The old familiar feeling he got after sleeping on the floor.
With a jolt, Jason opened his eyes wide and checked out his surrounding. He became dumbfounded when he discovered that he wasn't in his room anymore. He was in an empty alley. He saw rats scuttling away in panic from his sudden movement.
"What in the hell? How on Earth I am here? I'm sure as fuck that I slept in my room last night!" Jason questioned himself crudely. His perplexity made him lose his usual levelheadedness. He patted the dirty concrete floor below him and felt its dusty, cold, and hard feeling. He then pinched his cheek and felt pain from it.
It felt so real that Jason couldn't be able to think this strange event as a mere vivid dream.
Before he could begin wondering how he ended up here, an emotionless, neutral gender voice spoke to him.
*Ting~♪* [Congratulation! Host has been randomly chosen to be the Successor of System's Creator.]
The voice sounded inside his head. Yes, Jason heard it inside his head, between his eardrums. It didn't come from some direction outside of his ears.
[System has successfully and safely fused into Host's Soul and Destiny.]
Jason was tongue-tied since he heard the voice for the first time. He absentmindedly recalled about the stories with the 'crossing-over' and 'system acquisition' trope. He was flabbergasted to the point of speechlessness.
[Host has been sent into a random Imaginary Universe to prepare and stabilize Host's Cultivation Foundation before going to Boundless Immortal Realm.]
Jason felt chaotic feeling inside his head. He had his hands cradling his head and massaged his skull. He tried to calm down and catch over this surreal development, but he was unable to calm down as he wished.
[Host can only leave this Imaginary Universe after stepping into the early stage of Transcending Body/Sublimating Soul Realm.]
After a few seconds, since he fell into his stupor, Jason finally regained his sense. The first thing he did was freaking out, scratching his head and pulling out his hair. His eyes had become bloodshot, glassy with manic glints. His lips curled up into a silly, dumb smile. His nose inflating and deflating rapidly as he breathed roughly through it. Adding in his messy appearance, if you pass him and see his current state by a chance, you will assume he is high for drugs and will keep your distance from him. That is just how bad his state is.
Jason felt as though he was going crazy. He needed to calm down, and a part of his mind thought so. But, he was unable to get grip on reality as quickly as he hoped. Hence, his current crazy state.
[System commences scanning the entire universe... Scanning... Scan completed. Location and time have been established. Host is currently in an alley of XXX Street, Fuyuki City, Japan. Time: Saturday, 1/1/2000 - 00:01 Japan's Time Zone.]
"What now!? Fuyuki City? Don't tell me... Fate/Stay Night?! Holy Grail War! Are you fucking kidding me!?"
Jason finally spoke something since the beginning of his surreal situation. He swayed back and forth as he felt that his body turned weak. He was so shocked that he was in his last stand before fainting. The reason was knowing that he was in the city where a bloody battle royal of seven, make it eight, in this case, weakened seven spirits from the legend. A place which shouldn't be possible to exist in real life because it was a setting in an animated series titled Fate/Stay Night.
Jason wouldn't say that he was an avid fan of Japan's pop-subculture, but he'd watched some animes and read some mangas or the fanfictions when he needed to kill his free time. Fate/Stay Night was one of many series he'd watched in the past. But, from his hazy memory of the series, it wasn't a happy story. In fact, there were so many tragedies happened in it.
Also, Jason had read some fanfictions that he read because of curiosity. As a matter of fact, Jason knowledge was mostly from fanfictions for which the authors tried to stay true to the canonical materials. He wasn't some nerds who would spend their time browsing the fandom base or have debates in forums about some animes.
Despite his lack of knowledge, Jason realized that he was in an unkind world. Transported to this place without his consent. It was unknown whether he could meet with his relatives anymore.
And, this realization was too much for an ordinary young man who never experienced disastrous hardship, trials and tribulations.
*Ting~♪* [Congratulation! Host obtained Successor's Welcoming Gift Pack.]
Jason felt dizzy. He saw stars and black spots in his vision before the darkness creeping in towards the center of his view from his peripheral sight. After a few seconds...
*THUD!*
Jason collapsed as his mind couldn't follow with the crazy, surreal, and intense development that advanced without caring for his state.
The protagonist of the stories with 'crossing-over' trope made it seems easy; they could accept their situation, finding out they had been transported into a new world where they were all alone, so easily as if they were having a pleasure trip. However, Jason would beg to differ.
It wasn't easy!