"Ash, sweetie. Wake up, now. Come on!"
"..."
"Really, wake-up already. It's the Awakening Day, you can't be late."
"..."
"Ai, you kid. Alright, I'll return after 10 minutes. After that, no more extensions okay?"
"..."
A fair woman who wore a nun's attire got up from the corner of a child's bed and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Moments after she left, the child inside the room opened his eyes and looked warily at his surroundings.
"...this isn't hell...this isn't heaven either." The child muttered.
He scrutinized his surroundings with a doubtful gaze. Looking at the room, he realized that it belongs to a kid, a really down to earth kid.
"...ahem, ahem...yeah, that's my voice alright." The child then looked at his hands and said: "These hands aren't the ones I remember either."
"Where the hell am I?"
"More importantly, what is going on? I...I thought I died?"
Ashton is really confused now. He has no idea what to make of his current situation. He didn't know where he was and why he appears to be in a different body.
Unable to figure out what exactly was going on, he decided to stand-up and look around this room. He thought that maybe there are clues around that could help him navigate this situation.
His eyes then landed at a plate card that's on the table. There seems to be words written in them.
"...it's not written in English." He murmured, "Nor in any language that I remember but, strangely enough, I can understand what it says..."
"Millibeth's Orphanage." He uttered which surprised himself since he didn't speak in English. He spoke in a different language altogether.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
All of a sudden, a sharp headache hit him. It felt like there were needles poking his skull. It was quite unbearable and caused him to collapse on the ground while clutching his head.
In Ashton's mind, a storm was raging. There were so many things going on that he can't keep up. It felt like he was breezing through several perspectives of him doing something he doesn't remember doing.
His headache persisted for a good while until it slowly subsided. Ashton could feel hot tears pouring from his eyes. Whatever he experienced was that painful that it made him cry.
He didn't suffer for nothing though, the headache might've been really painful but it did left him with something important.
"Transmigration...isekai...oh, hell. This is certainly unexpected."
In his daze, Ashton didn't even realize that he just spoke with this world's language.
Yes, indeed. Ashton had transmigrated into a different world.
According to the new memories he acquired, he's in a world called Blue Planet.
Specifically, in a land called 'Last Bastion' - also known as humanity's last piece of land.
"A dangerous world...crap, I'm not really looking forward to this." Ashton got up from the floor and sat on the edge of his bed while pondering things.
Ashton...this is still his name even in this world. According to the memories he inherited from the old one, he was an orphan.
Apparently, his parents unceremoniously dropped him off at the doors of the orphanage and peace'd-out. It's unknown if they're still alive. Frankly, Ashton thinks that they're dead, if not he's just really unwanted. Either way, he doesn't actually mind.
Old Ashton is very much like him. Well, a little more on the weirder side but still, more or less the same.
The old one was a quiet one. No, he wasn't forced to be quiet nor he was abused by the other kids or the Nuns. It's his choice to remain silent so much to the point that he gives off an impression that he's mute.
Old Ashton isn't mute. He just didn't want to be seen, that's all. He isn't timid, just being careful. He didn't trust anybody aside from himself, so he mostly kept everything he knows to himself. He didn't like to be on the spotlight and would very much rather fade into the shadows, making his presence really weak.
Despite all of this, old Ashton was a clever and smart kid. He's very critical towards people despite his young age. He knows what to do and how to act in order to avoid being noticed. Hell, even the Nuns doesn't know what to do with him.
Fading into the shadows and refusing to interact with people certainly gets lonely, not old Ashton though.
The kid's imagination was extremely colorful. With just a thought, he can create a world centered around him. He can breathe life into things and get immersed into his world. Of course, only he could see the things he created. After all, his imagination is his world.
Because of this, old Ashton never truly felt lonely.
Despite his strangeness, there are many couples who attempted to forge a bond with him. Believe it or not, he was once the child that is most sought after by the couples who looking to adopt.
Unfortunately, Ashton didn't like the idea of that. On the outside, he appeared very timid and afraid. On the inside, he just hated it.
He didn't trust them one bit. One look is all it takes for him to discover some bad signs and he always trusted his judgement.
Ashton couldn't blame the kid for being too critical, especially after knowing that this orphanage is located at the slums of the city where there's a lot of shady people around.
The kid didn't even trust the nuns, how can anybody expect him to trust strangers?
One might say that the kid had some serious trust issues but then again, it kept him alive and safe didn't it? So, is he really doing something wrong?
Anyway, there's actually another reason why Ashton didn't want to be adopted.
Old Ashton thinks-no, he's certain that he was sick.
For some reason, the kid had this premonition that his days are numbered. He always believed that he's going to die young.
He didn't know what kind of illness he had but he's so sure that he's going to die. Heck, he even predicted the day of his death.
One month after his 13th birthday. This was the concrete guess he made when he turned 10 years old.
And would you freaking look at that! The kid's a prophet! He's like...Nostra-dumbass or something!
He was right! His death indeed occurred one month after his 13th birthday - which yesterday midnight.
It's quite funny actually, Ashton felt so familiar with the kid. They both had the same attitude towards their approaching death.
They were already over it even before it happened.
Old Ashton didn't cry, didn't ask for help, and didn't tell anyone. The moment he was sure that he's going to die, he just accepted it. He just spent his everyday life according to how he pleased and he moved-on peacefully.
He perished silently.
The old Ashton probably didn't expect that someone will come to occupy his body. Even if he did, he probably won't care.
"...this is so weird." Ashton murmured as he continued reviewing the memories he inherited from the kid.
"Why do I feel like I'm missing something?" He whispered, "Like...I'm forgetting something? Ah, whatever!"
Ashton scratched his head and looked around his room in wonder.
"So...what now?" He asked to nobody in particular. "I guess this is my new reality now. I get to live again."
"But really, I don't feel particularly happy about this." He grimaced.
Ashton can't just ignore the fact that this world is dangerous, much more than earth since there are legit monsters here.
Granted, humans can fight them because they possess powers too. Actually, the reason why that nun from earlier woke him pretty early is because he's about to go in an awakening process to get this powers too.
This world took the fantasy novels from his old world and made them real. It's absurd knowing that he now has to live in a world like this.
Speaking of which...this was trope on those novels in his old world. The transmigration/isekai tropes. He had read some of them in past but the trope grew out of proportion and there were too many of them. Most of them were just straight-up hot garbage but they're fun!
He remember tuning-out most of his mental faculties whenever reading them and they were a good way to spend and idle afternoons.
"Uh...I guess I have nothing to lose. Transmigrating into a world of fantasy is already crazy in itself. Might as well try where the limits are..."
"So um...where my golden finger at? System? You there?"
"..."
"A'ight! Good attempt, let's never do that aga-"
[System Functions, Loading...]
"Sun of a beach!!!" Ashton exclaimed but hurriedly calmed himself down. "It really worked! That's awesome!"
Ashton couldn't believe that this was possible too. Hell, he really got the Transmigrator's Package!
He didn't believe it at first since he doesn't remember talking to a Random Omnipotent Being and being offered with this but who would've thought that he would actually have it!
"Geez..." Ashton chuckled upon looking at the progress bar steadily creeping up to full. "I guess I'm on my way to becoming a protagonist huh?"
A smile can't be wiped away from his face as he impatiently waited for the system to boot up. It took a couple of minutes until it was full. As soon as it was done, Ashton saw a window appearing on his view.
[System Download: 100%]
[Greetings, Host. Welcome to the Idle System!]
[Notice: All System Functions are currently locked. Detected that Host's body isn't suitable to support the System's existence. To unlock the System's Functions, a mission is issued to the Host.]
[Mission: Awaken!]
• Join the group of people who's scheduled to leave today and undergo the Awakening Ceremony.
• Rewards: System Functions: Unlocked. New User's Gift Bag(x1).
• Punishment: None
• Time Limit: Before the day ends.