Locked of his own volition in his personal room, inside a huge penthouse, a red-haired man stood motionless in front of an object the same size as his scrawny body.
''Hmm…''
Perplexed, Luxxan studied himself with extreme precision in the ornately decorated mirror in his chambers.
Frankly, it was the thousandth time he'd done it, but the young man still felt awkward, though he was calmer than before.
''Honestly, it's hard to believe...''
It made sense that he would be uncomfortable, though—after all, he was clearly no longer himself.
In fact, more accurately, it could be said that the boy was no longer the original "he" of Earth.
He had now become a new person. A new "he", in the literal sense of the word.
An extra from his favorite novel that, coincidentally, and in a mysterious way, looked the same as Luxxan's youthful body when he was still just a teenager.
''.....!''
Touching his cheeks gently with his fingers, he watched the short young man, with navy blue eyes with a few purple dots, reflected in the mirror, repeating the same actions as him.
It was a spectacular sight.
And, strangely, his old naturally red hair looked similar to the one of his new lean body.
Though there were several differences, from their massive size to their unusually flashy dark brown locks.
His jewel-like navy blue eyes, differing from his formerly common dark blue eyes, sparkled as he fixed his gaze on the expensive-looking pajamas he wore.
He could feel his body weaker than it had ever been in his entire journey on his original Earth.
Beneath his clothes elegantly placed over his body, Luxxan understood how poorly built his muscles were.
His pale Caucasian skin, marked by a few thin scars barely noticeable to naked human eyes, gave an air that the boy was even more fragile than he really was.
Therefore, in the face of so many factors, the youth imagined that the 'he' from there must have been through hell in those last few years, up until that point.
Years he didn't even vaguely remember about.
''What the hell did you do with my other self, in that time?'' he asked, sitting on the soft bed in the corner of the vast room.
Luxxan shook his head, lost in thought, feeling the weight of countless inner worries descending on his tiny shoulders, violently.
Things didn't seem to have gone well for him over the years in that new magical world.
He sympathized with his version of Excedia's world firmly, given the things the poor guy had been through at a young age.
Not that the original Ezran was exactly the exemplar of a saint, but he had his reasons for becoming what he was…
'Well…'
Trying his best to avoid thoughts of his past life, he turned his attention to topics that related to the new body he inhabited.
''Assuming everything goes as the original LOTH script dictated, then the me here must have gone through hell on the surface, as an extra.'' He stated, remembering the little information about Ezran, available in the novel.
The boy closed his eyes tightly as he tried to recall any important or interesting facts about the character he had taken on.
He forced himself to remember, even though he knew it might hurt him.
''So, let me see...'' Luxxan said, a stoic expression plastered on his face. ''Ezran del Razón Zebedee, from the renowned Zebedee family — and also a complete extra...''
Ezran del Razón Zebedee, was also known by the name Ezreal Razón Edeebee — depending on the variation of language one was speaking at the time he introduced himself.
He was a complete piece of shit, used as a cannon fodder during the early stages of the plot, but he had his own reasons for becoming such a worm.
Ezran was not originally a member of the Zebedee clan; he had been adopted along the way by the head of the family.
After all, when he turned 3, his entire family was brutally murdered by a mysterious entity, which for some reason the romance never lent itself to the point of solving the mystery behind the creature's identity.
Although, it made sense that the author and publishers wouldn't have bothered, as Ezran was nothing more than a throwaway supporting character.
Nonetheless, that was a story for another day. He needed to focus here and now.
"What else?" Lux muttered.
Although considered a swordsman genius, the truth that everyone didn't know, including poor Ezran himself, was that he was just a mere extra character in a not-so-popular novel.
From what Lux could remember from his discussions and posts on the official LOTH community forum, and from some things he had researched online, in all 4,362 chapters, Ezran only lasted 52.
He was cruelly murdered at the hands of his own younger sister — after being left behind in a dungeon by the heroes, who realized his evil intentions.
And apparently, in the quotes about Ezran, mostly made by his older brother — who was an important character in the story — even if he had survived that, there were other tragic endings awaiting him.
He had committed many atrocities in those fifty-two chapters, and the sins would came back in the form of divine justice — that is, the script.
So, in short: no matter what he did, there was only one destination evident in his path.
Death.
Excruciating and painful death.
At least, those had been the things Luxxan's mind had been able to piece together in such a short time, compelling into a sort of all-important mental file.
''A character who is doomed, no matter what he tries...'' Commented the young man, depressed.
Lux was now trapped in Ezran's body.
No, to be more blunt, he'd taken over Ezran's body consciousness in some way he didn't know about.
The body of the main villainess's brother from the first four arcs, and Asmodeus' first contractor — a body destined for death...
But honestly, what worried him the most, at that point, were his memories divided into confused fragments of what they had been until the day before.
Perhaps, desperately, the information he believed to be reliable might simply fade from his mind — leaving him, like the characters in the story, to the cruel fate that awaited them.
So Luxxan couldn't help but wonder, for a moment, how much time he had left before he ended up forgetting important information and if he would even be able to make up for all the lost time in time for the inevitable ending that awaited him.
Lost in thought, his mind began to gradually slip away against his will. Apparently, his exhausted body couldn't keep up with the speed of his reasoning.
The red-haired young man's eyelids began to close and open, his lips smacking against each other.
The darkness and fatigue began to swallow the remnants of his rationality, making him sleepy.
''S-shit...''
Cursing in vain, Lux felt his body plummet completely onto the soft bed, uncontrollably. In that way, he fell into a deep sleep quickly.
It had been a long day for him, it made sense that he was utterly exhausted.
The problem was, that wasn't even the beginning of the main plot.
And soon, he would discover that not everything in Excedia was quite what it appeared to be.