Khaa! Khaa! Grrrkrrr! Kraah!
Théoden reluctantly woke up to the horrible loud noise. His eyes opened to a bright light making him shut them instantly. He rose lazily and yawned to get rid of the stiffness of his muscles.
'It is not a fun experience, to sleep in the open much less the ground. Damn, my body is all strained and stiff.'
His eyes squinted trying to make out the source of the sound. High in the sky, black birds were circling the area They looked very much like ravens or crows. They had an eerie feeling to them. Looking around him he found the few curses of the dead being torn apart piece by piece by vultures.
It was the playground of the birds of death.
They were unlike any vulture he had seen or even heard of. They had long beaks with saw-like edges. They tore the dead flesh quite easily and mercilessly showing their deadly sharpness. This caused Théoden to shudder in horror. His entire body coved with goosebumps and cold sweat. They are at least twice the size of normal vultures. It was an understatement to say Théoden was scared shitless. He was paralyzed in shock. He stared wearily at the scene in front of him in fear to make any alarming large movement that would gain their attention.
'Maybe I will die to those birds. No...I can't.'
His eyes had gained full focus and could see the surrounding much more clearly. Now he was completely awake. He wished all this would be a dream instead. He was so very unlucky to have been in that situation. He wondered if all transmigrators faced the same fate. He didn't know how it happened but only knew that he was now in a new world after what seemed like an endless fall.
"Haah!"
He audibly sighed, forgetting the scenery in front of him while thinking. He regretted it soon after. He covered his mouth quickly and made eye contact with the vultures that seemed to have noticed the foreign sound.
He flinched at the dark almost lifeless eyes staring back at him, but soon noticed they had no interest in him. They simply went back to their free served meal. How would he have even been alive if they did? They didn't seem particularly on guard against him. Maybe it was because he had such a thin body and bony limbs.
'Should I be happy they don't find me particularly appetizing?'
He had not thanked the heavens as much as he did now when his malnutrition body was saving him from being a ready dish. It was quite the irony.
[System start]
The same familiar sound of an AI bot rang in Théoden's ears. He unconsciously looked up to view the massage.
[Synchronization process completed]
[Host has been determined a suitable vessel for the Omnipotence System]
'I guess this is what took so long to complete.'
Théoden could somehow understand the situation he was in. The information didn't seem to be just written down but ingrained into his brain. The foreign words were to his understanding. It didn't just end there.
[Viewing the Host's Identity]
[Former Host: Mallory]
[Status: Dead]
[It has been confirmed that a new host possesses Mallory's body]
[Identifying Host]
[Name: Théoden Andras]
Théoden's name was the same as his. He didn't think the System was capable of seeing through something so absurd. It was not registered as the identity of the body, but that of himself. His soul.
'To think this is possible.'
Truthfully, if someone told Théoden that something like reincarnation or body possession existed, he would view you as overly sectarian. A cultist or a crazy person.
However, he existed in a body of a former host. That fact was confirmed by the system if Mallory's memory was not enough.
[Race: Human]
He wondered what other races there were.
'Can the system possess an animal then? Is that considered a race then?'
[Age: 16 years]
This was definitely, an error. He was never so young. But looking at the body he was currently in it made sense that he was suddenly considered an adolescent.
[Authority: None]
[Host currently has no special privilege as Host's level is too low.]
[Gain strength to unlock privileges, Host]
[Attributes: Strength:2 Dexterity:3 Stamina:1 Mana/Magic:2 Intelligence:1]
Two things astounded him at this point.
First was his thought on the overall distribution of Stats. Was he so weak or was the system calculation based on different scale values?
The next was the 'Magic' attribute.
'What does that mean? Is it superpowers or just something else entirely?'
It didn't linger in his mind for too long as the next thing was more interesting.
[Luck:???][Locked]
His luck. Théoden had to say he had the best and worst luck in life. He got things others would have wanted but never what he wanted. Maybe that was the definition of luck; 'The good premonition positively accepted by the majority.'
[Skills: None]
It wasn't something he could be surprised about. He had confidence in his knowledge and wits, however, it seemed that was not considered a skill in terms of the System. This reminded him of the fact that he simply had a '1' in his Intelligence Attribute. Théoden could not help but feel insulted.
[Status: Hungry and fatigued]
This reminded Théoden had not eaten since the last few food grains he had forcefully swallowed the day before after having gathered them.
[Newbie package.]
[As all of the Hosts conditions are dire the system has offered the Host a newbie package.]
[The package is to help the Host live a little longer.]
[It will generate according to the Host's highest necessity.]
[Good luck Host:-)]
Théoden didn't know if to be sad or happy at the system's last comment. There was simply nothing in the System to help him out of his current pinch. He needed to meet up with civilization, rest he would go crazy. He had no maps, no food source, or any basic guidance.
He had faced many hardships, but never as much as this in a single day. His will felt tested with every second he endured.
Théoden stared blankly at the hologram messages that had yet to disappear. He first tried to touch the holo-screen but it was intangible. His fingerers simply went through it. However, after racking his brain for a while, he found out that he could make the messages appear again by thinking of them. The AI sound would not repeat though. It was quite convenient.
Thinking a bit about it, he had seen something similar back on Earth. It was the layout for game plays. Almost every aspect of it was based on a game schema. Given that this was another world he wondered if there was a similar thing in this world. This reminded Théoden of the games he used to howl himself with during the weekend ignoring everything else. Maybe, it was karma in a way. From playing too much.
This didn't seem like a game to him though. He could instinctively tell that if he died here there was no going back to Earth. Not that he had any idea what had happened to his body back on Earth. He was sure this was no game.
He suddenly missed his consoles and theater screen back at his penthouse. The phone was like his life and the internet pieced everything together. His social life, his work life, and his love life. Thinking about it more it sounded sad. Maybe it wasn't as good as he expected it to be, but who cared? He deeply missed his entertainment.
"Haah!"
He sighed again. He didn't need to be on guard against the predators in the area as they paid him no interest. That was also sad. To be unworthy of even being a meal to a mere bird. He wasn't even worth that much in this life.
"Haah!"
He looked up trying to get rid of his depressing thoughts. It worked. His gaze was met with a mystical view. A sky like he had never seen in his entire life. One that was real and right in front of his eyes.
The sun which had not completely risen shone in its bright orange light. The clouds hang lazily in the violet-purple sky. The light saturation was similar to the Earth's blue sky. Such a peculiar sight drew Théoden's eyes more like an enchantment. He felt the need to look at it and engrave it in memory. He was simply mesmerized by its wonder and mystic beauty.
This calmed down Théoden's tired heart and he felt the motivation to do something. The rays that landed gently on his body were like food for the soul. Nourishing and warm. Simply purifying.
With all the negative things thrown away to the back of his brain, Théoden got up. He stretched his muscles that seemed glued in place causing several cracking sounds to echo. That was buried in the raspy, drawn-out hissing sounds of the vultures feeding. It sounded like hungry pigs or barking dogs in the near distance. It was mixed with the sound of grunting and yapping. It was simply repelling.
He picked up his sack and walked away.
The barren field stretched for quite a distance as he had yet to see any trace of humans or shelters nearby.
"Mmm?"
As he walked much further, he realized he had not met any being the soldiers on the battlefield seemed to have been fighting with. They had died brutally being slaughtered like lambs to the slaughter, however, there was not a single being he could identify as the enemy they were fighting against.
The idea of fighting amongst themselves was cast away as there as they were killed, not with clean slices of the swords that they carried but something rather blunt and messy. He could only assume that it was a one-sided massacre.
He identified large tracks much bigger than a human's tracks. They were a bit larger than or probably roughly the size of elephant tracks. They seemed like horse hooves but they dug deep into the ground.
'I guess I would rather not know.'
Théoden ignore that and went on his way.
A short saying was 'ignorance is bliss'.