'Where the fuck am I?' I thought, trying to make sense of my surroundings. I had gone to bed in my own room, but now I found myself standing in the midst of a dense forest, with no familiar landmarks in sight.
As I rose to my feet, the sensation of an unfamiliar energy coursing through my body only intensified. It was as though I had been imbued with a surge of strength beyond anything I had ever experienced in my mundane existence. My muscles tensed, my senses sharpened, and I couldn't help but feel both unsettled and strangely exhilarated by the transformation.
Glancing down, I was greeted by a sight that sent a shiver down my spine. My feet, once ordinary and unremarkable, now bore an uncanny resemblance to something out of a nightmare – twisted and demonic in appearance. And as I spoke, my voice echoed back to me in a deep, guttural tone that felt entirely alien.
"What the hell is going on?" I muttered to myself, my mind reeling with confusion and disbelief. The world around me seemed to warp and shift, my senses overwhelmed by a flood of heightened perceptions. Every scent, every sound, every sight felt amplified to an overwhelming degree, threatening to overwhelm my senses entirely.
I took deep, steadying breaths in an attempt to calm my racing heart, but the strange sensations coursing through my body refused to dissipate. The beat of my heart only seemed to intensify, its rhythm pounding in my ears like a drum as I surveyed my surroundings.
Before me stretched a forest unlike any I had ever seen – majestic and teeming with life, far grander than any woodland I had encountered in my sheltered existence. I had always been a homebody, rooted in my birth city for as long as I could remember. Traveling had never been my forte; I had only recently completed my engineering studies before inexplicably finding myself in this unfamiliar place.
"Did I just get kidnapped and dumped here?" I muttered, but my guttural voice sounded far too intense for a mere whisper. Frowning, I sensed a presence all around me, something elusive yet tangible, but I couldn't quite grasp it. It was infuriating.
I sensed something inside of me too, akin to a whisper of something dark, and my body seemed to react to it like a child to its father. It was strange.
Closing my eyes to concentrate, I felt something touch me—a scent of sulfur and fire filled my nostrils. Opening my eyes in fear, I found myself in a desolate place, surrounded by volcanoes and fire as far as the eye could see.
"I am in hell?" I widened my eyes and said with a dry laugh, scanning the barren landscape. There was no sign of life anywhere.
"You are here, child," a terrifying voice sounded behind me. I turned to see what seemed like a dragon, bound in chains, its form obscured by the billowing smoke from the volcanoes.
"Who are you? Where am I? What did you do to me?!" Each question sounded more desperate than the last. I wasn't a man known for mental fortitude or madness, but fear gripped me tight in the presence of the monstrous being before me. Yet, strangely, it felt as though my body sensed that the dragon would not harm me. My mind was terrified, but my body remained oddly calm.
"Who you are is irrelevant," his guttural voice reverberated, causing the volcanoes in the landscape to erupt in a series of explosions. "Where you are is yours to discover, and what I did to you was give you the gift of Chaos. Now go, Child of Chaos, and make Urgash proud."
As I heard his words, I couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity with the name Urgash. It sounded like something from Might and Magic. But before I could gather my thoughts, the landscape around me seemed to dissolve into nothingness. "Wait, I have so many questions!" I protested, but my words fell on deaf ears.
"Your questions will be answered when you encounter people from this world," his voice echoed from a distance. Then, I blinked, and found myself back in the forest, bewildered and disoriented.
"Urgash? Am I a demon?" I pondered, glancing at my gloved hands with a mix of fear and disbelief. The thought of being a demon filled me with terror; as a fan of Might and Magic, I knew all too well the hardships and suffering that came with such a fate, a life of misery and being at the mercy of one's own emotions.
Now faced with the daunting task of survival in this unfamiliar forest, I felt utterly unprepared. I wasn't a survivalist, and I lacked even the most basic skills. As I gazed up at the towering canopies of the trees, I noticed something that sent a chill down my spine: two moons hung in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the landscape. Two moons... This was definitely not Earth.
Being a demon on Earth would likely be a nightmare, I realized. The moment I appeared on any camera, I'd be captured and subjected to scientific scrutiny, perhaps even dissected in the name of research. But in this new world, being a demon could be even worse, especially if it resembled the nightmarish worlds of Doom, Devil May Cry, or Warhammer 40K.
Sighing, I ventured out from my temporary shelter, stepping cautiously into the unfamiliar forest. My heightened senses picked up every rustle and movement around me, overwhelming my brain with unfamiliar sensations.
The presence inside me seemed to have quieted, but the pervasive aura of magic in the air remained. Magic? It was the only explanation that made sense in this fantastical world. After all, in the isekai stories I'd read, magic was a common element.
I stretched out my senses, attempting to grasp the mystical energy swirling around me. Concentrating, I focused the energy into my gloved hand, watching as sparks began to flicker and dance around my palm.
"Okay, that's enough," I murmured to myself with a wry smile, quickly closing my hand. Playing with fire in the middle of a forest was definitely not the best idea.
As a demon, I naturally expected fire magic to be the first form of magic I'd master. Surprisingly, using magic in this world was far easier than I anticipated. All I had to do was think about it, draw energy from my surroundings, and I could wield magic effortlessly.
With each step, I experimented with channeling magic through my body. At first, it was a challenge, but soon I found myself instinctively tapping into the magical energy around me. What surprised me even more was that despite the continuous exertion, I didn't feel any fatigue. Humans would normally tire from such physical activity, but I seemed to possess endless stamina.
Driven by curiosity and the desire to escape the forest, I pressed onward, channeling magic as I walked. My destination was unclear, but for now, my primary goal was simply to emerge from the dense trees and into the open.
My heightened senses picked up the heavy footsteps of an approaching creature from the east. I quickly took cover behind a nearby tree, peering cautiously around its trunk. My eyes widened as I witnessed an enormous brown bear feasting on the carcass of a lone wolf.
Fear gripped me as I realized the danger of the situation. This bear was far larger and more formidable than any I'd seen on Earth. It would be madness to face such a creature, even for someone like me.
As the bear moved out of sight, I breathed a sigh of relief. But my respite was short-lived. A sudden noise behind me alerted me to another threat. Without thinking, my body reacted on instinct. In a swift motion, my hands lashed out, seizing the wolf that had lunged at me and crushing its head with a sickening crunch.
"What the...?" Confusion and shock overwhelmed me as I gazed at the grisly scene before me.
A loud growl shattered the moment, jolting me back to reality. I spun around just in time to see the enormous bear charging toward me, its jaws clenched in fury.
"What the fuck did I do to deserve this?" Panic surged through me as I instinctively turned and bolted, my heart pounding in my chest. My unsteady footing caused me to stumble repeatedly, but with my newfound endurance, I managed to outpace the pursuing bear. Despite its size, it couldn't match my speed, and eventually, I lost it amidst the dense foliage.
Without a single pant or gasp for breath, I felt like an inexhaustible runner, my body seemingly adapting effortlessly to the demands of my newfound abilities. As I looked around, I realized I had a sharper vision in the darkness than I ever had as a human.
Sighing with frustration, I scanned my surroundings, finding nothing of note. Resigned to my fate, I continued trudging forward, following a straight path toward the horizon.
Lost in the depths of the forest, time seemed to blur together. I couldn't tell how long I'd been walking, but it felt like an eternity. Everywhere I looked, there were only trees and animals, with no sign of civilization in sight.
As the cacophony of animal noises filled the forest, I remained vigilant, my senses on high alert. Frustration gnawed at me as I contemplated the prospect of sleeping under the stars yet again.
But then, amidst the rustling leaves and distant calls of wildlife, I detected something unusual: the faint murmur of voices speaking in an unfamiliar tongue. Instinctively, I moved closer to investigate, but as I approached, a sense of caution washed over me.
"I am no longer human, and these voices may belong to beings who harbor animosity toward demons," I mused, weighing the potential risks. With a sigh, I decided to err on the side of caution and withdrew from the unseen group, unwilling to provoke any unnecessary conflict.
As I retraced my steps, a sudden shift in the atmosphere caught my attention—a ripple of magical energy, subtle yet unmistakable. Someone nearby was tapping into the environmental mana, much like I had been doing.
Without hesitation, I turned away from the source of the disturbance, opting to steer clear of any potential conflict. I may have newfound strength, but I had no desire to entangle myself in the affairs of others. I am not some kind of hero.
With a resigned sigh, I resumed my journey toward the west, weaving through the dense foliage of the forest. My primary goal now was to find shelter before nightfall descended upon me once more.
Lost and disoriented, I continued onward, my thoughts consumed by the daunting task of mastering my newfound abilities. For now, my best course of action was to lay low until I could better understand and control the magic coursing through me.
'I just need to comprehend magic and then, I'll go and see the world' I thought as I looked at the two moons hanging in the sky
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Well that's a little side project of mine that I'll share with you here
That's all for today.
See you soon :)