When I woke up, my head hurt a lot. With great difficulty, I forced myself to open my eyelids. The moment I did so, only one sentence came to my mind—"What the fuck?"
Where am I? Is this how all joint outings to the bar with friends end? To be honest, I didn't know. I hadn't had much experience with these kinds of situations before—in fact, I hadn't had any at all. To cut to the chase, yesterday was the first time in my four years as a student that I went somewhere with my friends from class. Or should I say "friends," as we hadn't had any major interaction until now. Our conversation always began and ended with a greeting in the morning. So, the evening promised to be interesting and, at the same time, slightly awkward for an asocial person like me. We talked a lot, and soon the alcohol came into play. Since I don't drink at all on a daily basis, I got drunk quickly. I went out with them for the first time, everyone was drinking, so I didn't want to stand out. It didn't even take two hours before I blacked out. I have no idea what happened after that.
Opening my eyes, I expected to see the familiar sight of my dorm room, but it definitely wasn't. The room I woke up in—or rather a massive room-like space that was at least three times the size of my dorm—was completely different. Incredible splendor and opulence emanated from every corner. The walls were covered with velvet wallpaper in hues of deep maroon and gold, which glistened in the light of crystal chandeliers. Even the chandelier appeared to be a work of art with intricately carved branches that captured hundreds of tiny diamond drops reflecting the light. The floor glistened with golden elements. The bed I was lying on was also impressive—it was huge. Really, I think a family of five could easily sleep on it. I hadn't noticed it before, but I had never slept on such a soft mattress in my life.
Ehh, I wonder if one of the people there is disgustingly rich and brought me to their house last night. That was the only reasonable explanation. I decided to get out of bed, but then one thing struck me. Didn't I seem smaller overnight? And I got the feeling that I was also a bit slimmer. I saw a mirror in the corner of the room and, without thinking, ran over to it, wanting to assess the damage from yesterday.
My surprise was immense. What the fuck had gone wrong? For a moment, I wondered if I had taken some strange substance, but I was thinking soberly, so it couldn't have been that. It wasn't my body, yet I was in it—my consciousness was controlling it. I am a 23-year-old student, over 180 cm tall, with black hair and olive eyes, and yet now, looking at my reflection in the mirror, I couldn't see it. Instead of that man, there was a young boy, about 14-15 years old, with short-cut blue hair, featuring a small fringe in chaotic disarray, and sky-blue eyes that matched his hair perfectly.
"WTF!? WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO ME!?" I shouted out loud. "Where am I, and who am I? Is this some new virtual reality, and I'm a guinea pig? Or is it a dream?" I pinched my right cheek in a quick motion, and the pain made me realize that this was really happening. "Huffff, okay, I need to calm down and think calmly. Breathe... Calm down and think about what might have fucked up here and who the hell this boy is." I sat down on the corner of the bed and began to slowly calm down. At times like this, I'm glad I have a lot of mental strength. At that moment, I heard a knock on the door.
I ignored them, thinking I misheard. After a brief moment of confusion and contemplation, the loud knocking on the door returned. I wondered how to react, but the knocking didn't stop. With a hint of unease and hesitation in my voice, I timidly asked, "Who's there?" After a moment, I heard a low female voice coming from the other side of the door. "Young master, it's me. May I come in? I have a message for you." Me, a young master? A message? These thoughts quickly crossed my bewildered mind.
"Yes, you may come in," I replied as timidly as I could at that moment. "Welcome, master," she greeted, making a light but graceful bow towards me. I looked at her and had a strange feeling that I had seen her somewhere before but couldn't recall where. I observed her with suspicion and curiosity at the same time. She appeared to be around twenty years old, with fiery red hair that caught the attention; two braids hung down from the sides, reaching the length of her back. Eyes the color of violets and a bright, flawless complexion resembling that of a doll. An hourglass figure; her perfection in every detail was slightly intimidating. She was quite tall for a woman—I would guess around 170 cm.
After a brief moment of observation, I had the impression of seeing a slight disgust in her eyes, but I ignored it. "What message do you have to convey?" I asked. "My mistress wants to see you as soon as possible." "Hmm, her mistress? Could she be related to me in any way?" I nodded, agreeing, and said, "Give me a moment, I need to change." "Of course," she nodded. "I will wait downstairs," she said and left, closing the door behind her. When the door closed, one of the worst moments in my life so far began.
Like being struck by lightning out of the blue, an electrifying pain pierced me from the head, gradually spreading throughout my body like cancer. If it weren't for my high pain threshold, I was convinced I would have been writhing in agony, lying on the ground, begging for help. When I thought I had grown accustomed to the pain and had control over the situation, the intensity suddenly increased significantly to the point where I could barely keep it together. Every neuron in my brain felt tortured. If someone had asked me what the worst death could be, at that moment, I would definitely say this one.
With my last strength, I threw my whole body onto the bed and clenched my teeth tightly, hoping that this wave of suffering would eventually subside. Suddenly, the pain indeed and quite unexpectedly vanished, replaced by a flood of thoughts forcibly pushed into my consciousness. When I tried to resist, feeling the pain returning, I simply gave up, resigning myself to fate. These were not my thoughts but those of another person; images, sounds, lights—everything was formed into fragments of memories and cut through my mind, creating a chaotic dance of colors. Unknown faces, events, and emotions of that person began to consume me entirely.
At that moment, a fleeting thought crossed my mind that I might lose my sense of self under the pressure of it all. "NO! Damn it, THERE'S NO POSSIBILITY OF THAT HAPPENING! WHOEVER YOU ARE, NO MATTER WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS, FORGET IT! I'VE GONE THROUGH TOO MUCH IN LIFE TO GIVE UP SO EASILY!" I gritted my teeth and dug my nails deep into my palms. From that moment on, I began to resist, and the pain from before returned with greater intensity. Memories continued to flash before my eyes, mainly from the training of that person, but this time, I distinctly felt that they weren't my memories; I marked them in my mind like tiny organisms of an infectious disease.
The memories became increasingly blurred and unreadable, and then suddenly disappeared, and out of nowhere, I heard a strange sound resembling a clock alarm. I opened my eyes for a moment and saw a clear message in a transparent window in front of me. "ATTENTION! SYNCHRONIZATION ATTEMPT FAILED!" The host resists; synchronization attempt number 2 starts in 3..2..1.. "Damn it, not that pain again. Now even stronger than before; my eyes started tearing up on their own; I felt blood in my throat and started trembling uncontrollably. If anyone saw this, they would definitely think I was having a seizure. Despite the pain, I kept my consciousness on the surface and didn't lose consciousness, although I was close several times. The situation lasted for about 5 minutes but felt like an eternity. Suddenly, the pain subsided again and the window appeared once more.
"SECOND SYNCHRONIZATION ATTEMPT FAILED." Problem analysis is in progress.
Analyzing the problem. The system has detected an issue; the host is resisting, causing desynchronization. Searching for a solution ----- ERROR ---- No remedial measure found; the host remains conscious. ----- ATTEMPT TO SEIZE CONTROL DETECTED---- Suddenly, in the previously displayed window, an incomprehensible sequence of letters and numbers appeared, then the window cleared as if erased, and a message appeared: "A higher being wants to establish a connection with you. Do you agree?" - The connection is entirely safe. Ha, I hope this is true; I would prefer to ignore it, but I don't want to go through that pain again. "I agree," I said and clicked the box labeled "approve" on the window. --- INITIATING CONNECTION--- The connection was successful---- Suddenly, the window disappeared again, and instead, I heard a voice in my head. "Hello, Alex."
Who are you? And how do you know my name? - I know quite a bit about you, Alex, but you don't need to get nervous. I would like to talk to you longer, but we don't have time; the connection will be severed soon by the will of the world. I will tell you only this: you must trust me if you want to survive; I want what's best for you. Hahaha, first, you dump all that rubbish on me, and then you say you're looking out for my well-being? You can stick your kindness up your backside. Suddenly, there was a moment of silence; the entity on the other side probably didn't expect such a response. I couldn't care less, I thought; I'm screwed anyway.
You have quite the temper, just as I heard. Alright, I will explain briefly: it wasn't me who brought you here; I'm only responsible for preparing you for this new body and situation. I wanted to provide you with memories of the previous person inhabiting this body so that you could better adjust to this new world and body. I can tell you that if people find out you're not that person, they will kill you without hesitation. Ugh, I've had enough of this; being transferred to another body, another world, now talking to you. Who are you, anyway? Why am I here? Why me? I can't answer all your questions right now because we are running out of time, but I can guarantee you that I only want to help you. The connection will be severed soon; shortly, you will be informed about the possibility of activating the help system. Agree, and then everything will be explained to you. Good luck. No, wait, --- THE CONNECTION HAS BEEN TERMINATED--- What a piece of trash. It appears out of nowhere, says it wants to help me, then asks for acceptance of some crappy system. Ugh, but I guess I have no choice; I need to find out what's going on.
A few minutes after the connection ended, I saw the familiar window with a question asking if I consent to the implementation of the help system. Ehhh, I really have had enough. I'd like to get out of here and play a good RPG. Alright, I have no choice; let whatever must happen, happen. I clicked the acceptance button. Binggg, I heard a sound. After a moment, a new message popped up.
---- SYSTEM SYNCHRONIZATION WITH HOST COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY ----
I wonder what this means for me? I asked myself in my head. After a moment, I heard a beautiful and melodic female voice speaking to me from the space around me. I tried to find the source of the sound, but it seemed there wasn't one. Haaa, I took a deep breath and asked:
— Who are you? And what do you want from me?
— Hello, host, or rather should I address you as Alex? Wasn't that your name in the previous world?
— You can call me by my name. Now, stop babbling and start answering my questions!
— Alright, that's my role. So, getting to the point, Alex, you died in the previous world, but your consciousness did not disappear. In the last moments of your life, it was transported here to this new body.
— WHAT?! ME, DEAD? HAHAHA, that's impossible, nooo, there's no way. NO CHANCE!
— How can you be so sure if you don't remember what happened that night?
— AND WHAT THE HELL MAKES YOU THINK YOU WOULD KNOW?!
— I have access to your memory base — she said in a calm voice, in stark contrast to my shout full of frustration and sorrow.
— Nooo, it couldn't have happened, after all the crap I went through… I tried so hard and was finally so close to achieving my goal. And what? It all went to hell? I asked the voice speaking to me.
— I'm sorry, those are the facts, but you don't have to worry. This body and this world are your second chance from fate, to live everything the way you want. This world offers infinite development opportunities and will surely satisfy you.
— Alright, alright, ENOUGH! — I shouted in a burst of emotion. — How did I die? I hope I didn't drink myself to death. I need to know.
— Alright, if you consent, I will extract the memory thread related to that incident from your subconscious and show it to you.
— Okay, do it — I said hastily.
— In that case, I will fulfill your request.
At that moment, I felt a slight dizziness, and everything suddenly became clear. Part of the previous night, which had been shrouded in fog, suddenly lifted as if by magic, and I remembered.
— Aaaahhhh, so it's true, I really died. Ha, and saving a girl I barely knew at that. What an irony of fate. I went out with them for the first time to taste real student life, and what? I died a hero. HAHAHAHAHA, what a twisted situation. What possessed me to push her away from that car? It must have been the alcohol triggering some heroic mode. I'm not the type of person who sacrifices himself for others, quite the opposite. I wouldn't mind if something happened to others as long as I'm safe. I don't care about other people. Well, it happened. I have no choice but to accept my fate. That life is gone. So this is where my new life begins," I laughed slightly. My new beginning I guess it can't be worse than the previous one. That's what I thought then.