The sound of blades clashing, fire erupting, and triumphant shouts of battle filled the air.
Carter, or better known as Ahmoset, faced the final boss with his heart pounding in his chest.
For months, he'd lived and breathed Legends of the Pharaohs, a game that demanded endless grinding and fattening of the body.
Because what the f*ck else would happen after being addicted to such a game and not caring about personal hygiene? Carter had not expected that his once peak physique could somehow degrade to such a degree.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he was here… at the final challenge.
The Pharaoh's Eternal Tomb, the newest ultimate dungeon of the game, was alive with hype as many of his friends stood around the outskirts of the dungeon, watching.
Inside, the walls were lined with ominous hieroglyphs, torches casting long, twisted shadows, and an eerie fog spreading throughout the room.
At the center of the grand chamber stood the final boss, the feared and revered Anubis. He was towering above all players at 9ft and outfitted in golden armor with the head of a snarling jackal on the chest plate.
In one hand, Anubis wielded a scythe the size of a man, and in the other, he summoned swirling ghastly green energy.
However, this… god was in an extremely weakened state and his attire was batterrd to time ruins due to Carter's incomparable and ingenious attack methods. No matter his condition, Anubis stood resolute. Right then, he attacked once more.
Ahmoset's fingers flew across the keyboard, his character, an armored Netjer Divine Embodiment warrior with twin blades, reacting swiftly by dodging Anubis's devastating attack with lightning reflexes.
"Just a little more… come on, you gooning f*ck," Carter muttered under his breath, sweat dripping down his forehead and teeth glaring. If someone were to be present in his room, they would notice droplets of sweat falling from his shirt-covered armpit.
In fact, that wouldn't even be the main attraction. The room itself was a total pigsty. Crushed empty cans, junk wrappers, fast food bags, crumbs, and clothes were all over the place. It appears as this no one has kept up with the room in months… no years.
At present, he was indeed a sweaty tryhard and lazy pig.
Anubis's health bar was dangerously low, and with one final, perfectly-timed strike, Carter's character cleaved through the god's defenses and chopped him in two. He let out a thunderous roar as both of his bodies disintegrated into dust, leaving nothing but a pile of loot.
"YES!" Carter cheered, throwing his arms into the air in triumph, trembling and shaking everywhere. Sweat droplets even flew from his head.
The screen flashed with celebratory lights, announcing his victory: "Final Boss Defeated!"
After months of effort, he had done it. The elusive Scepter of Ma'at, the most powerful artifact in the game, was finally his.
He grinned, basking in his accomplishment. Months of late nights, endless grinding, and sleepless weekends had led to this moment. Carter even disregarded his most prized possession, a BMW Z4, and left it sitting in the garage of his parents' house.
The Scepter of Ma'at was legendary, granting powers beyond what players thought was even possible. Carter drooled as he looked at the stats and abilities of this staff godly relic.
'It's mine. Finally, it's all mine,' was the only thing Carter could think of. Now, it was indeed his.
Carter leans back in his battered gaming chair, letting the tension melt away. "God, that feels good," he says as he lets out a loud fart.
*F*ck, mute your mic next time when you want to let off a nuke, you lazy pig!*
A muddled voice says from his headphones, clearly annoyed. Feeling embarrassed, Carter hurriedly grabs and headset and quickly apologizes to his closest online friend, Fara.
Messages from his guildmates flooded the chat window. Congratulations, jeers about how long it took, and requests to borrow his new weapon filled the screen. But before he could respond, the screen flickered.
"Huh?" Carter frowns, tapping the side of his monitor. "Come on, don't freeze now…"
At this point, panic began to build within him. How could his PC freeze at an important conjuncture like this?
He frantically began smacking the computer monitor, even the keyboard wasn't spared. However, no matter how much he tried, it wouldn't unfreeze. His eyes were red with fury.
"F*ck your mother, whoever designed this PC. You piece of—" he did not finish his anger-induced tirade as the screen began flickering.
With a baby voice, Carter began pleading with the screen monitor, apologizing and even blessing the future generation of PC's, hoping to curry favor.
No matter how deliriously and shamelessly he pleaded, it went in on deaf ears.
Overtime, the flickering grew worse, the vibrant colors of the game glitching into a distorted mess of static and broken images.
A low hum filled the air, growing louder and more piercing with each passing second. The light from the screen intensified, growing unbearably bright.
"What the?"
Suddenly, the monitor exploded with a burst of white light. Carter's hands flew to his eyes, shielding them from the blinding glow, but the sound—the strange hum—pierced his ears. His body tensed, muscles locking up as if an invisible force was holding him in place.
He couldn't move. His heart raced, his mind screaming for answers. But before he could react, a surge of energy shot through him. He gasped, his vision blurring as the world tilted on its axis. His limbs went numb, and darkness swallowed him whole.
In the dirty, pigsty room, Carter was no more. It was as if he was completely vaporized.
When he woke, the first thing Carter felt was a cold, so bone-chilling and soul-freezing, that it gnawed at his very core. His breath came out in ragged, shaky gasps as he blinked his eyes open, his vision foggy and disoriented.
He wasn't in his room anymore.
The familiar comfort of his desk and gaming setup was gone. Instead, he found himself lying on damp earth, the cool, moist scent of the forest filling his nose. Though, the air thick with the scent of wet leaves and moss, it was refreshing. However, something far more unsettling pierced its way through his nose— the sharp, metallic scent of blood.
His hands rested in something wet and sticky. Groggily, he lifted them up to his face, blinking as he tried to make sense of it.
Blood.
His fingers were drenched in it. He scrambled backward, eyes widening as he stared down at the ground beneath him. A dark pool of blood had soaked into the soil, staining his hands and clothes.
"W-what… what the hell happened?" His voice was shaky, barely more than a whisper.
Panic surged through him. His breath quickened, his heart pounding in his chest as his mind raced to make sense of his surroundings. 'This isn't right. Where am I?'
He pushed himself to his feet, stumbling slightly as his body protested the movement. The world around him was unfamiliar. Trees, dense and gnarled, loomed overhead, their branches reaching out like skeletal hands. The moons hung low in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the forest. A cold wind rustled through the—
Wait a minute. Moons?
A body-shaking chill went down his spine.
He was not on Earth. He knows that there's supposed to be a mini moon or whatever happening, but that was it. However, floating above him, two moons hung in the sky. Purple and blue.
Carter couldn't believe what was happening right now. Was this a dream? He did remember passing out but this is all to real.
His clothes… they were wrong. Gone were the comfortable jeans and hoodie he had been wearing. Instead, his body was clad in a simple cotton shirt and trousers, the fabric soft against his skin. Leather sandals adorned his feet, and a strange weight hung from his belt—a dagger, one that looked far too real.
He reached out to touch it, his fingers trembling as they wrapped around the hilt. The blade was sharp, its surface etched with strange symbols that he didn't recognize.
None of this made sense.
Just moments ago, he had been sitting at his desk, playing a game. Now, he was in the middle of a forest, covered in blood, with no idea how he got here.
…
'I was set up. Yeah, that has to be it. If I can just get to a phone….'
A sickening wave of dizziness hit him, and he swayed on his feet. His head throbbed, memories—no, fragments of memories—flooding his mind. They weren't his memories. They couldn't be.
A grand mansion. The face of a young boy staring out over vast, empty halls. Parents, once wealthy merchants, lying lifeless in their beds. An old servant named Uncle Ket, caring for the boy, raising him in a city far removed from the rest of the world.
These weren't his memories.
Ahmoset's, no Carter's, breathing quickened, his hand flying to his chest as if he could physically push the strange thoughts out of his mind. "No, no, no… This isn't right. These aren't mine!"
But the more he fought it, the clearer the memories became. He wasn't just Carter, the gamer. He was Ahmoset, the only son of a merchant family in the city of Sarnath—a place he had never been, in a life he had never lived.
I've… transmigrated?
The realization hit him with the force of a punch to the gut. He had read about this kind of thing in novels, heard stories about people waking up in strange worlds with foreign memories. But that was fiction. This… this was real.
He staggered forward, his hands shaking as he took in his surroundings again. The memories of Sarnath continued to flood his mind. He could picture the city streets, the tall stone buildings, the people going about their business, unaware of the darkness that lurked beyond their walls.
Sarnath.
That was the name of the place he now called home. A remote city, tucked far away from the larger cities, kingdoms and empires, hidden from the rest of the world.
His parents had died when he was young, struck down by illness, leaving him to be raised by Uncle Ket in their sprawling estate.
For years, Ahmoset had lived a quiet life, far removed from the tales of warriors and fabled cultivators that the villagers whispered about in hushed tones. Immortals don't exist. They're just stories. But now… now everything felt uncertain.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm inside his mind. But his body felt strange. It wasn't just his mind that was different—it was everything. His muscles felt denser, stronger.
Carter clenched his fists experimentally, and the raw power that surged through his veins made his head spin. His body was far stronger than it should have been.
"What is happening to me?" he whispered to the empty forest.
There were too many questions and no answers. But one thing was clear: this wasn't his world. He wasn't just Carter, the gamer anymore. He was Ahmoset, the son of Ahmon, a boy who had never known his true place in the grand scheme of things.
And now, he had no choice but to figure out what came next.
With one last glance at the blood-soaked ground, Ahmoset steeled himself. There was no going back.
His old life was gone, and this new world held the key to his future. A boss was defeated and a new life is attained.
Whatever that future may be. He would take it with a dag—
ROOOAR!!!
"Ah!" Carter screamed in fright.
'Forget the bravery, Scoobs. Let's scram!"
And with that, Carter cartoon ran as fast as he could out of there. That didn't last long though. A beast, unlike anything he'd ever seen before, landed right before him.
It snarled, almost as though it was mocking him for attempting to escape.
"Ugh," Carter swayed as he almost fainted on the spot.
The beast lunged at that time and Carter could not do anything.
'F*ck!'