「Bored.」
Boredom gnawed at Tatsuya's mind, relentless and suffocating. He leaned back against the cold stone of the altar, his eyes drifting aimlessly across the room, but nothing held his focus for long. Shadows stretched out before him, silent and unmoving. The weight of everything—the silence, the emptiness—it pressed down on him like a heavy fog. No matter how hard he tried to focus on anything, his thoughts slipped through his fingers, like sand.
The soft, constant drip of water echoed from somewhere above, filling the room with its maddening rhythm. Each drop seemed to punctuate how alone he was. No books. No TV. No games. Nothing to distract him from the gnawing sense of isolation. This is hell, he thought. Every so often, a bug would scuttle across the floor, its tiny legs tapping against the stone. In the corner, a spider twitched in its web, but even those small distractions couldn't pull him from his reality—a reality where he wasn't even himself anymore.
He let out a long sigh, running a hand through his messy hair. "Actually, I'm not your average isekai protagonist. I'm worse," he muttered, his voice echoing faintly in the empty space around him. "No powers. No skills. No magic. Nothing." The words sounded hollow, like a joke with no punchline.
His gaze dropped to his hands—small, weak, unfamiliar. The skull... that thing had made sure of it. He wasn't even an adult anymore. His body was frail, a kid's body, with nothing left of who he used to be. He could still feel where the bloodstained knife had pierced his chest, though the pain had long since faded into a dull memory.
"Great," he mumbled, sarcasm thick in his voice as he kicked at a loose stone on the floor. "This is what I get."
He didn't know how long he'd been stuck here—hours? Days? Longer, maybe. Time blurred together, one moment bleeding into the next. He'd tried studying the carvings on the stone pillars around him, but they meant nothing to him. Just more cryptic nonsense left behind by some ancient culture he didn't care about.
"I'M SO BORED!" The scream ripped out of him, raw and frustrated, bouncing off the walls before being swallowed by the thick silence again.
It didn't help. If anything, it just reminded him how trapped he was. He clenched his fists, resisting the urge to punch one of the pillars. None of this is fair. He wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to be in Japan, going about his life, maybe reading a manga or playing a game. Instead, this was his reality now—cold stone, silence, and the constant ache of being stuck in a body that wasn't his own.
His eyes wandered to the far side of the room, where a thick, dried line of blood cut the floor in two, separating the altar from the dark hallway beyond. The blood was old, darkened to a deep rust, but something about it felt wrong. Was that from me? Or someone else? he wondered, crouching down for a closer look. The blood didn't seem like the result of a fight—it looked deliberate, like part of some strange ritual.
Tatsuya pushed himself to his feet, his limbs stiff from sitting still for so long. Every movement felt slow, like he was dragging his body through mud. "Alright... let's see what's out there," he muttered, his voice flat, knowing deep down he wasn't expecting much. What could this place possibly have that mattered?
He started walking toward the hallway, his footsteps heavy on the stone floor. The exit loomed ahead, dark and endless, like it swallowed the light. He was only halfway across the room when something stirred in the shadows.
He froze.
At the far end of the hallway, a massive shape stalked into view, its presence like a punch to the gut. It was enormous—like a saber-toothed tiger, but wrong. Its fur was matted, scarred, and twisted, like it had survived countless battles. Glowing red eyes locked onto Tatsuya, and for a brief moment, he felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.
"Shit…" he whispered, barely able to force the word out, his throat tight with fear. His heart pounded in his chest, each beat echoing in his ears. He took a step back, his hands trembling as his mind raced. What do I do?
The creature crouched low, its muscles tense and ready to spring. Those red eyes never left him, watching every move he made, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
I'm dead. I'm actually gonna die here. He could barely think straight. No weapons, no magic, nothing. He was just a kid trapped with a monster. Why didn't I get any powers?
In a panic, Tatsuya grabbed one of the horned rats scurrying nearby. The rat squealed, its black fur rough and its sharp fangs sinking into his finger. He winced but held on, lifting the rat in front of him like some kind of pathetic offering. "Here, kitty, kitty…" His voice shook, barely a whisper.
The saber-tooth didn't move. It kept its eyes locked on him, muscles tensing even more as if it was preparing to strike.
Tatsuya inched closer to the bloodline, desperation clawing at him. It's not gonna work. The creature was waiting for the right moment, and he knew it.
And then it lunged.
Tatsuya barely had time to react. One second, the creature was still, the next it was airborne, a blur of fangs and claws coming straight for him. His body jerked back instinctively as the saber-tooth's massive paw hit the floor.
And then—fire.
The moment the creature's paw touched the bloodline, the room erupted in black and purple flames. They roared to life, wild and unnatural, hotter than anything Tatsuya had ever felt. The saber-tooth let out a gut-wrenching scream, its fierce growl morphing into a cry of agony as it stumbled back. The fire clung to it, consuming its body with terrifying speed.
Tatsuya stared, wide-eyed, as the creature was reduced to nothing but ash and bones. The flames didn't just burn—it decayed. The monster's fur turned gray, then white, before falling away in clumps. Its skin shriveled, and its once-powerful muscles wasted away. Blood poured from its eyes, its mouth, until all that remained was a pile of ash.
He stood there, breathless, his heart racing, trying to process what he'd just witnessed. What the hell just happened?
The flames were gone, but their power still hung in the air, heavy and electric. Without thinking, Tatsuya jumped over the bloodline, bracing for something—anything—but nothing happened.
"I'm… okay?" He looked down at his hands, his arms, checking for burns or marks, but there were none. He was fine.
He jumped back over the line, testing it again. Still nothing. The bloodline only reacted to the creature.
Tatsuya glanced down at the horned rat in his hand. It was lifeless now. Its fur had turned white, its horns brittle and rusted as though it had aged hundreds of years in seconds. He let it fall to the floor, watching as it scurried weakly into the shadows.
For the first time since arriving in this place, something inside him shifted. It wasn't quite relief, but it was close enough.
Safe. For now, at least.