As Oroz stood victorious, feeling the surge of magic course through him, a shadow passed over the battlefield. His vision blurred, and before he could fully react, he felt a sharp, searing pain in his side. A sudden, brutal stab wound, cold and relentless, pierced through him.
The world spun in an explosion of pain and confusion, and everything around him seemed to melt away as darkness closed in. He reached out, but his vision failed him. The last thing he saw was Aqualis, fading away as the darkness consumed him.
Oroz awoke with a start, his breath shallow and rapid. The sterile smell of antiseptic filled his nose, and as his eyes adjusted to the blinding white light overhead, he realized he wasn't in the forest anymore. He wasn't standing in battle, nor was he surrounded by the strange allies he'd made. No, he was in a hospital bed, with tubes connected to his arm and heart monitor beeping steadily beside him.
Confusion washed over him. His hand instinctively reached to touch his side, but there was no wound. No magic, no Mana Beasts. No Thalia, no Ryn. Just the quiet, humdrum reality of his previous life. The life he thought he'd left behind.
Oroz felt the weight of his own heartbeat and realized, with a strange sense of disbelief, that he had been unconscious in this world for what felt like years. A part of him refused to believe it. It couldn't be real. This could not be his life.
His mind reeled as memories of his former world—the mundane life he had lived—flooded his thoughts. It was an ordinary life, full of human struggles and desires. No Mana Beasts. No epic battles. Just a simple life in the modern world.
But the memories of the magic, of the ancient creatures, of the struggles and the victories, were so vivid. Was it all a dream? Had he been dreaming of the world of magic all along? Or had he truly lived it, only to wake up in a world without that magic, without the destiny that had called him?
As his head swirled with questions, a nurse entered the room, offering a gentle smile.
"You're awake," she said. "You've been unconscious for weeks. How are you feeling?"
Oroz opened his mouth to speak, but the words didn't come out. His throat was dry, his thoughts scattered. He was back—back in the world he knew. But the question gnawed at him: Was it all real? Was his life in the magical world nothing more than a dream?
With a heavy sigh, Oroz settled back into the hospital bed, still unsure of what to believe. The world of Mana Beasts felt so far away, but the memories... they lingered in his mind, vivid and unyielding.
He had awoken from one life, only to question whether the life he had once lived was the true one.