Life was good before 2020.I met my friends every day at school. We laughed, argued, and teased each other about our crushes. After school, I'd go home, rest, and then head out in the evening to play. Sundays were for spending time with my parents.
Then everything changed.
An epidemic swept through the world. Everyone stayed indoors, streets grew silent, and the news was filled with rising death counts. My father became one of them. The thought of never seeing his strict yet warm gaze again crushed me. I could still hear his voice scolding me to focus on my studies, still remember the way he'd bring me things I hadn't even told him I needed. Now, those moments were just memories I couldn't get back.
I tried to hold myself together, but as if the world mocked my resolve, my mother passed away too, due to heart attack.It was a normal morning. I woke up late, as I often did, only to find her lying on the kitchen floor. For a moment, I froze, my mind refusing to believe what my eyes were seeing. If I had woken up just a little earlier… maybe I could have taken her to the hospital. Maybe I could have saved her.
Watching both my parents vanish from my life in such a short time left me with nothing to hold onto. I was alone.
I was eighteen, legally an adult, but I felt anything but grown. My friends and I still exchanged messages sometimes, but those conversations grew rare. I realized how quickly life could change and how important it is to value the people around you.
Three years later, the world slowly returned to normal. To distract myself from the loneliness, I buried myself in novels and games. They didn't replace what I'd lost, but they gave me something to hold onto. Slowly i started living like any normal person.
Then, one evening after coming from part time work. I went to the gym like always. Halfway through my routine, a strange heaviness pressed against my chest. My breathing turned shallow, and the room seemed to tilt. My heart pounded once… twice… then pain exploded through me.
Before I could yell. my legs gave way. Everything went dark.
*****
"Arghh…" A groan slipped out as my consciousness slowly returned. My eyes fluttered open—only to be greeted by a massive green screen floating in front of me, the word [WELCOME] engraved across it in thick black letters.
"Ehh?"
I stared at it for a few seconds, unsure if my brain was still loading, causing me hallucination. Then, just to be sure, I slapped myself across the face. The Burning sensation confirmed it.
Pulling from my vast knowledge of transmigration novels, I quickly pieced together what had happened. The signs were obvious. I had transmigrated. The only question was… into where exactly?
The last thing I remembered was working out at the gym while listening to [Erotic Tales of the Goblin Chief] and then heart failure , causing my death. By novel logic, I should have landed there. But I was human.
' But i am Definitely not a goblin. So maybe A human in that world ? ' I thought.
Chances of being on earth ? Close to Zero. How ? My body which i have been seeing for 21 years, i could tell at a glance this isn't mine without even seeing my own face. The build itself is different. Though i could be on earth in different body but i would like to believe this wouldn't be the case.
'Lets just ask the box of information itself'
"System, have I transmigrated?" I asked, just to get a 100% confirmation.
[Yes, Host. You are currently in the world called Akaralis.]
The monotonous voice echoed in my head, and the text appeared on the screen.
"Ye—wait… what? Akaralis?" I froze, the name rattling around in my mind. "This isn't Goblin Chief's world…" My eyes widened as realization hit. "Akaralis… Akaralis... THIS is the world of that novel I dropped after reading, something like 40 chapters?"
The premise of the novel was simple.
Lucas, the MC, had a system—though a stingy one—and the reason he got it was because he was the sole bearer of the Light Affinity, the natural counter to demons. His whole story was supposed to be about slowly rising in power, eventually killing the Demon King… who, for some reason, would otherwise destroy Akaralis.
That thought gave rise to another question.
"System, Lucas is supposed to win, right?"
[No.]
"..."
"Shit! He got defeated by the Demon King?!"
[No. He defeated the Demon King, but the world was still destroyed.]
"H-how??"
[Restricted information. Reach
"So pursuing power is the key, huh? Well, I was going to do that anyway. Sure, I could stay low and let the world burn… but do I really want to die early? Nah. I'd rather go out of old age, not in some freak accident. Live life to the fullest and all that. Even if i fail, i would just elope to different world, Atleast being strong gives me this possibility."
As if system wanted to hear me say this.
[Host, get ready. Full synchronization will commence in 10… 9…] It announced in full glory.
"Fuck! Just how many times am I supposed to lose consciousness today?" I grumbled. Still, I lay back on the bed and for the third time in what felt like hours, darkness swallowed me whole.
****
It took me an hour to wake up this time, and another thirty minutes to sort through the flood of memories.
So that's what the system meant by 'full synchronization'—merging this body's memories with mine and fully integrating the system. I even got a basic rundown of the world in the process.
And… wow. I'm in the body of an extra who died due to heart attack. Yep, heart attack.
"May his soul rest in peace" I prayed because thats the only thing i could do. Feel bad ? Maybe. But i didn't know him personally so there wasn't that connection. His memories felt more like watching movie.
Apparently, this guy was one of the survivor when his village got caught in the crossfire of Two
"What a fate," I muttered.