Ethan stood still, the wind tousling his hair, his cleaver resting loosely in his grip as if forgotten. The entire world stretched out before him—grand, wild, incomprehensible.
And in that moment, he felt like a character at the end of a saga. A lone warrior atop the ruins of old Earth, about to carve his legend into a new one.
Then—
"Pfft—Told you that boar would come."
A voice. Familiar. Casual. Laced with just enough sarcasm to punch through the epic silence like a pin through a balloon.
Ethan blinked.
"…Huh?"
He spun around.
Just above, reclining like it was any regular day, were two figures—half-silhouetted by the golden sunlight filtering through the upper canopy. They sat on a colossal, serpent-like root that coiled above the crumbled skyscraper's edge, as if nature itself had formed a balcony just for them.
One figure slid forward, a massive broadsword—nearly her own height—grinding behind her with a loud, metallic SCREEEEECH.
"Oops," Dianna said dryly as it thunked into the earth beside her. "Hope that didn't ruin your dramatic 'main character moment.'"
Ethan's heart hiccupped.
His breath caught. His pulse thundered in his ears.
"…No freaking way…"
Dianna stood tall, slender yet seemingly tempered by battle, her figure graceful and athletic. The armor she wore clung with both elegance and threat—light, mobile, but powerful. Her short black hair curled just enough at the ends to flick when she walked, and her smirk was pure Dianna.
Sid, standing beside her with a soft shrug, looked almost untouched by the chaos of this world—still calm, still composed. He wore a long coat, his hands tucked into his pockets, like a man who'd walked through hell and came out with his vibe intact. His eyes held a familiar warmth beneath layers of calm calculation.
Ethan couldn't breathe.
Not from fear.
From something deeper—like the past had caught up with him and punched him square in the gut.
He tried to hide the tears, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
"D-Don't… do that," he said, voice cracking. "That's so unfair."
As they approached, Dianna tilted her head and raised a brow.
"Are you tearing up?" she teased. "Seriously? This is the guy who rushed towards a pack of eight-ton otherworldly beasts with his bare ego?"
"I'm not—! It's just the wind," Ethan muttered quickly. "And the altitude. And—shut up!"
Sid chuckled softly. "He's going to break in three… two…"
"Dammit…" Ethan whispered, staring at them, "You're really here…"
Dianna flashed her shark grin and jabbed her thumb toward Sid. "Told him you'd bumble your way here eventually. You're predictable like that."
"You slid your sword down a root just to ruin the vibe, didn't you?"
"I do what I must," she shrugged. "You were being dramatic. Again."
They got closer.
Ethan's face trembled—his usual wild grin replaced by something uneven, something softer. His eyes glossed again, and this time he didn't fight it.
Without another word, he lunged forward and yanked them both into a massive hug, his arms locking around their shoulders as he lifted them both slightly off the ground.
Dianna let out a surprised yelp. "Hey! HEY! Put me down, you emotionally unstable gorilla!"
"No," Ethan muttered, voice thick, eyes stinging. "I missed you two… so damn much."
Sid gave a calm exhale, his voice low. "Missed you too, man."
Dianna rolled her eyes but slowly relaxed into the embrace.
"You big idiot," she muttered. "Now you're gonna get my armor all sappy."
"I don't care," Ethan laughed through his tears. "Sid, Dianna… damn it! I was having a moment!"
"Yeah, well," Dianna said, gently patting his back with a hint of affection, "Now you're having a better one."
Ethan finally loosened his grip, setting them down with an awkward chuckle, eyes still red.
The three stood there for a breathless beat, just listening—the rustle of leaves, the echo of distant roars, the soft cry of enormous birds above. The warmth of the sun painted their reunion in golden hues. The world stretched around them, endless and terrifying and beautiful.
And for the first time since dying—
Ethan didn't feel alone.
---
The jagged husk of the fallen skyscraper jutted out over the jungle canopy like a blade stabbed into the earth. Ethan, Sid, and Dianna sat on the edge of the concrete ledge, legs swinging loosely in the wind, a thousand feet of ruin and beauty stretching below them.
The silence between them wasn't empty. It breathed—filled with sunlight slanting through ancient trees, the faint scent of moss and stone, and the occasional distant roar of something very, very large moving far beyond the mist.
Ethan broke the moment with a quiet exhale.
"So… this is reincarnation," he said, gold eyes scanning the horizon. A smirk tugged at his lips. "Honestly? Heaven's got nothing on this."
Sid chuckled under his breath, calm and dry as ever.
"Or maybe we got lucky and landed on the penthouse floor of Hell."
Dianna scoffed beside them, leaning back on her palms. Her short black hair caught the wind, and her massive broadsword sat lodged in the ground like a totem beside her.
"Either way, I'll take it. Beats getting flattened by a truck."
Ethan barked a laugh. "Ugh, don't remind me. I still flinch whenever I hear brakes."
Dianna smirked. "You flinched before the brakes, Boar. You screamed like you saw a ghost—and then the truck hit."
"I was trying to warn you!" Ethan protested, throwing up his hands.
"Sounded more like you were auditioning for a horror movie."
Their laughter rang out, wild and full, until it slowly dissolved into the breeze.
The silence after was softer, more reflective. Like the world wanted to hear the next words carefully.
Ethan glanced at them both.
"So… what actually happened? After we died?" His voice was quieter now, steady but curious.
Sid pulled one knee up and leaned into it, his tone casual but thoughtful.
"I woke up in this weird sterile place—white room, zero shadows. SGPT100 was floating around, spitting system prompts like it was reading a grocery list. Class selection, traits, stats. Straightforward, but eerie."
Dianna nodded, her voice even.
"Same. Except mine was oddly thorough. Explained everything step-by-step—class, traits, stat system, even a rundown of the world. It was… too perfect, honestly."
Ethan tilted his head.
"What? I had that too… but it felt more like I was speedrunning a tutorial. SGPT100 was robotic. No lore, no soul talk—unlike yours, just cold facts and commands. Well... it did wish me luck though."
Dianna, grinning:
"Guess you picked the 'skip lore' option by accident."
Sid, amused:
"SGPT100 saw your file and decided to save bandwidth."
Ethan groaned.
"I hate you both."
They laughed.
Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Seriously? You both get full lore dumps and I get a to-do list?"
Sid smirked, voice dry.
"Must've sensed you'd skip the reading anyway."
"You wound me," Ethan groaned.
Dianna waved a hand.
"So, what's your class? Boar Carver?"
"Brute-Carver," Ethan corrected, lifting his chin. "Big hits, big blades. You know the deal."
"It's fitting," Sid said with a nod.
"What about you two?"
Sid leaned back, silver threads shimmering faintly at his fingertips.
"Class is 'Threadmancer.' I control puppets. My trait lets me shift incoming damage to them, and I can see through their eyes."
Dianna patted the hilt of her massive broadsword.
"Berserked Valkyrie. Trait makes each swing faster, and every hit steals enemy stamina. I could do this all day."
Ethan, impressed:
"You're a self-charging blender."
Dianna beamed.
"Exactly."
"Wait," Ethan added, his curiosity flaring. "You both upgraded your weapons too?"
"Yeah," Dianna confirmed. "During my tutorial, SGPT100 offered me a starter pack—mine was called Inferno-Bound Relics. It had some hellish crafting materials, and when I slotted one into the broadsword, it absorbed it. Next thing I knew, the blade started radiating heat and… voices."
"Voices?"
"Don't ask," she muttered.
Sid gestured to the threads in his hand.
"Mine evolved too. I chose the Venomcoil Cache. Now every string is laced with toxins. Works great for crowd control and ruining someone's day."
Ethan scratched his head.
"You guys got infernal swords and venom thread— I got abyss splitter using a bunch of space metals and horror crystals thingy. It's pretty neat."
Sid's expression turned thoughtful.
"Did your system glitch out?"
Ethan nodded slowly.
"Yeah. Right before I tried the upgrade ritual. Error messages everywhere. I thought the whole thing broke."
Dianna leaned forward.
"Same here. Mine glitched before fusing the materials."
"Actually," Sid added, his voice lowering, "SGPT100 told me something strange… just before my upgrade finished. Said our souls were drifting in the void. Lost. Then some 'Sovereign'—someone outside the system—intervened and sent us into the white room."
Ethan blinked, his voice cautious.
"You're saying… we weren't supposed to be reborn here?"
"Pretty much," Sid said. "Whatever this Sovereign is, it broke the rules to place us here."
"That explains the glitches," Dianna said. "Also, SGPT100 told me that we're not the only ones. Everyone who died in the crash? They were brought here too. We're part of a group they call Travelers."
Ethan sat back, stunned.
"No way… everyone?"
They both nodded. It all felt real now. The pain, the absurdity, the danger—and the bond.
They had made it.
And they weren't the only ones..