The city was muffled under a drizzle when I clocked out, the neon lights of the fast food joint flickering against the wet pavement. My shoes squished softly as I stepped into the night, tired muscles reminding me they'd been on my feet all day.
The wind tugged at my jacket, cold and biting, but I barely noticed. Work was always the same. With the greasy heat of the kitchen, the depressing experience of a fast food job stuck to me. The noise of the fryers and grills felt dull.
Time started to pass slowly.
I'd started this job months ago, mostly because it was easy to get and kept the bills paid. Nothing glamorous, nothing I was proud of. Just a way to keep the lights on in the tiny apartment I called home.
I trudged through the rain, hands shoved deep into my pockets, head bowed against the chill. As much as I wanted to run home, my mental exhaustion was apparant. On top of a video reminding me that it wont decrease how much wetter I'll get...
The streets were quieter now, the late-night crowd thinning, replaced by the occasional car splashing through puddles.
Not inside the apartment, the familiar hum of the city seeped through the cracked window. I flicked on the lights, the pale glow illuminating a room cluttered with empty takeout boxes, gaming posters, and a battered desk where my second hand mac book waited.
I dropped my bag by the door, kicked off my shoes, and sank into the worn-out chair.
Not before changing clothes of course.
The chair creaked, protesting the weight, but it was my safe space.
My sanctuary.
The glow of the screen lit up my face as I booted up the game, Honkai Star Rail. Quickly farming talents, then sliding over to Genshin Impact, the worlds I'd come to live in when reality felt too bland.
'Thank god this proxy can download epic games.' I quietly think to myself.
I was an avid gamer back in the day, but over time, these virtual worlds had become something else. From going to only games with ranking systems such as Rocket League, CSGO and Marvel Rivals.
Always above average but never good enough.
Making RLRS, wining small tournaments and splitting fifty-dollars. It was was honestly dissapointing.
To a more casual gamer who enjoyed stories and read light novels. Letting the stress melt away rather than manifest.
'How the turns have tabled...'
These games where progress was clear, where every battle, every quest, every new skill learned felt like a step forward.
I liked to image myself as the main character of those stories. It was childish and immature sure, but maybe that's why I enjoy genshin so much. While people complain about bland main characters, it felt like a self insert.
Witnessing the story of others.
I clicked through characters builds, talents, and lore summaries. The regions in Genshin had always fascinated me. Places like Fontaine was charming, sure, but Mondstadt… Mondstadt was where my heart really lay.
Even with my favourite character being Furina.
It was hard to pin point why it was like this.
But it felt like home.
Every time I had to claim items, craft or buy things. It was my go to.
While the characters I've got to know more through their quests and events made me even more enamored by the place. As a person who's fallen in love with the fantasy knight genre.
As well as maining Diluc and Kaeya...
Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to live in a world like that. To wake up and know that strength, purpose, and destiny weren't just lines of code or plot points, but real.
I leaned back, letting the screen light wash over me. My hands, rough from hours of work and stress, hovered over the keyboard. My Mavuika doing her idle animation where she leans against her motorbike.
My eyes blurred slightly as sleep was trying to take over. Leaning forward, the soft ticking of my wall clock the only sound beside the faint hum of the PC fans. One more commission. One more daily quest. One more round.
With Ashikai's youtube video playing in the background.
It was a great escape.
But even the vibrant world of Fontaine on the screen couldn't drown out the hollow pull in my chest tonight.
I glanced over at my phone out of habit. Blank screen. No messages. No notifications.
No one.
It wasn't always like this. I used to have a group chat with the six of us from high school. We used to talk every day, mostly nonsense, memes, games, life. But now it had been three weeks since the last ping. Nobody said goodbye. Just… drifted. One by one.
I hadn't seen any of them since graduation, really. Everyone had moved on. Uni, work, relationships. I stayed behind. I didn't hate them for it. But somewhere along the line, they stopped reaching out. And so did I.
Then there was her.
I opened a DM tab and stared at the last message I sent. "Hey, did you get home okay?"
'Fuck I'm a loser.' The self awareness hitting me a long time ago.
Left on seen. Three days ago. Before that, two weeks of silence. Before that… something that felt like it could've been something, but maybe wasn't anything at all.
A situationship. A placeholder for something neither of us had the time or energy to define. And now, a memory.
I sighed and shut the tab.
Loneliness was a tricky thing. It didn't scream. It whispered. Creeping into the little moments, like now, as I sat hunched in a dimly lit room filled with glowing pixels and half-eaten snacks.
I caught myself sinking too deep. The thoughts always came in these hours—when the world was quiet and the weight of your own insignificance pressed down like a wet blanket. It'd be easy to fall into that pit.
But I didn't. Not fully.
Because there was a part of me that refused to let it rot me from the inside out.
I closed the game and rubbed my eyes, leaning back in my chair. The ceiling stared back blankly. I whispered the words to myself, like a mantra.
"Food."
It was technically my only will to live.
Can you really blame me?
Left only to my thoughts, my vision started to blur with my mind hazed.
...
"Huh?" I weakly grunt out.
I must've dozed off in the chair, because I didn't remember lying down.
There was no fan hum, no screen glow. Just quiet. And warmth.
Sunlight filtered through wooden blinds, casting long strips of golden morning across the wooden floor. The air smelled faintly of warm bread and something sweet.
Maybe cinnamon?
I blinked, heart racing slightly.
This wasn't my apartment.
The walls were old fashioned, the kind you'd see in a countryside inn. Shelves lined with tiny jars and books sat under the windows, and the room was smaller than my own—but cozier, like it had been lived in and loved.
I sat up slowly.
My body felt… different.
Lighter, shorter. I caught a glimpse of my hands, they were small. Too small. What? There was a mirror in the corner.
I stumbled, and walked to it awkwardly. A child. I was a child. Nine years old, maybe ten at best. My face was familiar but younger, softer, untouched by the grind.
Shaggy brown hair, red eyes and a sort of skinny build.
Panic edged into my breath.
"What the-"
Was I dreaming? But everything felt real. The wood beneath my bare feet. The breeze through the window. The weight of the clothes I wore. Soft, hand-stitched, old but well kept. Then I heard a voice from downstairs.
"Tobias dear can you help your mother? Nap time is over."
I froze.
Tobias?
It took me a second, but then… I remembered. That was my name now, wasn't it?
I opened the door and peeked out. A staircase led down into a decently sized bakery, and fresh loaves lined the shelves behind a large wooden counter. A woman stood at the oven, humming softly as she pulled out a tray of bread.
She looked like someone who carried the world quietly tired green eyes, but kind. Her auburn hair was tied back in a messy braid, and her apron was smeared with flour and jam.
My mother.
Clara.
Next to her was a kid younger than me that had her auburn hair but red eyes.
Or my new one, I guessed.
She looked up and smiled, not a trace of surprise on her face. "Good morning, sleepyhead. Did you stay up reading again?" she said teasingly. "Come on, help me with the second batch~" I nodded slowly, stepping into the warmth of the bakery.
"Big brother!" The kid who sat diligently in his seat, suddenly burst forward towards me.
Tensing up, the sudden feeling of a hug up to my chest surprised me.
"Good morning... Leo." The name suddenly being added at the end of the sentence. My body started to relax, as a warm sensation hits my heart. These two felt like something I didn't think of in a while.
Family.
"Can you pleaseeee read me a book. You didn't get to finish the Boar Princess last night." The kid cutely pouts trying to look as pitiful as possible. But mom wasn't having it. The woman quickly snatching him up in a hug, told him to go back to studying.
"Your older brother can read you some books later, for now you need to practice reading by yourself young man~" She says with a gentle look, her tired face softening. Giving him a kiss on the forehead.
Watching this I could only pray as Leo looked at me with tears in his eyes.
'I'm sorry little one...'
...
With the time slowly passing and Tobias' memories coming back to me. Helping mother set up the shop before opening went smoothly happened. slowly surging memories, it was a familiar world.
Teyvat.
I was in Teyvat now.
As as the elder son of a widowed baker in Mondstadt.
'Thank you for this opportunity past Tobias. While I don't feel guilty over taking your body over by accident and feel a bit weird, I will not waste this opportunity if it is real.'
A new chance at life.