Chapter 1: A New Life
The cold was the first thing to register, an invasive, miserable dampness that settled deep in his bones.
It smelled of wet earth and decay, a scent so heavy it felt like a shroud.
Lucas groaned, the sound thin and lost in the absolute silence, and pushed himself onto his knees.
A sharp, unfamiliar ache radiated from his left shoulder, a protest from a body that felt both his and not his.
He was shivering, not just from the chill, but from a gut-deep sense of wrongness.
He wasn't in his bed, he wasn't in his apartment, and the air didn't hum with the distant, familiar drone of city traffic.
He emerged into an open patch among the trees, unsure how he got there.
Around him stood the remains of a village broken, forgotten.
Time hadn't just moved on, it had torn this place apart.
The huts had collapsed roofs and walls that leaned like they were about to fall. Some looked like they were sinking into the ground, slowly being swallowed.
Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust, like a faded memory no one had touched in years.
The sky above was a bruised gray, and what little light there was struggled to penetrate the tangled branches of a gnarled, forgotten forest.
His heart began to pound a frantic, uneven rhythm against his ribs.
This was not a nightmare he could wake up from. It was too real.
The smell of rot, the unnatural quiet, the chilling wind that promised nothing but a slow, lonely end, it was all there, a cold, brutal reality.
The horror hit him not as a shockwave, but as a creeping, icy dread.
He was lost.
Utterly, completely alone.
"Who are you?"
The voice was thin, reedy, like a dry leaf rustling on the ground.
It made Lucas jump.
He spun around, finding an old man, a scarecrow of a person bundled in patched furs, sitting on a broken bench.
His face was a roadmap of wrinkles, and his eyes, though sharp, were hollow, watching Lucas with a detached curiosity that was more unnerving than fear.
He held the hand of a small child, maybe six years old, who clung to him and peeked out from behind his coat. The child's eyes were wide, filled with a primal, animal terror.
Not far off, a man with a broken leg propped up against a crumbling wall. He held a rusty old hoe like it was a weapon. His jaw was tight, and his face showed years of bitterness.
"Another visitor," he said sharply, his voice echoing in the quiet. "Here to look at a dead village, huh? There's nothing left but ghosts and empty graves. We're all just waiting for it to end."
Lucas's mind was a panicked mess of thoughts, but no clear words came out.
What could he even say?
He looked at the stubborn, broken man, then the tired old elder, and the scared child.
And here he was Lucas, the guy who just paid his rent on time and worried about his office job supposed to save them?
The weight of it hit him hard.
He couldn't even save himself.
Just as the first tears of despair started to burn in his eyes, a clear chime rang—not in the air, but inside his mind.
Ding!
A soft, glowing blue screen appeared in front of him, like a window made of light and words.
It felt like a strange dream, but the message was sharp and real, and only he could see it.
[Idle Empire Builder System Activated.]
His panicked thoughts fell silent, replaced by a calm, intense focus. The screen flickered again, and a clear list appeared, the letters bright and sharp against the backdrop of the ruined village.
[Empire Level: 0 - Abandoned Village]
Population: 3Food: 10Wood: 5Stone: 0Soldiers: 0
The screen scrolled down, showing a message that felt both strange and hopeful.
"You are now the Lord of this village. Even if you don't do anything, the system will keep things growing on its own. A new villager might come, a field might be fixed, or resources might appear."
Passive growth.
He didn't have to act right away.
He could just wait and let this strange system handle things. The idea was tempting, a small moment of relief.
But then, the text shifted.
"But if you make choices and take action, your growth will speed up even more. Every quest you finish, resource you gather, and building you create will boost progress a lot. The more you put in, the more you get back."
He looked away from the glowing screen and at the people in front of him the old man, the scared child, and the injured farmer gripping his tool like a weapon.
They weren't just stats or numbers.
They were real, and they were waiting for the end.
Somehow, he'd been chosen to stop it.
He wasn't sure how, but he saw a way forward. He didn't need to be a hero. He just had to try.
Lucas took a deep, shaky breath and swallowed hard.
It felt like the start of a new life.
He had nothing to lose and might as well begin now.