Cold.
I felt cold.
The kind of cold that doesn't ask permission. It just burrows into you. Quiet. Patient. Persistent.
It wasn't the bite-your-fingers-off kind of cold either. No. This was worse.
This was the kind that made your blood feel frozen, like even your cells were waiting for something awful to happen.
My eyes snapped open.
A cracked stone ceiling greeted me. Faint yellow light from an overhead lamp flickered like it was shorting out. The air was stale, thick with the scent of rust, mildew, and something sour like old blood.
It was the kind of air that made you not want to breathe too deeply.
I groaned.
Everything hurts. And I mean everything. From the muscles in my back to the cartilage in my ears.
Hell, even my toenails felt like they'd been through a wood chipper.
I tried to sit up—
Clink.
Chains.
Of course.
Heavy metal cuffs around my wrists and ankles, stuck to the wall behind me. Not even loose enough for dramatic wiggling.
Some asshole had made sure I wasn't going anywhere.
My mouth was dry and my tongue swollen.
My head pounded like a bass drum in a hangover concert.
"What the hell…" I muttered.
It wasn't my voice.
It was slightly higher, thinner and younger.
I paused.
Looked down at my hands.
Slim fingers. Pale skin. Bruised knuckles. Faint scars, faint calluses—not the kind that came from writing on a laptop but from holding a weapon.
This wasn't my body.
Oh god.
This wasn't my body.
I stared.
"Nope," I muttered. "Not doing this right now."
Denial was underrated.
I closed my eyes again, mentally flipping through possibilities.
That bastard abomination really did send me into my novel's world.
Fuking ugly ass bastard.
I will kill that motherfucker one day. I swear.
Enough of that.
I shook my head. Right now I only have one goal. Analyse surrounding and escape whatever predicament that bastard had sent me into.
I peeked again.
Same skinny wrists. Same cold stone floor. Same clinking chains.
Yeah. No luck there.
I looked around. The room was a weird fusion of a medieval dungeon and decaying sci-fi lab. Stone walls lined with rusted steel beams. Strange runes etched into the floor—some glowing faintly red. Half-dead machines blinking uselessly in the corners.
Whoever built this place had no taste and even less funding.
And yet… there was something familiar about it all. A nagging tickle at the back of my skull. Like I should recognize this place.
But I didn't.
I didn't recognize the voice I'd just used. I didn't recognize the body I was in. I didn't recognize anything—
Wait.
There was a shard of glass or maybe polished steel lying a few feet away.
I squinted at it.
A face looked back.
Young. Probably seventeen or eighteen. Pale, thin, unkempt blond hair. Hollow-looking ember eyes that screamed "underfed and emotionally unstable."
I stared.
He stared back.
I blinked.
He blinked.
"Who the hell are you?" I asked for a reflection.
He didn't answer.
Rude.
I tilted my head. "Some side character, maybe?"
That had to be it.
Some throwaway extra from one of the hundreds of background scenes I'd written.
Some noble's third son or a student from the academy filler arc. Background furniture. NPC tier.
That made sense. This wasn't a main character's body—those guys got plot armor and abs. This guy looked like a malnourished raccoon.
Well at least that bastard didn't send me into the opposite gender body.
So that's a plus. Otherwise things would have been awkward.
I couldn't help but laugh even in this situation. For some reason my mind was calm.
I wasn't afraid.
Instead I was excited. My blood pumped wildly throughout my body.
I could feel it.
Still, something felt off.
Familiar.
Like I should know this character…
I tried thinking harder.
But effort made my headache worse, so I gave up.
"Extra it is," I muttered, slumping against the wall.
A hum buzzed through the air. Low and strange, like a speaker warming up. My skin prickled.
Then—
Voices.
From the hallway.
"...Is he still alive?"
"Barely. His vitals are stable, no Nexus activity. Useless."
"Then he's scrap. Toss him in the morning."
Their footsteps faded.
I stayed quiet.
Nexus.
Right. This world had Systems.
Awakening.
Magic-meets-tech-meets-trauma. I remembered writing that part.
Sort of.
It was hazy.
Did I hit my head?
Probably.
I looked down at myself again. Still bruised. Still chained. Still no glowing tattoos or floating status windows.
I sighed.
"Figures I'd end up in a body with no perks," I muttered. "Not even a basic tutorial?"
I leaned back, eyes closed. I was supposed to feel panic. Desperation.
But I mostly just felt… tired.
Like my brain was running on dial-up.
Was I supposed to awaken now? This would be the cue, right? Give myself trauma? Cry a little? Remember my tragic past and scream into the void?
Too much work.
I sighed again, this time more annoyed than scared.
But then—
Something shifted.
Not in the room.
In me.
A chill traced down my spine. The air grew heavier, the shadows stretching ever so slightly, as if reality had just taken a breath.
And then:
A voice. A familiar ugly voice.
Smooth. Smoky. Dripping with amusement.
"I can't let you die like that. Where's the fun in cannon fodder dying before the prologue?"
My eyes snapped open.
"…What the hell—?"
The voice chuckled.
"Relax. I'm not here to eat your soul. Yet."
That didn't help.
No way.
"Come on, Mr. A.U.T.H.O.R. You think I'd toss you into your own world and not give you a toy to play with?"
The voice chuckled.
"Take this. A little parting gift. It's not mine—it belonged to a friend. But you can have it."
"Unnamed System. Can't be traced. Can't be tampered with. Not even by me."
Something slammed into me.
Not physically. Not magically.
It was deeper than that.
Something aligned with me.
Like an ancient lock sliding into place.
A jolt ran through my spine. Symbols I couldn't read etched themselves across my vision for a heartbeat before vanishing.
"So go ahead. Survive. Struggle. Suffer. Entertain me."
"Now… make it a story worth reading."
Then silence.
Like the voice had never been there.
I blinked, panting. My heart was thundering. My skin was sweating ice.
Something had just stitched itself to my soul.
And then—
Ping.
A soft chime.
A glowing blue panel shimmered into view in front of me.
[SYSTEM BINDING COMPLETE]
Alignment: [Soul Match Verified]
System Type: [UNNAMED]
Source: [UNKNOWN]
Interference Level: [ZERO]
Manual Override: [DENIED]
Administrator Access: [FORBIDDEN]
It hovered.
Waiting.
A faint glow pulsed at the bottom.
[STATUS PANEL AVAILABLE — OPEN? Y/N]
I stared at it.
Then grinned.
"…Guess this trash body just got interesting."