The way to the familiar small river was anything but easy for Din. His legs trembled, and his vision was hazy. He felt as light and significant as a speck of dust in the sunlight.
"Hunger…," Din muttered as his mind was drifting in and out. Along the path were tress and various plants and flowers Din hadn't seen in his former life. It was intoxicatingly refreshing as familiar and unfamiliar scent invaded his nose.
Finally the torturous journey was over as he came to a river.
The rocky bottom of the riverbed could be seen through the clear water, as well as some big and terrifying creatures. They weren't fishes, Din knew. One in particular that caught his eye was at least 2 meter in length with dagger like teeth, sharp scales covering its body.
'What are this creatures exactly…? If these are normal fishes, how terrifying would the bigger fishes and ocean monsters be…?'
Now, Din was beginning to recall the shattered memories in his mind. This world was anything but his world. It was a new world, one with a history that is left in its cloud of mystery, no one daring to unravel it.
Din thought twice about entering the river.
These giant abominations would rip him to shreds the moment he dipped his toes.
Din paused as he weighed his options, his mind racing.
But rational thought was hard to come by. His debilitating hunger put him into a trance that was almost fatal.
In the end, his body chose to follow its memories.
"Here goes nothing."
Din, the veteran soldier, regained a flicker of awareness to regret his decision as his foot touched the cold surface.
Once the reflexive rejection of the water subsided, though, the flowing rhythm of the current felt soothing. Din felt his tense body finally relax. At last, his weak and fragile body felt strong as he fully stepped in.
As if answering a Siren's call, Din moved toward the center of the river step by step. The filth on his body gradually washed away and soon he felt thoroughly cleansed.
But lost in the almost rebirth-like sensation, Din didn't know the danger that loomed.
The calm river wasn't only mildly disrupted by the entrance of the filthy boy. The monstrous fishes Din saw earlier and felt so cautious about were all swimming away from the middle of the river like something even more terrifying was lurking.
Din was fully in the water, oblivious to everything around him as all his senses were overdriven by the feeling of revitalization he felt rushing through his body. His very essence lifted with his soul and calmness entered his heart. The rage, the disappointment, and the regrets from his last life were getting washed away. As a smile tugged on his face, Din moved even deeper and deeper into the river, daring to dream: free from being a lowly worker, awakening a special ability, leaving this garden, entering the society, making it big and living it large - his smile grew as he fell more and more into the delicious day dream.
Outside his mind, Din's body was already submerged few meters under the surface and the once clear water turned dark.
There, two emerald eyes opened, each about the size of a pear as they locked onto Din. The closer it got to the oblivious young man, the more of the creature's body emerged.
Two emerald eyes, jagged scales and a long body - a giant jaw opening to swallow Din in a single gulp. This was a terrifying snake. Its was at least dozen of meters in length. Its opened mouth along was already two meters long.
However, this beast was injured. Around its coiled body were broken scales. Injuries of various sizes, from just ripped skin to fresh holes that water passed through. What an even more monstrous creature could actually injure this terrifying beast was anyone's guess.
Din inched closer and closer to this snake without realizing.
Just as the snake was about to lunge once and swallow the poor soul, Din's day dream broke.
A terrifying large orb glowing in eerie grey appeared, radiating an aura of extinction.
Din felt his heart pause as he opened his eyes immediately.
To his horror, he finally realized he went too deep into the river, his lungs flooding. He was drowning.
With all the strength he could muster, Din pushed his arms and legs, trying to swim away from the depth of doom.
After a few seconds of struggle, Din managed to surface. He breathed in quickly and swam to the shore
Deep in the river, once Din was gone, the emerald eyes appeared again, this time with confusion.
The young human was only a pathetic prey to the beast that could barely satisfy its hunger. As for healing its body, Din would have been absolutely useless. Yet, the beast felt a terrifying presence from the prey that escaped.
The snake's body coiled and it turned its eyes on the other fishes in the river, shaking off the moment of incomprehensible fear it felt for the frail human.
Out on the shore, Din breathed heavily and questioned himself.
"Did I just… daydream?"
His chest heaved up and down, trying to take the air in.
After a long and strenuous period of recovery, Din could finally stand tall and look about himself. He was satisfied that when the girl he'd been waiting for came, he would at least be presentable.
Just as din was trying to whistle - as was his old habit - and realized this stupid body couldn't even manage that, he heard some voices behind the bushes.
Din watched where the leaves rustled, his eyes scanning the area as he was thinking about hiding.
The nervous boy then felt his heart skip as his body instinctively recognized the voices that grew closer and saw the faces of the visitors.
His bullies were here.
"Wow, what do we have here? Isn't this our good old friend Din? Here to bath away your stench?"
One of the bullies stopped and called out as he spotted the frightened boy. Din could see the grin on the other boys' faces too.
"Shit…", Din murmured, his heart racing as his eyes cautiously studied them.
A squad of four men. To the experienced soldier's eyes, their bodies seemed weak, just a bit better than Din. But at this bottom of the human ladder, it didn't matter how big the gap in between was. Each and every step that separated the bottom from the top was an unbreakable force of nature that subjugated those below.
Din of the old could easily take these four men down, but not in this body.
"Ah yes, Din. Did you wait here for us? You cleaned your bad stench to please us?"
Another mocked as the rest laughed. After all, everyone knew Din was just an insect to be crushed, a vermin that lived on the beast shed.
"Ha…ha…," Din could only force an awkward laugh as he tried to find a way out.
He knew that this time, they weren't here to collect his money but to ensure that he suffers - for no reason at all other than that it amused them.
Life was cruel.
Din died as a pawn, but lived a life of a man.
But now, he just might die as a vermin.