Ouch!
My head! Too painful!
Kai awoke inside a corpse, seated upon a throne with a perfect circular hole in his bleeding forehead.
At this moment, he was effectively deceased.
Then, as if the flesh on his temple had started stitching itself together, all his pierced brain matter began to gather where it should be.
AUGH — F***! IT HURTS!
Miraculously, the corpse drew breath.
But the soul inside… was never the same.
Did I die?
Kai tried to touch his temple, but his senses were hypersensitive. Sight, sound, touch — everything was overwhelming. He might as well be a newborn cosplaying as an adult.
The first sense to return was sight. The blinding lights gradually dimmed, revealing a throne room, and his eyes fell on his right hand: each finger adorned with an expensive ring.
I don't remember being this rich, but where am I?
He curiously tried to poke his temple with his finger. To Kai's surprise, the fatal hole was gone, only the trail of dried blood down to his nose remained.
Am I dreaming? This isn't my room!
Shaking his head and squinting his eyes, Kai took in the opulent throne room, with intricate chandeliers, and vast grey marble flooring, which was eerily empty and silent.
But that wasn't all.
The locked entrance door was just a few paces in front of the throne, and a red carpet stretched between them. Beneath it, blood was pooling across the marble floor, dark and slick against the gold and grey.
The stench of rot was palpable in the air.
Kai jolted upright in a fight-or-flight response, but his unknown location made it hard to even find a place to run.
What is that stench?!
There were two more doors on the right and left sides of the throne room, but he didn't know where they led, or worse, what might be lurking behind them.
With a panicked expression, he started to rise from the throne seat, but his body froze mid-motion as fear and hesitation enslaved him in place.
He desperately tried to remember his past through his throbbing migraine — but to his dismay, it seems like two fragmented memories were clashing within his temple.
One from a troubled college student mingling with the memory of a young king…
Kai's fingers felt more of his face; he felt his dead skin reversing its own death. Though he must say, he felt taller! And he could sense the contours of an impeccable jawline. He couldn't find a mirror to gauge his appearance, but looking down, he was wearing a dark decorated royal uniform.
I remember reading a novel in my room. It was about a kingdom being ravaged by the undead! And this place looks oddly familiar… wait… don't tell me I'm in the same novel?
There were gold chains hanging on his right shoulder, and yet if he was a king, where was his crown?
Wait no! The name, the name of the king is Vladimir Leousi. He's benevolent and loved by the people! But how on earth am I inside his body?!
I'm inside another man's body!
Then he realized that on his left hand, he was holding something instinctively for dear life. It was a crumpled letter, and the original owner of this body appeared to have no will to let it go.
Kai opened the letter and read its contents:
"Upon her arrival… commit to and affirm your conviction to the miracle born of slavery."
"Fail, and everyone you love will die."
Kai scowled at the letter, the words blurring as his mind panicked. "Prove myself? Servitude? Miracle born of slavery?!" He ran a hand through his hair, while pacing a few steps.
"I don't even know who she is… or what this is supposed to mean!" Finally, he shoved the letter into his pocket, the paper crumpling slightly under his grip.
However, the letter made it clear that he might possess some kind of power born of slavery. It also foretold the arrival of a woman, though, in his delusion, Kai hoped she would at least be exceptionally beautiful.
So the king knew I'd transmigrate into his body? How could he even have predicted something like that?!
The weight of it all slowly began to sink in as memories of his real life pressed against him, making the impossible feel terrifyingly real.
I have my whole life ahead of me, I was gonna graduate college, find a good job, find a beautiful woman to be my wife, and die happily!
No, no… this can't be, I can't be here!
Then a loud banging on the entrance door rattled his ears.
Who is it?
It was violent in sequence, and with each pound of the door, Kai's fear of the unknown worsened.
I had a hole in my head when I woke up; are the people behind that door the culprits? Who even killed the king?!
As he murmured, he saw a golden long sword displayed on the wall of the throne room.
Kai thought that these kinds of ceremonial swords weren't meant for combat.
It was a heavy and probably dull blade.
Nonetheless, he hastily equipped it, holding it with a shake in his right hand. It was at least something to defend himself with.
The banging on the door was reaching a crescendo. Kai then checked the door to his right, it was locked. He went to the other door on the left; it too was locked.
With no other choice, he had to confront whatever was coming head-on.
That's when he realized that there's also a trail of blood leading on both left and right doors!
What on heaven's name happened here?!
Just in case, he stood near a vase, ready to throw it at the first sign of danger. Yet somehow, he was afraid and at the same time not, as if the body was torn between experiences of two different men.
My limbs aren't moving fluidly; it's like my nerves are just starting to wake up!
The right thing to do was perform a couple of stretches to get his blood flowing.
Then he heard a growl that was accompanied by thunderous blows to the entrance door; the wood caved in further, and whatever was behind it was adamant on tearing through.
Why do I feel this profound sense of sadness and longing?
Kai murmured to himself, then the next impact on the entrance door ripped through the frame in a violent manner.
Then Kai's eyes widened in terror.
This isn't real…
He saw three people come inside the throne room's entrance.
The one in the middle wore a white chef's uniform stained with dried blood, holding a fresh cleaver clenched in his right hand.
The two beside him were castle guards, dressed in formal black-and-red uniforms. All of them had gaping mouths and decaying gray flesh.
They saw Kai and immediately rushed at him in a frenzy, hunger blazing in their white-maggot-infested eyes.
You've got to be kidding me.
Chapter End.