Life always seemed boring to me; I spent my time working nonstop. Well, it was to be expected, since I couldn't get into university and didn't have a degree.
It was like any other Friday night.
My job, which looked like a promising company, turned out to be a devil in disguise; even though I was part of the IT team, they had me moving materials as if I were one of the warehouse guys. Today was the worst of all; my arms and legs were at the limit of their endurance.
"I should quit, but I doubt anyone would hire someone without higher education… plus, the pay isn't bad when you live alone."
As I dragged my body toward the train station, which seemed empty, I received a text message.
I took out my smartphone and checked who was bothering me so late.
"Let's see… ugh, she really has a lot of free time, it's obvious…"
The message was from my annoying cousin, asking me to help her finish an RPG game.
I felt very annoyed because she is only 20 years younger than me, and she spent her vacations playing video games and watching anime.
(I know it's ridiculous for an adult (virgin) almost 30 years old to complain about this, but I truly feel uneasy about how she wastes her study time.)
I lost my parents and ended up living at my aunt and uncle's house. Back then, I had just started high school. My aunt and uncle, since they didn't have children, wanted one, but after a while my cousin was born and I was quickly forgotten. I didn't really mind, since it seemed like I had a little sister.
But after finishing school, my uncle kicked me out and I had to find a place to live. I've been working ever since, unable to go to university.
Thanks to a "friend," I was able to get my current job, since he helped me get in. I was grateful to him, but… I didn't imagine it was just so he could have more people who needed money and would accept a salary lower than the established rate.
It didn't bother me, though, since "money is money," so I was still grateful. While lost in my thoughts, I arrived at the train station and was standing in front of the line marking the safety limit.
I could see a point of light approaching; that was the train.
After getting on, I got off at XX station to take a taxi down XX street and get to my small, humble apartment.
Everything should have been like any normal day, but… my body decided to make me pay at that moment.
For some reason, I started seeing the ground while standing up. (Wait? How is it possible to see the ground while standing?)
(I didn't consume any of the mysterious mushrooms from the warehouse guys, so why am I seeing the ground?) I wondered.
After a few seconds of being perplexed, I understood. I had heard from one of the warehouse guys that sometimes when you overexert your muscles too much, they can paralyze, causing your organs to stop. I didn't imagine such a thing was real, but now I believe it.
(I can't move, my eyelids don't respond, I can't move my mouth or barely breathe. I can feel my urine voluntarily leaving my body, staining my pants.)
The train is approaching; I can see how the point of light gets bigger.
(I'm scared.)
I hear clearly how the train is approaching.
(… I'm scared.)
The train's light gets closer, and the sound intensifies.
(I'm scared…)
It's getting closer and closer… there are only seconds left until it arrives…
(I'M SCARED!!!)
(I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!)
(SOMEONE HELP ME!!!)
(PLEASE!!!)
It was only seconds, no less than twenty or thirty seconds.
My breathing was becoming more and more cut off.
(They say that when you are about to die, you can see your memories… no memories came to me. I felt disillusioned.)
The distance between the train and me was only one meter.
(I'm not a man of faith, and it would be very hypocritical of me… but, if there is some higher being on some inter-dimensional plane, I would like to ask that they please grant me a second chance; no matter in which country or city I appear, I just want to live my life, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!)
It was exactly a blink; my eyes were wide open and I saw that great light approaching…
◇
I felt nothing… the train was supposed to run over me, but I never felt it run over me. (Could it be that I actually dreamed it? No, that definitely wasn't the case… if it were a nightmare, I should have woken up screaming in my bed… that had happened to me as a child, so I already know how it feels to wake up scared.)
While thinking about it, I noticed something curious. (I literally don't feel anything!?)
(I don't feel my body; I don't hear anything, my senses like sight, hearing, and touch are gone. I couldn't emit, hear, or see anything; I could only talk in my head. Even my sense of orientation disappeared; I didn't know where left or right, up or down, forward or back was. I could only talk as if my consciousness was the only thing that existed.)
(Could this be what they call a coma?)
(Maybe it is. I tried checking by shouting -echo- but no echo was heard beyond a nearby greeting.)
◇
My sense of time was gone. Despite having no sensation, for some reason I had the thought of swimming. It's very hard to explain, but it's almost like imagining and feeling that illusion in the flesh.
(How long had I been here?)
(I had no idea, so I just kept going with the flow, so to speak.)
I was wondering if I was going to be like this forever; when in the distance there seemed to be a small light, I swam, or at least that's what it seemed like I was doing as I headed toward that light that grew larger in the distance.
(Could it be that I'm finally coming out of the coma?)
(I was terrified of waking up and discovering that I no longer had legs or limbs, but my feeling of wanting a second chance was so great that even if I looked like an ugly duck, I would live my new life.)
Closer and closer, I could feel "in my imagination" that light touching me. I almost reached it, just a few more centimeters and…
"BUUUuuurrRRRGHH??!!"
I managed to reach the light, but for some strange reason, I now felt like I was drowning. The illusory sensation of swimming became real as water entered my ears, nose, skin, and mouth. I started to panic and swam upward, managing to breathe.
It felt so good to breathe oxygen again.
(I wondered if I was in a pool for trauma treatment, but that wasn't the case. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, I gradually noticed a large amount of fauna around me.)
It was weird. Supposedly, there was nothing green in my city; the parks looked more like desert zones with only bushes.
I measured the distance to what seemed to be the shore, which was about two meters, while the water depth was even deeper than an adult swimming pool.
For some reason, while swimming, the distance that should have taken me no more than five minutes to cover took about ten or fifteen minutes. To make it even stranger, I felt tired from that short amount. After reaching the shore covered in what seemed to be grass and dirt, I crawled up, managing to get out of the water.
After resting for a while, I looked around, curious and strange. There were trees, bushes with berries, dirty grass, plants, and finally a small lake.
I stood up to look at it, and indeed it was a small lake. It looked like a training pool no more than ten meters wide, and at the front, I could observe a small but not tall ledge. It looked exactly like a comedy movie about friends reliving their youth. Maybe more than ten meters, but I estimated it wasn't reaching twenty.
(How the hell is something like this even possible?)
I asked myself that as I walked aimlessly through the forest. After a while, I reached what seemed to be an edge of metal fences. I tried to see if maybe I was on some crazy millionaire's property and hoped nothing would happen to me.
I reached the edge and put my small hands on the fence, standing on tiptoe to try to see the distance.
(Wait… I hadn't noticed this because it felt normal, but now I realize that my hands, feet, and even body are very small, like those of a child over six years old but less than nine.)
(I don't know what left me more perplexed?)
(The fact that my body was small… or, that beyond the fence there was only a great blue sky and a great blue ocean.)
"HUUUUH!! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
While thinking about how strange this was, a great sound and shadow appeared above me.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, since it was extremely impossible for something like that to exist.
"T-That, is… a, flying ship!!"
My eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing, but for some reason, after a few seconds, I calmed down as if it weren't the first time I had seen one.
I never imagined that on that fateful day on the train tracks, I would say goodbye to my old life, to live a new life as a reincarnated person in a strange fantasy world with magic, nobles, and mobile knights.
◇◇◇
Somewhere in a dark room, there was a television and a connected console. Suddenly, the television turns on and a message appears.
>GAME START
>Game created. Save new game? Yes or no?
>Selected «yes». Therefore, the game has been automatically written with autosave function.
Enjoy the story.