"Hugh…"
What… What is this?
"Where am I? Why can't I see anything?"
The darkness is thick—like ink. It presses in from every side, smothering sound, crushing shape. I try to blink, but nothing changes.
"Why is everything dark? I feel like I'm floating… submerged in water."
There's a strange resistance around me, like I'm being held in warm syrup. I move—or try to—but the space hugs me tight, muffled and distant. I can hear voices… echoes, like they're underwater. Muted. Disconnected.
"I hear talking… but why is it muffled? Am I in a tank? A dream?"
This can't be real. It feels too still, too fluid. I'm not breathing. Or maybe I am? Everything is suspended. Time. Sound. Even thought.
"Am I still alive? Am I in hell… or is this heaven?"
I should be dead. I remember the pain—the finality. My last breath felt like an ending. But here I am, lingering in some halfway place between silence and awareness.
"I should be dead. I remember dying… don't I?"
The memory is like a broken mirror—shards of fear, regret, and relief. Then, nothing… until this void. This hum. This strange, pulsing existence.
"It's been a few months. I've come to understand something strange… something unbelievable."
I don't know how I know it… but I'm not just floating in space. I'm inside something. Someone.
"I'm in a womb. A literal womb."
The realization was like a thunderclap at first. Terrifying. A nightmare of claustrophobia. I felt like a soul shoved into a too-small box—conscious, but powerless.
"At first, I was terrified. Trapped. Powerless. Like being buried alive but weightless."
But then… the warmth. The rhythm. A heartbeat not my own, surrounding me. The safety of not needing to breathe, to eat, to think too hard. A lullaby made of blood and bone.
"But then… I felt hope."
"This is a second chance. Another life. Another family."
Somehow, impossibly, I've been given another shot. The universe hit a reset button and chose me. Me of all people. But why?
"Why me? Why now?"
I keep asking, but no answer comes. Just that heartbeat… steady, forgiving.
"I couldn't help but be excited at the idea of having a family again. A real one. One that doesn't fall apart."
The memory of loss is still sharp—cold meals, closed doors, silence where love should be. I want something different this time. I want a connection. I want laughter. I want to be held.
"I wonder what they'll be like. Will they love me?"
Will they see me for who I was—or who I'll become? Or just another screaming, helpless thing?
"Will they know who I was?"
"I hope my new parents are kind."
Kindness feels so far away when you're suspended in flesh and fluid. But I let myself dream.
"Every day I float here, warm, safe, and I imagine what life outside is like."
Until… it begins.
"Then, it started."
"Noise… pressure… everything moved."
The peaceful lull turns to chaos. The walls contract. My world compresses.
"Something's wrong—everything's wrong."
"I'm being pushed—crushed. I can't breathe."
This is it. This is the beginning. Or the end. Everything screams. Everything burns.
"Make it stop. Please make it stop."
I never thought birth would feel like dying. It's violent. Raw. An unraveling of the soul from the dark.
"The pain is too much… like I'm being torn apart."
"Time doesn't exist anymore. Only pain."
"FUUUCK—"
"Why now? Why give me consciousness if I just have to suffer through this?"
It's a cruel joke. Enlightenment and agony in the same breath. Is this some karmic punishment? A divine glitch?
"Did I do something wrong in my past life? Am I paying for it now?"
"Is this birth or punishment?"
And then…
"I'm out… I think."
Cold. Bright. Loud. My body flails, and my throat tears itself open with the violence of first breath.
"My body's screaming, and I can't stop it."
"God, shut up already… wait, that's me."
"Why am I cursing myself?"
I hate this. This weakness. This helpless meat-sack I'm trapped in.
"I hate this. I hate this body. I hate being helpless again."
But then…
"Voices. Real ones."
"They sound scared… but kind."
The chaos begins to soften. I feel something solid. Arms—tentative but warm.
"I feel arms. One pair—strong, unsure."
"A voice. I don't know the words, but it sounds… safe."
"Another pair of arms, softer."
"They move me. Wash me. Wrap me. Put me down."
A crib. A container of wood and blankets. My new prison—or cradle.
"A crib?"
"This is my new life."
A FEW DAYS LATER
"I'm not alone."
Another presence. Another breath, not mine. Not inside me but near.
"There's another baby here. I can hear them."
"Crying. Breathing. Shifting."
We are two candles in the dark, flickering with the effort of being.
"Not me. Someone else."
My vision is blurred. My body is weak. My mind is sharp—but unable to keep up.
"I can't see much and can't stay awake for long as my body cannot handle the amount of information in my brain."
"Every day, the same people come."
Familiar voices now. Patterns form. The man with the warm grip. The woman with the soft hums.
"The man from the first day that held me. The woman who feeds me."
"She cares for the other one, too."
"But who are they to me?"
"Where am I?"
"Is this a hospital?"
"A nursery?"
A FEW WEEKS LATER
"I was finally able to see after a long time."
Colors—muted and strange. Shadows and light warping around wooden beams.
"The room I'm in looks backward, almost like a cabin."
Like a memory from a fantasy book I read once. Old wood. Stone hearth. No electronics. Rustic.
"During the time I'm awake I spend my time observing and identifying objects."
My eyes scan, cataloging—desperate to understand. A blanket. A mobile. A bowl. A strange black box...
"During one of my many observations, a blue box appeared. It stated:"
[System Notification]
New Skill Acquired: [Identify]
You can now analyze objects, people, creatures, and magic by focusing your vision.
"I was shocked. This looks like an interface from the RPG games I've played in my past life."
This isn't just a second chance. This is a game. A story. A simulation. A world unlike my own.
"Is this a system from those anime protagonists that everyone talks about?"
"Isn't this only given to people who end up in worlds of magic or something?"
"I'M FUCKED."
The air feels heavier. Possibilities spiral around me like wind through broken leaves.
"What world am I in?"
[System Notification]
You are in the world of "How to Train Your Dragon."
Note: If you wish, an additional world can be added later.
"What?"
[System Notification]
As stated, this is a world where dragons exists
"Fuck. Why."