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Chapter 1: The Day I Died
Chains of Evolution: The Reborn Slave
I died on a rainy Thursday.
It's funny how clear that part is. The sky was grey. My hands were cold. My bag was soaked because I forgot my umbrella. Just another long, miserable walk back from class.
And then, the scream.
A child — maybe six, maybe seven — running across the crosswalk as a truck skidded down the street, out of control.
I didn't think. Not really. I just ran.
And then…
Pain. The kind of pain that feels like your bones forgot how to be solid. Then nothing at all.
I remember thinking, So this is it. Just like that.
No epic flashback. No slow fade to black. Just cold asphalt and the metallic taste of blood.
I guess I expected oblivion. Or maybe some distant voice saying, You've reached the end. Thank you for playing. But instead…
I opened my eyes.
Or something like that.
It wasn't like waking up. There was no bed, no sky, no wind. Just… space. A void so vast it made my chest tighten. There were stars, but they didn't move. They hung in place like tiny, glowing scars carved into the black.
Then I noticed him.
A man — or something like a man — sitting on a massive throne made of broken clocks. Some were stopped, others ticked wildly out of sync. His hair shifted like falling sand, golden and endless. His eyes… They weren't eyes. They were spinning clock faces.
He smirked as if he'd been waiting for me for a long, long time.
"You're finally here," he said, voice echoing as if the void itself listened.
I tried to speak, but I didn't have a mouth. I wasn't even sure I had a body.
"Don't panic," he added quickly, waving a lazy hand. "You're not in your body. Just your soul. Or whatever poetic term you humans like."
I still didn't understand.
"W-who are you?" I thought — or said — or willed. The words felt strange, like I was shaping them out of air.
He leaned forward on his throne, resting his chin on one hand. "Name's Cronos. God of Time, Memory, and... peculiar ideas."
"Am I… dead?"
"Mm-hmm." He tapped a broken sundial on the arm of his chair. "Squished. Splat. You were flatter than a copper coin."
He smiled like it was a joke.
I didn't laugh.
"I died saving someone…" I murmured, and I don't know why. I didn't expect praise. I wasn't even sure it had worked.
Cronos nodded slowly. "Yes. A little girl. She lived."
Relief washed over me like warmth. Strange, since I wasn't even sure I still had a heart to feel with.
Cronos stood, and as he moved, the air around him twisted like glass.
"You could've frozen. You could've hesitated. But you didn't. You acted. That… intrigues me."
He walked toward me. "So, I'm offering you something rare. A second life."
My thoughts tangled. "Why me?"
"Because most people only think about survival. You thought about someone else."
His gaze sharpened. "But here's the twist: I'm not sending you to a happy life. No royal bloodlines. No chosen one prophecy. You won't wake up in a palace with maids and magic swords. You'll wake up in chains."
I stiffened. "Chains?"
"A slave. From birth."
That word pierced me deeper than I expected. "Why would you do that to me?"
He shrugged. "Because everyone wants to start at the top. I want to see what someone can do starting at the very bottom."
Fear surged through me like lightning. Slavery? Oppression? No freedom? No dignity?
"I… I don't think I can survive that."
"You don't know that," he said simply. "Besides, you're not going in empty-handed."
That surprised me. "So… you're giving me powers?"
Cronos smirked. "Let's call them bonuses. But here's the deal: I can't tell you when or where you'll awaken. That's beyond even me. The wheel spins, and you land where you land."
My fear doubled. "So I might be born to cruel masters? I might not even survive?"
"Yup," he said cheerfully.
"What kind of gift is that!?"
Cronos waved a hand, and for a moment, I saw flickers — glimpses of strange worlds: dragons soaring over shattered mountains, men with glowing swords fighting beasts made of mist, children slinging spells in battlefields of magic.
"You want safety?" he asked, voice suddenly quiet. "Or do you want freedom? The freedom to grow. To fight. To rise, no matter how low you start."
I didn't answer. Not immediately.
Because despite the terror curling in my gut, something else stirred beneath it. Something that had always been there. Even back in my old life. That voice that whispered, What if you went just a little further? What's waiting out there, beyond the edge?
Adventurous. That's what people used to call me.
But I was always too scared to go anywhere.
Now I had a chance.
Maybe the last one I'd ever get.
"Will I remember this?" I asked quietly.
"Not all of it. But enough." He grinned. "And when the time comes — when you're ready — you'll unlock what I've prepared for you."
He snapped his fingers.
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[Reincarnation Contract: COMPLETE]
— Memory Retention: Partial until awakening
— World Placement: Random (Low-tier)
— Power Access: Locked until catalyst event
— Bonus Skill (Hidden): Pending Activation
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"That's it?" I asked, bewildered. "No sword? No magic?"
Cronos chuckled. "You'll get what you need. Not what you want."
He turned away. "Just remember one thing: growth isn't given. It's earned. Even your evolution will come at a price."
My mind latched onto the word. "Evolution?"
But he didn't answer.
Instead, the world around me began to crack — like glass under pressure. Light poured through the breaks. A soundless wind howled around us.
"One last thing, Eren," Cronos said, voice suddenly distant. "You've been granted a trait. You won't see it right away. But it's already there."
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[Trait: Unbound (Dormant)]
A soul that resists chains, physical or magical. Will grows stronger in captivity. Destiny bends, but does not break.
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The world shattered.
And I fell.
Down through eternity, through heat, through cold, through silence.
And then — a scream.
My scream.
The scream of a newborn, weak and wailing, in a world not my own.
And around my neck, I felt something heavy.
A collar.
I wasn't a hero. Not yet.
I was a slave.
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End of Chapter 1