My name is Zen.
Twenty-two. Ordinary. Forgettable.
I'm not good at studies, and I'm worse at sports.
I have classmates, sure, but no one I'd call a friend. My life is… fine, I guess. Not tragic, not amazing. Just… there.
The only thing that has ever stirred something in me is the moon.
Don't ask me why. Maybe because it feels eternal. Untouched. Beautiful in a way that doesn't fade. Since I was a kid, every full moon night I'd stand on my balcony, eyes locked upward for hours. And tonight… tonight was a full moon again.
Tomorrow was a holiday. No alarms, no lectures, no obligations. Perfect.
---
*"Finally, night."*
I shoveled down my dinner, the sound of cutlery clinking in my rush.
"Mom, I'm waking up late tomorrow!" I called, already halfway to my room.
The balcony door slid open. A cold breeze brushed against my face as the moon revealed itself — pale, perfect, and untouchable.
Time slipped away.
When I finally checked my phone, the numbers glared back at me.
*3:00 a.m.*
"Tch… fine, five more minutes."
---
That's when the night tore open.
A streak of light cut across the black sky — fast but unhurried, sharp yet graceful. A shooting star. It should have vanished in a blink… but it didn't.
It drifted, as though time had slowed just for me.
I knew I had to make a wish.
The usual thoughts — wealth, power — flashed in my head. But they didn't feel right. My lips moved before I could stop them.
*"I… want to know more about the moon."*
It was stupid. It was honest.
The star flared brighter, the glow swelling until it felt like the world itself was holding its breath.
Then—
*"Hah… is it really—"*
Agony.
White-hot pain exploded in my skull. My breath caught. My body wouldn't move. The night dissolved into a blur, my vision collapsing inward—
—and then there was nothing.
---
I woke up to the smell of dust and paper.
The pain was gone, but so was everything familiar.
I was lying beneath a collapsed pile of books, their leather covers cracked and faded. Tall shelves surrounded me, stretching toward a ceiling lost in shadow. The room hummed with silence.
A fractured mirror leaned against the wall. I stumbled to it, and my reflection stared back — not my face.
"…hahahahahaha!" The sound ripped out of me, half disbelief, half hysteria.
"This cursed life! If you're going to transmigrate me, at least give me a face that turns heads — or drop me into a rich family! And where's my system?!"
I waited.
Nothing.
"System…?"
Silence.
"Systemmmmmm!"
Still nothing.
Fine. Deep breaths.
Memories that weren't mine began to surface.
Name: **Kaison Aakhtar**.
Middle child of three. A librarian by trade, an astronomer by obsession. A family barely scraping by.
Through the window, sunlight spilled into the room. One of my sisters would be returning from school soon.
I let the curtain fall, turning back to the books.
If the shooting star wasn't going to hand me a system, maybe it had left me something else hidden in these pages.
---