There was nothing. Then came awareness, followed by a sharp pain—like a blade stabbing through Zach's mind. A groan escaped his lips. His body felt broken. Sore. Weak, like every bone had been shattered and barely pieced back together.
Then he felt it—a steady vibration under him. A rhythmic jolt through the floor. He was moving… or rather, whatever he was in was moving.
His eyes flew open properly this time. His head cleared enough for him to think. Ignoring the pain, he pushed himself up and looked around.
He was in a carriage—an enclosed one. Light filtered in through narrow slits on the side, just enough to see by.
He wasn't alone.
Dozens of people were crammed inside with him. Some were young, barely teens. Others were older, but none looked over forty. They all had one thing in common—they looked broken. Thin, weak, starved. Their bodies slumped against the wooden walls and floor like lifeless corpses. If not for the slow rise and fall of their chests, he would've thought they were dead.
Then he looked down at himself.
His breath caught.
The body he was in wasn't his. It was small, bony, and malnourished—like the others. His arms were thin, skin pale and stretched. This was a child's body. Fragile. Weak.
His mind spun. What is this? Where am I?
He closed his eyes and tried to think. Slowly, memories returned.
He remembered staying up late, playing Calamity's Crown. He'd finally defeated the final boss. Then came that sudden jump scare, a strange message from the devs… his monitor exploding… everything going dark…
And now this?
His eyes widened.
He had transmigrated.
As someone who'd spent hours reading webnovels, watching anime, and playing fantasy RPGs, Zach knew the signs. This was no dream or hallucination. This was real. He had truly been isekai'd.
But even knowing that, none of this felt how he'd imagined. He used to daydream about waking up in a new world—gaining a powerful system, leveling up, fighting monsters. But those were just fleeting thoughts. He never actually believed it could happen.
And now that it had, it felt too real. Too raw. This wasn't a fun adventure. It was cold, dirty, painful—and terrifyingly real.
Then another thought hit him, stronger than the rest.
This place… this exact scene…
It felt familiar.
He frowned, trying to place it. His mind searched, digging through his memories.
And then it hit him.
The game. Calamity's Crown.
This scene looked exactly like the opening cutscene from Lucien Thorne's backstory—the one you unlocked after completing a special hidden quest. It gave players a short glimpse into Lucien's past… back when he was still human. Before he became the Scarlet Curse. Before he became the final calamity of Valeria.
Zach's heart dropped.
"No way…"
He remembered the webnovel Ashes of Valeria, the original story Calamity's Crown was based on. Fans always complained that Lucien never got a proper backstory. All anyone knew was that he had once been human and had been wronged by the world—so deeply that his hatred consumed him, turning him into a calamity.
The game tried to fix that. They added a quest that, once completed, unlocked cutscenes from Lucien's human life. And this carriage… this exact moment… was the very beginning of the cutscene.
But if this really was that scene…
Zach's heart pounded as the weight of reality sank in.
Did I transmigrate into Lucien Thorne?
The final boss he had defeated? The Scarlet Curse himself?
He remembered the strange message that flashed on his screen just before his death—"You become what you hunt." Was that what it meant?
It started to make sense. He had spent sleepless nights grinding through Calamity's Crown, facing the three Calamities. Lucien was the last one—the strongest, the most tragic, the enemy he had struggled with the most. Zach's character had died to him countless times. That kind of strength… even Zach had admired it a little, even if Lucien was the villain.
But admiration didn't mean he wanted to be him.
Zach shook his head. "No… no, there's got to be another explanation. Maybe the carriage just looks the same…"
But even as he spoke the words, he already knew the truth.
His chest tightened.
He had transmigrated into the body of Lucien Thorne.
The Scarlet Curse.
The final calamity of Valeria.
His mind raced. If this was true, then he wasn't just some background character or low-level villager. He was the final boss. But that also meant something worse—he was fated to be corrupted. To destroy kingdoms. To become the monster the entire world feared.
No… this can't be.
He clenched his fists. Maybe it wasn't true. Maybe he was wrong.
There was only one way to know for sure.
Status. He willed silently.
A soft chime echoed in his ears. A translucent blue screen appeared in front of him.
Zach's eyes lit up. A system screen! That was good. In Calamity's Crown, NPCs didn't have system interfaces. Only playable characters did. If he had a status screen, then maybe he wasn't Lucien.
But when he looked closer his heart sank.
---
Name: Lucien Thorne
Age: 16
Health: 63%
Race: Human
Level: 1 → (0%)
Bloodline: Locked
Mana: Locked
---
STATS
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Endurance: 6
Vitality: 5
Intelligence: 6
Perception: 4
Willpower: 1.1
〔Stat Points: 0〕
---
Zach stared in silence.
The name confirmed it.
He really was Lucien Thorne.
The Scarlet Curse. The last calamity. The one who burned Valeria to ashes.
A heavy silence settled inside him.
Why?
Why him?
Lucien's future wasn't glory. It was tragedy. Pain. Hatred. A path of destruction that ended with him becoming a calamity feared by the world.
Was he really supposed to follow that same path?
To make matters worse, he had transmigrated into the weakest version of Lucien—so pathetically weak that even his stats were below average.
In the game, the average human had a base stats of 7. Some highly trained individuals reached 10. Anything higher than that required bloodline awakening or magical boost.
How the hell am I supposed to survive in this body?
He looked around again at the others in the carriage. Everyone looked pale, starved, barely alive. These weren't just slaves. They were discarded. Useless.
Then he remembered.
In the game, this scene was the aftermath of a failed experiment..
The Dark Order, a powerful underground group, was responsible. They kidnapped people, ran experiments, performed ritual —you name it.
Lucien… was one of their test subjects.
According to the game's lore, this entire group was being moved—not for release, but disposal. The Dark Order didn't let test subjects live. Anyone who didn't meet their standards was executed.
Yet somehow, Lucien survived. Somehow, he escaped.
But the game never explained how. The cutscene just skipped past this part. Zach had no idea how this frail version of Lucien managed to get away. No details. Just that somewhere between this moment and the future, something happened.
From what he could tell, the carriage was guarded by elite Dark Order warriors. Bloodline awakened. Monstrously strong. One of them could wipe out this entire group in seconds.
Only a miracle could have saved this frail weak version of Lucien from this current situation.
He could only hope that same miracle would happen again.
Just then—
THUD.
The entire carriage jolted violently, throwing Zach forward.
Another THUD, louder this time. The horses up front neighed wildly.
Then came the shouting.
"Beast horde! We're under attack!"
Another voice screamed:
"Protect the prisoners! No one escapes!"
Zach's heart skipped.
A beast horde?
Could this be it? The miracle?