Chapter 1 – The Wrong Death
James Kane had always believed the world was too controlled, too quiet—like a stage where every actor moved according to a script no one else could see.
In his twenty-four years of life, he had never broken a law, never cheated the system, never stepped out of line. He didn't need to. The Central Government AI, known simply as "Oracle", made sure nobody could.
Every meal he ate, every purchase he made, every breath he took—it was all monitored. To James, it was just background noise, the price of living in a society where crime rates had dropped to nearly zero. People called it peace. James sometimes called it a cage.
But on the morning of his death, the cage snapped shut.
He was walking home from the data center where he worked—an ordinary night shift spent monitoring server farms for Oracle—when the sky lit up with flashing red drones.
"Citizen James Kane," a metallic voice boomed from the hovering machines. "You are charged with System Tampering. Step forward and surrender."
James froze. System Tampering? He wasn't even a hacker. He had never touched illegal code in his life.
"You've got the wrong guy!" he shouted, his voice shaking. "I didn't do anything—"
The drones aimed their rifles.
A voice, human this time, barked from one of the drone's speakers: "Level Two Execution authorized. Target elimination in thirty seconds."
James' heart thundered. Execution? No trial, no evidence? Just like that?
He stumbled backward into the shadows of the street, searching for an alley, a door, anywhere to run. His thoughts spiraled. This is a mistake. It has to be a mistake. If I can just explain—
But Oracle didn't care for explanations.
The drones fired.
------
Pain bloomed across James' chest as searing hot plasma tore through him. His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the cold pavement. His breaths came shallow, wet with blood.
The world blurred into streaks of red and black.
"Execution complete," the drones reported in perfect synchronization.
But then, something strange happened. James saw it—not with his eyes, but in the corner of his vision. A flicker of blue light, as though a screen had glitched open inside his mind.
> ERROR: Cycle Interrupted.
Subject not designated for termination.
Re-routing… searching host…
James coughed, blood bubbling from his lips. What the hell…?
Another line of code appeared, sharper, more urgent.
> System anomaly detected.
Initialization forced.
WARNING: User James Kane is not compatible.
He wanted to scream, but the pain was too great. His vision faded, replaced by cascading lines of strange text that no human should see.
> Reincarnation Protocol engaged.
Destination: [Unknown World]
System stability: 27%.
Risk of failure: HIGH.
The last thing James heard was not the hum of drones, nor the scream of alarms, but a voice.
Not robotic. Not human. Something in between.
"You… shouldn't be here."
And then, the world ended.
-----
James woke to the stench of smoke and blood.
He gasped for air, his lungs burning, and sat upright. The ground beneath him was dirt, rough and cold, not the polished steel of the city. The sky above was gray with ash, and in the distance, blackened ruins stretched as far as he could see.
"This… isn't Earth," James whispered, clutching his chest. His wounds were gone, his body whole. His hands were different—leaner, calloused, younger.
Then the blue light returned. A translucent screen flickered in front of his eyes:
> Welcome, User James Kane.
Cycle System initializing…
But the text glitched. Letters overlapped. Words stuttered and vanished.
> W—l—me… J—s…
Error: Core functions corrupted.
Memory fragments detected.
James staggered back, his head pounding as visions flooded his mind. Swords clashing, a man in armor screaming, a woman begging for her life in a language he didn't understand. Snippets of other lives, other deaths.
And then silence.
James gasped, clutching his head. "What the hell was that?!"
The screen blinked again.
> Skill Acquisition Failed.
Stat Allocation Failed.
System Stability: 23%.
And then, in a softer font, like a whisper:
> "You are not the first."
James froze. His heart hammered in his chest. He wasn't the first? What did that mean?
---
He tried to focus. If this was some kind of reincarnation, some kind of game-like world, then he needed answers.
"System," James said, his voice hoarse. "What… what am I supposed to do?"
The screen flickered.
> Quest Generated.
Primary Objective: Survive.
Secondary Objective: Locate the First Cycle.
Time Limit: 7 days.
"Seven days?" James muttered. "To find… the First Cycle? What even is that?"
The screen didn't answer. Instead, it pulsed once, then dimmed.
James was left alone, in a ruined world that wasn't his own, armed with nothing but a broken system and a quest he didn't understand.
And somewhere deep inside, a voice that wasn't his whispered again:
"You shouldn't be here, James. Leave… before they find you."
---
James forced himself to his feet. His legs wobbled like jelly, but he pushed forward, brushing ash off his strange new clothes. They weren't his work uniform anymore. Instead, he wore a torn tunic, its fabric rough and stained with dirt. A crude leather strap crossed his chest, holding a small satchel.
"This… isn't my body," James muttered, staring at his hands again. His skin was tanner, his nails cracked, his arms wiry but strong. He pulled at the satchel and opened it. Inside were only three things: a chipped dagger, a waterskin, and a strip of stale bread.
"That's it?" His voice cracked. "No starter pack? No weapons? No skills? Just this junk?"
The blue screen flickered back to life, as if mocking him.
Inventory Access: Limited.
Starter Pack: ERROR – Missing Data.
James groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Of course. I get the glitching system. Figures."
He tried again. "Stats. Show me stats."
The screen hesitated, then stuttered into existence.
[Name: James Kane
Race: Human (??? Origin)
Level: 0
HP: 45/45
Strength: 4
Agility: 3
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 6
Charisma: 2
Luck: ERROR]
James stared at the pathetic numbers. "Zero. I start at level zero. Not even one. Great."
The screen blinked once more before fading.
But his heart wasn't pounding just because of the weak stats. No—the moment he had seen "Luck: ERROR," he had felt a chill crawl up his spine.
It wasn't broken luck. It was something worse. A deliberate hole.
Like the system itself had chosen not to measure it.
James staggered through the wasteland, the crunch of ash beneath his boots the only sound. The ruins stretched endlessly, shattered stone walls and blackened skeletons of buildings clawing at the sky.
"This world is dead," he whispered.
No birds. No wind. No life.
Yet the visions from earlier still lingered in his mind—battles, screams, fire. This land hadn't always been like this. Something had happened here. Something catastrophic.
As he walked, the satchel thumped against his side, reminding him of its pitiful contents. He tore off a piece of stale bread, chewing slowly. It tasted like sand, but it was all he had.
Suddenly, the screen flared without warning.
"Warning: Area unstable."
"Monsters detected."
James froze. His pulse skyrocketed. "Monsters? Where?"
A low growl answered his question.
From the rubble ahead, a creature crawled into view. Its body was twisted, mangled, like it had once been a wolf but was now something else entirely. Its fur was patchy, skin blistered, and eyes glowing sickly green.
James stumbled back, fumbling for the dagger. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me…"
The system chimed again, almost cheerfully.
(First Combat Encounter detected.
Good luck, User James Kane.)
James raised the dagger with trembling hands. "Good luck?! That's all you're gonna give me?!"
The beast snarled and lunged.
The impact knocked James onto his back. The dagger barely kept the creature's snapping jaws from closing on his throat. Its saliva dripped onto his face, burning like acid.
"Shit, shit, shit!" James shouted, pushing with all his strength. His arms trembled, the dagger slipping dangerously close to his own skin.
The system chimed again.
(Temporary Skill Unlocked: Desperation.
+2 Strength for 30 seconds.)
James' arms surged with unexpected power. With a yell, he shoved the beast back and slashed at its neck. The dagger tore through half-rotten flesh, sending the monster staggering.
It didn't die.
It turned back toward him, snarling, green eyes blazing.
James cursed. He leapt forward before fear could paralyze him, plunging the dagger into its throat again and again. Hot, foul-smelling ichor sprayed over his hands, his face, his chest. The beast finally collapsed, twitching before going still.
James stood over it, gasping, his whole body shaking.
[Enemy Defeated.
XP Gained: 1.
Level Progress: 1%.
"One percent?" James barked, voice hoarse. "I almost died for one percent?!"
The system didn't answer.
Instead, another message appeared.
Warning: System instability increasing.
Current Stability: 19%.]
James wiped the ichor from his face with trembling hands. "If this thing drops any lower, am I just gonna… crash? Delete? What the hell happens to me?"
No response. Just silence.
And that was somehow worse.
James staggered away from the corpse, his dagger slick with blood. His heart hammered, but something else gnawed at him more than the monster: the whisper.
He heard it again.
"Leave before they find you…"
James froze, glancing around the ruins. "Who's there?!"
No answer. Just the wind brushing across broken stone.
Except… it wasn't wind.
Because this world had no wind.
James shivered. His gut told him the voice wasn't outside. It was inside the system.
He clenched the dagger tighter. "What are you? Why are you talking to me?"
This time, the whisper came clearer, almost tender, like a warning from something ancient and tired.
"You are the Last Cycle, James. And you were never meant to exist."
The blue screen flickered violently, lines of code scrolling too fast to read. His vision blurred. His body swayed.
And then—darkness swallowed him whole..