I woke up to the pleasant feeling of wind on my face and through my hair, the cool touch of grass against my skin… My skin.
My skin?!
I shot my eyes open, only to shut them again instantly, blinded by the blazing sun. When I pushed myself up, the truth hit me: if I could feel grass all the way up my ass crack, it was because I was completely naked.
But where the hell… Where the hell am I?!
Looking around, I realized I was in the middle of a wide plain. Not a single tree in sight. Just endless grass… and that weird, crawling feeling of being watched.
I turned around instinctively, only to see a rabbit. Not an ordinary rabbit. A laporage. Savage little beasts, infamous for hunting in packs, and for tearing rookie adventurers to shreds back on Gharyan. No wonder. At first glance, they didn't look dangerous at all.
At least, that's what I thought, until the damn thing lunged at me.
By instinct, I raised my arm to block it, sure its teeth would snap on my aura-hardened forearm.
Wrong.
Its fangs sank deep, and blood sprayed out like I hadn't seen since I was a child.
"WHAT THE HELL?! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! JUST HOW STRONG ARE YOU?!" I screamed, shaking my arm wildly to throw the bastard off. When I finally flung it away, the rabbit hit the ground, then hopped right back up, quick as ever, ready for round two.
"I don't have time for this. Get lost!" I snapped, aiming my hand at it, ready to unleash my signature gravity spell.
… Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Even the rabbit seemed confused, staring at me like it too was waiting for something to happen. And I just stood there, frozen, eyes wide.
This wasn't a dream. My mother. The Void Realm. Magnus. It was all real. My powers... my aura, my magic, everything, were truly gone.
I was human.
While the horror sank in, the laporage let out a small cry. Then another. Then another. Not very loud, but loud enough to carry across the plain.
Another rabbit appeared. Then another. Then another. Soon there were more than ten of them.
At this point, they could absolutely tear me apart. But my pride, the same pride that had guided and ruled my twenty-two years of life, refused to bend.
I clenched my fist, ready to go down fighting.
And then…
I ran.