A rumbling sound echoed inside a run down tent, it's roof being pieced together with various different clothes. Still, there were some holes through which a pale moonlight fell on a scrawny boy.
The boy's eyes slowly opened, his brown eyes shifted as he woke up trying to make up where he was. And as time passed they widened.
"Where am I?" Jani spoke in a low tone.
He looked around but everywhere around him was dirty cloth of the tent which was sheltering him and near his legs were a chest and a slightly cracked cauldron full of dirty water which gave a faint stench.
Jani was disgusted by his sorrounding, but then a sound echoed. It was coming from his stomach, he was really hungry. But the strangest thing was his body, was it always so small and weak?
What a strange dream. No, more importantly why it feels so real.
Jani pinched himself hard, but the world around him didn't dissolve which would result in him waking up in his apartment.
As he did it three more times which didn't change anything, he finally gave up. He laid back again on the torn piece of cloth which he was sleeping on. He closed his eyes and waited.
Soon his eyes opened again, it was the same place he was, but something came to his mind. He had felt it at first but now it was clear where he was.
He got up and lifted the flap, he crawled outside. Sorrounding him were same run down tents everywhere. There were a few men dozing off around fire, covered in the same shabby clothes as he was. There were few cheap liquor bottles here and there.
But that wasn't important, the slum, he had read about it. Information rushed to his mind as his body went cold.
The thing which he thought only happened in novels. He had transmigrated into the world of the novel which he was assigned to complete.
'Return of The King of Dragons', he had finished reading the novel which was stopped midway due to the author's mysterious death. And as he was returning from his work a vehicle had hit him.
The book had been unfinished for years, and it was said to be cursed. Any new author who tried to finish it would soon die.
Now he knew what happened to others, the curse of the book was real. But not just it killed the new writer, the book sucked them in its world.
He fell on his knees. Was he really dead and it's just a fragment of his imagination or maybe it was all just a bad dream. But if so, why hasn't he woke up already.
Damn it! If only I didn't have so much debts accumulated, I wouldn't have agreed to work on this wretched book. Now I....
As he was about to speak a holographic screen appeared in front of him. There were words etched on it.
[Welcome Young Writer, to the world of Return of The King of Dragons. If you are reading this it means I have been long gone. Congrats on being my successor.
I am ashamed that I would have been gone before I could complete my work. This was my everything and it was impossible to let go of it. So I made a deal with ######
###### made this world and in order to return to the real world you would have to complete my unfinished work. Since I am no more, this is your world to play with.
But be careful, if you die in this world or fail to achieve a satisfying ending. You will die in real life.]
Beads of cold sweat accumulated on his head, 'You will die in real life.' Did it mean that he was still alive in real world? Does that mean he would survive if he fulfills the conditions of the original author?
He had so many questions but first he checked himself. Pale and weak body with a hollow but pleasant face, brown eyes.
He was in the body of one of the main character, Dante the Dragon of Flames. Who was one of the least favourite character due to his agressive behaviour and stupidity.
Not only that, the other two main characters totally outshined him in terms of power and charisma.
"Truly my luck is terrible." Jani spoke in a resentful tone.
Altough he was one of the main character, why he had to be the least impactful one. What he could possibly do to make a good change in the story?
His life depended on it, but suddenly a thought came to his mind. It wasn't Dante who's in the story. It's him, and he can change the story.
A ray of hope shone upon him along with the bright light of the sun. It was already dawn.
Jani still felt incredulous about his situation, he was really experiencing something so fantastical. But there was no point in arguing, he was really stuck in this world.
He stood up and faced the sun, it would soon begin just an hour from now. He crawled inside his tent again.
A solid iron chest was in front of him, this was the only thing Dante had received from his lineage. The magic chest which would always stay by his owner.
On the chest was an emblem of a burning dagger. In the novel, after an hour from dawn the chest would have been opened after a bloodied Dante hugged his last belonging from his family.
The chest would open up from his blood and incredible determination to live. Already some time had passed since the dawn, a dungeon would break nearby after a few minutes.
Jani smashed the bottle he picked up from the sleeping drunkards, he slashed his hand and soon warm blood flowed from the wound. Altough it was painful, it was much better from the many wounds of the monsters.
He pressed his hand against the chest and grasped from pain. He cleared his mind of any thoughts and channeled a single word throughout his being.
Live.. live.. live
The chest started to heat and soon turned red, but even the red hot iron couldn't burn the heir of flame dragon. Soon the iron melted and flowed on the ground and in the molten iron lied a bright red hilt.
Jani picked the hilt, as he focused soon a small flame emerged which grew until it took a shape of blade which was almost the size of his forearm.
The blade shimmered with it's red glow, altough it was a bit unstable. Dante had used it unconsciously for the first time, because of it he survived barely.
"It's not much better, but let's survive this with fewer wounds."
A thought of the others being killed came to his mind. But what could he possibly do, even Dante was unable to save anyone and only managed to escape narrowly through the tunnel.
He could try and lead others to tunnel, but what existed inside it wouldn't let them leave alive and it would be bad to have dead weights he constantly needed to protect.
As he was thinking the world started to tremble, and sounds of howls and growls could be heard everywhere. The dungeon was already open.
Jani stood in his place and slashed vertically, as soon as he did the front of the tent was cut open and outside he could see a goblin smaller than him which was about to attack his shabby tent.
But before the goblin could have, his body split apart as black colored blood poured from the body. The two halves fell on opposite side on the ground as Jani walked out.
He saw destruction everywhere, thankfully only lower level goblins had appeared on the first wave.
Soon it will be worse,but before that I would be...
Just before he could think anymore, he sensed something and slashed his dagger to the right. A head fell on the ground but it was bigger than the previous goblin. A clang sound echoed as a rusted short sword fell on the ground along with the decapitated body.
Before he could have realised, Jani sensed the same danger but now from everywhere. More mid level goblins had emerged, sorrounding him in a circle.
A frown appeared on his face, he bit his lips as he spoke resentfully.
"Truly my luck is terrible."