The new transformation weighed Kael down like been put under load of rocks. He was now a creature, more like a monster from a forgotten story, a failed experiment locked away in a deep, dark hole. The life he had known and enjoyed, the world he had lived in, was now gone forever. His victory over the final boss, the server-first achievement that he had sacrificed years for, meant nothing. It was now all a memory, a final, everything about his life is now all gone. He slid down the cold stone wall, his strange, powerful new body feeling like a cage. He was trapped. Not just in this cell, but in this form, in this new strange and dreadful reality.
The hopelessness and misery was a thick, suffocating blanket weighing on him. What could he do? He wasn't a player anymore. He couldn't log out. He couldn't come back to real world. If he died here, would that be it? Would his consciousness and existence simply be forgotten? Or would he be forced to come back to life in this very cell, a prisoner for eternity? He buried his new, unfamiliar face in his hands, the rough texture of his skin a constant reminder of his new terrifying transformation. The silence of the cell pressed in on him, echoing the sound of his own heavy breathing and the heavy pounding of his heart. He was alone, a figure in a virtual world that was not yet even turned on.
It was in that moment of absolute silence that he heard it.
It started as a faint vibration in the air, a single, pure note that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was an echo. But it was unlike any sound he had ever heard. It was clear and perfect, like an iron been hit on another iron. The note travelled through the thin air, vibrating through the stone floor and making it into his own very bones sending shiver down his spines. It was a sound filled with magic and promise, a sound that signaled a significant and momentous beginning.
Kael lifted his head, his silver eyes wide with confusion. The sound was deeply, profoundly familiar. He had heard it before, long ago, during the beta tests for Aethelgard's Legacy. It was the sound that played when the world's servers first came online, the sound that signaled the birth of the game itself. But that made no sense. He had just been fighting the end-game boss. The game had been running for years. Why would he be hearing this now?
Before he could even begin to process the question, the world answered him.
A voice, grand and deep, echoed not in the cell, but directly inside his mind. It wasn't a spoken voice but a voice directly in his head; it was a system broadcast, a message sent to every being connected to the game's core code. The voice was neither male nor female, but a perfect, perfect blend of both, and it spoke with a warmth that felt as huge as the sky.
"Welcome, Travelers, to Aethelgard's Legacy!"
The words hit Kael with the force of a physical blow. His mind, which had been drowning in a sea of confusion, suddenly kicked into high gear, the sharp, analytical brain of a top-tier gamer taking over. He knew that message. Every player knew that message. It wasn't just a welcome; it was the welcome. The one that was played only once, at the very beginning. The words spoken on the official, worldwide launch day.
The consequences were so overwhelming, so impossible, that his thoughts hesitated . He had not just been transported into the game he was playing. He had been thrown back in time. The electrical surge that had killed him had somehow sent his consciousness not just into the game, but to its absolute beginning. Right now, at this very second, millions of players around the world were logging in for the first time. They were creating their characters, choosing their starting classes, and appearing in the safe, welcoming starting towns. The world of Aethelgard's Legacy was being born anew, and he was already here, locked away in a place none of them would discover for months, or even years.
The impossible had happened. Kael, the player, was dead. But his knowledge, his memories of the future of this world, were all intact. He was trapped inside the body of an NPC, a monster, on Day One of the game's official release.
As his mind struggled to contain this earth-shattering revelation, something flickered in the corner of his eye. It was faint at first, like a glitch in his vision. A small, rectangular box of translucent light tried to form in front of him. It shimmered and warped, the edges fizzing with unstable energy, completely unlike the crisp, clean user interfaces he was used to. It was a system notification, but it was broken, corrupted, as if the game itself didn't know how to classify him.
The text inside the box was a garbled mess of symbols and characters, but two words were shockingly clear, written in a stark, simple font.
[ID: Subject Zero]
He stared at the words, his blood running cold. Subject Zero. Not a name, but a designation. A label for the first, failed experiment. It was a confirmation of everything he feared. He was a thing, a piece of the game's code that wasn't supposed to exist. He had no player nameplate, no class, no level. He was a bug, an anomaly in the system.
The despair he had felt moments before was suddenly burned away by a new, much more powerful emotion: sheer, unadulterated terror. His player knowledge was no longer a collection of fond memories; it was a terrifying prophecy. He knew exactly where he was. The Blackwood Alchemical Laboratory was a high-level zone, filled with twisted magical abominations and deadly traps. New players wouldn't come here. They couldn't. They would be slaughtered in seconds.
But that was the problem. He wasn't in the high-level part of the world. The laboratory was an isolated dungeon, but it was located right underneath the starting region for new players. He was a top-tier secret hidden in a beginner's area.
He was trapped in an NPC's body, armed with a player's knowledge. He knew every secret passage in this laboratory, every monster's weakness, every hidden piece of lore. He also knew that sooner or later, some curious, high-level player would eventually find this place. And when they did, what would they find? They would find him. A unique NPC, a one-of-a-kind monster with a designation like "Subject Zero." To a player, he would be the ultimate prize. A secret boss, a source of a legendary quest, or a monster that dropped unimaginable loot. They wouldn't see a trapped soul. They would see an opportunity. They would see a target.
The game had begun for millions of others. For them, it was a day of adventure and discovery. For Kael, it was the start of a countdown. The distant chime that had signaled the world's birth was not a welcome for him. It was a warning. The players were coming. He had to escape. He had to get out of this laboratory before he was discovered, before his new existence was cut short by a group of adventurers looking for fame and fortune. His race for survival had just begun.