The cruiser's hull groaned under the weight of its own mass as it drifted through the void. Beyond the thick plating and endless corridors, thousands of conscripts sat in silence, locked in restraint-seats, clutching rifles that felt too heavy in their trembling hands. The air was thick with sweat, grease, and fear, fear of the planet waiting below.
But in one sealed bay, away from the others, a pod stood guarded by two armored men. The pod's surface was cold steel, reinforced with hydraulic locks. A faint hiss of pressurized oxygen vented every few seconds. Inside, a body lay still.
The boy's chest did not rise. His lips were pale. His eyes stared into nothing.
Asher Veylan was dead.
The toxin had burned through his veins like ice fire, numbing him until the pain vanished. He'd taken it in silence, his back pressed against the curved interior of the pod, the heavy restraints pinning him. No one knew. No one cared. Why would they? To the soldiers outside, he was already condemned. Just another disposable body tossed into the swarm.
But then---
A violent jolt.
Air ripped into his lungs like fire. His body convulsed. His fingers clawed at the restraints, nails scraping against the steel. His throat tore with a ragged gasp.
"---the hell?!"
He stared around in a panic. The pod. The steel walls. His hands.
No. Not his hands.
They were leaner, narrower. The skin slightly paler than his own had ever been. His breathing quickened as his mind reeled.
Where... where am I?
And then the flood came. Memories not his own, crashing into him like waves that refused to let him breathe. He saw classrooms filled with young recruits, endless drills in gray halls, the metallic stink of sweat in training chambers. He saw laughter, whispers, cruelty. A toilet stall. A boy who's unconscious and on the brink of death slumped on the tiles. Faces twisted in false horror. Screams. Accusations.
"He almost killed him! He almost killed him!"
The name on their lips, his name.
Asher.
The memories dug into him like claws, rooting deep until he could no longer tell where one ended and the other began.
And then he understood.
This body belonged to another Asher. Not him, the Asher from Earth, the boy who died in the car accident just hours ago but a different Asher Veylan, born in this war-torn galaxy. A boy accused. Condemned. Cast into the jaws of hell.
Asher's head fell back against the pod wall, his breath trembling.
"…you've got to be fucking kidding me."
He closed his eyes, muttering bitterly to the void.
"I just died… I just died. And now what? I wake up here, in another body that's about to die on a suicide mission?" His voice cracked with something between a laugh and a sob. "What kind of cosmic joke is this?"
His pulse pounded in his ears. He tried to steady himself, forcing his breaths into rhythm. But anger gnawed at him as the memories of this world's Asher played back the sneer of Sylas and his friends, the staged horror as they dragged teachers into the stall, the way they pointed fingers while their wealth and family names shielded them from blame.
Asher muttered, clenching his teeth. "I just walked in and they..." He stopped, fists shaking against the restraints. "Fucking bastards."
Silence pressed against him. Only the hiss of the pod filled his ears.
Then, a cold ripple across his vision.
Words. Symbols. Lines of text that did not belong to any HUD, any human interface he knew. They unfolded like crystalline glass in the air before him.
---
> [Ascension Protocol Activated]
Subject: Asher Veylan
---
Asher's breath froze. The letters were clear, luminous, and yet they burned with an alien detachment. More text cascaded down.
---
Asher Veylan
KC (Kill Credits): 0
Strength: 1x Peak Human
Cost: 50
Agility: 1x Peak Human
Cost: 50
Endurance: 1x Peak Human
Cost: 50
Max: 50x
Body Modifications: —
Bind Subjects: —
---
He blinked rapidly, shaking his head.
"What… the actual… fuck?"
His voice cracked in disbelief.
"Okay. Okay, calm down, Asher. You've seen weird shit before. You died then you woke up in someone else's body. Now there's… a video game UI in your face... Yeah... Perfectly normal."
He squinted at the screen, muttering.
"Kill Credits? Strength, Agility, Endurance…"
He hesitated, then willed the display to shift. It responded instantly, sliding to reveal a catalog.
The Shop.
And in it, a list of grotesque, fascinating possibilities.
---
[Body Modifications Available]
Ocular Refit: Night Vision: 11150 KC
Telescopic Sight: 11180 KC
Dermal Reinforcement: Tougher Skin: 11400 KC
Osteo-Steel: Metal Bones: 15000 KC
Regenerative Tissue: 17000 KC
Retractable Claws: 18000 KC
Winged Adaptation: 115500 KC
…and dozens more.
---
Asher's jaw dropped.
"…holy shit."
His eyes darted from one option to the next.
"You're telling me… I can actually… buy these?" He let out a sharp laugh, half awe, half madness. "Claws, metal bones, wings?! This is insane."
For a moment, his fear was eclipsed by raw fascination. But before he could scroll further, the pod's siren blared.
A harsh red light filled the pod.
The soldiers outside stiffened, voices muffled but tense.
"It's time. Deployment sequence, all soldiers enter you pod."
The restraints inside his pod unlocked with a click. His limbs tingled with blood rushing back. The pod's hydraulics groaned as clamps released.
"No, no, wait---" Asher stammered, but the floor lurched beneath him. The pod tilted. A hiss of steam filled the chamber. Then, with a deafening roar, the launch thrusters ignited.
He was thrown back into his seat as the pod shot down the launch rail like a bullet from a cannon.
The stars outside blurred. The cruiser shrank behind him.
Through the pod's reinforced viewport, the planet loomed, a desolate desert world washed in muted purple haze. Sandstorms spiraled across its surface. Explosions lit the horizon as human ships rained hellfire.
Then Asher saw them.
Not human ships.
Vast insectoid cruisers, their hulls chitinous and alive, their surfaces writhing with pulsating veins. From their bellies lashed out massive tentacle-arms, snaring human frigates and tearing them apart like toys.
"Jesus Christ…" Asher whispered, horror and awe twisting in his chest.
The pod shuddered violently, heat slamming against the exterior as it entered atmosphere. Flames streaked across the viewport. The roar drowned everything.
"Hold together... hold together, damn it---"
Impact.
The pod slammed into the sand, carving a trench of fire. Asher's skull rattled. The restraints bit into his chest. Then... silence.
Smoke curled around him as the pod's hatch hissed open.
For a long moment, he just sat there, staring at the alien desert. The air shimmered with heat, faintly tinted violet. Jagged rock formations loomed like teeth. And far in the distance, smoke and fire marked the locations of other landings or deaths.
A screen flickered inside his helmet.
[Objective: Proceed North]
Target: Insectoid Underground Nest]
Asher's throat was dry. He reached for the rifle clamped inside the pod. His hands shook as he slung it over his shoulder. A huge backpack followed, heavy with food, drink, ammunition and explosives.
His boots sank into the sand as he stepped out.
"…this is it," he whispered to himself, the words barely audible beneath his helmet.
The first steps of a condemned man, now walking in the body of another. A man bound by two deaths.
Above him, the war thundered on.