When Ash's eyes snapped open, and the world refused to make sense. The sky above was a dull, greenish-gray, filtered through leaves that twisted unnaturally in the wind.
A sharp tang of damp soil and decay filled his nose, and every breath he drew felt thick, as though the air itself was resisting him.
Pain tore through his body—muscles screaming, bones aching, every joint stiff and unfamiliar.
He tried to move. His arms jerked awkwardly. His legs trembled under him. His reflection in a puddle of water revealed a face that was… human, yes, but not his own. It was a human body, sure—but everything was subtly wrong.
The hands were too long, the fingers oddly jointed; shoulders narrow yet stiff; legs frail, trembling under the weight of his own self. Panic bubbled in his throat, sharp and raw.
"This isn't me."
The heartbeat he felt pounding in his chest didn't feel entirely like his own.
It was irregular, uneven—stronger than his memories remembered, yet fragile in its rhythm. He clenched his fists. Black veins flickered under his pale skin for a brief second, pulsing faintly, almost painfully. Fire ran along them like liquid shadows.
His heart skipped at the sensation.
"What the hell…"
He forced himself onto his hands and knees.
The forest floor was rough, tangled with roots that seemed to grab at him with every movement, biting his palms and scraping his knees raw.
Hunger gnawed at him with relentless teeth. Thirst scorched his throat. Fatigue threatened to drag him under. And over it all, betrayal, sharp and bitter, clawed at his chest.
Earth had ended him. The loss had ended him. And yet here he was, lying in a body that wasn't his own, in a world that didn't care. Weak, helpless, abandoned.
He tried to stand, trembling, but his legs refused him. His entire body screamed in protest.
Rage flared, black and molten, coiling in his chest like a living thing. He wanted to scream, to strike, to tear something apart—not out of hope, not out of reason, but because the world had dared to be so cruel.
But there was nothing to fight. Only trees, their shadows shifting like silent spectators.
The wind whispered through the leaves, mocking him with silence. He sank to the ground and let his face fall into his hands, chest heaving.
"And then a thought, sharp and unbidden: I will move.
"I will survive."
Fueled by stubborn pride, he pushed himself forward, crawling over roots and stones, dragging the alien body across the forest floor.
Each movement left him trembling. Each breath felt like a battle. But he persisted.
The anger pulsing through him burned hotter than hunger, sharper than pain, and strangely, it gave him a rhythm, a pace he could follow.
Hours passed, though time itself felt meaningless. Slivers of sunlight broke through the canopy, painting pale lines across his face.
Hunger gnawed relentlessly, thirst scorched relentlessly. Each step forward was agony, each movement a gamble.
But he kept going." Pride whispered in his chest, fierce and insistent." You are not broken." "You are not finished."
He stumbled upon a shallow stream. The water looked dark, murky, yet life-giving. Dropping to his knees, he scooped it into his hands.
The chill bit into his palms and ran up his arms, burning cold against the heat of his black blood
. For a fleeting moment, his eyes flickered dark—shadows in the iris, just for a heartbeat. He blinked quickly, disoriented. Was it fatigue? Hunger? Or something else, something alive in his veins he did not yet understand?
"He drank, gasping, letting the cold shock burn away some of the weakness. But even as he did, he realized the truth: his body was still foreign, still fragile, still human…"
yet not quite".
Black blood pulsed faintly beneath the skin, a reminder that something else had been grafted into him. Something dangerous, something hidden. Something that could, someday, change everything.
Rising to his feet was agony. Every joint, every muscle screamed, yet he did not kneel. Not now. Not ever. The forest stretched endlessly before him, green shadows thick with life and unknown dangers.
Yet he took one step.
Then another. And another.
The first few steps were clumsy; his legs wobbled and buckled, but the fire in his chest pushed him onward.
His anger and pride, simmering quietly beneath the surface, lent him persistence. Every stumble, every scrape, every burn of fatigue sharpened him rather than breaking him.
"As he walked, the memories of the earth and ark.runs through his mind.
What the tower did to his home planet.'
What could he do to save it.
A rock snagged his foot, sending him sprawling.
The black veins along his arms and neck pulsed, his eyes flaring for the briefest instant.
He gasped, choking on dirt and fear, yet the fire inside did not die.
He forced himself up, shaking the forest floor from his hands, chest heaving, every limb trembling.
"I will reach somewhere. I will survive."
He had no map.
No guide.
No knowledge.
Nothing but the forest, his pride, and the strange, black pulse that ran quietly in his veins. And yet, somehow, that was enough to make him rise.
One foot. Then the other.
Step by step, breath by breath, stumble by stumble.
'I need to find out why am I still alive ."?
He says,"status window"
No response.
He says it again.
Still nothing.
A faint blue window shows up with everything error showing with just his race showing half/ demon, half/ man.
He moved with the streams slowly.
He did not know what waited beyond the trees. Cities? Monsters? Humans stronger than him? He did not care yet.
All that mattered was moving forward, refusing to kneel, refusing to die again.
Somewhere
, deep in his chest, the pride whispered again: "This world doesn't know what it's waiting for". Neither do you." But it will learn'.
And so, Ash stepped forward into the forest, every movement weak, every breath heavy—but alive. His black blood pulsed silently beneath the surface. Anger simmered. Pride burned faintly. And the unknown world stretched before him, indifferent, cruel, and waiting.
"As ash moves deep into the forest he remembers bits
and pieces of his class defiler of gods".
"That his status is sealed'
He will see into.that later.
Ash lay in the cave
In silence
In thought
As he hears a sound
"Ghahh"
Ash stood up as he saw ahead at the entrance of the cave
"What?"
He was shocked as a wolf howl's sounds
Owww...
----------------
End of the chapter.