The void was unforgiving, a suffocating maw that pulled at Elias with invisible tendrils wrapping around his throat, chest, and very essence.
He gasped—or tried to—his lungs burning as if filled with ash, each breath a ragged scrape against raw tissue. Darkness pressed in from all sides, thick and impenetrable, but there was something new: a distant hum, like the vibration of ancient stone under pressure.
His eyelids fluttered, heavy as lead, and the world cracked open in slivers of dim, flickering light.
Elias's body jerked involuntarily in a spasm that sent pain lancing through muscles he didn't remember having. He lay on something hard and uneven—cold surfaces digging into his back, arms, and legs.
This was not the familiar sag of his mattress or the sticky warmth of stained sheets. It felt different—alien. His mind was foggy and fragmented as it clawed for clarity.
The last thing he remembered was the glow of his monitors, the rhythmic slap of flesh on screen, his hand moving in desperate frenzy. The build-up followed by release—and then nothing. Blackness. Had he passed out? Was this a dream or some twisted hallucination born from starvation's delirium?
He forced his eyes open wider, blinking against the grit that seemed to coat them. The light was faint, filtering through what looked like massive iron bars overhead; shadows danced like specters on the walls.
Bars? A cage? His heart—did it even beat the same way?—thudded erratically in his chest. He tried to sit up but found his limbs sluggish as if weighed down by invisible chains.
Pain shot through his spine—a dull ache spreading to his shoulders and neck. He groaned; the sound came out deeper than expected—a rumble echoing off the stone around him.
"What the hell...?" The words escaped him but felt wrong; his voice gravelly and laced with an unnatural echo.
He lifted a hand to his throat expecting stubble and sunken skin instead brushed against something scaly—rough yet flexible like leather armor fused to flesh. Panic surged as he stared at what should have been his hand—not quite right.
Claws adorned long fingers tipped with obsidian black; they were elongated and jointed strangely. His skin—or scales?—was mottled gray-blue shimmering faintly in low light with veins pulsing underneath like rivers of liquid shadow.
He bolted upright—or tried to—the motion sending him tumbling sideways into a heap of... gems? Crystals? The surface beneath shifted with a clinking cascade like jewels disturbed by an earthquake.
Elias found himself atop a chaotic pile of gems and rubies, each the size of his fist. Sapphires glowed with an inner light, while diamonds caught the dim illumination and refracted it into vibrant rainbows. The treasures were scattered haphazardly; some were as large as his head, while others were small and sharp, digging into his palms as he pushed himself up.
The structure around him was not just a cage—it resembled a colossal aviary, constructed from bars as thick as his arm (or what used to be his arm). It enclosed a space vast enough for a small house. Chains dangled from the ceiling, rusted and ancient, swaying gently in an unseen draft.
Beyond the bars lay an expanse of darkness, punctuated only by faint torchlight flickering from distant walls—suggesting he was in some cavernous hall or dungeon.
Elias's breath came in short, panicked bursts. This wasn't his room. This wasn't Earth. His body—God, his body—felt wrong. He looked down at himself, heart pounding like a war drum.
His torso was lean, almost emaciated like before but covered in patches of dull scales. His chest rose and fell with labored effort; ribs were still visible but now framed by faint ridges of bone-like armor.
His legs stretched out before him—longer than they should have been—ending in clawed feet that twitched involuntarily. A tail—a holy shit moment—curled behind him, thin and whip-like with a spade-shaped barb at the tip.
He reached up to touch his head with trembling fingers and felt horns—small curved protrusions sprouting from his forehead, smooth as polished bone.
"What... what am I?" The question escaped him softly but echoed within the cage. His voice sounded deeper than usual—a resonant growl underlying his words.
He flexed his fingers and watched as claws extended slightly before retracting again. A wave of weakness washed over him; his limbs felt heavy and unresponsive—as if he were trying to move through molasses. When he attempted to stand, his knees buckled beneath him, sending him sprawling back into the pile of gems with a clatter.
Pain flared—not just from the fall but also from deep within—a gnawing hunger twisted in his gut. It felt familiar—the starvation he had known on Earth—but amplified somehow—as if this new body demanded more than mere food. Essence? The word flickered in his mind like a half-remembered dream.
Memories crashed over him like waves: the porn videos he had consumed endlessly; chasing fleeting highs while pumping furiously; images of succubi on screen begging for release—all culminating in that pathetic climax followed by seizing pain in his chest and then... blackout. Death had come upon him while jerking off alone in his filthy room.
A laugh erupted from him, hysterical and fractured. "I died... gooning? That's my legacy? A cum-stain on a keyboard?"
He clutched his head, the sharp horns digging into his palms. Was this hell? Some twisted afterlife where he was reborn as a monster? Or perhaps a hallucination, his brain firing random neurons as it shut down? The gems beneath him felt real—cold, sharp, unyielding.
The air was thick with the musty scent of stone and dust, mingled with something metallic that hinted at blood or rust. Distant echoes reached him, dripping water, faint howls of wind, maybe even the rumble of far-off beasts. This wasn't a dream; it was something else entirely.
Pushing through the weakness that enveloped him, Elias crawled to the edge of the gem pile, his tail dragging behind like a limp rope.
The bars of the cage loomed closer, dark iron etched with faint runes that pulsed with a dim purple light. He reached out to grip one; it was cold and unyielding, thicker than his thigh.
A spark leaped from the rune and shocked his hand; he yanked back with a hiss.
"Fuck!"
The pain cleared some fog from his mind, sharpening confusion into fear. Why was he caged? Who had put him here? And what in the world had he become?
He examined himself again more thoroughly this time. His body resembled that of a human, two arms, two legs, a torso but draconic features marred its likeness. Scales covered patches of his shoulders, chest, and thighs while leaving vulnerable skin exposed in between.
His nails had transformed into claws; his feet were taloned like those of a bird of prey. He also felt an odd itch along his back suggested something longed to unfurl there.
He glanced down at himself; embarrassment washed over him despite how absurd it felt to care about such things now. Still intact but altered, larger and ridged, with some sheath-like covering.
He snorted at the thought: "Even in death, I'm thinking with my dick."
But that gnawing weakness persisted. His muscles trembled with every movement; if he moved too quickly, vision swam before him like murky water.
It felt just like when he was alive on Earth, starved and depleted but worse somehow. A deep hunger roared inside him not just for food but for... something more profound: Essence? That word echoed insistently in his mind as he shook his head to focus again.
"Okay, Elias or whatever I am now—think this through: You died and woke up here... in monster of a body? In a cage full of treasure? This is some isekai bullshit."
He laughed again, the sound echoing mockingly in the darkness. Isekai. He had spent countless nights lost in web novels, stories of characters reincarnated as slimes, spiders, even vending machines. So why not a monster? But this didn't feel like a power fantasy at all. There was no system notification, no status screen, just pain, confusion, and a cage.
He attempted to stand once more, using the pile of gems for support. His legs wobbled but managed to hold him up. With a tentative step forward, his claws clicked against the stone floor scattered with treasures.
The cage was enormous at least thirty feet across, with a domed top made of interwoven bars. Beyond it, he could see cavern walls adorned with stalactites that dripped water and faint torchlight flickering from what appeared to be a corridor.
"Hello?" he called out, his voice booming unexpectedly in the stillness.
No response came back, only the steady drip-drip of water and his own ragged breathing filled the air. He began pacing along the perimeter of the cage, his tail swishing behind him as he tested each bar with cautious touches.
Each contact sent an electric jolt through him, but he gritted his teeth, sharp fangs glinting and pressed on. No weak spots were found; there was no door, only confinement.
Frustration bubbled up inside him, intertwining with hunger. "What is this? Why me?"
Memories surged back, his apartment, those late-night indulgences, and then…had that final moment killed him? A heart attack brought on by malnutrition and overexertion?
How pathetic! But if this was truly reincarnation, where were all the cheat skills? The goddess? The system? He slammed a fist against one of the bars despite the shock that shot through him. Pain flared within him but alongside it came something else, a faint warmth igniting deep within.
He paused with his hand resting on his chest; there was... something there, a pulse that wasn't quite his heart but felt deeper somehow. Essence? That word echoed in his mind as he concentrated on it only to watch it slip away again like sand through fingers, leaving him feeling weaker than before.
"Damn it."
He sank down onto his knees among the gems and picked one up, a ruby as large as an apple that pulsed with inner light. Was this food or treasure?
Tentatively biting into it with his fangs produced a satisfying crunch followed by an overwhelming surge of energy flooding through him, sweet and electric like biting into honey-wrapped live wire. The gem crumbled to dust in moments as strength trickled back into his body; weakness eased slightly.
"Holy shit." He snatched another gem, this time a sapphire and swallowed it whole. A surge of energy coursed through him, dulling his hunger and sharpening his vision.
These weren't just ordinary gems; they were Essence crystals, pure sources of power. But why did he feel so ravenous? And what was the meaning behind this cage? Questions swirled in his mind, building an unbearable pressure.
As he reached for a third crystal, pain struck him like a hammer to the temple. He clutched his head and collapsed to the ground with a cry.
Agony exploded within him, visions flashed before his eyes, memories that didn't belong to him flooding in.
With another scream, he rolled among the gems, claws raking at his scalp as the world around him blurred, consumed by pain.