A man with black hair lay silently on the bed, his body sunk into the mattress as if he hadn't really moved in hours—or perhaps years.
His eyes, dull and devoid of any sparkle, remained fixed on his phone screen, listlessly scrolling through content that meant nothing to him.
He looked away and let his gaze wander up to the ceiling. His lips barely moved.
"What kind of shitty life have I had so far..."
Kale Mitchell was twenty-seven years old, with student debt that would haunt him to his grave and a life that, even by his own—already low—standards, was worth absolutely nothing.
What a waste.
The thought didn't sadden him as much as it should have. What really hurt him was how miserable he had been up until now.
He had thought about changing. Many times. More times than he could remember. Starting over, doing things right, taking control of his life, and, for once, moving forward without carrying the weight of constant regrets.
But he always put it off until later.
Tomorrow.
Always tomorrow.
And that tomorrow never came.
Kale let out a long sigh, sat up, and looked around the apartment: empty soda bottles, energy drink cans, and trash piled up in every corner.
He clicked his tongue. He grabbed a jacket and left the apartment he was renting.
He was going to buy volume seven of "Blade of the Ashen Realm," his favorite web novel. He had recently found a place that sold physical copies, though it wasn't exactly the most responsible thing to do, given his financial situation.
Reading it on paper had something special about it… especially because of the illustrations, which brought to life a world far more interesting than his own.
Outside, a light rain was falling gently, soft enough not to be bothersome, but enough to fill the air with a strange sensation that was hard to describe.
Kale frowned slightly… though he didn't think much of it. He put on his AirPods and started listening to music.
Then he opened a pirated app to keep reading. He didn't have the money to pay for the official version.
Then he heard voices behind him. Confused and urgent.
Kale looked up.
A sixteen-ton truck was barreling straight toward him.
He didn't have time to react, only to think:
Oh... shit.
And then, everything went dark.
***
In the midst of that utter darkness, Kale blinked.
Or at least he tried to.
He had no eyelids.
The realization didn't hit him all at once, but rather as a strange, uncomfortable sensation that slowly crept into his consciousness until it settled there with a weight he found hard to ignore.
There was no body, no form, not even a clear sense of who he was. He was just… there.
And that, for some reason, was more unsettling than anything else.
…Wait.
The thought emerged slowly, as if even thinking were different in that state.
Where am I?
He tried to look around, but there was nothing to see. Not darkness in the usual sense, but a total absence of everything, as if the very concept of space had ceased to exist.
And then, inevitably, he came to the most obvious conclusion.
Am I… dead?
The thought didn't fill him with immediate panic. Rather, it brought a strange calm, mixed with disbelief. He tried to shake his head—or at least make the gesture—but he wasn't even sure if that was possible in his current state.
So this is the afterlife…
He had heard about it. Religions, theories, concepts of karma and reincarnation… ideas that had always seemed distant to him in life, almost irrelevant. But now, trapped in that endless void, he couldn't help but cling to any explanation, no matter how absurd.
And yet… this didn't match anything he'd imagined.
It was too… empty.
"Ah… what's a soul like you doing here? You should have gone straight to hell."
The woman's voice came out of nowhere, breaking the silence so abruptly that, had he had a body, Kale would have jumped.
Who are you?
There was a brief pause, filled with a kind of amusement that was hard to describe.
"Oh, you know. You're thinking about it right now."
Kale fell silent. And then, somewhat hesitantly:
…A god?
"Exactly!"
The reply came with an almost irritating lightness.
Kale didn't know whether to laugh, get frustrated, or accept the absurdity of the situation. Of all the possibilities his mind had considered in his spare moments… it had to be this one. This very one.
Ironic.
All those stories he'd read. Protagonists who died in ridiculous ways, only to be reborn in other worlds with absurd abilities and grand destinies…
Was this really happening to him?
And the worst part was that, despite everything, a part of him… was excited.
So… can I ask what's going on?
"Sure. Let's say it's… a little mistake. A twist of fate."
In short… wasn't I supposed to die?
"To us, transcendental beings, human life and death don't carry much weight. But since you're here… we'll send you to another world."
Something inside Kale tensed.
Wait, that doesn't sound...
He couldn't finish.
An invisible force suddenly engulfed him, tugging at his consciousness with a violence that had no physical equivalent. It was like being dragged through something that had neither form nor direction, distorting every thought, every fragment of identity he still retained.
Wait!
"The world you're going to..."
The voice began to fade, as if it were moving away or as if he were the one being torn away from there.
"...is called..."
For a moment, everything seemed to stand still.
"Valdaeron."
And then...
Everything vanished.
Shit...
***
The new world arrived with a burst of light, cold, and the loudest sound Kale had ever heard in his life.
It was him. He was crying.
Not crying in the adult sense of restrained tears and preserved dignity, but crying in the sense of utter panic, his lungs working at full capacity.
The kind of cry that only a newborn can produce, when the outside world is an all-out assault on all the senses at once.
Kale has just been reborn.
A face appeared above his. A young woman, drenched in sweat, with black hair plastered to her cheeks and a thin scar on her left jaw, looked at him with an expression that blended utter exhaustion with something he took a moment to recognize as relief.
Her eyes were the darkest Kale had ever seen—a black that didn't reflect light, but absorbed it.
"Welcome to the world, my dear Elan."
With that, there was no doubt about it…
He had been reincarnated in another world.