Chapter 3:

Chapter 3: Another World and Another Me

The Legacy – The heirs of a lost world

As I lay deep in a sleep, I felt a cool breeze caress my cheek. A soft, cool breath accompanied by the morning dew.

…Wait, what's with the drafts in my room? I was sure I'd closed the window.

My eyes remained closed, I was entirely dependent on my other senses. I could feel the light winds blowing on my body. My sense of smell allowed me to capture a scent of greenery that reached my nose. My ears carried the faint rustling of tree leaves. And even with my eyes closed, I perceived the daylight intensely, like when you stare at the sun with your eyelids closed.

I slowly opened my eyes… and was immediately blinded by the sun's rays.
"Is it morning already? I haven't even slept three hours..." I grumbled, half asleep, rubbing my eyes. I yawned.

"Hmm... Ah... Huh!?"

Seeing where I was, I rubbed my eyes again, this time frantically.

"Where am I? And what am I doing here?" I asked myself, helpless.

Instead of being in my room, lying in my bed, I was sitting on the grass, in the middle of a green and strangely magical forest. When the wind rose and blew through the trees, they released particles of light from their branches that spread into the air.

"Wow!"

I marvel at this magical spectacle for a few moments before having a panic attack.

"But how did I get here!? I was in my room… what? Three quarters of an hour ago?! I'm not sleepwalking, am I!" I shouted, panicking.

However, I quickly dismissed the idea with a shake of my head. I did not suffer from night walking and had no history or incident of sleepwalking. So it was unlikely that I would end up in the forest after walking in my sleep and subsequently lying in the middle of nowhere. And besides, this place seemed strange to me, it gave me a strong feeling of familiarity while being strangely unfamiliar to me.

"So it's a dream... a lucid dream," I said aloud, which made more sense to me, especially given my past experiences.

This kind of dream often happened to me when I read too many manga or novels before going to sleep.

"I had stopped reading manga and novels before going to bed, but I'm starting to read them again."

I had this kind of dream very often under the influence of my subconscious due to the books I tended to read before falling asleep. However, it was the first time I had a dream that I was conscious of.

But this time it was different. Everything seemed far too real. The air, the smells, the grass I clutched in my hand. My brain screamed, "Reality."

My head was in a mess. While I was still in a state of confusion, something fell to the floor as I stood up. My amulet. I was surprised to find it on me. At the same time, she had occupied part of my thoughts the day before, so finding her in my dream didn't surprise me.

As I tried to pick it up, my view was obstructed by long strands of gray hair entering my field of vision.

"What the...?"

"Huh...?"

As I pulled on it, a sharp pain shot through my scalp. The hair was indeed mine, the pain had confirmed it. And going up to the top of my head, I touched with my fingertips something long and hard on my forehead with a very pointed end. It looked like a horn.

"What the hell is this?!" I cried, pulling on her with all my might.

She didn't move an inch. In all likelihood, it was a real one.

Now, more than ever, I needed a mirror. Luckily, there was a lake nearby. I ran to him, bothered by a strange sensation in my back. Leaning over the edge, I fell to my knees, looking down at myself in the water.
The reflection staring back at me... wasn't me.

What was reflected in the lake had nothing to do with me. Simply put, it was someone else's reflection.

The face that appeared on the surface of the lake didn't belong to me. At first, the color of my skin appeared so pale that I thought I was suffering from some disease. He had long, wild gray hair that didn't match my usual head, a long, solitary black horn growing on the forehead that had no business being there.

And I should mention the purple eyes that gave me a bad look just by looking at them. But that wasn't all, the thing I felt behind my back, well, it was wings. A pair of imposing, ebony-feathered wings.

I also had a fantasy-worthy outfit. I wore a black wizard's robe and a simple piece of armor, a breastplate.
What I had in front of me, or rather, what I was at that moment, was not the me that I knew. And yet, I felt the same inside.

I was indeed 18-year-old Ryouma Kirishima. My thoughts and habits remained unchanged, unlike my outward appearance, which had changed completely. My voice and height had also undergone slight changes.

"The change is only physical," I whispered to myself.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind as quickly as lightning to illuminate my foggy mind. I came to an unexpected and totally crazy conclusion.

"An Isekai, seriously!" I said skeptically as I blurted out the words.

It reminded me of the kind of story where the hero was teleported to another world, a fantasy universe. A bit like me who had inexplicably woken up in this world.

I know it's not very logical, after all we're not in a fantasy novel.
So why did I come to this conclusion?
You could call it my otaku side, if that helps.

Now I assumed I was in another world with a body that wasn't mine. Everything I had seen so far confirmed my hypothesis about Isekai a little more, which could explain the whole situation, especially my change in appearance.

However...

"It honestly wasn't the right time for this. I had my entrance exams, and the promise I made to Joy. He'll yell at me again if I don't keep it."

Many people dreamed of being transported to another world. However, I was the only person on Earth who was more preoccupied with his exams while being transported to another world.

I should normally be thinking about how to get out of this situation, but first, I had to try something very important that was close to my heart.
I took a deep breath...

"Statue...! Stat...!"

Nothing happened.

I was expecting a status window or a system to appear holographically. But I was unlucky this time.

"...Ahh! This isn't a classic Isekai RPG. Too bad," I sighed.

A vast majority of Isekai were RPG-themed with quantified systems, classes, and stats like strength, speed, dexterity, MP, etc.

Being part of the minority without a system was a big blow to the gamer in me. Not that I'm obsessed with RPG systems. I just wanted to quickly check some of my stats. Luck and Charm stats.

Seriously, who hasn't wanted to know how charming and lucky they are in life?

Me yes...

And it had nothing to do with Haru's remark about being girlfriend-less or me envying Haruna's luck. That's certainly not what motivates me.

Anyway... Speaking of different types of Isekai, I should determine which one I fall into, because knowing that is essential to better understand the situation.

So, reviewing the hundreds of stories I read about this, I came up with three possibilities. All three ticked the "other world" box, but with variations that set them apart.

The most common are "transfer to another world", "reincarnation" and "insertion".

Reincarnation seemed more logical in my case. Transferring to another world didn't usually involve a physical change, but that remained debatable. Insertion, on the other hand, inserted a spirit into an already pre-existing body, however the spirit inherited the memory of the body's previous owner. But I received nothing of the sort.

Which left me with nothing but reincarnation, but again, that was debatable. Basically, it's a rebirth, we started from childhood again until this age. Perhaps my conscience woke up late.

I thought thinking about the question would help me understand it better, but it was the opposite. I had confused myself more than anything else.

"We'll stick with reincarnation, because honestly it's the best subgenre of Isekai... Wait a minute, if it's reincarnation, does that mean I-I'm dead!?"

My eyes widened in shock at the thought.

"How did this happen? I might actually be a sleepwalker, and while I was sleepwalking along the road, I was hit by a truck and died instantly."

I found myself contemplating reincarnation. Then I imagined a truck accident. I was already heading into clichéd scenarios.

Reincarnation was mainly a second life in another world. In this type of story, the protagonist died only to be reincarnated in a fantasy world, either as a human, a demon, a goblin, or a slime.

There were instances where he was reincarnated as a sword, and even as a vending machine. Yeah, it's pretty disturbing.

"It's okay, I'm not doing too badly actually. There were worse things, I could have ended up in socks or a can of coke. I was lucky this time, but I look like a bad guy. The kind you face as a final boss."

Form didn't matter in an Isekai, since it was easy to reach the maximum level in two shakes of a lamb's tail, with stats that were through the roof and as a bonus, over-cheated skills and powers.

Which brings me to the second very important and paramount thing to do when an Isekai comes along:
Magic.

I positioned my feet apart and took a deep breath, trying to feel the force of nature. I felt something rising inside me. A sensation as if my body was overflowing with power.

I stretched out my hands and unleashed my strength.

"Fireball!" I exclaimed.

"Mega ice !!" I shouted.

"FINAL FLASH!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.Alas, nothing happened!

"What the hell is this!? This is a scam!"
Magic was always omnipresent in Isekai, regardless of genre, so why couldn't I use it? The stats system is fine, but magic... No way!

I stared at the lake, feeling sorry for myself, when something moved at the bottom and pressed itself against my face, holding on tight. And suddenly, I was out of breath, I couldn't breathe as something pulled me into the water, trying to pull me down.

I struggled with all my might, managed to barely tear myself away from his grip, and quickly backed away. My breathing was ragged, I could breathe again. So I quickly walked away from the edge of the lake, and looked back to see the thing rippling out of the water.

It looked like a large, naked, pink, slimy worm. Its head or mouth, I couldn't tell them apart. It had fangs that looked like hooks made for grabbing its prey.

And that's not all, I was far from being at the end of my surprises.
An even bigger thing emerged from the lake, a giant creature. Its size measured around three meters. Her body, covered in scales and spines, shone like metal. She clearly had no face, no eyes or nose. Instead, it had a huge mouth filled with sharp teeth.

The supposed "worm" turned out to be, in fact, his tongue. It also had strange patterns, broad, crisscrossing lines, drawn all over its body.

I was so stunned by the appearance of this monster that I only noticed much later that it was coming towards me, equipped with legs that allowed it to walk on dry land.

My instinct took over and I took to my heels and ran as fast as I could.
I had never run so fast in my life, which was at stake now, and at that moment I was even faster than the best athletes in the world. I was really unlucky.

It had only been five minutes since I landed in this world and I was already being targeted by a monster straight out of a horror movie.

What were the chances of that happening? Okay, sure, very high... but aren't we supposed to start with the easiest level?

Normally, the first monsters you encounter when coming to another world are harmless slimes or goblins that are very weak. I wouldn't even know what name to use to describe this kind of creature.

As I sprinted at full speed, I glanced behind me and saw the creature chasing me. I accelerated even more, widening the gap. The creature stretched its worm-like tongue, trying to grab me, and it almost caught me.
I tried a trick and turned left then right.

I zigzagged between the trees to try to lose the monster, but it charged forward and uprooted all the trees in its path. Nothing seemed to stop it.

"Damn, how does he spot me? At first glance, he doesn't have eyes, ears, or a nose," I pointed out.

Perhaps he was locating me by the vibrations in the air. I didn't dwell on the subject any longer; my priority was to escape him. But running and looking back at the same time was not very wise.

I was so focused on the monster behind me that I hadn't noticed the cliff ahead. A moment later, I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet and I fell.

I tumbled down the cliff screaming to the bottom, crashing headfirst into a rocky surface. My body ached all over, and that was normal.

I had fallen from a height of 20 meters, no less... it was supposed to be a fatal fall. However, despite the pain, I had nothing broken and no injuries. This new body had amazing physical capabilities.

I had noticed how fast I was running and now this incredible resistance.
I looked towards the summit.
I watched live from the summit; it seemed the monster had given up the chase. I took a deep breath and relaxed slightly.

"Phew! He's given up, the big guy. But this time, I almost lost some feathers," I said.

And no pun intended, because I had really lost several feathers in the race.

***

I had left the enchanted forest, but I didn't think the environment would change so radically. Once outside the forest, I found myself on a rocky plain. A large area made entirely of rocks. There were no trees or grass, not even sand, just hard, black rock. Rocky mountains and rocky peaks dominated the entire area in the background. For a moment, I thought I had been transported to another world again; this place was a huge contrast to the previous one.

"At least we won't complain about the scenery being boring. Whoo..." I said to lighten the mood.

But I was too reckless, for I almost fell, but this time I just caught myself. A huge, deep hole lay at my feet, a dark chasm with no visible bottom.

"I really need to learn to be more careful," I advised myself as I skirted the chasm.

The earth began to shake violently.

"What's going on!? An earthquake!" I exclaimed in anticipation of impending disaster.

I steadied myself so as not to lose my balance.

A gigantic creature emerged from the enormous ditch behind me. It had a long, serpentine body several thousand meters long. A rock-like skin, covered with gravel. His sharp teeth protruded from his mouth and his forehead was elongated, forming the point of a spear. The entire body was covered all the way down with a pattern similar to the one I had seen on the body of the lake creature.

I looked up at the sky, noticing that it was taller than the surrounding mountains.

My legs began to run reflexively while I was still in the grip of fear. Fear had served as a driving force, advocating flight, survival above all else.

I ran faster than I had during the lake creature's attack.

The rock creature naturally began to chase me. Every movement of his enormous body made the earth tremble, making my running difficult by systematically losing my balance before recovering.

Luckily for me, this one seemed slower than the last one, probably due to the size difference. With my speed, I could easily outrun her. I looked back to see that she had disappeared.

The creature dove into the ground made of solid rock with the tip of its head.

I initially thought she had finally given up, but the shaking and noises coming from my feet suggested otherwise.

The creature I thought was far behind burst out of the earth, reappeared beneath my feet, and threw me into the air. I was thrown upwards by the rising of the earth. The creature's mouth, wide open, waited patiently for me to fall back into it.

I was about to end up in that monster's stomach when something grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into the air.

It was lucky that this happened before the creature's mouth closed.

"Saved!"

Finally... saved...

It's becoming a habit of me taking a deep breath every time I think I'm out of the woods. I'm now flying above the clouds, going far away from here.

A liquid substance suddenly flowed down my face. I looked more closely at what looked like drool. Suddenly frightened again. Looking up, I saw two enormous red globes.

For the moment I was paralyzed by the gaze of this flying creature. His arms were long membranous wings and his legs were talons that held me by the shoulders. She had a very long neck that she would bend under her to look at me, His piercing red eyes must have given him very good eyesight and his serpentine tongue was constantly drooling as he stared at me.

"Hey... Thanks for saving me, could you give me a lift? Now I'm starting to get airsick."

In truth, I was downright homesick or worldsick. I tried to see if this one was peaceful compared to the other two, but I guessed not.

She just stared at me as if to keep an eye on me while drooling over me. It was clear that she wanted to devour me like the others. I was naive to think she had rescued me, she had just stolen the rock creature's prey from under its nose. She would take me to her nest to eat me alive.

No, that's out of the question!

I wriggled and thrashed, punching its talons. The flying creature responded only by digging its claws deeper into my shoulders.

"Urgh!"

Blood flowed from the wounds. I endured the pain and grabbed his paws. I swung in the air to gain enough momentum to land a double kick to the stomach. But she didn't let go; the blow had infuriated her. Stretching out her long neck, the creature bit into mine with its teeth. His teeth sank in and tore my flesh. A jet of blood flowed from my neck.

"AGRHHHHHHHA," I cried in pain.

I held firm and plunged my hand into his bulging eye, pushing it in up to the elbow. My forearm reached the bottom of his socket. A purple liquid flowed from his wound, looking like his blood.

The creature screamed in death, in terrible pain, and decided to let go of me. Finally free, but now I was left to my own devices and the free fall that would prove fatal this time.

I had to find a solution to the free fall. I was several thousand meters above the ground, lost in the falling clouds. I was spinning in the air with no way out.

"Ah! But yes, I have wings!"

I forgot I had wings, with that I could get out of this mess.

The ground was getting dangerously close as I flapped my wings, trying to fly. Alas, it didn't work; it was just decoration.

As I was about to crash to the ground in a few seconds, an involuntary flapping of wings generated a powerful downward current of air which had the effect of pushing my body upwards, thus cushioning my fall. I landed on my buttocks without too much injury.

"Agrhha"

The pain in my neck grew more intense as the deep wound continued to bleed. Tears flowed against my will, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Shit, fucking shit."

The wound was starting to heal faster than normal, probably one of my body's strengths. However, I couldn't say the same about my composure.

"That's enough! I've had enough of this shitty Isekai! I wasn't even up for another world, and if I can't even use magic, then what's the point, right? And as if that wasn't enough, horrible monsters appear out of nowhere and all try to eat me as if I were a rare delicacy from afar. Oh, if this is what an Isekai looks like in real life, then I say, 'No thanks, God. Bring me back to Earth,'" I yelled to no avail.

Taking a deep breath, I continued to scream to get everything out.

"You hear me, God! You completely stereotypical senile lucky bastard, I want to go home. Or maybe I'm talking to the white mannequin with the ULTRA BADE design. Unless it's the useless goddess whose only defining characteristic is her enormous breasts. YOUR ONLY usefulness is fanservice, you goddamn goddess!!"

A moment later...

"Haaa~... It's much better now that I've let go." I wiped away my tears and tried to remain calm.

My rant over, I felt relieved to have let out my rage and frustration all at once, even if it meant committing irreparable blasphemy. But I didn't care, if there were deities up there responsible for my situation, then I cursed them.

Once the pressure was off, my mind was clearer and I could focus on my business. The priority was to find a way home, but that was easier said than done. Unfortunately, I didn't know how I came into this world or why. I had no clue how to get back to my home world, and walking blindly would be pointless.

"I need to ask for help, but from whom? I haven't met anyone so far."

I looked around and, for once, I had landed in a strange place again.

A devastated and ruined city, seemingly abandoned, without a soul living there.

"I'm not going to find help here, that's for sure."

To my great misfortune, I sighed as if to give up the ghost.