Ch 1 - Transmigration

The barrel of the gun hovered inches from Evan's face. Above it, Reid's eyes blazed gold, and Sacred Light wreathed his frame like sunrise cresting a ridge. Evan's mouth hung open, unable to form a single word of defense despite his survival instinct telling him to say anything to avoid getting shot.

"Demon," Reid hissed.

That cold tone made Evan flinch. Could he have prevented this? Had he been more careful, or had the System not been such a sadistic bastard, things might have gone differently. Then again, with the curse dragging his luck into the abyss, he might never have stood a chance. His brain unhelpfully brought up the chain of events that had carried him into this mess.

***

This has to be a dream, Evan thought.

He blinked several times, taking in the spotless ceiling above him. It was far nicer than the one in his apartment, where mold crept across the corners and cobwebs hung beneath a layer of dust. The pristine surface almost made him think he was in a hospital, but a glance around proved otherwise.

Evan was lying on a twin-sized bed with warm bedding and a thick, plush pillow. Against one wall sat a desk with an open laptop and a stack of textbooks. Opposite it, a wardrobe stood with its door left slightly ajar, revealing neatly folded clothes inside.

Had he gotten drunk and passed out on the street, only for someone to carry him home and dump him in their kid's bedroom? Impossible. He rarely drank, and he hadn't touched a drop in weeks. The last thing he remembered was reading webnovels on his phone. Though his body protested his lengthy stay in bed and demanded that he at least take a walk, his mind was too tired from life, and all he wanted was to waste time. He had just lost his job, and with the increasingly competitive market, a bum like him wouldn't get another one anytime soon. Then suddenly everything went black, and somehow he had ended up here.

Evan climbed out of bed and shuffled to the mirror. The face in the glass was unmistakably his, but it was years younger than the one he knew. His red hair framed black eyes, but these sported no permanent eyebags. The gauntness was gone as well. Healthy color warmed his filled-out cheeks. Years of skipped meals had left his body thin and frail, but the one shown in the mirror carried a modest layer of muscle.

Too many webnovels, he decided, if his mind could conjure something like this. He pinched his cheek, and the sharp sting made him pause. Why did it hurt?

Still half-convinced none of this was real, Evan stepped out of the room and found a man in an apron in the kitchen. He was well over six feet tall, with dark hair and a defined jaw. It was a very conventionally attractive face, further complemented by dark gray eyes that tilted slightly upward at the corners.

The man glanced up from his cutting board and asked, "Evan? You're awake already? That's rare."

Evan froze, unable to answer as his attention was locked on the floating screen that had appeared in front of him.

[Name: Reid Whitfield]
[Age: 25 years old]
[Status: Unawakened]
[Title: The Legendary Demon Hunter, Reincarnator]

His brain stalled in a restart loop at what he read. What? It couldn't be, could it? None of this could be happening. There was no way this was actually real. He had woken up in a body that looked seventeen, now facing a man who seemed to be related to it. And not only that, a System window had suddenly popped into existence without even a hello. Maybe Evan was actually hallucinating, or maybe he was in a coma after getting hit by a truck.

"Evan?" Reid called. When Evan didn't answer, Reid set the knife down and crossed the room. His hand reached for Evan's shoulder, and that small movement jolted Evan out of his shock.

Evan gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I was half asleep! I just had a really weird dream and couldn't tell if I was awake or not!"

"It must have been a strange dream."

"Very strange! Let me wash up to wake myself up."

Before Reid could say more, Evan hurried back into his room and shut himself inside. He then stuffed his face into his pillow and screamed. His fists clenched tight as he tried to stop himself from succumbing further to panic. When that wasn't enough, he began to pinch himself all over, trying to pull himself out of this delusion. Yet the pain his nerve signals gave just seemed to say that no, he wasn't dreaming at all.

Did he really transmigrate? If he had, why had he been dumped into a body that looked remarkably like his own? Healthier, yes, but it was still his own face. And then who was that guy? The one the System called the Legendary Demon Hunter. That title had already sprouted a suspicion in Evan's mind, but he was too overwhelmed to examine it.

The System screen appeared again. This time, instead of displaying Reid's information, it showed his own.

[Name: Evan Whitfield]
[Age: 17 years old]
[Status: Unawakened]
[Title: Transmigrator]
[Status Effect: The Curse of ■■■■■■]
[Skills: -]

So the two of them had the same surname. Did that mean Reid and the original Evan were brothers? This body's current age explained the textbooks in the room. He ignored the title Transmigrator in favor of looking at his status: "Unawakened."

As an avid reader, Evan would be foolish to be unfamiliar with the term "Unawakened." It was a term that often popped up in many action fantasy stories set in the modern world, where people received abilities from an unknown being named System and were forced to fight monsters that spawned from Gates or Rifts in space.

So this was one of those gate-based worlds, but which one? He had read so many that he could no longer remember them clearly. But even more pressing was the status effect he had: "The Curse of ■■■■■■."

Who had cursed him? Was the censored name the culprit of his transmigration? Or was it the System? Why was Evan picked to be the unlucky soul to transmigrate? Sure, many transmigrators generally had poor lives, but he was just one among millions, if not billions, of miserable people on Earth. And he certainly had no traits that would make him worthy of being a hero, so why was he chosen?

As dread built up, Evan closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Calm down. He couldn't afford to lose his mind right now. It took a while, but his heart eventually stopped feeling like it was about to jump out of his chest and run to drown itself in the nearest body of water.

Studying the System window, he wondered if it had the usual features other Systems had. He said, "Inventory."

The window stayed fixed on his information.

"Bag?"

Nothing.

"Map?"

Silence.

"Quest?"

The screen did not even flicker.

"Are you useless?" Evan muttered.

This time, the System responded.

[╭∩╮(￣ヘ￣)╭∩╮]

His right eye twitched. "You bastard," he growled, his voice straining against the effort to stay quiet. "So you're one of those sentient Systems, huh? Why did you kidnap me? Let me go back!"

The System kept giving him the same obscene gesture.

"I'm serious! I'm not protagonist material! I can't do this!" Evan had a thousand words he wanted to dish out to the System, but the window winked shut.

Knock, knock.

"Evan? Are you okay in there?" Reid asked.

Evan stiffened. "It's nothing! I just stubbed my toe!"

"…Okay. Breakfast will be ready in half an hour, so don't sleep in again."

"Got it!"

Knowing that he needed to calm down further, Evan got up from the bed and went to the shower. He let cold water spray down on him. Ignoring the goosebumps, he forced himself to remain under the stream as he tried to give himself a pep talk.

All right, so he had transmigrated. Not great, but not terrible either. The Evan whose body he took over seemed to have a better life than he had. For one, he lived in a pretty nice house. He also seemed to have a good and caring brother. Now the big issue was their parents. Were they around, and would he need to keep up an act of a happy teen in front of three people?

Those questions made Evan want to curl up in the shower, but he couldn’t justify wasting more water and ended his bath. He dried himself off thoroughly and went to the wardrobe to pull on a hoodie and a pair of loose pants. He ran a hand over the fabric, feeling its thickness and softness. It was a type of luxury he couldn’t afford in his original world.

Looking toward the desk, he picked up the phone that rested on it and checked it. An unfamiliar logo was stamped across its back, and he couldn’t recall any company with such a brand. Unlocking it with his fingerprint, he combed through the phone for anything that might explain the original Evan's life.

The gallery overflowed with photos. Some were of the brothers at a restaurant, others of Evan at school with his classmates. All of them painted a picture of a well-liked teen who was close to his sibling.

Already, Evan felt stressed out. This was a major problem. If he failed to pretend to be the original Evan, he wasn't sure how Reid would react. With the existence of Awakeners confirmed by the System, the notion of something as unscientific as another soul taking a person's body would be taken more seriously.

Scrolling further down the gallery, he found an old family photo. It showed a red-haired woman posed beside a dark-haired man in glasses, with a much younger Evan between them. A teenage Reid grinned at the camera next to him.

They looked like a happy family, but it was strange that none of the recent photos included their parents. Did that mean those two were dead? Or was there some other incident? Well... that was two fewer people he had to fool.

A series of knocks broke Evan out of his musings.

"Breakfast is ready!" Reid called.

"Coming!" Evan slipped the phone into his pocket and left his bedroom. On the dining table were two bowls of egg and tomato noodles. Next to them was a plate of golden scallion pancakes and two glasses of soy milk. The scent of freshly made breakfast set his stomach rumbling.

"Smells good," Evan said as he took a seat.

"Hungry?"

"You have no idea." Evan took his first bite, and flavors exploded. It might sound exaggerated, but these could be the best noodles of his life. The noodles were soft and springy, and the broth was tasty and not too salty. He was already twirling more noodles onto his chopsticks before he had even finished chewing the first.

"Slow down. I'm pretty sure you ate plenty last night," Reid chided.

"I'm a growing teen," Evan mumbled around his food.

Reid sighed. "Don't talk with your mouth full. Anyway, you've finished your homework, right? I hope you weren't up all night chatting with your friends."

"I did!" Evan lied, not knowing the truth. Well, it should already be finished anyway. He did glance at the laptop, which showed some finished math questions.

The two of them kept talking as they finished breakfast. Once the food was gone, Evan chugged down the cold soy milk and studied Reid, his brother and the man also called the Legendary Demon Hunter. Evan had read many stories about demon hunters, but only one character with that title had left the most impression on him. He was the hero of a story Evan had been reading right before he was unceremoniously thrown into this world.

Reuel.

The protagonist of Chronicles of a Demon Hunter.

A/N:

And that's the first chapter! I hope you guys like the story so far, and if you do, please consider leaving a comment! What do you think of Evan? Do you like him? He's definitely got his issues, but that's how most protagonists start their journey.

FYI, the book cover artwork was made by yours truly! I hope you like it!

Adding this in case my work gets scraped or pirated, because it has happened before and will likely happen again. Hey, you can read this work for free on Honeyfeed, where I post it myself under the name DraftingMoon. If you somehow paid for it, unfortunately, you've been scammed.