Pain.
That was the first thing Ethan Cross felt. A sharp, searing agony coursed through his body, a wildfire that consumed every inch of his being. His chest felt as though it were being crushed, his lungs scorched with each strained breath. His limbs—strange, alien limbs—ached with a kind of deep, unrelenting soreness, as though they had never been used before. A pounding sensation hammered in his skull, so violent that it nearly drowned out every thought.
With a ragged gasp, he forced his eyes open.
The sky above him was an eerie shade of violet, unlike any sky he had ever seen. Strange constellations glittered like diamonds scattered across a canvas, their arrangement unfamiliar and unsettling. The air felt thick, charged with something he couldn't identify, and the trees around him towered impossibly high—higher than skyscrapers, their massive trunks twisting up into the heavens, their darkened leaves rustling with an ominous whisper that sent chills crawling down his spine.
He tried to speak, but his voice cracked, hoarse and weak. "Where am I?"
Memories flooded his mind in fragmented bursts—his old life as a software engineer, the monotonous hours hunched over a screen, the car accident, the sickening crunch of metal. He could still feel the fleeting, sharp moment before everything went black. But now, here he was—alive? He was supposed to be dead. So why was he here, in a body that wasn't his own?
A wave of dizziness crashed over him as he struggled to sit up. His body felt foreign, his movements sluggish and disjointed. His hands—slightly thinner, the skin paler than he remembered—shook as he reached for the ground to steady himself. His reflection in a nearby pool of water confirmed his fears: this wasn't his face.
Dark hair. Sharper cheekbones. Younger. At least five years younger than his original self.
His breath quickened, panic rising like a tide as his mind scrambled for answers. His clothes were ragged and torn, dirt-streaked from what looked like a violent struggle. His heart raced, but it wasn't just fear. It was confusion, disbelief, a desperate need to understand what had happened.
And then—without warning—a voice echoed in his mind.
[Initializing System...]
Ethan froze, his pulse thundering in his ears. A voice? Inside his head? He tried to shake it off, to dismiss it as some bizarre hallucination, but it persisted.
[Welcome, Host. You have been successfully integrated into the Chrono Ascension System.]
What the hell was happening? He looked around wildly, as if searching for someone or anyone to explain this madness. But the forest stood silent, the strange sky offering no answers.
[Analyzing Temporal Signature...]
[Confirmed: Subject is a Transmigrant.]
The words hit him like a punch to the gut. Transmigrant? What did that even mean? His thoughts scattered in a thousand directions, and just as quickly, the voice returned.
[Synchronizing Neural Data…]
A sudden jolt of pain shot through his skull, sharp and blinding, as if his brain were being rewired. The world around him blurred as fragmented memories and foreign knowledge poured into his mind. Combat techniques. Unfamiliar languages. Survival instincts. His vision spun, and he dropped to his knees, clutching his head, gasping for breath.
[System Calibration Complete.]
The world around him felt like it was closing in, but he could still hear the voice in his mind. The words scrolled across his vision like an invisible screen, visible only to him.
[Scanning body...]
[Error: Physical attributes below acceptable standard.]
[Assigning Novice Rank: F]
A translucent screen flickered into his line of sight, displaying rows of text in a foreign script. His eyes skimmed the strange words, his heart pounding as they burned into his consciousness. His mind scrambled, desperate to comprehend.
"What the hell…?" His voice trembled with disbelief, as if speaking the words could somehow make the madness go away.
Before he could fully process the sheer absurdity of the situation, the screen changed again, flashing a new message.
[Chrono Ascension System Activated.]
[Core Function Unlocked: Temporal Adaptation.]
[Ability acquired: Rapid Cognitive Acceleration – Learn and process information 2x faster for a limited time.]
A sharp breath caught in his chest. This wasn't a hallucination. This was real. The System was real, and it was doing something to him. He could feel the data infiltrating his mind, slipping into the gaps of his thoughts, taking root.
His pulse raced as he tried to steady himself, to focus. This wasn't just confusion; it was change. Something inside him was awakening, something alien, something powerful.
And then, as if to reinforce his growing panic, the screen flashed once more.
[System Directive: Survive.]
The air around him seemed to shift, the weight of the words sinking into his bones. Survive. But how? How was he supposed to survive in this strange, unfamiliar world?
A rustling sound broke through the growing haze of his thoughts.
Ethan froze. Something was watching him.
He turned, his gaze darting toward the bushes. His heart skipped a beat as he saw movement quick, deliberate, like something or someone was stalking him. It was coming closer.