Death was quick. One second I was crossing the street, headphones blasting an epic JRPG soundtrack, and the next—a horn, blinding headlights, and... nothing.
No pain. Just... absence.
I don't know how long I drifted in that void. It felt like floating in a sea of ink, my thoughts the only thing keeping me anchored. I remembered everything—my cramped apartment, my ridiculous manga collection, my fanfic drafts I never finished. My backlog of games I swore I'd catch up on.
And Marvel's Midnight Suns.
Man, I loved that game. The strategy, the characters, the Hunter. I even created my ideal version—strong, charismatic, morally complex.
Then, I saw it—a flicker. A light. Like a save point at the edge of reality.
Instinct took over. I reached for it.
And suddenly, I was burning. My whole body ached like I was being forged anew. Fire. Pain. Memory.
Voices. Ancient, echoing, familiar.
And then... breath.
My eyes snapped open.
The world was misty, dreamlike, but the figures standing above me were clear—Doctor Strange, Nico Minoru, Blade. My heart nearly stopped. This wasn't cosplay. This was real.
"I think it's working," said Nico, her voice a mixture of hope and fear.
"Welcome back, Hunter," Strange intoned.
Except I wasn't just the Hunter.
I was me. And more.
Somehow, I had been reborn—in the resurrected body of the Hunter, but carrying all my memories, my obsessions, my personality. Fused. Enhanced.
My name is Orion Hunter now.
And things just got complicated.