Cold engulfed the night and men compiled to nature. Wearing warm clothing to withstand the darkly chill, they were seen roaming the streets, going about their daily lives.
A man however, bothered by the futile clothes, wandered the path with a simple black t-shirt and greyish pants.
With a backpack and face cleanly shaved, he set his eyes on a building.
Entering the venue, he walked towards the reception.
"Good evening, welcome to Nori, how can I help you." The receptionist looked at the guest's figure with a professional smile.
"I would like to book a single room for 30 days or so." The man said, curiously looking around him.
"Of course, do you have a reservation?" The receptionist asked.
"No."
"Could I have your ID and credit card, please? "
"Of course." As he talked the man took out two cards from his pockets.
A few minutes later, the receptionist finished the procedures and handed the man something.
"Your room number is 23, here is your key."
"Thank you." The man gave his thanks to the receptionist.
"Enjoy your stay in our hotel, and if you need anything, please let us know."
Nodding to the woman, the man walked around the building until he found his room.
Using the key to enter, he slowly closed the door and went towards the bathroom. As he looked at himself in the mirror; a small build with black hair, black eyes with noticeable asian features, a smile came out.
"Neat." 'Blake' said as his face and physique started to morph; snapping sounds echoed, weight expanded and a new person stood before the mirror.
"Let's keep Fred's original appearance for the moment, just in case."
And in the mirror, the face of someone whose body has been taken over in a dark alley appeared. However, the face looked healthier than his previous counterpart; sunken cheeks caused by illness and hunger were now gone, and the once bald head was full of messy wild black hair.
"What a poor guy." Blake thought out loud, reminiscing about the memories he received from the man.
Friedrich was a regular salaryman in a mid sized corporation. He had everything he ever wished for; a good salary in a successful company, a beautiful house and a loving wife. And even though his job was sometimes difficult to manage, he was happy with his life.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
However his downfall began when he was diagnosed with cancer.
During the first stages, he was still dutifully working, but had to take additional rests for his appointments and treatments. He was still optimistic and hopeful about the future, which was again challenged when he received a call from one of his acquaintances.
He told Friedrich that she saw his wife being escorted by a man into a high end restaurant. Blinded by love and skeptical, he asked where was the restaurant and headed towards the eating place to see for himself. But But what he witnessed filled the man with wrath and despair. So much that he entered the place and caused a fuss inside. And when his face full of desperation looked at the backstabbing wife, he saw bewilderment, just... bewilderment.
Not guilt or even shame. Just pure, unaltered confusion on her face. That was the last straw for Friedrich. He stood silent as he was kicked out by the guards, silent as his acquaintance tried to comfort him, and silent as he returned home.
A week later, his health worsened, and he had to go to the hospital. But again, he kept falling the staircases of life. His credit card was declined and when he asked the reason to his bank, his only response was: "One of the owners of your joint account withdrew most of the funds 6 days ago."
Another step, another fall. His ex wife took everything and left. He felt despair when he thought he was already at the bottom. Incapable of paying for his medical treatments, he contacted his workplace to try to find a solution, but was welcomed with a flat: "Due to consecutive absences of your part, the company decided to let you go."
He fell again, harder. Dispirited, he roamed the city streets while heavily chugging down bottles after bottles, with the measly amount of money he had on his person. He had no doubt that the woman will do something with the house as well but he did not care, he was just...tired of everything.
Making himself comfortable in a dark alley, he closed his eyes and waited for death to embrace him as he reminisced about the happiness he once owned. Good memories thus immersed the man, into a lullaby of death. Friedrich Whitlock died that night, but Blake Bourn was reborn anew...
"What do you think about these people, system. About this supposedly fictional world?" Blake suddenly asked, unknown thoughts crossing his mind.
[Despite the fact that this world was based on a fictional piece of work]
[Most creatures Host has interacted thought and acted like regular living beings from Host's previous world]
[Except from situations where 'plot' is required, there is no particular difference in sentience]
"I think therefore I am." Blake unconsciously quoted.
Looking at the mirror, his mind wandered.
[Host is diverging]
[Thinkin-]
"Too much will bring me nowhere, I know. I'm not the type of guy to think to much about deep existential questions anyway." Moving towards the bedroom, he gently placed his bag on the bed, took a comfortable position and turned on the TV before him.
"At the end of the day," switching channels until he found what he was looking for; strange carcasses found in the amazonian forest with occurrences of missing people.
"If they think the same, they bleed the same." He proclaimed, curiously looking at the screen as he took a drink from the mini fridge next to him.
"Huh, let's do some groceries later. Hey system, this body can support some liters of milk, right?" The man suddenly asked.
[Host has fought and endured waves of demonic creatures]
"So?"
[...]
[Affirmative]
[New Host's body can handle significant amounts of lactose in his system]
"Now that's great news, 500 bucks should now be allocated into milk budget!" The milk addict roared, and a whole drink was chugged down.
[...]
...