I died.

I’m sure of it.

It happened so fast.

The moments leading to my death were still fresh in my mind.

We were fighting a lost war. And losing meant death.

I remembered hearing the towering walls of Dune City bellowing out one last shrill cry as they crumbled to the earth. My head jerked towards the foreboding sounds, and I froze. I explicitly recalled looking on in horror as the sinking feeling of inevitable doom rose from the depths of my stomach. I watched helplessly as the large shattered pieces of the collapsed walls hit the earth with booming impact.

Dust and debris swarmed out, washing over me like an enormous tidal wave and enveloping the immediate area. I flinched, squinting my light brown eyes. Immediately, I turned my head away, which was covered and protected by my metal helmet. Tucking my head towards my shoulders, I covered my face with my armored arms as I tried to weather the oncoming dust storm.

The dust cloud continued raging forward, seeping into the gaps of my armor. I could only lean forward against the rush of debris as it pelted my armor. It came fast and relentlessly, consuming me and everything into the blanket of flying dirt.

Screams from countless refugees added to the madness. The heavily guarded entrance zone to the outermost part of Dune City was crammed with escapees from berserk monsters outside the walls. But now with our last defenses breached, there was nowhere left to run.

Day nearly became night as the thick dust cloud continued expanding and blotted out the sky.

However, the darkness of the dust storm could not hide a pair of massive glowing yellow eyes - each the size of half a grown man. They stared hungrily from the other side of the fallen wall. The massive eyes - they moved, jerking to my right before halting and focusing down on a group of wailing children from the refugees of nearby towns.

The dust slowly dispersed and began to settle, revealing the terrible monster. I then understood what fearsome creature fell the towering stone walls. The frightening yellow eyes belonged to an enormous lion-like creature with an unusual mane. Instead of hair or fur, the rigid mane was composed of a mesh of twisting charcoal-black horns, as if stripped and fused together from many rams. The monster was a chimera, standing on four staunch legs, and was taller than a building. With an ebony-scaled serpent - the length of half a building - as its tail, the head of the serpent hissed, baring its long fangs while lashing out at the surroundings.

I could not believe my eyes and shouted with a scratchy deep voice, “Impossible! An A-rank monster?! How did a Guardian Class monster come out of the dungeon?!”

With its targets marked, the monstrous chimera began its prowl. The earth trembled, shaking with deep thunks as the chimera walked unbothered over the fallen debris. With a few stomps of its feet, it strode easily past the broken walls.

I saw the monster’s path and my eyes followed the trajectory to its end goal. Dread washed over me as I looked on with a horrified face.

“Shit. That thing is going for the kids!” I distinctly recalled exclaiming, feeling my guts churn with trepidation.

The chimera drooled, leaving a trail of saliva as it made its way to its next victims: the children refugees, who were frozen in fear.

I needed to help them.

Out of sheer instinct, my hands released part of the trembling metal gates that I assisted in holding shut.

“The fuck you doing, Addicus!? Why did you let go?! Let the knights handle that thing!”

I heard screams of my name from my fellow mercenaries, demanding to know what the hell I was doing. But all I heard was the wailing from the terrified children, who huddled and trembled together a distance across from my position. The chimera’s giant yellow eyes narrowed and locked onto the children’s frail bodies. It focused intently, lowering its head and lengthening its neck. Its massive jaw opened, revealing jagged teeth that likely ended countless lives.

The monster readied itself for the kill.

Each heavy step pushed out the retracted massive claws hidden within its paws. The chimera gradually lowered its stance with each subsequent movement, crouching low. Its leg muscles tensed and bulged like a compacted spring. It prowled, ever closer to the children, readying to pounce.

“Damn it all!” I swore, knowing the knights would not make it in time to save those kids. The knights were too far away, and the chimera - too close.

The gate behind me was rammed again, ringing with a sharp chipping noise as it shook violently. My fellow mercenaries beside me grunted, using their entire body to push against the metal gate. Unlike me, most of us hired mercenaries desperately tried to hold back the outside army of fearsome monsters that continuously rammed the tall steel entrance.

“Addicus!”

“Hold on! I’ll be back, Luke!” I shouted, ignoring the others who struggled to hold the gate closed. I needed to buy the kids enough time to escape before the knights could arrive and hopefully defeat the creature.

I leaped with all my might, mana pulsing through my veins and reinforcing my muscles as I kicked off the stone blocks inlaid in the ground.

“Please make it!” I prayed, ushering all the might from my body into my legs as I sprinted with bolting long strides.

The metal of my cheap armor clicked and clanked every time my foot landed on the stone ground from each forward lunge. Adrenaline pumped inside me, pushing my muscles to the max as I dashed to protect the kids. The chimera was nearly before the crying children, but I landed right in front of them - hastily drawing my sword and blocking the path of the gigantic monster that destroyed the towering walls of stone.

I half turned around and commanded the children, “Run! Hurry! Get a-“

But I stopped, interrupted by an eerie noise. I heard an unsettling deep cackle emanating from my front as if belittling me and my efforts.

I turned back and looked ahead.

Our eyes met.

I saw my entire body, donned in cheap metallic armor, reflected back in the pair of massive yellow eyes. The chimera took in my entire being, gauging my threat level. It smirked condescendingly.

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Rightfully so.

I was small. Weak in comparison. I was nothing before this terrifying creature. I knew I could not defeat it. None of my skills or abilities could defeat the chimera.

However, none of that mattered.

All I wanted was to distract it so the children could get away.

And the kids did, scrambling away. But the monster did not follow, as if unworried that they would get far. I recalled my entire body shuddering as a nefarious grin, full of jagged yellow teeth, spread across the maws of the monstrous chimera. The monster now solely focused on me. I gripped hard onto the base of my sword with both hands, enveloping it in a sharp silver glow from my mana.

But my actions were pointless.

This beast was a foe I could not handle.

I was prey.

In a flash, my hands were numb. One set of its claws - moving faster than my eyes could see - knocked the sword in my hands flying away before it fell and skid across the stone ground with a metallic grating noise. I couldn’t even blink. The next thing I knew was a gut-wrenching impact on my front side. My metal armor provided no defense, caving into the blow. I gasped. The immense force went through the armor and hammered my body.

My eyes suddenly saw the dusty blue sky. I was slammed backward onto the ground. The back of my cheap plate armor smashed down hard with a metallic thud. The wind was knocked out of me. I gasped again for air while temporarily squinting my eyes shut from the pain.

My situation was not good. I needed to act. I needed to protect myself and somehow get away.

As I began to open my eyes, I also attempted to quickly get up by pushing off the ground but could not move. One massive paw with blade-like claws pinned my torso to

the ground.

My body rippled with pain, and I winced but strained to keep my eyes open. I then smelled the revolting odor of old, rotten meat. It came breathing down puffs of hot, putrid air onto my face.

My eyes jolted completely open. An enormous shadow covered the immediate area around me. The perpetrator was right in front of my face.

I was now fully aware of my fate.

Immediately, I froze as cold sweat seeped out from every pore of my body. Every fiber of my being told me to run, but I could not budge, no matter how much I tried. I could only helplessly stare at the chimera - mere feet away from me. I would never forget the evil smile that stretched across that monster’s face as it enjoyed my fear.

Before I knew it, I screamed out in sheer terror.

“GAHHHHH!”

I was being eaten alive.

Recalling the last moments of my life, even now, I still felt the agonizing phantom pains from the massive claws that slashed open my armor and abdomen.

My blood splattered all over the dirt, soaking the ground red as the massive front teeth of the chimera's mouth gouged out my innards, shredding them with sloppy chomps and swallowing as I screamed in agony. It could have swallowed me whole, making for a quick death. But the monster chose to slowly feast on me, taking delight in my useless struggle.

The monster snapped off my armored kicking feet and tore off my punching arms with a single bite, ripping them off with a yank of its head before flinging my decapitated limbs up into the air. I screamed, but nothing came out of my mouth. Pain like nothing I ever felt before burned and radiated from my empty arm sockets and open abdomen. A loud chomp echoed into the surroundings as the chimera bit upwards into the air, snatching onto and chewing my limbs with bone-crushing crunches.

There was no way I survived that attack.

I recalled my last convulsing moments as the monster kept ripping me apart. The attack was short - mere minutes. But to me, the ordeal was an agonizing eternity.

Finally, the agony stopped. The last ounce of life finally escaped my body.

I died.

Gruesomely.

My consciousness faded away. Darkness consumed me.

Yet now, I was somehow awake and conscious. The pain of being torn asunder was still fresh in my mind, but oddly, I felt…whole.

What is this place? The afterlife? Heaven?

I looked around, thinking Heaven felt rather…cold…and dark. A bad feeling crept up from my stomach.

Cold and dark? Was Heaven supposed to be like that?

No. The Heaven I heard about was nothing like the sort. Heaven was supposed to be warm. I was supposed to be greeted by white clouds and beautiful smiling women. Yet, I had no such welcoming party. There supposedly was only one other place I could be after death if not Heaven.

Damn, even after saving those kids in Dune City, was I still not worthy?

I frowned, feeling unwanted and abandoned. The sensation was all too familiar. But it hurt even worse this time.

Not even Heaven wanted me, huh? Shit. Not even Heaven…

I should have known. Whether in life or death, I was a pathetic nobody: an extra and unwanted lowly noble’s son, discarded upon adulthood, and became a low-ranking adventurer, who turned hired mercenary for Count Dune to fight against the Dungeon Outbreaks. No matter how hard I worked, my efforts never amounted to much. I was not born gifted or talented. There was always someone better. And someone who always wanted and enjoyed to see me fail.

Damn it, Father. Damn Farlure Kingdom and your stupid ways. Why did I have to be born as the fifth son of a lowly noble?

My status was basically the same as a commoner, but worse. I carried my father’s name, but also his enemies. However, I held no real noble status - no real power. My first brother inherited that right. I had to fend for myself and against threats that came along with my family name. But what does that matter anymore?

I died - died at the age of 35. And probably without a proper burial. My deceased body likely resided in the chimera’s stomach, dissolving into a big puddle of juices. Monster bastard. Damn dungeons. My crappy life only continued to get worse. And now I was just another unfortunate statistical number that would be later forgotten.

I sighed. Dying from a dungeon outbreak. Not the way I pictured myself to go.

But something was strange. Something was off. I felt cold.

Why do I feel at all? Can we feel sensations like the living in the afterlife? Maybe? It’s cold, and the air is stale. Is this Hell? But isn’t Hell supposed to be hot?

The gods must have made a mistake in sending me here. It seemed like I was in neither Heaven nor Hell. Perplexed, I was about to vocalize my confusion to the gods, who seemingly screwed up. But in doing so, something strange spooked me.

I spoke.

My supposedly dead self spoke out loud!

“Then why do I feel cold? It’s as if I was still aliv-“

I immediately stopped speaking.

But that only confirmed the oddity.

“Is this MY voice?”

I confirmed it. Or my voice answered my question. But now, something else was wrong. The voice was mine - coming from my throat. But my voice was not the voice I remembered. It was not deep at all. My voice - it cracked - as if from when I was my pubescent self.

“What the hell is going on?! Why is my voice like this?!” I shouted in alarm.

Half freaking out, I panted, taking deep breaths.

Wait. I can breathe?

I suddenly jumped at the thunking noise from what seemed to be coming from the bagging on a wooden door.

“Fifth Young Master! Is that you?! Why have you been hiding all this time?! You must report to your father, the Baron, immediately!”