Moses was adrift, within a vast expanse without the definition of time and space. He had no arms, no legs, no body, just a soul floating around the universe. It was clearly a supernatural phenomenon yet Moses didn’t question it. It felt natural to him just like breathing.

He floated aimlessly, lethargically, with no sense of direction. Until a brilliant light shone through him. Like a sun giving life to the plants on earth, he felt invigorated once he received that light. He had no body, yet he could feel and though he had no ears, he could hear.

“My child.”

Moses' heart shook, despite not having one currently.

He could feel the overwhelming love for him in just those two words. The light began wrapping around him like the warm mother’s embrace on the return of the prodigal son.

“I'm sorry for giving you such an arduous task. I didn’t want to force you to go through this. Yet I hope you would understand, without you, the world will fall to evil, and ‘He’ will bring about the world’s end.”

‘Her’ voice is full of regret, pity, self-loathing, yet also trust in him.

Moses could feel ‘Her’ feelings conveyed to his soul.

“I have given a gift for you so that you will have a little easier of a time. I'm sorry that this is all I can do to you.”

The bright light shined even further, engulfing the soul of Moses.

“I love you, my child. Please reach for the [Epilogue] you so wished for.”

After that, Moses could feel his soul moving to ‘somewhere’ at a rapid speed. Since his senses were messed up, Moses couldn't tell the direction, but he kept moving and moving somewhere until he entered 'something'.

Like the last piece of the puzzle perfectly fitting in the last spot, his soul is the same.

Moses woke up with a splitting headache, sweat covering his entire body. That incredibly vivid dream made him feel drained. He also felt extremely thirsty for some reason. It truly felt like waking up from a hangover.

‘What the hell was that dream?’

Whatever the case, he needed some water first. Moses opened his eyes and saw curtains surrounding his bed. Moses tilted his head and half confirmed that this was not his bed, and probably not his room. Still, he had to check more things.

He noticed that the bed was a lot wider than his usual bed. He also felt a strange sense of dissonance within his entire body when he moved, like wearing clothes that didn’t fit. Moses opened the curtains and was greeted with a room of opulence, he caught sight of an old antique table with a quill pen resting on top, windows overlooking the beautiful sky and garden, an ornate carpet with intricate patterns of red and gold covered the floor, oil paintings with golden gilded frames, every furniture and items is like an assembly of rare antiques a collector would’ve liked.

Now Moses was sure.

‘This is not my room. Then why am I here? Did I get kidnapped? Why-’

His thoughts stopped when his throat started to hurt. Every breath felt like he was swallowing sand. He needed some water first before he started thinking about anything. Fortunately, next to the bed, there was a golden-plated bottle with a bell next to it placed above the wooden bedside table. Moses grabbed the bottle, saw clean water inside, and drank it. The water was somehow cold and refreshing. He drank the water all the way not even thinking there might be poison inside, because it felt like he would die of thirst first.

After he felt refreshed he started to think about what led to this situation.

‘Yesterday, I was speed running the game of [A Hero’s Tribulations], then I got a mysterious Gmail from the developer with the same name of the Goddess of this world…And then-’

His thoughts stopped again, this time because of an entirely different reason. Like a nail being embedded through his brain, the pain spread from the center of his brain to the entire brain. Moses’ body collapsed as he dropped the expensive-looking bottle, the bottle hit the table making the bell ring a little before falling to the ground as well. The bell made a loud ringing noise as the bottle reached the ground with a clank.

“Your Highness? Are you okay? Your Highness!?”

Moses could hear the voice of someone and the loud knocking he was doing, but he couldn’t care less about that right now.

He managed to half collapse onto the bed and gripped the bed sheets tight. It was not just the pain he was getting, countless images, pictures, and feelings all rained down upon him like a torrent wave. He was ‘someone’ that was not Moses, once as a child wielding the sword training in his family’s swordsmanship, a teen engulfed in despair after the death of his mother because of poisoning, and all sorts of other memories flowed with emotions that wreaked havoc inside his mind and heart.

Soon, the memories settled down, and the headache receded. The earlier sense of dissonance with his body also disappeared and he could hear the sound of a door being opened forcefully. Someone went and grabbed ‘Wilhelm’ who was half collapsed on the bed and floor.

“Your Highness, are you alright!?”

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Wilhelm looked at the man. He was wearing a butler’s suit, had a neatly combed back white hair, and wrinkles on his face. The old man who had served ‘Wilhelm’ for half his life was worried about him.

“I’m fine Hendrick, could you clean up this mess and give me breakfast? Also, get me a mirror.”

“A-are you really fine?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Alright then, I shall do as you wish, Your Highness.”

Your Highness, it was a term unfamiliar to Moses but not to the current him. Hendrick cleaned up the mess of the bottle and the bell before leaving the room to prepare the breakfast and mirror. Wilhelm laid down on his bed as he thought about what had just happened.

He was Moses, a 26-year-old man living in Jakarta, Indonesia. However, that Moses had just gotten the memories of a certain prince living in another world.

Wilhelm Von Heinberg.

That was the name of the body he was transmigrated into and he recognized it. Because it was the name of the Crown Prince of the Heinberg Empire who died in the Prologue of the [A Hero’s Tribulations].

And now he had become that person.

‘Shit, why did this happen?’

All Wilhelm did the day before was speedrun a game he liked, and went to sleep.

‘Wait no, there was that mysterious Gmail.’

It was right after Moses had finished playing the game and checked his Gmail, a new Gmail popped up with superb timing and Moses looked at the name.

[email protected]

Equinos, It was the name of the Goddess inside the [A Hero’s Tribulations] and only one person is eccentric enough to name their Gmail based on a Goddess from a game. The developer of the Indie Game [A Hero’s Tribulations]. He had chatted with her for a while and he remembered the last conversation.

[Do you wish for the Epilogue?]

The Epilogue of [A Hero’s Tribulations]. It was something that no Player have ever achieved, including Moses himself. It was because the game's ridiculous difficulty never allowed the Player to see the ending because they would always fail before they reached the Epilogue. Some even theorized that it doesn't exist but since Equinos confirmed its existence through her social media post, all the veteran players, including Moses, worked together to figure out how to achieve the Epilogue. Days, months, and even years passed as the players started to quit one by one, until only Moses himself remained, still trying his hardest.

It was because the game of [A Hero’s Tribulations] was not just a mere game to him, it had saved him during the dark times of his life and he wanted to repay it by giving the characters inside the endings they deserved. Because he loved the world and characters inside, he tried and tried until eventually…He gave up.

After all, he too had a life and responsibilities. He believed there was an Epilogue for the longest time but in the end, he also decided that it was a troll post, he was convinced an ending didn't exist. He even left a hate comment on the post itself saying that it misled many people, and it also led Moses to waste his time away on the computer for it.

That’s why when he saw the questions, he immediately snapped and it showed on his reply.

[Do I wish for the Epilogue? Fuck, of course, I do! Because of your stupid post, I wasted many times of my life searching for that stupid ending!]

‘...Now that I thought about it, that was rude.’

Prior to that question, Moses had actually spoken respectfully, and after a realization that he messed up and was about to apologize, a reply came.

[Then please wait until tomorrow.]

Moses had asked what that meant, but he got no reply so he didn’t think much of it and just went to sleep.

‘But fuck! I just chatted with the developer so why did I get transmigrated all of a sudden!’ Wilhelm clutched his head.

It might be someone’s dream to get transmigrated into a game world they love and sometimes Moses would daydream like that. With that said, never once did he actually want to get transmigrated into [A Hero’s Tribulations].

[A Hero’s Tribulations] was a popular indie game about a protagonist who wanted to become a successful person and a great mage so he went to the best academy in his country, and through all kinds of trials, he managed to become one of the Heroes of his generation.

A classic, cliche tale of a hero with indomitable will. However, Moses liked it.

Why did Moses like it? Because the game was unapologetically dark, and painful. There is a reason why it's not called the [Rise of a Hero] but rather [A Hero’s Tribulations]. Characters would die at a moment’s mistake, sometimes for things you couldn’t possibly know if you were playing for the first time without spoilers. The enemies are sometimes too damn strong, and it was so damned hard to beat them. In the first place, it was a game designed for multiple playthroughs.

It felt like you could almost feel the tribulations and emotions of the protagonist since you too felt like crying every time you die and the game restarts. There are saves in this game but honestly, when you already went too far in the wrong direction you have to restart the whole game because you are too weak to get the ending or recruited the wrong characters. It was an exhausting, a bit masochistic but fun game regardless. That’s why Moses liked the game and why he wanted to cry right now.

With that said it's not as if it's full of despair. Once you had understood how the game works, and all of that stuff, it even became a bit easy. First-time players usually struggle because of their lack of information and the unpredictability of the game slapped them like a bitch. However, Moses was not a first-time player. He was a veteran amongst the veterans and knew a lot about the world and the game. With that said even he couldn't reach the Epilogue.

‘There are a lot of other people but why am I the one chosen? Why me?’ Wilhelm clutched his head.

He couldn't even get to the Epilogue in the game world how the hell will he reach it here, where he will put his own life on the line instead of looking at a game screen?

Wilhelm then remembered the dream he had. Since it was incredibly vivid, he still remembered everything that had happened there.

“Please reach for the [Epilogue] you so wished for.”

The word spoken by the being presumed to be Goddess Equinos rang at his ears. Wilhelm sighed. Sure, he wanted the Epilogue, but he didn't mean to transfer him into this world and make him personally get that ending.

“But complaining won’t do me any good.”

Never did running away and complaining solve the problems in his life. Thinking positively, he might as well take this chance to repay this world for what they had done to him.

‘It’s possible if it's me.’

Even if it might seem hard, it is possible. Besides, if he ran away, the world would end and he would die.

Therefore to both survive and repay this world, he would reach for the [Epilogue] with his own hands.