As my bulky shoulders were shook with vigor, i let out a low groan as my eyelids opened not even halfway.

"Come on Gars, wake up! Have you already given up your diligent act??" A sweet, childish voice of a young girl, followed it.

Though she did not seem to want for it, her cute voice had inspired a little levity in my brain, as it fished out the muscle memory I had from my VTuber days, a shallow smile forming on my face. I pivoted away from her on the bed, letting out another groan, this one lighter.

"Hmm... Huh...?"

Memories from before i passed out, and when i passed out, shoved themselves into me mercilessly, and before long, i was looking at the young girl trying to wake me up in horror.

Everything changed, as the gears for my head screeched in discord, almost threatening to stop working again.

She looked like, just an object, that was dangerous. A monster. The sharp intent of her eyes piercing through my weak, overwhelmed eyes.

And she sounded like...

"Come on! Why are you looking at me like that? I've been trying to wake you up for 5 minutes now, so we can... t-take our time walking to training..."

A devil.

"So come on!" She said, as she hauled my arm over her weak shoulders, crouching, clearly attempting to drag me out of bed.

"S-stop..." I muttered, pulling my arm back slightly. The only thing holding me from going feral was me not fully realising what's going on.

"Huh? Did you say some- Kyaa!!" I pulled my arm back violently, crashing her back onto the side of the wooden bed.

On the floor, she turned her head to me meekly, pouting, small tears welling up at the sides of her eyes.

"Fine then, I'll bring up Uncle Reiner here then!!" She exclaimed in a shaky, yet confident voice. And she stormed out of the room, leaving me and my thoughts, awaiting the ominous unknown.

I sinking in despair, i managed to sit up on the bed and stared at the half open door that showed a depthless darkness behind it, lost.

Who was Reiner?

"GARSSS!!!" A lions roar sounded, as the whole room vibrated, and soon enough, I heard fast succession, monstrous stomps coming from above me, an animal descending some stairs.

I was going to pass out again, and I wanted to.

"I'm not Gars..." I spoke to myself as I shivered. I wanted to tell them that.

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The door was bashed into without mercy, as a monster of a human, who barely fitted through the not small doorway, walked into the room.

"Is it true you hit Claire?!?" He shouted, as the little girl peered from beside his waistline.

"No..." It came out as a quivering whisper. My first instinct was to lie, but it turns out that my 7+ years of not talking to anyone except my dad and people online, wouldn't allow even that. My voice failed at the last moment.

"Huh?!? Speak up, Gars!! Be a man and owe up!! And why do you look so horrified!! Did this little baby have a nightmare?!?" He wouldn't stop shouting.

"Didn't seem like it..." The girl commented from the side, recalling my manner in waking up.

Intimidated, I felt the need to surrender, and so I said sorry, the thing I haven't heard in a long decade except over the Internet.

"S-Sorry..." I said.

It came out really odd, and both of them looked at me weird, the man looking at me with a hint of worry

"Well I forgive you, so let's just go! We've already wasted enough time!" The girl, Claire, paused the mood and hurried toward me, grabbing my hand.

I was about to pull away again, until I felt the man's flaming gaze, and i slowly got up, shaking, and began to stumble forward behind her lead.

"If I hear something like that happening again, I'll personally punch you. Don't make it seem like a did a bad job in raising you." He told me, as i passed him.

As I got further and further away from the man, and into the dark corridor, a sleeping rage began welling up in my heart, as I thought who the hell he has expectations of.

It's not me... I'm not Gars!! This is just unfair... I have nothing to do with him or any of you...

I went through the short corridor in a daze, recalling the happenings that got me here.

Am i really in that world? The world of that novel? Of that game??

Reaching the last steps until the door, the rage didnt take long to flee, as it gave way to the bigger, stronger, emotion of fear. It was the moment that my body was dreading as I was looking at the sun rise, and when I felt the breeze from the open window.

Inconsiderately, Claire opened the door to the outside world, not waiting for anyone, and stepped out first.

Seeing the bright sunlight illuminate half of the girls face as she looked both ways diligently, I swallowed a thick lump of saliva, before she pulled me out. I took my final resistances, pushing back my feet a little before leaving, and was pulled out of the house.

My eyes yielded to the intense light, squinting, as I quickly faced down. My skin bathed in the heat of the sun, felt scorched for a moment, before quickly going back to a comfortable warmth.

The sun... this is what it feels like.

My heart raced and thumped loud and clear, so much so that i wouldn't be surprised if Claire had actually heard it, but feeling the warmth of the sun inspired the littlest bit of curiosity in me. That accompanied by my instinct check for danger, was enough in order to lift my quite accustomed eyelids.

A wide panorama triumphed my eyesight, and time seemed to slow down.

There were men, women, children, walking both ways in the wide, dirt pathed streets, as the star above shone a subtle yellow on their blunt attires. Buff and lean men wore loose and tight cloth, some carrying supplies of some sort, and others looking to be just on a stroll.

Children, beaming so brightly even in the opposition of the sun, held the hands of their mom's or aunties, or were in groups of other children, and the women, who walked in all sorts of body types, had pretty smiles, some wearing hats of straw or hoods of cloth to cover from the sun.

My first breath since leaving through the door, and I felt a euphoria I hadn't got in years of gaming in that dust infested room. Sweet, springtime air calmed my ready heart a notch, carrying a subtle organic smell to it, pure and holy, rinsing my nose to my lungs like clean water.

A stream of light seemed to make its way through the wall to my heart, as it realised the world that had been just outside my walls for a decade. That I haven't dared to look out to, or acknowledge.

All sentiment was lost however, with my arm pulled further by the determined girl, and time sped up again.

The wall to my heart weakened, but sealed again.