There was a choking sound, and with a jerking motion a man sat up. The man was sitting there stunned, although unsure why.

For a couple moments the man sat there trying to get his bearings, and failing to do so. After a few moments, he came to realize that he had no memory of who he was, or where he was.

A few moments of dealing with the chaos in his mind later, the man decided to try and get up, and found himself to be on top of some sort of stone table which was broken in places.

The man got off of the table, and walked in a singular direction, eventually after around 10 seconds, he had reached the wall, and following this found the door to the room. There wasn't an actual door, so the man simply walked with one hand against the wall following it through the pitch blackness. The hall continued for a while, maybe 5 or so minutes, the man could feel carvings in the wall the entire time as well.

At last the man managed to make it to the end of the long hall and found himself outside in a field, one that dropped off rather sh arply. Walking across the field, the man found that he was on a plateau on a mountain side, overlooking a sprawling city, one glance told the man how something was wrong about the city, although he was not quite sure what it was.

The man also took this chance to look at the building he had emerged from. It was a massive building, made from some sort of black stone like substance, bits of it were in disrepair, probably long since abandoned.

The man then decided to look a way out of the mountain, as had determined that there was no point to stay here, so perhaps there was something in the city?

It took a little to find a stairway down, albeit a crumbly one, with all kinds of weeds. The man followed this, somewhat precarious, path down the mountain, and found himself somewhat distracted by the wild life along the mountainside.

It was like second nature, completely and utterly ordinary to him. He knew exactly everything about every bird he saw on the way down. Robins, hawks, and vultures, it was like mountain was some sort of bird sanctuary.

'Strange...' The man thought absent mindedly to himself.

Although it was an odd sensation to remember nothing yet know so much about a, somewhat, specific subject, the man finally reached the bottom of the mountain.

The first thing he took note of was a small log cabin near the short, waist high wall. He could tell at first glance that no one had been there for a long period of time. Dust could be seen from the outside through the windows.

The man, hesitantly, opened the door, and walked into the building. A creaking sound came from the door as it pushed into the room, and the man found himself looking at a room that had been used for a multitude of things. It had been used as a kitchen, and dining room, with sofas on one side and a coffee table between them.

The next thing that became evident was the mess that the kitchen area of the room was in. One of the chairs was on its side, with dishes still laid out on the table. However, that all slipped his attention but a moment later.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

There. On the kitchen table. A feather, so pristine and perfectly kept. It was colored the same as fire. Perhaps more importantly, the color moved like fire as well. Before the man was aware of his actions, he was already touching the feather.

[Initiation in progress...]

[.]

[..]

[...]

[Hello World!]

'What in the hell?' The man looked once more at the strange text in front of his eyes, and after a moment a new line appeared.

[Welcome User to the Phoenix System]

[Your stats will be displayed shortly...]

[...]

[Status]

Remnant - Lvl 1 - exp 0 | 10

Class - null

Health (con x 2 x 10) 300

Mana (Will x 10) 210

Strength - 8

Dexterity - 10

Endurance - null

Constitution - 15

Intelligence - 6

Wisdom - 7

Charisma - 3

Will - 21

SKILLs

-Passive

_ Aviary Expert

_ Phoenix Born

-Active

_Null

[End of display]

[If User wishes to see status again, say the word "Status"]

[Feel free to ask questions]

[...]

'This...' the man thought for a moment, realizing now why he had been so knowledgeable about the birds. Aviary Expert... perhaps it had somethibg to do with his past? But what was a Phoenix then? Was he one? It did say Phoenix Born after all.

[Due to certain thoughts and curiosity from User, Now displaying Skill descriptions]

[_Aviary Expert]

-You have extensive knowledge about many birds.

'Ya don't say...'

[...]

[_Aviary Expert]

- Due to excessive amounts of study, to the point of ostracism, you have developed keen knowledge on many bird types

'Am I being mocked?' The man's eyes narrowed as he continued to look upon the text

[_Phoenix Born]

- A being born from the ashes of an age long forgotten, mayhaps to rise again.

'That's awfully vague.' The man looked at the text a bit longer before shrugging, turning his attention elsewhere.

'Remnant, what is that?'

[Remnant]

- A soul that has decided that it is not yet time to go to the lands beyond. A form of higher undead with full mental capacity, usually lacking memories from life as attributed to being shadows of their former selves.

'And, I am one of these? A Remnant?' The man directed the question to the text in his eyes.

[Yes.]

'I see." The man began the thought and finished it aloud.

After a few minutes of contemplation he decided to at least cover himself with some clothes, and looked through the house, finding only a pair of loose pants and a vest. Looking further he found rope to use for a belt, but no more than that.

The man left the house, not yet putting his clothes on, he could've sworn he had heard a stream while walking down the mountain, so he went to find it and clean himself up a bit.

After a short time, he found it, only just above his calves, and cold as ice. He did however finally see himself, noticing that he was a somewhat handsome looking man, with a bit of stubble along his chin and face. Most noticeably, however, was the hole straight through his chest, as well as the dried and rotted blood that had solidified all around the wound.

He found that the hole was around the size of his fist, and was where his heart should have been.

'Huh. Now that I notice it, I realize I don't have a heart beat.' The thought struck him as odd but he quickly let it go, he couldn't really do much about it. 'Honestly, how'd I miss this anyway?'

The man, put it off to think about later, and decided to clean himself up first. It took some time, but he was able to get all the blood and such off of himself, although he was worried about water getting in his chest at first. That wasn't a problem however, as he found that there was some sort of barrier in front of it, it was... convenient.

After bathing the man simply got out of the river and dressed himself, and decided to continue to wander the city for a bit.