These thoughts kept swirling in his head, causing him to feel like he was spinning as he stood there motionlessly.
*Ch!-roooo~*
A sudden crack of lightening and a roll of thunder finally woke Kai from his murder-induced daze.
He quickly cast his thoughts aside, remembering his pursuers were still after him.
Kai gave one last glance at the homeless man who had tried to end his life for little to no reason, before turning and disappearing into the shadows of the alley.
“There’s no time to think about it… not now. I need to keep moving.” he nodded, his eyes now scanning piles of trash more closely as he ran past them.
“This world is dangerous. I can’t assume everyone will be civil… or even sane.”
While Kai was currently just a young man, his mind - or soul, was not from this world. Not originally.
Somehow after his death, his consciousness was transported to this new world nearly eighteen years ago - yet his freedom had only just begun, and not even an hour had passed before he had murdered someone.
Kai's memories of his old life were already fading, but he did remember that he had a wife, a job he hated, and had died in a car crash - a car crash which was someone else’s fault.
Seconds before his death he felt utterly powerless as a pair of headlights grew nearer, and it was that feeling of powerlessness which he remembered most vividly.
He had some leftover knowledge of anatomy, medicines, mechanics and architecture - which he certainly didn’t learn in this world, though it gave him no clue about what his profession was; he guessed that he had many different disciplines in his old life - or perhaps he was simply an office-dwelling nobody with many odd interests.
As for his death? Well Kai guessed that the other driver probably got distracted by a text.
“Hope my life was worth checking that text message from Bomino’s pizza” Kai sometimes thought.
Even after nearly eighteen years, he was still angry that his life could be so easily and quickly determined by the foolish incompetence of others - even though he did everything right. Or so he believed anyway.
In truth, he actually didn’t know what caused the other driver to be distracted but had a feeling it was something utterly mundane and stupid, and with a second life, most things actually began to feel mundane and stupid.
Kai no longer remembered his loved ones faces, and they instead seemed like just a blur in his memories. Even his wife’s name was a mystery, yet he still felt a longing for her in his heart, but even that was fading away, like all things do.
As for this world, its technology level was medieval. Swords and arrows were the most common weapons for piercing enemies - at least, common among those who didn’t use magic.
The buildings in this city were made from primarily stone or wood. Surrounded by high granite stone walls, its tops were patrolled by soldiers with torches, complete with different sorts of siege weapons from ballista to onagers.
Even a few spell towers were perched up there, holding human-sized red floating crystals, crackling with chaotic energies and threatening anything which dared to lay eyes upon them.
Kai had sometimes stared at these magic towers from the confines of the cult’s compound, wondering what they would or could do. In all his time in this world, they had only activated a handful of times, yet as property of the cult he was evacuated to a fortified basement. Weak tremors were all he felt.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Truly, this world was advanced in its own way because of two things which changed everything: magic, and systems.
While anyone could learn magic, not everyone gained a system.
The awoken, as those with systems were called, were rare, feared and treasured. Less than one percent of people gained a system, and they bestowed miraculous powers which those studying magic could not even replicate.
Of course, there were a few cases of systems being completely useless; the candlemaker system for instance. Enough said.
Kai could only hope to receive a system, though there were some obstacles in his way - the Cult of Two, who were now pursuing him.
While raised in this secretive cult, he was propagandized and indoctrinated with their teachings, convinced to give up his blood and life for some sort of greater good.
After interpreting the propaganda, Kai learnt that one day he was to be sacrificed in an illegal ‘hexamist’ spell, designed to channel his chances of getting a system into someone else.
Now, that future day was only a few days from now: on the blood-moon equinox.
Of course, Kai was just playing along with their crazy ideas. He had the mind of a grown man after all, and was not easily swayed by propaganda designed for kids.
Over the years, Kai had pretended to be excited about the sacrifice day, and began to help around the compound by serving, cooking and cleaning. Slowly, he was granted more and more freedom to move around the partially-underground compound, while in secret he built up his body and knowledge of this world.
Over time, he came to learn about what a system was, along with the existence of magic which were both intriguing enough to pursue, and he believed someday would be the key to his survival in this world - but only once he escaped.
Getting a system was rare, and Kai was smart enough not to place his hopes on it, and he would still be able to try his hand at the magic arts at the very least.
Unfortunately, the cult didn’t see the need to teach magic to a future sacrifice, so up until this very day he was focused solely on his escape.
Right now, all he could do was run.
As Kai ran, a paranoid part of him wondered if his escape was an orchestrated plot, but then the homeless vagrant attacked him and died. He didn’t believe they would kill someone just to trick him into a false sense of freedom. Plus, he had acted as if he was indoctrinated.
He cast these thoughts aside and kept running even as his legs felt limp.
“Surely no one is that calculating...” he thought and hoped, running further in the cover of the storm.
Sure, Kai felt like it was a stain on his soul to kill someone, being able to do it meant that this probably wasn’t some elaborate trick. Probably.
He was truly free - and with the freedom to live also came danger, yet his freedom came at a price, and his mind kept trying to drift back to the man he had just slain.
“Who was he? Why did he attack? How could it have gone differently? - Ugh, dammit. Killing that man was self-defense. He was trying to kill me, so I will not let my conscience taunt me. If anything, I will feel sorry for him for his miserable situation. Asking myself hypothetical questions won’t change what happened.
Now, I need to get out of this city before those fucking cultists find me, but where the hell am I… dammit.” he frowned.
Kai had no money, nowhere to go, and nowhere to stay. He knew no one, and practically, knew nothing.
His knowledge about this city? Well, the potholes in the streets were deeper than what he knew.
Kai was sure the cultists would be scanning the streets and alleyways for him this very moment as they had invested a lot in him, but he didn’t know the extent of their magical abilities - nor did he know if there was even some sort of scanning or searching magic.
Since the cult was able to take care of him for nearly eighteen years meant they had rich, powerful backers - or were simply rich and powerful themselves.
He knew he didn’t have much time to escape, but not how much.
At the cult’s compound there were six others like him, all the same age who were being raised to be sacrificed too - yet unlike Kai, their eager anticipation to be sacrificed was genuine.
However, owning seven sacrifices in total who were all raised in secret since birth just showed how lucrative this cult really was.
It was clear to Kai that they would have enough men and resources to thoroughly comb the entire city. Finding him was just a matter of time.
As for any knowledge about the world outside the walls, he knew even less.
“The wall… if I follow it around there will be a gate at some point.” he puffed, looking up at the familiar giant wall, standing firmly against the storm.
Kai had some doubts as all his clothes were now drenched with the chilling rain. The storm was his cloak of shadows, but was turning into his coffin of death.
Practically, he was lost - but as he started shivering, he realized that being lost was slowly becoming the least of his problems.