“Phew, finished that novel,” Leon muttered as he closed his phone and leaned back, the train’s gentle sway calming him after a long day at work.

Leon glanced around the empty train car before his gaze settled on the passing scenery outside. His own reflection stared back at him: dark-haired, dark-eyed, wearing a casual t-shirt and jeans.

He was captivated by “Souls Online,” a VRMMORPG novel with a time-travel twist. In simple terms, it was a novel about playing a virtual reality game where the MC goes back in time somehow.

It wasn’t new, but these types of novels always gripped Leon’s attention. The female protagonist was a positive aspect.

This time, what caught his attention was the protagonist’s brother, who had autism and shared the same name. Leon, being autistic himself, had hoped to find a relatable character. Unfortunately, the author wrote out the character after a few hundred chapters.

Leon’s own autism stemmed from a need for routine; his mind worked differently, and he could do mundane and boring tasks without going mad.

Apart from that, he always overanalyzed things excessively. He didn’t get social cues, and that wasn’t to mention the anxiety he felt if he had to attend busy events. His senses were sometimes too sharp, as sounds and visuals were sometimes too loud or too bright.

Why just write him out? It started so well. Leon could feel frustration creeping in. He couldn’t help himself as he mentally reviewed the book. Leon took a deep breath in order to regain control of his emotions and reviewed the rest calmly.

“Oh well, the rest of the novel was clichéd but still decent overall.” He was unsatisfied. In the solitude of a remote cabin, he found solace in talking to himself.

He focused his attention back on his phone and checked his email to see if he had anything new. “Hm?” Leon saw he had one new email, and it looked odd.

Subject: “Not satisfied?” And the sender was just blank. He almost dismissed it as spam, but paused. Who emails without a sender’s address? Intrigued, he tapped to open it.

“Unsatisfied with how this story went? Care to try it for yourself? Click here and experience it yourself.”

“That’s it?” Leon scoffed at the obvious scam and dismissed the mail.

His mind, however, couldn’t help but analyse the email. Would someone try such a simple scam? He tried to rationalise it. Leon’s mind turned against him when the train halted at the last station.

Leon called it a day and went home, hoping to put the email out of his mind.

He lived a simple life on Earth; he worked with numbers all day at a big accounting firm. Clients would send their bills, and Leon’s job was to record them for bookkeeping, report quarterly and yearly taxes, and prepare reports.

It sounded dull, and working with numbers all day could drive someone crazy, but Leon differed from the rest.

Besides that, he lived in a single-bedroom apartment with no financial issues. Because of his job, he could observe and notice the proper way to manage finances.

Leon momentarily forgot about the ‘scam’ mail. However, during the next morning when he habitually opened his email on the train ride back to work, his mind started working again, frustrating Leon.

This pattern continued for a few days until Leon couldn’t take it anymore; his mind became restless, and dull headaches would form whenever he thought about that dumb email.

Fine, you win email. But you won’t get my data. Leon was still half-convinced that it was a phishing mail.

Leon planned precautions. During those days, he bought a burner phone and created a new email address. He forwarded the email to the new account and deleted the original. He returned from work and boarded the train again the next day.

What if it’s real? Leon’s over-analytic mind had tried that possibility, however absurd it sounded. Most stories started this way, with some unexplainable phenomenon happening.

This is real life, not a story. Leon had often hoped to live in some stories he had read about; it was a coping mechanism his mind devised in the past.

“Only one way to find out,” Leon murmured as he opened the email on his burner phone and clicked on the link.

A pop-up appeared, asking, “Are you sure you want to experience this?” With a simple yes or no option. Leon, already committed to finding out, clicked yes.

The message closed, and nothing seemed to happen. Leon looked around and realised he hadn’t left the train. He looked back at his phone, and nothing had changed.

It took Leon a few seconds before he let out a deflated laugh. “So, this was all just a prank? I’m such an idiot.”

Still, it felt like a massive weight lifted from his mind as he took a sigh of relief that it was just a prank and nothing malicious.

Leon was so relieved that he felt exhausted, as if he had just run an entire marathon; his eyes got heavier as he closed them and drifted into unconsciousness.

As per routine, Leon had picked a cabin where no one was around, so nobody was there to witness the scene that unfolded.

Leon’s body started becoming transparent, and even his clothes disappeared. If someone were to look at pictures of Leon, they would notice him disappearing as well.

Government documents were gone, and even the memories of him were gone. Even his parents forgot about him. Someone erased him from existence without his knowledge.

Where am I? What’s happening? Leon thought as he was weightless and floating through space.

Soon he noticed something in the distance. Is that a planet? As the object neared, it looked like planet Earth but with less water.

Leon was on a crash course collision with the planet; he braced himself for the heat from exiting orbit when he felt nothing. I’m not burning up? How is that possible?

He looked down, his breath catching as he saw a massive construct coming into view. Is that... a city?

The structure resembled a gigantic mushroom, with a sprawling city on top and a dome beneath it. The sight sparked something in Leon’s mind as he recalled reading about this in the “Souls Online” novel.

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Leon couldn’t look for long because his consciousness transported him into a dilapidated wooden building and into the body of a sleeping youth there.

Leon’s eyes flew open, and he scanned the surroundings. His freefall was still fresh in his mind, and his heart raced. After ensuring he was alright, he took a few breaths to calm down before he realised something major—this wasn’t the train cabin he had fallen asleep in.

He was in a small bedroom with rough wooden walls, smelling pine filling the air. A simple bed with a thin, worn blanket sat in one corner, and a small wooden chest rested at its foot.

There weren’t any windows, but small gaps in the wooden walls allowed light and fresh air through. Inspecting the room revealed damage and dilapidation as some parts of the wooden walls were crumbling because of age.

His voice escaped him in a startled whisper as he recoiled in disbelief. It sounded very young, and one glance downward confirmed his guess as he could see his very white small arms and chest.

Leon threw off the covers and scrutinised himself. What he saw shook him to his core.

Leon estimated his age to be only twelve due to him appearing to be malnourished. For a moment, he believed he was a girl with such pale skin before realising he was still male.

He dressed in simple rags, and judging that there weren’t many clothes, it appeared to be all he possessed.

“Am I still dreaming?” Leon asked himself before he pinched his arm. A sharp pain came out that made him wince.

Realisation set in, and Leon broke out in a cold sweat. “W-What’s happening!?” An unknown situation thrust him into an unknown body. The situation made little sense to his mind, and it shattered his usual routine in an instant.

His breathing became heavy, and his heart pounded fiercely, tears stinging his eyes, and his body shaking. Leon’s emotions grew out of control, fear and anxiety clear on his face.

His head hurt as the minuscule sounds and smells got too much for him as he covered his ears with his hands.

He was having a meltdown, and Leon knew it. “I-I have to…calm down…” A small part of Leon’s rationality remained. Leon had prior experience with meltdowns. He knew that if he didn’t calm down in time, he could lose the bit of rationality he had.

He stopped thinking, took in a few deep breaths, and gained control of his emotions. It was a coping mechanism Leon had used for his entire life whenever he had a meltdown.

His body soon stopped shaking, and his senses stopped amplifying everything, making Leon remove his hands from his head. He gave a deep sigh of relief as he regained control. In a shaky voice, he murmured to himself, “That was close.”

Leon felt exhausted, although he had just woken up. He still had to figure out where he was, and although he could already guess, it was best to confirm his suspicions. After taking a deep breath, he steeled his nerves.

Leon stepped out of bed and attempted to take a step. However, instead of taking a step, he tripped and fell on the hard floor. “Ow!” he yelled out as he felt a sharp pain throughout his body.

His new body wasn’t his original well-fed adult body. As a result, he became imbalanced with this one and fell.

Leon sat up, and because of his earlier meltdown, he could feel another one coming. The door swung open with vigour before he could even begin.

“Leon, are you alright!?” A woman yelled out from the door. The unexpected yell made Leon flinch momentarily, but he mustered the courage to lift his head and meet the gaze of the mysterious woman.

The woman looked to be in her twenties with beautiful long orange flame-like hair and green eyes, along with very white skin, dressed in simple rags as well.

Seeing her made him think of the description of he had read of the main character of the “Souls Online” novel; Rose. It was surreal, like she had just stepped out of the pages of the novel Leon had read.

Leon felt conflicted as he witnessed the real Rose standing there in front of him, which all but confirmed his transfer to the world in the “Souls Online” novel.

“Leon?” Rose asked again after not getting an answer; she noticed her brother’s complexion and crouched down. “Leon, I’m here for you,” she said in a kind tone, aware of what was happening to him.

Leon felt comforted by Rose. Although this was the first time he had seen her, he once again used his method, and after a few seconds, he felt fine enough to reply.

“I-I’m fine. I only tripped when I stepped out of bed,” Leon responded with a shaken voice to Rose while looking away.

Rose sighed in relief as she helped Leon up. “Be careful next time, okay?”

Leon felt bad for making her worry like this. “Okay, I will,” he replied while he kept looking away from her.

Rose looked at Leon, who looked as if he got kicked, and gave him a small smile while ruffling his hair a little. She was aware of her brother’s ‘special’ conditions.

“Hey! Will you stop that?” Leon said as he tried to swat away her hand before he realised he made a mistake. Rose, however, didn’t notice it as she continued and replied,

“Fifteen or not, you’re still my little brother, which means this will never get old.” Leon gave up and stayed silent. He didn’t know how to act like Rose’s little brother, and his speech will be off.

Rose stopped after a few seconds, and Leon fixed his long, black hair. It was longer than his previous hair, as this reached his nape, and his old one was a very short haircut. He could only guess that it was this long due to not having much money for haircuts.

Rose turned around and asked a question. “Are you hungry for some breakfast?” Leon nodded and shuffled behind her, not wanting to trip again.

Rose seemed amused at how seriously Leon was taking her advice, but she didn’t tease him about it.

Breakfast was a simple piece of dry bread with a cup of water and some pills Leon had trouble with. Being born and raised in a first-world country with ample funds made for a skewed perception of breakfast.

During the meal, he also fumbled a lot and almost spilled his water. He had trouble because of his messed up hand-eye coordination.

The breakfast helped in calming him down and helping him to come to terms with his new reality. Seeing as he was at a dinner table with the main character of the novel he had read, he looked around and noticed that the decor seemed to match what he remembered reading about.

The house was in a dilapidated state, like his earlier room. Wood crumbled in various places. There was a powerful scent of pine here as well, making Leon get a slight headache. No TV, just a couch and a stack of books.

In the dining area, there was just a table with two chairs, and the kitchen had mostly empty shelves, with only a fridge present. Overall, the living conditions bordered on being homeless; the saving grace was that they had a fridge.

Leon remembered the beginning parts of the novel. It started off with Rose and her little brother Leon living in the slums, surviving. Rose woke up one day with memories from a distant future where a new game called Souls Online had taken the entire world by storm.

Outside of the game was a world similar to Leon’s old one. Slums held the poor and those treading darker paths. A district existed for working people who could sustain themselves on a salary.

The biggest difference would be the Upper Colony. There, technology surpassed the Lower Colony.

Rose would then embark on a ‘second chance’ story where she could rewrite all her mistakes and become the most powerful and successful player in the entire world, earning her wealth and fame.

Rose doesn’t seem to have those memories yet. Leon noted Rose seemed way too normal to be the main character of some grand novel. After their breakfast, Leon helped in cleaning up and sat on the couch next to the stack of books.

Rose saw his demeanour and smiled at him. “I understand it may seem like a daunting task, but going through these steps will benefit you in the future.” She assured him as she went back to her room to get dressed.

Leon could see the books were old, and he guessed these were likely to be Rose’s old books from her time in high school.

They didn’t have enough money to send Leon to high school, as it was being saved to go to his college fund. Leon had no qualms about not going to school, as it meant no further embarrassing stumbling around. He sat down on the sofa and picked up one book from the top.

He opened it and saw that it was an English literature book. He flipped through a few pages and muttered in surprise, “This…this is…”

Rose came out in a simple waitress uniform and noticed Leon’s expression of surprise. “Just go through it, okay? I’ll help you review after I’ve come back from work.”

Leon reined in his thoughts again and replied, “O-Okay, good luck at work!” He waved as she left the house. Once she was gone, Leon sighed in relief and directed his attention back to the book in front of him.

The reason he was so surprised was that it looked easy. Of course, it had to be easy; it was high school level, and his mind was that of someone who had cleared college.

“If this is it, it’ll be a breeze to go through. Perhaps this will also help in my understanding of this world,” Leon muttered.

The novel didn’t delve into the world’s history, but English seemed to be the language in this country.

He dropped the English literature book and found a book about the history of the world. This will clarify some things. Leon pondered. He had seen a few things during his fall, but he never knew what caused it all.