"Awaken."

He had heard. From the same voice that had told him to initially drink the water. He saw a square shape with a blue background. 'Awaken' it said, written on the square shape itself.

The man had finally drunk the water. The power of eternal life was now slowly flowing down his throat, all the way down to his stomach.

"Awaken." the ethereal voice repeated with a hidden hint of exuberance.

The voice watched.

* * *

I do not know what is happening.

I do not know what is happening.

I do not know what is happening.

I thought about it over and over again, yet, the square-shaped "box" in front of me felt so familiar. Just as if it was there my whole life.

"Awaken." I heard the voice again, frantically turning my head left and right, trying to find the source.

The box moved, no matter where I turned my head. The box was right in the middle of my field of view.

■■j■■ting.

The text had changed. I could not read it, it was a weird symbol with some letters that I knew by heart.

In a flash, I felt a huge weight on my shoulders and a headache that was indescribable.

I managed to scream out in pain before everything went black and I felt my body getting limp.

* * *

I heard a sound, a sound that was like a lullaby in my ears. I heard the birds chirping above me. I was able to hear the water flowing, soothing my senses and calming me down. I could smell the grass, the flowers all around. I opened my eyes, apparently, I was laying on the ground.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

'Where am I?' I thought to myself, the area I was currently in was covered in hills of green, a river filled with water so blue that it could be a painting. A blue sky, housing the tens of birds I can see flying around. Everything... looked... normal.

Except it was not.

I was stark naked. Every single inch of my body was revealed to the mother nature. I did not feel cold or hot though. It seemed like the weather was just the right temperature. I decided on getting up to check my surroundings. In terms of energy, hunger and thirst. I had no problems. The feelings I had back in the cavern were no more. I was feeling rejuvenated. It was awesome.

I turned my head around, but I could not find anything else. In front of me was a river. My sides and behind were covered with hills of green. Just... grass. That was it.

I remembered something. I could not see my face before in the water I had found. I hurriedly ran towards the river to see if I could see my face, glancing down at the water excitedly.

I could see myself. A face, a human face that felt so familiar yet so strange. My hair colour was blonde and my eyes were blue. One look and it was enough to understand that the colour of my eyes was the same as the water I drunk earlier in the cave. Other than that... It was just like a normal, adult, human male. However, there was a slight scar on my forehead. Going down through my right eye. Out of pure curiousness, I started touching it with my right hand. It felt... odd.

I started checking the rest of my body more carefully to see if I could spot anything relatively out of place. Thankfully, everything was in their respective places. No scars, no cuts, no missing parts. My body was no different than a young human male other than the scar on my eye.

I let out a smile. Calm and content with my current situation.

■■■tia■i■■ng the Bridge

A square-shaped box popped up in front of me once again. I was somewhat skeptical and readied myself for any upcoming pain by crouching down on the ground.

One second later.

Two seconds later.

Three seconds later.

Nothing happened.

I looked to my left and right. If someone was watching me, I would probably look like a weird person at the moment.

Bridge Initialization Complete.

Choose your nickname:

Name? No... a nickname?

Thinking of a nickname, an idea suddenly appeared in my head.

I could not even think of anything else when the box in front of me suddenly updated itself and the text changed.

Nickname selection complete.

The bridge is open, Rein.