My eyes flutter open. For a moment, everything is silent, my senses slow to return. But then, like a tidal wave, it all rushes back. The sharp, metallic scent of blood burns in my nose, the soot clings to my skin, and the thick black smoke rising in the distance only deepens my confusion.

Where the hell am I?

Nothing but blurs fill my mind as I struggle to remember anything, but the questions are quickly drowned out. Dread creeps into every inch of my body, my skin prickling with fear. Suddenly, instincts kick in just in time. I roll to the side, narrowly avoiding a blade that slices the ground where my chest had been, tearing through the bushes beside me.

"Where are you!" someone shouts as they push through the undergrowth.

A man clad in thick metal armor halts upon seeing me. His eyes, the only part of his face not hidden behind the cold steel, widen in surprise—and something else. I can feel the glee radiating from him, sending a chilling shiver through me.

As if trying not to alert me, he moves his sword slowly, the gleam of the moonlight catching on its sharp edge. My heart pounds in my chest—I know what's coming. Instinctively, I start to back away, my hands and legs scrambling as my body drags through the dirt beneath me.

"Don't be—" he lunges forward, slashing at me. But before he can finish, a surge of adrenaline takes over, exploding through my body. I throw myself to the side just in time, though pain flares as his blade grazes my stomach, leaving a small gash.

"—alarmed!" he finishes with a smirk.

Pain.

The pain gnaws at me, which is strange—I've always had a high tolerance, but now it feels like everything is amplified, twice as intense. Still, I don't have the luxury to dwell on it. My focus has to stay on the man in front of me, who's slowly closing the distance again.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

And the questions of how I reached here.

I can sense the anger coming off of him in waves as he tries to edge his way closer swinging his sword wildy as anger takes away all rationality from him and his swordsmanship.

"How could a small rat like you evade that!" He grunts with each swing.

Watching closely, I back away trying to avoid the blade and keep distance because without it I will be dead in an instant. However, while looking at his armor, I notice an X engraved on his left shoulder covered in red. I had no clue what it mean, I have never see something like that before.

All of this is new to me.

All I can remember is a modern world, the people, the cars, the building, the evolution, this all seems to be in the past, nobody in the modern era wears armor anymore, it is all stuck in museums or sealed away.

"Who are you!" I manage to scream, trying to get any sort of an answer out of him but only rage is shown, so I inhale "Who are you!" I shout again louder, this time persistant to know what the hell was going on.

"Son to the Kurogane clan's head! We sentence you to prison for conspiring with the kuyu beast enclave!" He shouts swiping down with another slash, this time I didn't have time to move, the shock making my movements delayed.

Move. Move. Move!

I screamed at myself, forcing my body into action. At the last second, I shifted, tripping over the roots of a massive tree just in time to dodge the incoming slash.

No time to think. I scrambled to my feet, a sharp pain flaring in my knee, but I bit down on the cry rising in my throat. I couldn't stop—if I stopped, I was dead.

Ignoring the pain, I pushed forward, stumbling into a limp. My heart pounded wildly, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps as if my lungs were refusing to take in any more air. But I kept moving, hunched over, clutching my bleeding side. I winced with every step, but those small, desperate strides soon turned into a frantic sprint.

He was still behind me.

I can hear the screams from a village behind me, faint but unmistakable, carried on the wind along with the thick, dark smoke rising into the sky. I can feel it too—death closing in, despair suffocating the air. This isn't a capture or some raid. We're all being sentenced to death, for reasons I don't even understand.