It took days to adjust to this new body of his. Maybe weeks, it was hard to tell as he drifted in and out of consciousness. From the get go, he knew this body was not his own. Yet this body he now occupied was not one of a newborn, that much he knew. It was not muscular in any sort of way but it was far larger and powerful than his previous body. He saw flashes of memories of a life that was not his own, bursts of emotion that was not his own; but he was only able to see glimpses and not the whole picture.

Firstly, his name was Lukas Drakos.

He had worked hard to get where he wanted to be. He had worked hard to earn the respect he knew he deserved.

Then something happened.

He did not know what it was but he knew it had caused pain like he had never felt before. It was just a second of reliving the event but it felt like his entire body had been torn apart again and again and again.

That same pain was still there when he finally awoke, a constant dull throbbing that spread across his entire body.

Secondly, he was not human.

He’d found himself in a dimly lit room and as he slowly recalibrated from regaining his consciousness, he realized he’d been underwater all this time. The man had no difficulty in breathing even submerged in water.

He had no problem moving in it either. It wasn’t like swimming which he’d never even been a fan of, slow and clumsy. Now, it was as if the water obeyed his every movement. He was able to move with a grace that he’d never even been able to, all of it fluid and without resistance.

Lukas thought he looked humanoid enough. There was nothing abnormal about his appearance when he looked down at his body. It was thin but yet still had some decent muscle mass on it. It was large yet not disproportionate. The only thing of notice were the scars that streaked across his frame, starting from below the neck and ending just above his hip.

Just what the fuck had happened to the original owner of this body?

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Thirdly, Lukas Drakos was royalty.

He already knew that this world was not his own, that much he could tell as the memories of the original were made known to him. He’d read stories of this, a world of magic and fantasy. The world was nothing like the modern one he’d once inhabited, kingdoms and the aristocracy was how this world worked. One thing was for certain, it was that he was fucking royalty.

The room, despite not being the most well-lit, was lavish and filled with the fanciest shit he had ever seen in his life. Paintings, vases and chandeliers. How the fuck did chandeliers even hang down from the ceiling if they were underwater? He decided not to waste time trying to make sense of it.

At least he wouldn’t have to suffer through poverty again because that wasn’t not something he wanted to have to go through again.

He was even dressed in posh robes which he quickly threw to the side.

The more he looked around the room, the more he realized that despite the luxury, it had been quite a while since the room was properly maintained. Would someone who had all this wealth not have had people to clean and tidy the place up?

If he was really a noble of some sort, would there not have been people tending to him?

Finally, Lukas Drakos had been bedridden for a long…long time.

All of the memories of the original Lukas Drakos were from when he was young and now he had grown to become a young man. He guessed he could have been anywhere from his late teens to his early 20s. He needed a mirror to be sure.

Was he in a coma of some sort? He figured it had something to do with the scars to have put him under for a while. He was lucky to have survived whatever had given him those injuries. Lukas suspected waking him up had required some divine intervention, the same one that had put him in this new body.

He was surprised he had not lost his mind. After the encounter with what he could only assume was a god, his state of mind had been fragile. He was on the verge of insanity so he wouldn’t have been surprised if the god made sure he remained sound of mind.

His body, though powerful, is stiff and weak after years of dormancy.

“Lukas?”

He turns to face a woman standing at the door. A woman with scales that cover her arms and a long reptilian-esque tail that trails behind her. He doesn’t know what to make of it. What does not confuse him is her appearance but rather the way she looks at him. The warmth in her voice. The love in her eyes.

The woman races forward and crushes him with a hug, tears running down her face. Tears of happiness and joy as she holds tightly onto him as if afraid that he may escape her embrace.

“My son! My son has returned to me!” His mother cries, rocking from side to side.

This woman is his mother. Something that he’d never been able to have in his life but this is a new life so he hesitates only for a moment before returning her embrace and holding her close, unable to bring himself to break away.

This is his second chance, just like the god had told him. He will not waste it, not when he knows now that he is not alone this time around.

He is Lukas Drakos now.

He is reborn.