Young human disappeared in a flash and the white space became quiet again. Grey mannequin-like being was motionless, its face once again one smooth surface, without the horrific smile. Soon a sigh resounded and broke the silence.
“I wonder if you will like your reward, boy. System’s way of rewarding sometimes seems… unconventional. Let’s see...”
The page in the floating book turned by itself. The new page seemed blank, yet it looks like the being could see something amusing on it, since it chuckled to itself.
“Why am I not surprised… Oh well, I should be happy, shouldn’t I? The family got bigger and all. Now, oh dearest System…”
The demon, or rather archdemon, raised its head and looked around as if looking for something.
“... You turd-flavoured suppository! How long are you planning to keep me here?! I want to renegotiate our contract!”
Why did I even go with Soul magic? Should go with meathead fiend route, I wouldn’t end up here...
Ding!
Congratulations! You’ve been awarded Employee of the 14th Century of the 3rd Era! Keep up the good work!
“Huh? Screw off with such shi... wait, don’t we have the 13th century right now?”
When it finally dawned on it…
Fuck.
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The archdemon wasn’t the only one considering its life choices. Alex laid without motion for a very long time, just staring at the night sky. It was quiet all around, eerily quiet. No sound of a living being nearby, no ambient sounds of wind or rustling leaves.
Suddenly a beastly roar reverberated in the vicinity, it finally woke Alex from his stupor.
Fuck, no use sitting around feeling sorry about yourself. You will have time for that later. Now move your ass!
He tried to move his body and noticed that he could actually do it quite naturally. Apparently, he got used to his new body while laying down. Alex raised his hand in front of his eyes and almost cursed again. He could pinkish, almost red, scrawny limb, at its end three fingers with sharp black claws. Not only his nails were sharp, in his mouth he could feel teeth, definitely too pointy for a human being.
Good thing I don’t have a mirror with me, I really don’t want to know how I look right now… He quickly sit up when the roar resounded once again, definitely too close for his comfort.
Alex looked around this demons’ land, at least he assumed it was such, since he was reborn as one. It wasn’t completely devoid of life, he was currently on some kind of plains, full of grass, though it wasn’t a healthy green one, it was more greyish, in some places totally withered. Looking one way, he could see the dark forest in the distance, in every other direction there were more plains with tree or two here and there.
His first worry was to find some shelter, some hiding. The most obvious place was the forest in the distance, but the moment he thought about going there he felt goosebumps all over his body. It was a truly weird feeling, every part of his being screamed that he shouldn’t go there. Should he listen to it? Didn’t he end up in this exact situation, because he trusted some weird intuition? But now he wasn’t his old self and it wasn’t time to dally around. He needed to act, it would be embarrassing to die the first day he got here.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Alex turned and looked around. The only option left was the grassy plains, but one part looked more hilly than the rest. It was definitely a better option than totally open space and it didn’t give him any weird feeling, so he rushed there with all his might.
He was so focused on getting to some hiding, that only after a few minutes of running he noticed that he was doing it on all four. First thought was to stand straight and run on two legs, but he noticed, that he felt quite natural in this position and was probably even faster. You’re not human anymore. He reprimanded himself and kept running.
Soon he reached the hilly region and slowed down. All weird feelings and goosebumps were gone, so there was some notion that he wasn’t in danger anymore. Well, he couldn’t be sure, but running with all his might as before wasn’t a good idea. He didn’t know how populated this place was and if more danger wasn’t lurking ahead, so he slowed down to take a more cautious approach.
Alex took a deep breath and focused on his current task - finding shelter. He looked around and spotted a somewhat bigger hill that could give him a vantage point. It was also covered in quite tall grass so if he crawled on the ground, maybe he wouldn’t be easily spotted. It sure was risky, but he didn’t have better options. At least none that he could think of.
He tried to be as sneaky as he could and crawled to the top. The first thing he saw was a huge mountain range in the distance - the hills become progressively taller to finally turn into snowy peaks. In another direction, the land evened out into plains similar to the one he came from.
Alex became warry when he spotted movement above the flat part, but soon relaxed. He couldn’t see clearly from such distance, but was pretty sure whatever flying creature that was, it wasn’t coming his way.
Not far from him, at the foot of the hill, was a small crevice, large enough that he could hide in it. He wasn’t sure if it was safe, but now that he wasn’t in imminent danger, he realized how exhausted he was - not physically, but mentally. Firstly the whole ordeal with the mannequin-like being and then running away from that roar. He was constantly on edge and it took its toll. He needed a place to rest and he needed it quickly.
There was no ominous feeling when he got closer, so he looked in cautiously. The crevice was dark, but he could still vaguely see into it. Fortunately, it was empty and there were no traces of being used by anyone or anything.
Alex crawled into the hole and finally breathed out. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, to clear his mind. There were still things to do, but they could wait, right now he needed to rest.
----------------------------------------
Alex couldn’t fall asleep, not that he didn’t want to, he just couldn’t. As if his new body was unable to sleep. Instead, he fell into some sort of meditative state - all his senses were dulled, he barely felt hard ground he was laying on, the occasional roars of some beasts as if muffled.
Although he couldn’t fall asleep, he felt himself regaining strength, his mind no longer so tense, but relaxed instead. When he opened his eyes again, he felt better than after a full night of sleep. He sighed and focused again - it was time to assess his current situation.
Alex died and was reborn as a demon. What now? He can’t give up just yet. He lived on Earth barely twenty years, definitely too short. Though he wasn’t human anymore, he needed to live on, even as a demon, even if it meant fighting and killing. He furrowed his brows. This… acceptance of his situation, of becoming some monster - it came too easily. Sure, he brooded there for a few hours after getting to this world, but now he no longer felt so agitated. His life was turned upside down, yet he was seemingly fine. It was weird, but he didn’t have any idea why he was like that.
Alex looked around his provisory hideout that he barely fit in. He didn’t know where he was, based on the sounds he heard earlier, there were some kind of beasts here, maybe demons just like him. For now, he assumed it was some kind of demon land or even demon realm, different than the one others reincarnated in.
He slowly stuck his head out of hiding. Everything was the same as earlier, even the sky was still dark, full of stars. He was sure a lot of time passed since he awakened out there and when he was in this meditative state, yet the night sky didn’t change at all. Not that it meant much, it could be that nights here are much longer or he could be in a region of something akin to Earth’s polar nights. Or maybe there was no sun at all in this realm. But wouldn’t it be much colder than? Heck, he was in the world of magic, maybe celestial bodies worked in a completely different way, for all he knew, he could be on an entirely flat planet right now. Damn, not enough information. I’m totally clueless, how can I survive here?!
Alex quickly tried to think about something else, so he doesn’t break down again. When he was thinking earlier about the absence of sun and the lack of coldness with it, he realized another peculiarity about his new body. He could feel the temperature, it was quite chilly both outside and in his small hiding, not to the freezing point but still cold, yet he didn’t feel uncomfortable despite being butt naked right now. Maybe I can learn more about my body. It’s time to check out my status again, this time in detail.