Some people scoff at the idea of reincarnation.
Others romanticize it—paint it as something beautiful. A second chance. A karmic reset.
But then for me, I always thought it was more like a game mechanic. “Earn enough karma points and unlock your next life.” Sounds dumb, yeah. But also kinda fun to think about.
I didn’t really care about that stuff back then. Not until high school.
That was before I found gaming—before it found me and rewired my brain into a highlight reel of screen clicks and dopamine spikes.
But before all that, there was this class. History, I think? Maybe philosophy? My memory’s fuzzy. I just remember this one lecture.
Our professor went on a whole tangent about famous people being reincarnated into modern bodies. Like, imagine Beethoven coming back as some random kid in our time. A new prodigy. Same soul, different body. Just waiting to get noticed.
I remember laughing at the idea. But part of me kinda liked it.
And now… well.
The reason I’m telling you this?
I have no idea where the hell I just woke up.
The ground was hard. That much I knew for sure. My vision was a mess—blurry, unfocused—but I could feel it. Cold, rocky terrain pressed against my back.
The wind bit at my skin.. and it was absolutely cold. And above me? Darkness.
Which was weird, because the last thing I remembered…I was gaming. I even won the game in the middle of the afternoon.
So how the hell did it get this dark? Did I pass out that long?
No way. Even if I did, I’d wake up in my room. Or a hospital. Not... this. And when you black out and come to in a forest-looking place?
Yeah, you’d be suspicious too.
Before I could think any further, my hand scraped against something rough. I turned my head slowly and sluggish, then blinked up at a massive tree.
Tall. Wide. And old. Veins thick as ropes ran along the bark. I pressed my palm against it, steadying myself as the tilt in my vision started to settle.
I took a breath. Tried to stand.
Didn’t work.
My knees gave out, and I collapsed straight back onto the dirt with a solid thud.
“Ouc—”
Before I even had a chance to gather my thoughts, my eyes dropped to the clothes clinging to me.
If you could even call them clothes.
I looked like I’d just lost a wrestling match with a bear. Torn fabric barely hung on, stained in dirt and something that looked suspiciously like blood. The color? Maybe it used to be brown.
But then—
My gaze locked onto my arms.
Wait.
These weren’t my arms.
What the hell—
My forearms were smaller. Thinner. Lighter. Not just from fatigue—they were built different. And not in the good way.
Was I… in someone else’s body?
No.
No way.
This was me.
And then it erupted….a sound..
PING!
“THE FU—”
>>> REBOOT COMPLETE.
>>> NEURAL SYNC: 100%
>>> SOUL TRANSFER: SUCCESSFUL
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
>>> HOST: TAGEN
>>> NEW DESIGNATION: ‘SCION — ZAYDENO LINEAGE’
...
>>> WELCOME TO A NEW REALM
>>> STATUS: REBORN
>>> RACE: HUMAN
>>> LEVEL: 0
What the hell was this?
Yeah, I was definitely hallucinating. Had to be. Not that I was on anything—I didn’t touch drugs, never smoked, not even the chill kind that made people "hear colors."
And my body, I knew this wasn’t mine. I felt… smaller. Lighter. Like I’d been hit with the world’s worst age regression filter. It took me a few minutes—at least, it felt like minutes—to even start processing it all.
This interface... it floated in front of me, game-like, yet tangible. I could move it with my thoughts, scroll it like it was part of me. But no matter what I did, it wouldn’t close.
It just sat there.
[WELCOME TO A NEW REALM]
Was this a dream? A coma? Did I... die? Why did it say [Reborn]?
That thought stuck to me as if it was gum on a shoe. I didn’t want to peel it off just yet.
I even tried punching the damn thing.
Didn’t work.
“Level 0, huh?” I muttered under my breath, mostly just to hear my own voice.
And that’s when I felt it. A shift in the air.
Something was near.
A sound of heavy footsteps? No. More like a shift of weight. Then came the breath. Deep and inhuman.
Not even close.
It sounded like something big. Like a lion. But worse.
Goddamnit.
What the fuck is this?!
“Hey, hey, hey—let me go back,” I muttered, voice low and shaky.
The breathing didn’t stop. It grew louder. My head whipped around, searching—until I saw it. A silhouette, massive and hulking, just at the edge of my vision. Lion-like. Or at least, that’s what my panic wanted it to be.
It moved. Slowly and deliberately. Which, for the record, made it way worse. There’s something about slow predators that turns the fear dial up to max.
The moonlight finally slipped past the canopy above—and the shape only became more visible.
And that’s when I realized.
This wasn’t a lion. Not even close. It had thick, dark-blue fur. Crimson eyes that glowed like dying coals. With antlers, six legs, all lean and poised.
A fox. A six-legged, antlered, demon-ass fox.
“…Fuck it.”
I stared at the thing, dead silent. Then I looked up at the sky, anywhere really, and mentally screamed:
GOD. WHERE THE HELL DID YOU THROW ME?!
The system said I was reborn.
If that’s true… Why the hell would they dump me in this certain place?!
But I did what I could with my little body, slowly backing away, step by trembling step. At first, it didn’t lunge, which made me think maybe backing away slowly was working. But then it suddenly quickened its pace.
“Shoo—go away,” I muttered, flailing a shaky hand at the beast. “I’m diseased. Tainted meat. You don’t want a whiff of this.”
The more I stared, the stranger it got. Six-legged? Seriously—a damn unique fox if there ever was one. My hands shook so much that, in a desperate bid to calm my nerves, I started thinking of it as a giant frog instead. Anything to keep the nausea at bay, though I was sure I’d puke any moment.
Now, that was the moment I knew what I needed was… help. Real help. The useful kind. The “don’t die to the murder-fox” kind.
PING!
>>> Would you like to begin the Fate System Tutorial?
> [YES] – Recommended.
[NO] – Proceed without guidance. Consequences may vary.
Now, we are talking. There it was. A sudden tutorial.
But the fox-wolf-whatever-the-hell-it-was started circling me.
And me?
I dropped to my knees and started praying like an idiot. I probably looked pathetic—but screw dignity. This thing was massive up close. You’d pee yourself too if you saw it.
And right when I thought this was it, I tapped into the tutorial and agreed to fck with it. I didn’t expect it to actually do anything… until the world froze. The wind stopped. The trees stopped. Even that demon-fox-thing halted mid-step, like someone hit pause.
Only I could move.
And then—
>>> Welcome, Tagen. You have been granted tutorial access to the Fate System.
>>> Begin Interface Overview…
---
[CURRENT STATUS]
? Name: Tagen
? Race: Human
? Age: 9
? Lineage: Clan of Zaydeno
? Level: 0
? Fate Points (FP): 5
? Stat Points (SP): 0
[ATTRIBUTES]
STR: 5
DEX: 5
END: 5
INT: 5
WIS: 5
CHA: 5
[SKILLS]
> Nothing
[TRAITS]
> Nothing
[TITLE]
? Reborn Soul > Retains core fragments of memory, instinct, and emotional resilience from a previous life. Increases adaptation speed.
---
[TUTORIAL OBJECTIVES]
1. Open the Skill Shop
2. Learn how to use Fate Points
3. Accept your first Fate Trial
4. Survive
>>> REWARD CALCULATED.
>>> You want to know what it is, huh?
>>> Haha. Nah.
>>> [REWARD: CLASSIFIED]
> Because where’s the fun in telling you everything, rookie?
Damn. At first? I actually felt relieved.
Finally, I had a grip—just a glimpse of the system that kept hijacking my eyeballs. The floating screen wasn’t just visual noise anymore. It meant something.
But that second half?
Yeah. That’s where the frustration started building in. The system was actually freaking acting like an as*hole
Still, whatever. I had a job to do.
Rule number one of surviving anything remotely game-like:
Know what the hell you're playing.
Rule two:
Learn the objectives.
Rule three:
Figure out how to win before something eats you.
Rule four?
Don’t fight fair. Fight smart.
Mwahaha—okay, maybe not the evil laugh, but you get it.
First step: open the Skill Shop.
Sounds easy, right? Except I didn’t know where it was. So I did what every confused player does—I scrolled. And scrolled. And scrolled some more, until finally:
[Status Profile]
[Skill Shop] (NEW)
[Traits Shop] (Locked: Insufficient FP)
There it was. Bright, glowing, and obvious. Even a literal child could’ve found it.
Which, I guess… technically included me now.
So yeah. I tapped it.
Alright, Fate System. Blow my mind.
or
…Time to see what kind of broken BS I’m working with.
