A short young man, left his high school—where he is in his final year—to go home. He didn't wait for anyone. His earphones blasted music loud enough to drown out the world.
He walked without really seeing anything, drifting forward on autopilot, barely slipping past obstacles as if his body was doing the work without him.
Once home, the young man—Ren—immediately changed into something more comfortable and slumped in front of his computer.
"Come on... tell me it's done... Yes! Finally!"
He muttered at the sight of [Download Complete] glowing on his screen. Ren had been dying to play this huge game all day, and he refused to wait another second. Without hesitation, he launched it.
Hours slipped by. Ren barely blinked, glued to his screen like the rest of the world had dissolved. From outside the house, you could hear him yelling "COME ON!" or "FUCK OFF!" whenever the game provoked him.
His room was rather clean, despite some trash he hadn't gotten around throwing out just yet.
It also lacked a personal touch, the walls were just white, no posters, no pictures hanged.
The only thing that stood out was his chair which seemed to be one of those high quality gaming chair, his PC and his and one lonesome photo of himself, resting on a nightstand next to his bed.
Despite having class the next morning, Ren didn't even think about sleeping. By the time the clock pushed past 4 AM, and with barely any food in his system, he finally leaned back and decided to step outside for air.
"Brr… it's cold out here…"
He hesitated on the doorstep, shivering, then forced himself to start walking in no particular direction. His black hair was tucked messily under his hoodie, and he squinted against the wind as it stung his eyes, deepening the already dark bags beneath them.
"I am so fucked during class tomorrow..."
He was still debating skipping school when the ground beneath him trembled—just slightly at first, like the earth clearing its throat.
"What the- a earthquake?? For real? Wait where am I supposed to go-"
The shaking surged, rising fast, too fast, like the world itself was losing control. Ren staggered, reaching out blindly for something—anything—to hold on to, but everything was moving, swaying, roaring.
"SHIT-"
A crack split open under his feet. He looked down just in time to see the ground peeling apart, a ravine growing wider and wider. Ren tried to jump back, but the shaking only intensified, waves of motion knocking him off balance. The noise, the sudden screams bursting out from houses, the confusion—it all crashed together, overwhelming.
He had the opportunity to throw one more glance to the nearby habitations, they were one after the other getting torn apart, making their inhabitants fall into the endless void created by the ravine.
Finally, he didn't have the strength to hold to anything anymore.
And so, he fell.
"CRAP-"
He wanted to scream, but the ravine swallowed his voice, the world collapsing into an expanding maw that dragged more people down with him.
Then everything went dark and quiet.
When Ren woke up, he jumped right up,gasping for air and coughing.
"H-holy shit! Where the hell am I?"
Ren looked around, confused. He was alone in a completely dark dome. A timer glowed above him, counting down from one hour, and at the far side of the dome sat a small stone tablet.
"What the hell is this place?"
Still under the shock of everything that had just happened, Ren finally stood up and and approached the tablet.
"What is this? Is this... stone?"
As soon as he stepped close enough, the tablet shot forward and slammed straight into his chest.
"What the- ARGH??!! FUCK..!"
Immense pain flooded through his body as the tablet entered it— but somehow there was no wound, no mark, nothing—like the stone had passed right through him as if it was intangible.
After finally calming down and examining his body, he started looking for any trace of the tablet, and just as he thought about looking for it, it suddenly appeared in front of him.
"What the- What the heck is this? What is this place? That's… not fucking normal..!"
His eyes drifted back up to the timer. Fifty-four minutes left. Whatever happened at zero, he wasn't eager to find out
"I don't know what the hell this timer means, but it's probably smart to try to gain as much info as possible before it reaches 0..."
Frustrated and confused, Ren examined the tablet again. Despite everything, it looked ordinary—smooth polished stone, nothing mystical besides its behavior. Inscriptions were beautifully carved into it:
[Name: Ren Gray]
[Title:]
[Skill:]
[Level of growth: 0]
"What the hell?? It's just like in a video game?? Am I getting reincarnated or something???"
"Where even are the other people? I'm sure I heard and saw other people fall too. Well at least I think? I know it was pretty late but some habitation fell so some people must have fallen with them..."
For a moment Ren was excited at the thought of being reincarnated like in those novels and anime, but quickly realized that this may not have been as good as he though.
In fiction, reincarnation was often portrayed as this amazing new opportunity at life where the protagonist would be given a second chance to be someone important.
But here, this didn't feel half as welcoming as those stories, which was worrying, and that's only if he considered the reincarnation thought as an accurate description of his situation, which seemed less and less likely the more he thought about it.
Ren shook his head, he wanted to find out more but sadly all he could do was study that tablet and wait for the timer to reach 0. And there wasn't much else to study on the tablet.
After over twenty minutes of studying it, all he discovered was that he could make it appear and disappear on command. No other hidden message and no other uses.
"What the hell... what am I even supposed to do.."
As Ren cursed his luck, his gaze met the timer again, only 30 minutes remained. After contemplating his options Ren decided to catch up on his already lacking sleep for the time he had left, hoping to have as much energy as possible if needed.
So, he lied down on the peculiar black ground which was weirdly comfortable and quickly fell asleep.
He woke up only a few seconds before the timer reached 0.
*Yawn*"What the- oh yea that's right... well, it's almost time…"