The sound of paper being passed around could be heard in the quiet classroom.Each passing second was announced by the song of a clock's hand moving.And finally, the bell rang, bringing with it a cacophony of students rushing for the door.
The teacher looked at the suddenly empty classroom.Well, almost empty. One boy was still in his seat, his head resting between his arms.
"REN, WAKE UP!!" the teacher shouted at the dark-haired boy.
He jolted awake, frantically looking around the now-empty classroom.
"Oh shit—" he said as he quickly gathered his things and stuffed them into his bag.
The teacher sighed.
"You need to stop sleeping in class. I know your grades are good enough to pass, but you could do so much better—"
But before he could finish his sentence, the boy had already run out of the classroom.
——————
Ren was running through the street, his headphones blasting music into his ears as he barely slipped past obstacles.
Once home, he didn't even bother changing into something more comfortable and immediately slumped down 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 new game all day, and he refused to wait another second. Without a second thought, he pressed the play button.
—————
Hours slipped by. Ren barely blinked, glued to his screen as though the rest of the world had never even existed. From outside the house, you could hear him yelling "COME ON!" or "FUCK OFF!" whenever the game provoked him.
His room was rather clean, aside from some trash he hadn't gotten around to throwing out yet.It also lacked a personal touch; the walls were plain white, with no posters, no pictures hanging.The only things that stood out were his chair—which seemed to be one of those high-quality gaming chairs—his PC, and one lonesome photo of himself resting on the nightstand next to his bed.
Despite having class the next morning, Ren didn't even think about sleep. By the time the clock crept past 4 a.m., and with barely any food in his system, he finally leaned back and decided to take a break. He took a quick glance out of his window. It was dark out; barely anyone would be outside at such an hour.
After thinking for a while, he finally decided to change into a more comfortable black hoodie and stepped outside.
"Brr… it's cold out here…"
He hesitated on the doorstep, shivering, then strengthened his resolve and started 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 circles beneath them.
"I am so fucked during class tomorrow..."
He was still debating just skipping school when the ground beneath him trembled—just slightly at first, like the earth clearing its throat.
"What the- an earthquake?? For real? Wait what am i even supposed to do-"
The shaking surged, rising fast, too fast, like the world itself was breaking apart. 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 anything to hold on to 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! I'm alive?"
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 saw other people fall too. Well at least I think? I know it was pretty late but some homes broke apart 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.
—————
When Ren woke up, only a few seconds remained before the timer reached 0.
He slowly sat up, rubbed his eyes before yawning as he remenbered his sit current situation.
"For fuck's sake… Usually im excited to see counters reach 0..."