It was a small room, barely large enough for a single person to live in but two people live here Alex and mexel.
Right beside the door, a gas cylinder and a stove were set up, where food was cooked every day. Next to them, built into the wall and the same height as the door, were three concrete shelves stacked one above the other. On the topmost shelf, a variues book lay quietly, its edges slightly worn. The middle shelf held grains, flour, and vegetables, stored in small bowls and cloth bags. On the bottom shelf, cooking utensils were arranged neatly — steel plates, a pot, and a ladle placed in an orderly manner.
A table sat directly in front of selve with a chair beside it. Numerous books and notes lay on the table. Sunlight streamed into the room from the iron window.
Even though the space was cramped, everything had its place, showing how carefully and simply the person living there managed their life.
"Alex! Are you still sleeping? Don't you have to go to college?"
Maxel, who had just finished bathing and came into the room wearing only a towel, said angrily. His body was slightly dark, his hair short, and his height was about one inch shorter than mine.
In the center of the room, there was an iron bed on which Alex was still sleeping.
Annoyed, Maxel shook Alex's body and said,
"Hey, don't you want to take a bath? And you didn't even cook today, even though it was your turn!"
As soon as Alex woke up, he looked around as if everything around him wasn't real. Only one thing kept spinning in his mind—
that the Awakening Ceremony was going to start tomorrow.
He whispered slowly,
"Awakening ceremony…"
Maxel heard it too.
"What did you say? Awakening ceremony? Forget that, we have to go to college. Today is the mechanics test. Only half an hour is left. Go, bathe, eat, and get ready."
Alex, who was still lost in his thoughts, quickly went to bathe. Even while eating and getting ready, he kept wondering whether what he had just felt was a dream. It had felt so real…
Was he not transmigrated into that world?
Both of them reached college by 10 a.m.
Government Polytechnic 31 College is the No. 1 engineering college in all of Bihar. It is located in the capital, Paney.
When they entered the class, they saw that the boys were wearing sky-blue shirts and black pajamas, while the girls were fewer, with a ratio of 5:1. The girls wore kurti-plazo with a black dupatta near their necks. All students were wearing their identity cards properly.
Since the front seats were full, the two of them went to sit at the back. On the digital board, a woman around 30–35 years old was teaching communication skills. She had long black hair reaching her waist, wore glasses, had fair skin, and looked like a teacher.
In this way, till lunch, all teachers taught their respective subjects of civil engineering—mechanics, chemistry, engineering drawing, and graphics.
During lunch, three-fourths of the students went to the hostel mess, which was near the college. The remaining students were those who lived in Paney with their families or had rented rooms nearby; they had brought their lunch from home and were already eating.
Alex and Maxel didn't eat lunch because their room was at least 1–1.5 km away. Walking that far, eating, and then coming back was very tiring. They could have brought lunch, but they had cooked rice and dal in the morning, which was difficult to carry. They didn't have a proper lunchbox either, and most students brought "Flatbread and vegetable curry" anyway.
It's not like nobody shared lunch with them — one guy had even shared lunch with Alex for two days, trying to be friends.
But no one can keep feeding you forever.
Some time later…
After lunch, the math class started. The teacher wrote math questions on the board, but Alex's mind wasn't on solving them. He was lost in his own world.
Alex thought,
"Was that world really not real? But it felt real…
It was like a Chinese cultivation novel, where I transmigrate into the body of a dead boy.
And who was that woman with white hair, yellowish skin, and blue eyes? Was she his mother? There were others too, but I couldn't recognize them because Maxel woke me up."
"I want to live in a world where I am free… where I can float in the sky like a bird…
where my sword can cut anything with one slash…
where I can be the strongest… is that what I want?
No… I only want peace… a place where no one can bother me…
no rules, no responsibilities… just peace… something I can only find in that world, not in this annoying one."
"Why do people here study so much? Why do they fight so hard for a job?
It's very annoying. But what can I even do?
Who transmigrates in real life?
Is this a novel that my wish will suddenly come true?
This is my reality… and I'll have to face it until my last breath."
A few hours later…
After college ended, Alex and Maxel returned to their room and ate the food they had cooked in the morning—the same rice and dal.
At night, when Alex went to sleep after dinner, everything from that dream world came back to him again.
"If only I could go back to that world even in my dreams…"
Those were the last words Alex whispered before sleeping.
It was his desire.