As Kai descended the narrow wooden staircase from *his* room — no, **Elias's** mechanical workshop — he repeated the same mantra in his mind like a soldier preparing for war.
*I have to impersonate him.*
*I'm not Kai anymore. I'm Elias now.*
The thought tasted strange, like swallowing cold metal. But reality didn't care what he preferred. The world wasn't going to pause while he sorted out his existential crisis.
Besides, existential crises were apparently the standard welcome package for transmigrators.
A faint vibration brushed against his skin — subtle, almost like static. Aether. He still wasn't used to it. In this world, aether was supposedly the core essence of all energy. Yet he could *feel* it, moving through the air like invisible currents, brushing against him, responding to him.
Like the world itself was aware of him.
That wasn't normal… he was pretty sure.
He reached the bottom step.
At the dining table, his new "brother" was already seated. A plate of eggs and toast waited in front of him, along with a glass of milk that looked like it had personally lost the will to live.
Elias's brother looked up, face stern. He wasn't ugly — just perpetually displeased with the universe. "Elias," he said sharply, "is something wrong with you? A nightmare, maybe?"
Kai froze.
*Already? I just got here. Did I breathe wrong? Did I blink suspiciously? Does he have mind-reading powers?*
Of course not. There was no way this man could guess his beloved younger brother had been spiritually hijacked by a dead mechanical engineer from another world. That would be absurd.
"…Yes. A nightmare, maybe," Kai forced out.
*Getting transmigrated into a different world is more than a nightmare. It's DLC-level suffering.*
He pulled out a chair. As he sat, something on the wall caught his eye — a framed photo album.
Kai blinked once. Twice.
In the picture, Elias's brother stood proudly with a group of uniformed officers. Neat coats. Brass badges. Sharp hats. The whole "upstanding law enforcement" package.
Kai stared.
Damn. My brother — not my actual brother — is an officer.
Great. Just great. A police officer older brother. Exactly what he needed while committing identity theft on a cosmic level.
Elias's brother suddenly exhaled heavily and tapped the table. "Listen to me, Elias. You're always too busy in that workshop. Because of that, you're not focusing on school. Your grades are falling. I suggest you stop that work of yours and focus on your studies. Besides…" He narrowed his eyes. "You look paler than before."
*Buddy, I literally died a few hours ago. Sorry if that makes me look slightly under the weather.*
Kai hesitated, unsure what Elias would have said. "Okay, brother. I'll focus on my studies."
The man frowned. Deeply. "Aren't you going to argue? Usually you rant for five minutes about 'creative autonomy' or whatever nonsense you believe in."
Kai swallowed. "Oh great heavens."
Kai, a great observer and master of adaptation quickly corrected himself. "Brother, I don't intend to stop my work. But I will… balance it. I'll focus on my studies while pursuing my passion."
Elias's brother snorted. "Brat. If I don't see results, we'll see. Your exams are in two weeks. I'm expecting good scores."
Kai nodded obediently, like a student promising to never play video games again.
After breakfast, he changed into Elias's usual attire — a sharp, dark coat that reached past his knees, fitted perfectly to his slim frame. Polished brass buttons ran down the front, catching faint glimmers of light, while a set of reinforced straps and metallic clips crossed his chest like a blend of engineer gear and military design. The high collar curved up neatly around his neck, giving him an almost aristocratic sharpness.
A small metal insignia shaped like a gear-and-wing motif rested on his upper sleeve — Beneath the coat, sleek black trousers and sturdy boots completed the look.
His hair, shorter and more controlled than before, fell in slightly messy strands that framed his face — dark, windswept, and giving him a colder, paler appearance than the average student. Combined with the long coat flowing behind him, he looked less like someone heading to school and more like a young engineer from a steampunk night patrol.
Then he stepped outside.
The world hit him like a wave.
Steam trains roared past elevated tracks near the mechanical apartment complex. From tall cylindrical factories, streams of vaporized aether billowed out in shimmering waves — harmless, according to the signs, though Kai wasn't convinced. A giant brass-and-iron clock tower rose above the city, ticking with heavy precision. Street vendors opened their shops, hawking meat pies, mechanical trinkets, and bottled aether.
People bustled everywhere. Workers. Families. Students. And, floating above all of them, a massive airship drifted lazily through the sky like a steel whale.
The view was magnificent.
Kai stood there, bewildered, letting the city swallow him whole.
Then reality punched him in the face.
"I have no idea where the school is."
Why couldn't he have just passed on peacefully like a normal corpse? Why did he have to get thrown into an unknown world with zero tutorial?
After a moment of sulking, he made a plan — the same brilliant plan any lost child would use.
"Follow people who look like students."
He spotted a group wearing the same uniform and trailed behind them as casually as possible.
Or tried to.
He was painfully aware that if he walked any closer, he would look like a stalker. If he walked farther, he'd lose them. So he adopted a technique he called "stealthy not-stealth" — walking with the confidence of a man who absolutely knew what he was doing. It was incredibly suspicious.
Halfway along the route, a piercing siren exploded across the city.
WEEOOO—WEEOOO—WEEOOO—
Kai's heart slammed into his ribs.
"I DID NOTHING WRONG. I'M NOT A CREEP. THIS SIREN ISN'T FOR ME, RIGHT??"
A booming voice echoed across loudspeakers:
"ATTENTION. A PORTAL WILL OPEN IN ONE MINUTE. PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST PROTECTED AREA."
Kai blinked.
"A portal? What portal? Why is the portal opening? Why does it sound like it's scheduled, like a train arrival?"
People immediately started running.
That was all the explanation he needed.
Kai followed the panicked crowd toward the evacuation shelters. No thinking, no questioning. Just pure, survival-driven peer pressure.
As he moved with the crowd, he spotted a woman left behind near the sidewalk.
She wasn't running.
She was… staring at the sky?
Her raven-black hair fluttered in the wind, short and sharp. Emerald-green eyes reflected the shifting lights of the city. She looked 25 or 26 — elegant, confident, but oddly calm considering the world was practically screaming in alarm.
"What is she doing? Does she have a death wish?"
Kai's brain protested.
"We don't know her. We don't owe her anything. We should go. We should absolutely go."
But a familiar, irritating instinct rose in him — the same instinct that had pushed him to save that boy back on Earth.
"Altruism."
A useless trait. A dangerous trait.
He had always thought of himself as a nihilist. Someone who preferred life alone, untouched by obligation. But after saving a child at the cost of his own life…
…maybe he wasn't as empty as he thought.
Kai clicked his tongue.
"Damn it."
He ran toward her.
"Hey, miss!" he called out.
Before she could even turn fully toward him, the air twisted.
Aether in the environment surged violently.
A blinding burst tore open reality itself — like space being ripped apart by invisible claws.
A swirling vortex appeared.
A portal.
Kai's mouth dropped slightly. "The f—"
The woman finally looked at him.
"Hey, kiddo," she said, voice calm as the world shattered behind her. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at the evacuation area?"
Kai opened his mouth to answer —
But something else came through the portal.
A shape.
Wrong.
Monstrous.
Moving on too many limbs and not enough sanity.
Kai's blood ran cold.
"Insane. This world is insane."