I woke up to be greeted by darkness and the smell of blood. I looked around me but could hardly see my hands, even when they were right in front of my face.
I tried to sit up, but a heavy pain shot through my lower abdomen, forcing a groan out of me.
"Fuck, what the hell is going on?" I thought to myself.
As I continued to look around the room, wondering how I got here, I heard a creaking sound.
It sounded like a door opening. Then I heard footsteps—judging from the sound, it had to be a woman.
Soon, I began to hear heavy breathing, and then all of a sudden, the sound stopped.
Before I could comprehend what was happening, I heard curtains being pulled open as sunlight flashed into my eyes.
I blinked repeatedly, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness, as I looked at the woman standing in front of me.
"Oh, Walter, you're awake," the woman said, looking at me lovingly.
"Walter!?" I said in panic. "Who's Walter?"
"Silly boy," the woman chuckled. "You are Walter."
I froze, and then everything started to come back to me.
FLASHBACK
"Yo, Eden, you better get those files on my table before five."
"You got it," Eden replied.
Ratatat.
Eden continued typing on his desktop. He glanced at the time and saw that it was getting late.
"Shit, I haven't printed the files yet."
He quickly got up and rushed to the printer.
Fifteen minutes later, everything was printed. He dropped the files on his boss's table.
As Eden walked out of the office, he realized he was the last one left.
"Always the last," Eden thought, shaking his head.
He had always been looked down on since he got the job. They always gave him the most work, and he was starting to get sick of it.
As Eden walked down the street, he suddenly turned into a bar.
He had been visiting bars frequently lately—it was the only place where he could escape his miserable life.
While he was relaxing inside, he heard a commotion not too far away and decided to check it out.
He saw two men arguing, and from the looks of it, things were about to get physical.
"You son of a bitch!" one man with a scar on his face shouted before throwing a punch.
The punch missed as the other man dodged, and the scarred man ended up hitting someone else instead.
Just like that, an all-out brawl erupted, with people swinging at each other.
Eden didn't want to get caught in the crossfire, so he tried to back away—but he wasn't fast enough and was dragged into the fight.
There were punches, kicks, and even some stabbing.
Eventually, someone called the cops, and the fight was broken up.
Eden, however, wasn't doing well. He had no experience fighting and had been beaten badly. He had even been stabbed several times.
He was loaded into an ambulance, but his vitals were dangerously low—it didn't look like he would make it.
Half-conscious, Eden saw paramedics working on him.
"Doc… am I going to die?" Eden asked weakly.
"Don't worry, you'll be alright," one of them said—but she knew in her heart that he was fading fast.
On the way to the hospital, Eden was hooked up to several machines as they desperately tried to keep him alive.
"Why even bother?" Eden said, tears streaming down his face. "I always hated my life. I was never lucky, got bullied a lot."
He let out a weak chuckle, but the paramedics could hear the pain behind it.
"Don't say that," one of them said. "There's a lot to live for. What about your family?"
"I don't have one. Lost my parents a long time ago. I'm an only child."
"What about friends?"
"If bullies count as friends, then yeah," Eden replied. "Just let me die."
He closed his eyes.
The machines began to emit a loud, continuous beep as a straight line appeared on the monitor.
"We're losing him!" the paramedics shouted as they started CPR—but there was no response.
He was gone.
***********
Eden opened his eyes and found himself in a vast, dark void.
"Is this heaven?" he thought.
"Hello! Anybody there?!" Eden shouted, but there was no response.
Suddenly, a portal opened in front of him, and he was pulled toward it.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in darkness—bearing a different name and inhabiting a different body.
END OF FLASHBACK
Now Eden understood how he got here, but one major question remained.
Why was his name different, and why was he in another body?
"Did I get reincarnated?" Eden thought.
"Walter, are you alright? How is your life core doing?" the woman asked.
"Life core…" Eden thought, suddenly realizing it might be the source of the pain in his abdomen.
"It still hurts," he said.
Hearing this, the woman immediately burst into tears, looking at him with warmth.
"Don't worry, my child. You will heal soon," she said as she hugged him.
"So this woman is my mother," Eden thought, returning the hug. He had never felt a parent's warmth before and didn't want to let go.
After a while, they separated.
"Get some rest. You're already sixteen—you'll need to enroll in the academy soon," Walter's mother said before leaving.
Eden stared at his body in shock.
"I entered the body of a sixteen-year-old!"