It all went back to that office space, overworked, tired—on the verge of exhaustion. The immense pressure was taking a heavy toll on my mental state. My boss always howling at me, how my co-workers only see me as another cog not worth their time.
"Pathetic."
"Useless."
It was all the same, day in, day out—no matter what I did I always get treated the same.
"I want to end it all."
The thought gave me the first feeling of excitement I had in months, and maybe...
I should go through with it. I should really go through with it.
Better than rotting in this hellhole.
Heading out of the building, it was the first time I felt truly free of any burden.
I can finally leave this place...
All that I've ever done was do my best and yet here I am, at the very depths I swore myself I wouldn't end up in.
HONK! HONK!
Ah, my impending doom, it really is the end huh?
The last thought I had before I walked into that busy street was the thought of being someone, somewhere, with people that cared.
Oh well it's all over anyway.
SPLAT!
***
Darkness...
Peace...
Eternal Rest...
And the sound of flies?
My eyes flickered with the yellow hue of a light glimmering over my head. With the sounds of what it seemed to be insects all around me.
What happened?
A minute ago I was on the road with my life flashing before my eyes, and now I'm a random room. Did I survive that crash?
No it can't be...
M-Maybe it's just a bad dream...
A nightmare of sorts...
Maybe my mind coping with the fact I died and is giving me one one last good dream.
I looked around, trying to find some aspect of this seemingly destroyed and ransacked room that could help me identify that it was a dream.
It all looked very old-fashion for some reason.
Smoke and dust around the room soon filled my lungs leading me to cough severely.
"There's no way this is a dream."
This unfamiliar room, the stench of decay and ruin—it all felt so...
Real!??
"Is this a different world? I swear I died why am I here?"
I stood up and looked around my surroundings.
The faded wallpaper with ornate detailing wasting away.
The chandelier above me barely hanging on by a thread.
Outside, was the jagged silhouette of a ruined city with all sorts of pressed against the horizon.
It all didn't feel like a place that I was familiar with.
CRASH!
'What was that!? Don't let me die immediately after getting here.'
I dove into a nearby closet that could hopefully hide me from whatever I just heard.
Footsteps drawing ever closer to me, each step carried a particular meaty heavy oomph to it.
It's drawing ever closer.
Too close...
There's nothing else I can do except stay where I am—go out and meet whatever that "thing" is outside would be a death sentence.
Just then I realized what I had gotten into...
The cabinet smelled like rot and old varnish.
I pressed myself deeper in the already cramped space, my hand clamped over my mouth to keep my breathing quiet.
Nothing but a desperate attempt to delay the inevitable.
Don't move.
Don't breath.
Don't do anything that could give away my position.
Yet before I knew it...
CLANK!
Metal smashed against the rotting wood in the corridor.
'FUCK FUCK FUCK'
'GOD WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO!!?'
Thoughts raced through my head that this would be the end of my very short transmigration.
'No... This couldn't be it, this is my second chance at life I should not waste it.'
'What I should be focusing now is surviving this mess and find out what else is there in this new world.'
I searched whatever was left behind in the closet, anything that I could get my hands on would make me have a better fighting chance against that "thing".
For once in my life I had the instinct of self-preservation.
[Condition Has Been Met]
User has displayed extreme survival instinct under life-threatening conditions.
[Evaluating…]
'What the?...'
[Conclusion: Qualified]
A cold yet comforting feeling spread through my body—not pain, not warmth… Something sharper—like my body was being rewritten.
[Skillset Granted: Self-Preservation]
The floating screen pulsed with the following words:
[Skill Acquired: Threat Perception Lv. 1]
Instinctively detects hostile intent within a limited range.
[Skill Acquired: Panic Suppression Lv. 1]
Reduces involuntary reactions under extreme stress.
My racing heartbeat… slowed.
[Passive Acquired: Survival Priority Lv. 1]
In life-threatening situations, all mental and physical processes will prioritize survival above all else.
[Unique Passive Acquired: Death's Grasp Lv. 1]
When an enemy's life hangs by a thread, Death's Grasp snatches their soul instantly.
After I went through everything on the display.
The cabinet no longer felt suffocating.
The darkness no longer felt overwhelming.
Everything became…
Clear.