Chapter 4
The sunlight seeps through the cracks of dawn as my eyelids twitch a bit as a breeze hits my face, arousing me of my sleep.
I raise my head and stretch my wings.
Violet smeared across the sky as the bright sun rose from the distance.
...Was the sun always this big?
Shaking my head, I jump down from my branch, wings open as my descent slows a bit.
The first thing I do was to check my surroundings.
After only sensing a few mice in the vicinity I turn my attention to below the bushes.
The dead mouse from before was still there, though it smelled a bit rotten and there were some bugs in it.
'That's just gross.'
Though I knew that was just how nature was, I was a bit of a clean freak.
Leaving the rotting rodent there, instead, I walk over back to the river.
I don't fly because I knew that aerial predators would eat me up like a small snack with my current size.
Maneuvering between the trees, I pick up the pace a bit.
After last night's flight, the forest's coloration became brighter and brighter, unlike the dark theme of where I originally awoke.
Ears twitching, they point to my left.
I could hear the faint sounds of water.
Because the stream had converged with other streams, it grew to the size of a small river.
Although the sounds were barely noticeable, they were much more audible than before.
Reaching the river in a few more minutes, I take a sip before continuing down the river, just under the cover of trees.
'This is gonna take a while ah'
Sighing internally, my mind wanders off to who knows where...
---
"Hey, Rose-did you hear? The merchants who came yesterday brought back some gossip, I overheard them talking in the inn!"
Two young teens, one had platinum blonde hair while the other a caramel brown could be seen walking side by side. Strolling the outskirts of the forest.
"Really? What did you hear?!"
The brown-haired girl, Rose, asked as her blue eyes sparkled.
Every 2 weeks, the merchants came to the village to exchange resources.
A lot of the time, they bring gossip.
As the village was semi-isolated from the city, there was rarely any news from the outside.
The platinum blonde opened her mouth and continued on slowly, adding more suspense.
"I heard, that there have been people appearing out of nowhere, with no memories everywhere! They are shameless! Apparently, those guys can't die! One villager killed one of them, only for them to come back the next day!"
She whisper-shouted the last bit.
Immortality.
Something that all races-other than the Gods, dragons, and long-lived races, all aspired to have.
Knowing that the people who have started appearing out of nowhere couldn't die, many would undoubtedly try and capture them to experiment.
Rose looked at her friend Lily wide-eyed, "Really?!"
Lily, shook her head, "And that's not all. The immortal people have no shame whatsoever! One of the merchants says that some of them dare to go to the city and commit major crimes! One even dare to harass a noble lady!"
Pausing for a bit, Lily continued telling Rose what happened with wide black eyes.
"They don't even treat anyone other than themselves as human! Referring to us as an 'NPC', they dare to order us around like our superior!"
And while the two were conversing, a pair of amber eyes shone in the dark before disappearing once more.
---
After I had walked quite a bit, the forest trees became more sparse.
Critters could be heard all around me, a stark contrast to the deafening silence from before.
I had already eaten, hunting a small rabbit with a small horn on its head.
The rabbit looked strangely familiar though... I wonder where I've seen that before.
Once I finished eating until my hunger was satiated, half the rabbits went straight into my stomach.
Leaving the dead corpse there, I made sure to wash myself of the bloody scent in the now large river.
My ear flicks as it catches sounds, coming from my left.
It sounded like a human!
Immediately after catching the sound, I leap over to a large bush, though it has some small thorns, it was nothing I couldn't handle.
Lowering my presence, I perk up my ears, trying to catch a sound.
"...ally? What did you hear?!"
My breathing hitched.
The language was strikingly familiar.
And then,
Something struck her.
I've reincarnated into VANHA.
A fantasy world that my father and I created.
Though I was shaken to the core, I didn't let my guard down, still listening in on the humans chattering.
"I heard, that there have been people appearing out of nowhere, with no memories everywhere! They are shameless! Apparently, those guys can't die! One villager killed one of them, only for them to come back the next day!"
Another voice, a young female said as the duo walk at a steady pace.
'Players? They've just come?'
When VANHA was released, it quickly rose to the rankings, topping them in a matter of days. The game had been out for 3 years when she died.
"Really?!" The first voice exclaimed with a squeaky voice, my ears felt like bursting.
VANHA was a VRMMORPG, the first of its kind with a 1:3 time dilation. 1 day on Earth would be 3 days in VANHA.
3 years on Earth, 9 years on VANHA.
Players wouldn't be 'new gossip', they would have been a taboo topic by then.
Meaning... I've gone back in time??
"And that's not all. The immortal people have no shame whatsoever! One of the merchants says that some of them dare to go to the city and commit major crimes! One even dare to harass a noble lady!" The other voice quickly says in a hush, though that couldn't escape my ears.
Feeling as though the two youths have passed by my bush, I slowly and silently take a few steps closer to the edge of the bush's cover.
"They don't even treat anyone other than themselves as human! Referring to us as an 'NPC', they dare to order us around like our superior!"
Taking one last look at the duo, I turn and go back deeper into the forest.
The 4th disaster is already here. Though it is still in its adolescence, I must prepare and quickly gain enough strength to protect myself.