Another World

「 CHAPTER 3: Another World 」

Immediately after the dragon's descent at the school, Kayden woke up gasping for air like he just woke up from a nightmare. He opened his eyes and immediately noticed that the sky–no, the whole world was pitch black and empty. As he tried to move his body he felt discovered that he was laying down on a flat cold floor with shallow water.

"It's... dark—wait I can hear my thoughts echo? where is this place...?"

His thoughts full of questions began to echo inside the voided world. He stood up to look at his condition but to his surprise his body was dry, and naked.

I'm naked!? And what is this water fluid thing...?

Kayden stood up and began walking. In each step the water rippled but It did not make a sound. He looked around but all he could see was the endless darkness and a shallow water that never ends.

"Hello? Is anyone here with me? It's me Kayden! Kayden Carnation!" He yelled, hoping to hear someone and know that there's someone in the same situation as him. Several seconds later, there was still no response.

After a few minutes of aimlessly walking and yelling, he decided to rest. He crouched down to sit but took a second to look at the floor. At that moment, he saw a massive eye staring directly at him from underneath the dark depths of the void.

He instinctively jumped away from the eye and kept his guard up. His sweat turns cold and so are his feet. He stared at the massive eye that was also staring back at him. But eventually the eye slowly closed its eyelids and seamlessly faded away in the darkness below.

Kayden threw out a breathe of relief now that the eye was gone. Strangely he found himself being calm and composed. Most people in that situation would scream of terror and run away.

What's happening? Are they also experiencing this right now?

Then all of a sudden, the quiet and dark void began shaking intensely.

"Wo-Woah! What's happening!?"

Kayden could hear rocks crumbling and scraping that echoed throughout the voided world which was followed by muffled voices of a man screaming.

"Hello? Anyone there! I'm here! Hey!" Kayden helplessly yelled. The empty space kept shaking as if a high magnitude earthquake was occuring. Kayden eventually lost balance and fell, but right before he touch the floor his body jolted and woke up. As Kayden opens his eyes, It was still dark but now it was different. A single streak of light passing through a tiny hole above him. He tried to stand up but struggled to do so, he later realized that his legs were pinned down by fallen debris. He struggled to stand up and the more he struggles the more painful it gets so he decided to stop and endure.

He kept a cool and calm mind and assessed the situation he was in. With the single streak of shiny light that shed a soft light around the surrounding, he tried to look for anything that could get him out of this predicament but there was nothing.

Damn it! Am I gonna die like this? I would atleast want a painless death and not this torture!

But then just as when Kayden was about to lose hope, he heard a couple of mean shouting.

"Are there still any survivors here!?"

"We're here to rescue you!"

Kayden's eyes began to have life in them once more and gain hope.

"Help! I'm here! I'm stuck I can't move my legs!"

The two men followed the voice of a helpless youngman that led them to a pile of rubble and debris. It was a miracle that Kayden was able to survive being burried under all these.

"Hello student? Can you hear me?"

"Y-Yes!"

"I'm gonna get you out of here! Please lower your head and cover them!"

Cover them?! What's he gonna do?

"O-Okay!" Kayden lowered his head and covered them.

"Done!"

"Okay! I'm gonna blow away all these debris!"

HUH!? Did he just say blow it away!? Like explosion?!

"W-Wait!...–"

"Don't worry child, you're not gonna die. Here I go!"

Kayden tucked his head and completely covering his head for protection. And a couple of seconds later the debris burrying him exploded seemingly turned to dust.

Kayden's ears were ringing from the loud explosion. He slowly raised his head and finally he could see light, for a brief moment he was blinded before his eyes could adjust. A man slowly approached him. He could not see the man's face because of the bright light shining behind him.

Kayden's vision started to get blurry from the amount of blood he lost. The man held out his hand to which Kayden grabbed tightly exerting every bit of his strength. He was then lifted like a princess, finally, he could get a better view of the person that saved him. Kayden's eyes widened with surprise that it was the school president that had saved him and with him are a couple od students.

The principal? What's he doing here with these nerdy looking students? And what are they wearing?

Kayden was full of confusion by the fact that the principal saved him along with a couple of students and are wearing ragged clothes. Before he could ask them he noticed his surrounding was rather different, much different than was suppose to be.

He looked around and there were tall trees all around them. He looked behind the principal to see where he was rescued and his eyes widened. Cold swear ran down his face and his skin turned pale. The school, that was once with prestigious beautiful buildings was now in ruins. Everything was covered in moss, vines and grass. It's as if it was in ruins for decades, trees going through buildings almost combined with nature and at the top was the massive skull of a dragon.

Kayden couldn't believe his eyes. He felt shivers down his spine and his body was shaking. Words barely coming from his mouth as he was speechless unable to think of a reaction after what he just seen.

"Si-Sir? Wh-What happened here?" Kayden asked the principal with a trembling voice. The principal's face had a dark expression on his face, he did not looked at Kayden but his facial expression was enough of an answer.

Soon, his vision slowly faded and so is his consciousness. The principal quickly called one the student accompanying him.

"Quick heal his wounds! We must get back him to the Camp!"

***

GASP!

Seconds after he lost his consciousness, his body jolted and his eyes opened wide awake, he immediately sat up and gasped for air, and once again he was in the Voided World.

He took this time to gather all of his thoughts and connect them. The sight of his school in ruins left a huge impact on him. He then took a deep breath and exhaled.

What in the world is happening? I woke up from a dream and suddenly I was burried in rubble with my legs broken not feeling a single nerve–then the school is in ruins and a massive skull of a dragon sits on top of the roof? How does all this makes sense?!

After a moment he was finally able to gather all of his thoughts and connect the pieces together. He raised his head as he finally had the answer. There was only one answer in his head.

"... Transmigration."

Kayden came to the conclusion that they did not infact die but got transmigrated into another place–or world. But there was still a million questions lingered in his mind.

"Why is our school and the dragon looked like it had been here years for it to look like that? How did a dragon get to our world or were they real in the first place?..."

Questions filled his mind to the point that he could go crazy. But one there was one more thing that could confirm that they are in another world. Kayden licked his lips and cleared his throat, he opened his mouth slowly and said the phrase:

"Status!"

Nothing happened. Kayden suddenly felt embarrassed by his cringey attempt in summoning a status window from all the manwhas he's been reading. He scratched his head, awkwardly laughed it off and pretending nothing happened.

But he was determined, a status window, in which he dreamt of since he began reading too much manwhas and playing too much video games. With a serious gaze in his eyes, he clutched his fist and he said the word in his mind.

Status!

Out of nowhere blue sparks began to flicker, dances In front of him and then materializes into a transparent blue window. Soft blue light illuminated his face, his eyes widened and he remained speechless. Kayden gulped as cold sweat dripped down is face.

"This is fucking awesome."

[Name: Kayden Carnation]

[Experience: 0/150]

[Class: None]

Strength: 18

Intelligence: 12

Dexterity: 15

While Kayden was looking at his status window, he saw a human figure slowly approaching him through the transparent status window. He dismissed his status window naturally in his mind and take a step back, the figure was starting to get closer where Kayden could see it. The humanoid figure was tall, with a strong body build wearing a hooded cloak cover his face and body from head to knee.

"Who are you?" Slightly scared, he asked.

For a brief moment the man stopped before grabbing something inside this cloak and reaching his towards Kayden. The man was holding a piece of paper that seems to be folded. Kayden didn't feel any hostility towards the man and decided to approach him slowly. Finally, he was able to get a better look of the hooded man, his arm that was holding the piece of paper was covered in bandages. Kayden was hesitant but he took the paper that the hooded man offered, the man slightly bowed before turning around and disappearing to the darkness.

"What is this paper for? Is he trying to send me a message?"

Curious, Kayden opened the paper but before he could the ground began shaking intensely and before he knew it, the floor shattered like glass and he fell.

His heart lurched as he felt the solid ground give way, sending a jolt of panic coursing through his veins. For a split second, he was weightless, suspended in mid-air, his mind racing to process what was happening. Because of the fear and shock he felt, Kayden woke up like he had a nightmare.

He opened his eyes and was blinded by the light above him, It was a lantern. He slowly sat up on the bed and took a good look around he was. It was strange, It was not in school or a hospital, but in a wooden hut.

"...My clothes? They're different.."

Suddenly he remembered his legs being broken from the huge debris, he looked at his legs completely fine and functioning perfectly. He was dumbfounded, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Did they feed me a healing potion– Ouch!"

Bright yellow light passed through the gaps from the wooden walls blinding his eyes. He could hear muffled noises of people from outside the wooden hut. As he stood up the huge piece of wood acting as the door suddenly opened and a silhouette of a person appeared.

"Damn, I know you're tough but I didn't expect you to recover so fast."

The person spoke and Kayden had a smile on his face knowing who the voice belongs to.

「 END OF CHAPTER 3 」