The First Death

The first thing Hesperia felt was cold.

Not the numbing kind, but a deep, unnatural chill that settled in her bones. Her body felt weightless, suspended in something that wasn't quite air.

Then—a violent pull.

She slammed back into existence, choking for breath.

Her eyes snapped open to darkness. The scent of damp stone and rusted metal flooded her senses.

A system notification flickered in the air, casting a faint, eerie glow over her surroundings.

[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]

Welcome, Player.

Processing combat parameters… ERROR.

Chronos Fragment detected. Recalibrating…

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.

A System notification?

She knew what that meant. A game. A simulation. She had spent years staring at interfaces like this.

But this wasn't a game.

This was real.

She pushed herself up, her palms pressing against cold stone. Her head swam as she tried to orient herself.

The last thing she remembered was—

Her bed. The hospital. The IV drip in her arm.

The diagnosis.

The words she had refused to accept.

Six months left.

A chill ran through her.

No. That had been real.

So what the hell was this?

Her breathing quickened as she looked around. The room was a ruin, ancient stone walls lined with faintly glowing runes. The air was damp, heavy with the scent of decay.

This wasn't the hospital.

This wasn't Earth.

Her pulse spiked.

A soft metallic whir echoed from the shadows ahead.

She froze.

Something was moving.

At first, she thought it was part of the dungeon's architecture—jagged metal fused into the broken stone walls. But then it shifted.

A blade-like limb scraped against the ground, sparking against stone.

The thing unfolded from the darkness, standing tall on elongated, inhuman limbs. Its movements were too smooth, too precise—like a machine that had long since abandoned its original programming.

A single, glowing red eye flared to life in the center of its faceless head.

The whirring sound escalated into a shriek.

The thing moved.

Too fast.

She barely had time to react before it lunged.

A flash of silver.

Pain.

A sharp, searing agony pierced through her chest.

She staggered, looking down to see a metallic spike driven clean through her ribcage.

It didn't feel real.

Her breath hitched, blood bubbling up her throat.

She tried to move, but her body refused.

The creature tilted its head, calculating.

It had already killed her.

And now?

It had already forgotten her.

Her vision blurred. The System screen flickered again.

[FATAL ERROR DETECTED.]

[CHRONOS FRAGMENT ACTIVATED.]

[TIME REVERSAL INITIATED…]

The pain vanished.

The world fractured.

And then—

She woke up.

She was lying on the stone floor again.

Her first breath was a gasp, air flooding her lungs too quickly. Her hands scrambled against the rough surface beneath her, gripping nothing.

What—?

Her chest—no wound.

No blood.

She shot up, clutching at her ribs. Nothing. It was like the injury had never happened.

The dungeon was silent.

The flickering System message was still there, waiting.

[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]

Welcome, Player.

Processing combat parameters… ERROR.

Chronos Fragment detected. Recalibrating…

Hesperia's pulse pounded in her skull.

This wasn't right.

She had just died.

She remembered the pain. The blade through her chest. The blood.

She remembered it.

And now she was back.

She pressed a hand against her forehead, her breath coming in fast, uneven bursts.

Her heart was racing, but not just from fear.

There was something else.

Something off.

She knew she was Hesperia Oatrun. Knew she had been dying in a hospital bed just days ago.

But the exact details—how she had gotten here, what had happened before she woke up—felt blurred at the edges.

Like a story missing its first page.

A wave of nausea rolled over her.

She had died.

And now she was here again.

She forced herself to focus.

The dungeon.

The creature.

It had killed her—but instead of dying, she had… what? Gone back in time?

Her eyes flicked back to the System screen.

Chronos Fragment detected.

Her fingers curled into a fist.

She didn't know what that meant. But she knew one thing for sure.

She had died.

And now she was here again.

Somewhere in the distance, the metallic whirring started again.

The creature was still out there.

This time, she was ready.

And this time, she wouldn't die so easily.