Waking up

Esdras was aware of a cool sensation enveloping him as he lay there, he felt comfortable as if he was waking up from the best sleep of his life.

He did not remember the last time he felt truly happy after waking up, most of the time he found himself even more exhausted. Sleep itself had become a chore.

Esdras stretched his body languidly, enjoying the moment, when he opened his eyes he was greeted with a most unexpected sight. The stars.

He was flying through space while curled up in a nebulous protective shell of light. He was awestruck and then he remembered.

'Oh, that's right. I… died. So it was real huh.'

He looked at the emptiness in front of him but to his eyes, he saw something that others wouldn't be able to see. It was a system panel.

Name: Esdras

Status: currently being transmigrated to the world of Arandos.

Esdras felt his eyes grow heavy he recalled what he saw last before this, and went into a deep sleep once again.

The divine spark of this Planeswalker was divided into nine shards and scattered throughout the universe. And he just found one of them.

[Ding- host is in an unsuitable world]

[Initiate transfer to a higher level world]

[ERROR! Missing coordinates!]

[Using the closest shard as a coordinate!]

[ERROR! The host is devoid of any energy to sustain the dimensional travel, using the remaining power of the shard as a replacement!]

Esdras was completely taken aback, he didn't even know if what he was seeing was true. But when looked down at his body he saw it burning a cold blue fire and scattering in the wind he blanked out.

His last thought was: oh, fuck me.

****

"My head really hurts…."

This was Esdras's first thought upon waking up. It felt as if there was a cut on his head, hurting so badly that it seemed as if his head was about to split open.

The scene in front of him seemed like he was riding on a horse carriage. His body continued to bounce up and down along with the carriage's movement, impacting his wound.

It was so painful that Esdras had to suck in several sharp breaths. Opening his eyes, he surveyed his surroundings. He was lying on the cold wooden floor of the carriage and there was no one else around.

He felt the cold beneath him and attempted to raise himself to lay down on the proper seats at least. But at that moment he felt a sharp pain in his head.

The pain was sudden and brought many memories that did not belong to him along with it. He touched his head and his hand touched blood.

His head was badly wounded and bleeding. It was not just the memories that caused the pain. But he couldn't endure any longer and his eyes rolled backward.

[Synchronizing the host's memories with the new body.]

After a certain amount of time, he opened his eyes again and noticed that the carriage stopped moving.

He touched his head but didn't feel the pain anymore, in fact, his wound healed so completely that he doubted its existence in the first place.

"A-at least let us bury the body somewhere…"

"This trash doesn't deserve a good burial. We should use his body as bait for the forest beasts."

He heard several voices coming closer to the carriage.

Suddenly the door of the carriage was violently opened unceremoniously. There were several bright-haired and light-eyed youths looking at him in shock.

"H-he's alive?" The big guy in the center looked at him like he saw a ghost, his face paled and he took a step back, "h-how? But I was sure—"

"Esdras! You're awake, we were all worried for you that's why we let you ride in this carriage on your own."

The second boy was shorter and had a sheepish smile and some tears at the corner of his eyes like he was about to cry. His name was David.

"Boo, this is boring. We thought you died."

The third person at the door of the carriage was a girl with dark brown hair and a mean smile, "wouldn't it have been better for you if you just silently died?" She covered her mouth and laughed. She was Tara.

"Ah, I'm fine," Esdras said, he lowered his head and recalled who these guys were, they were his fellow apprentices in the mage tower.

Seeing that Esdras had awoken and was fine, the big guy laughed awkwardly, "Haha….Esdras, you're finally awake. If you had awoken even a few more minutes later, you probably wouldn't have been able to make it to lunch. I assume that you don't want to starve!"

Esdras lowered his eyes. After some thought, he figured out this person's name.

"Thanks, Robert."

Robert was the person who injured him in a 'spar' after the old owner of this body challenged him. And although he did not kill him outright he gave Esdras a wound that would eventually lead to his death.

And it did. That's how Esdras was able to take over this body.

Robert was a level 4 apprentice mage he could become a true mage at any moment and Esdras was a level 1 apprentice mage, the disparity was obvious between them.

"I'm coming, you guys go on first, I have to go relieve myself." Esdras acted like he didn't care about Robert and he actually didn't.

For now.

He had more pressing matters. Out by a stream, several carriages and many people, most of whom were soldiers clamored together.

Esdras walked a bit further away from them and looked at his reflection in the water. He had sky-blue eyes and thick blond hair which was marred by a streak of dried blood.

[Ding! Scanning complete! Assessment complete! Assimilation at 50%. Complete the process?]

After he washed up he heard the notification of the system and looked at the blue panel hovering in the air.

"Yes."