Pilot

"GET BACK HERE KID!" I heard from behind me.

The sound of heavy breathing, footsteps hitting the ground as though running away from the world itself, a feeling of weakness. All of this rushed through me.

What the hell is going on?

Am I dreaming, why am I running?

Is someone chasing me?

…

Who am I?

…

With a sudden flash, memories surged in my mind, I was Adrian Levenbacher, but what in the ever living hell was happening?

Last I remember, I had just finally finished my fucking finals, those dreadful beasts and was getting ready to sleep well for the first time in weeks.

So, why am I running?

At that thought I decided it was well and due for me to stop running and slowed down to a stop before collapsing to the floor out of exhaustion.

Before I could even get a moment of rest and relaxation, I heard a yell come from behind me.

"THE LITTLE THIEF FINALLY COLLAPSED! I'm gonna make sure this kid remembers to never mess with us mages ever again hahahaha."

What the hell?

Mages?

Thief?

Just what in the world have I gotten myself into?

I need to run.

I got up and found myself tripping over my own feet and collapsing back to the ground.

What the hell?

Why is my body not moving the way it used to? Am I fucking drunk? That would explain a lot about this situation.

As I looked down, I spotted a puddle of clear water, and it reflected what clearly wasn't myself. It was a kid with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes. Eyes that were burning with a dull orange hue contrasting harshly against the black of the kids' hair. With the deathly pallor of the kid's skin added into the mix, it appeared as though he was knocking on death's door.

Standing behind the kid in the puddle, was a fat man with a rotund face. A smirk prominently featured across his face as he grabbed the kids head.

I felt myself get pulled by my hair and shrieked out in pain.

What?

He pulled that kid's hair. Why am I feeling pain?

Am I….. the kid in the puddle?

I, the kid with dull orange eyes, was picked up by my raven black locks until I was eye to eye with the ugly man.

"Heh" he snickered "It's you again Juno, looks like you didn't learn anything from your last beating"

The man dropped me to the ground and a ball of flames appeared in front of the mage and slowly made its way to me. I scrambled to move away from the flame but I hit a wall and it caught up to me.

I guess this is the end, I'll never know what the hell is going on… goodbye world.

And then the pain began, the bastard burnt the rags off of my torso, but somehow managed to keep the flame from touching me. He would burn me just enough for it to hurt like hell but not cause any major injuries.

I let out scream after scream after scream and no one came to my aid. I was all alone. Whenever I felt like I would pass out from the pain he would lessen the pain and whenever I felt so exhausted that I would pass out he gave me a sharp pain to keep me awake.

I don't know how long has passed but I finally heard him say "If there's a next time, then I won't be leaving that pretty face of yours unscarred, or maybe I could just sell you to a brothel, heh. I'm sure an old geezer would put a pretty little boy like you to good use. Haaa, we mages rule Xynia kid, stop crossing us and maybe you'll live a little bit longer."

And with that he walked away from me. My dull eyes trailed him until he was completely gone out of fear that he would turn around and begin another round of torture.

I couldn't sleep, the pain simply forced my mind into a state of awareness. I looked down at the burn marks around my torso and finally accepted reality. I was a homeless peasant kid in a fantasy world and I'd probably die within the week if I couldn't figure out how to get food.

I lifted myself to my feet with immense strain and started hobbling off somewhere. Where was I going exactly? I couldn't tell you, but I needed to leave this place before that man decided to come for round 2.

I walked for hours as my legs barely supported my meager weight. I didn't know what I was looking for but I needed to find something. Something had to be out there that could save me from this situation, something that could end this nightmare and bring me home to my fresh bed. As I walked, the view of the sky opened up as the buildings became less crowded.

In the sky, there was a floating island.

Maybe if I had even the faintest of energy left in my body I would have been amazed to see it, but there was no energy to be amazed with.

I hobbled over to the adult closest to me, he appeared to be just as homeless as me, and asked him "What is that?" while looking at the sky.

After looking at me with no small amount of pity in his eyes, he said "That's the floating city of Xyrus, if you're lucky you could awaken and get brought to the academy up there, they'd feed you!"

Without delay, I felt bile rise up my throat. Despite having likely not eaten in days, my body wanted to throw up due to the information I had just received.

I hadn't transmigrated into a random fantasy world with a happy ending, I had transmigrated into a novel which I have read in the past. A novel full of tragedy and destruction, where if one didn't have enough power then they were as good as dead.

I had transmigrated into the Beginning After the End.