Chapter 2: Remembering Daemon

John was still on his knees, breathing deeply as his mind recovered from the storm of memories he had just experienced. The blurry images were beginning to clear, and an uncomfortable truth was emerging: he was not John. At least, not in this world. The name that echoed in his head, accompanied by feelings of sadness and hopelessness, was Daemon.

Daemon. A name that was not completely unknown to him. Slowly, the memories of his previous life began to fit together. He remembered Lisa, his old girlfriend, sitting next to him on so many quiet nights, reading aloud a novel that seemed endless to him. He didn't much like the plot, but he enjoyed the passion with which Lisa read and the silent company they shared. The novel was an escape for Lisa, but for John, it was just a succession of clichés and flat characters.

Lisa loved those stories of adventure and romance, where a masculine and charismatic protagonist gathered a harem of beautiful and loyal women, all willing to sacrifice everything for him. John, on the other hand, found these stories infuriating. It seemed absurd to her that in each chapter, any female character surrendered to the charm of the protagonist, almost as if love and devotion were inevitable.

"Those plots are so predictable," John used to mutter as Lisa read. "How can all girls fall for the same guy? It's ridiculous."

Lisa simply smiled and continued reading, ignoring John's complaints. She enjoyed the fantasy, while he remained grounded in reality.

Now, standing in the middle of a strange forest with luxurious clothes and a sword at his belt, John couldn't help but feel a bitter irony. He remembered more details from Lisa's novel. Daemon was a secondary character, an extra in the protagonist's life. He was the childhood friend of one of the heroines, a beautiful and noble young woman who would, of course, eventually fall in love with the main hero and join her harem. Daemon was destined to suffer in silence, to witness the love of his life giving herself to another man.

John stood up slowly, brushing the grass from his noble robes. The situation was surreal, but his analytical mind was already processing the information. If he was in Daemon's body, then the rules of this world, no matter how absurd, could be different from those of his previous world. However, he couldn't help his aversion towards the plot that now seemed to be his reality.

"This is ridiculous," John muttered to himself, looking around him. "I'm not going to be a supporting character in another man's life."

As he walked through the woods, John tried to remember more details of the story Lisa was reading. He needed to understand the context of this world, the relationships between the characters and, most importantly, how he could change its destiny. He was not willing to accept a role of suffering and resignation. He had always been a man of action, and this situation would be no different.

John hated those harem plots with a renewed passion. He was repelled by the idea that characters' emotions and lives were so easily manipulated to satisfy the fantasy of a single protagonist. But now, with his knowledge of the novel and his determination to defy fate, he was determined not to be another victim of that narrative.

"I'm going to find a way out of this," he promised himself as he moved forward with determination. "I won't be a piece in anyone's game. Not even a writer."

With each step he took, John moved deeper into Daemon's new reality, ready to fight against expectations and write his own destiny. The life he had led until now had taught him to survive against all odds, and he was not going to let a mediocre novel dictate his future.