He wheezed, trying to get some air into his lungs, coughing painfully as even the remaining air in them was forced out. His eyes were teary, burning as smoke washed over his corneas. His lungs struggled for any semblance of air, forcing him to breathe in the dust and smoke even as it burned his trachea.
Today of all days… Fucking terrorists, man.
It was sad, pathetic even. For all he'd achieved, yet left unable to even stand up as the raging flames slowly drew closer, the waves of heat brushing past him as their intensity grew, threatening a painful end to his life.
He would try to escape, try something, anything in the name of survival, but with a large chunk of concrete outright crushing his lower body and one arm, that seemed out of the cards for him.
What was odd was the calm that had engulfed him after the initial few seconds of panic. The pain of being crushed hadn't yet reached his brain, letting the adrenaline do the job of keeping him alive just long enough to experience the sensation of being burned alive. Then again, with no significant other, no known family member to speak of—even his earliest memories were of him in the orphanage— Orion had nothing beyond material wealth that truly tied him to the world.
St. Mary's Home for Children… Why am I thinking of that place now, of all times? Guilt? No, they were the ones who kept asking me for money. I was right to cut things off…
His thoughts were cut off by a loud creaking sound as he processed the blurry vision of a beam falling on the floor close to him, its embers letting out scorching waves of heat beside his face. Still, all he felt was numb, without any scraps of panic.
It's a pity, really… I can't make it to the auction anymore. I really wanted to get that Philippe Dufour piece this time.
He was a vain bastard, and he knew it. But growing up without money, alone and with a string of failed relationships behind him, he had come to find solace in material possessions. Always chasing after something, a new watch, a gadget, a car—never a house, though. Whether it was something that would tie him down or would simply be too expensive, he could never make up his mind about the reason.
I wonder if hell has opportunities to start a pyramid scheme… I'll see if I can give the idea to Satan. Suffering from crippling debt is a tried and tested way of making one's life a living hell. Heh… Man, I really don't want to die and find out that all that awaits me is nothingness.
The pain finally hit; an electric, numbing sensation erupting from his waist that quickly intensified to a level beyond what he could endure. A weak, hoarse groan erupted from his mouth in the name of a pained scream, his lungs too weak to help produce anything more substantial as he wheezed again through the pain.
Fuck! I don't want to die! I really don't want to fucking die!
He screamed inwardly and found the strength to raise his left arm, the silver Rolex on it with its glass shattered by the debris, as he weakly raised it and tried to push away the concrete block, but to no avail.
"Come on…" He groaned, trembling as he went through a last-ditch effort to get out. It was unfortunate that the concrete slab didn't even budge despite his efforts.
Do You Want to Live?
Heh, I'm hallucinating.
"Take a guess." He let out a derisive snort, but the white words continued floating in the darkness behind his eyelids, almost distracting him from the deathly pain assaulting him.
He thought that it was fine to go a little crazy when someone was dying. He'd heard that most people shit themselves when they died. At least he hadn't fallen that far.
Or have I? Guess it's impossible to know… I really don't want to imagine what's going on down there right now. To die such an ignoble death, fucking hell.
"I do…" He wheezed out. "I really want to fucking live."
The part about not having any attachments was a lie. There was a massive thing that he was attached to in this world. His life. And seeing it slip away slowly and painfully, he was willing to grasp at any straw if it meant surviving. Even if that straw was a hallucination of his own making.
Very Well, Prepare to be Transmigrated
What?
His confusion didn't last long as the pain assaulting him suddenly vanished with the words hovering in his vision. Before he could open his eyes to check, a blinding light enveloped him in an ethereal warmth. Moments later, he felt like he was melting. Not the dying in a fire as his flesh melted kind, but the kind that came after a long and comfortable massage that left him feeling like nothing more than a puddle. His consciousness blurred, falling asleep as his mind finally gave out.
…
Orion gasped loudly, or at least he tried. That sensation of being a melted puddle had intensified to the point that he couldn't feel anything else. Far from feeling disoriented, he imagined this was what it felt like when one had their brain floating in a vat of water while maintaining consciousness. Okay, weird analogy, but this is what he was experiencing right now. Seconds later, he seemed to get himself calibrated to one of his senses, proprioception, though it was far more pronounced than he was used to. For one, he realized that his body was a lot like a viscous liquid as he tried to get a feel of his surroundings.
I know I wanted to live, but this is more like an acid trip than a lucid dream, you know?
He thought of his real body, and a lurching feeling overtook him. At the same time, he felt his senses return to him, starting with his vision, followed by the rest of his senses. Looking around, what greeted him was a shabby apartment, with two bags of trash piled up in the corner, clothes strewn about randomly, and a sink full of cooking utensils. But before he could focus on that, more text appeared in his vision, stealing his attention.
Base Form Established.
He didn't know what he expected as the words faded, but he was left waiting without anything appearing in the air.
"Do I need to say status or something? That's usually how these things work," he said, still receiving silence on the other end. "Am I some kind of non-human slime? A symbiote, maybe?"
He looked expectantly at his arm and, with a thought, the hand morphed into black slime, merging into his skin and leaving a stump in place of his hand.
"Fever dream indeed…"
As he thought about exploring his new body further, a glittery shine caught his attention, and he turned his head. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the wall of his room literally disintegrating into shiny dust.
"Did The Mad Titan mess up his snap and destroy half of all buildings in the universe instead of people?" He asked out loud before coughing in embarrassment, looking around as if afraid that somebody would have heard him.
Within seconds, the small room he was in disappeared, letting him get a clear view of the night sky littered with stars.
Or lack thereof. The sky was pitch black, with no sun, stars, or even moon in sight.
"What's going on?" He frowned.
A purple light momentarily illuminated the sky, and he gawked, his jaw hanging in place as it lit up the scales in the sky.
The confusing source of his transmigration finally appeared again, but instead of the calm white, it was blaring red, covering most of his vision with its message.
Planetary Destruction Imminent. Escape!
00:05:52
"Unless you have a rocket or two lying around just waiting to be launched, I can't really escape a planet in five minutes, bud," he said. "Hate to break it to you."
Getting no response from the system, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"How boring. It's a bitch system with no sass…" He mumbled. "I was expecting a cute girl that I could someday bring to life and date or something…"
His thought came from his immense cultural exposure in the orphanage. A younger him was an avid watcher of anime and consumed all sorts of different media.
He suddenly felt the ground shaking intensely and lost his balance, almost falling down on his butt. Before he could process the sudden change, he heard a loud cracking sound and saw the ground itself crack right in front of him. A searing heat assaulted his face as he saw the orange-yellow glow of lava as it erupted through the crack.
"Oh, fuck…" Cursing, he turned and started running as fast as he could. "I did not just get transmigrated to be killed by lava instead of fire."
He was still half-expecting some words to appear in his vision, but was disappointed to see nothing but the empty land and the translucent red countdown floating in front of him as he ran away from the lava.
He ran like hell until his lungs started burning, but the ground around him continued cracking and erupting with lava, not giving him any chance to catch his breath.
Shouldn't my lungs be made of slime? Why am I getting tired?
The thought disappeared as soon as it came to his mind when he noticed a glint of bright red from the corner of his eye.
Instinctively hoping for someone who might be able to help, he quickly changed directions and started running toward the light.
00:00:51
Glancing at the timer, he felt a little panicked and pulled out whatever scraps of energy he had left and made his way to a glowing red cocoon with lava spewing out from under it, looking like a uniquely shaped boat floating on lava.
Detected Suitable Host. Initiate a Bond to Activate the Status Panel.
He barely processed the words before jumping at the red cocoon and turning into his slime form, halfway burrowing into the cocoon through the few openings in the front. He felt the humanoid body inside the cocoon and, unsure what the system wanted, he simply hoped to form a bond with the person.
His body responded instinctively and wrapped itself around the body of the person inside the cocoon, but all he could process was that it was a woman with bright crimson hair before a lurching sensation overtook him, and the woman, along with him, disappeared from both the planet and reality itself.