Chapter Three: First World - Paranormal Realm
The space shifted.
One moment, I was floating in that endless white void with the goddess snapping her fingers like my existence was a remote control she could mute at will.
The next moment.
It felt like falling without gravity, like being pulled apart thread by thread and stitched back together randomly.
When the sensation stopped, I found myself suspended in an endless dark space.
There were no walls, no ceiling, no ground beneath me. Yet somehow, I wasn't drifting. I was anchored, floating at the same place.
Before I could even begin to panic, light bloomed.
A massive, transparent screen unfurled before me, stretching endlessly in all directions. Symbols cascaded down it like rain, runes, numbers, words I couldn't fully understand, all overlapping in layers of glowing blue and silver.
"This," the goddess's voice echoed, no longer coming from a single point, "is the System."
I didn't see her at first.
Then the screen shimmered.
Her figure dissolved into light, breaking apart like mist until what remained was no longer a body, but a towering, humanoid outline embedded within the interface itself. Her eyes glowed brighter than the rest of the screen, watching me from everywhere at once.
So this is what she meant, when she said she was the system.
"From here on," her voice continued, layered and vast, "this space will serve as the transition point between worlds. Your tasks will be assigned here. Your performance evaluated here. Your points calculated here."
The screen shifted.
Lines of text rearranged themselves, forming a single heading.
ASSIGNED WORLD: PARANORMAL REALM
The words pulsed once.
Then the information began to pour in.
———
The world I was assigned to turned out to be a paranormal one.
And I don't mean the cute kind with cold blooded vampires and shirtless werewolves brooding under the moon like they're auditioning for a romance cover.
No.
This world was violent, hierarchical, and cruelly obsessed with bloodlines.
Werewolves, vampires, witches, hybrids, every supernatural race existed here, bound together by ancient laws, old grudges, and a looming war that threatened to tear the entire realm apart.
As the information streamed into me, I didn't just see it.
I felt it.
The tension between packs. The hunger of the night courts. The suffocating pressure of destiny pressing down on everyone born into this world.
At the center of it all… was her.
The female lead of this world.
Evelyn.
She was born an Omega.
That alone wouldn't have been a problem in most packs, omegas were rare, treasured even. But Evelyn's family wasn't "most packs."
Her bloodline was infamous.
Generation after generation, her family produced nothing but powerful Alphas and formidable Betas, leaders, generals, symbols of pride. When her mother became pregnant, the entire clan waited for the birth of a male heir, an Alpha who would continue their legacy.
Instead, they got Evelyn.
A girl.
An Omega.
To them, she wasn't just a disappointment.
She was a stain.
The screen showed fragments, memories not my own.
A grand hall filled with celebration… until the midwife's announcement.
Smiles freezing.
Whispers spreading.
A mother turning her face away.
From the moment she could understand words, Evelyn learned what it meant to be unwanted.
She was fed, clothed, educated, yes. But love? Protection? Warmth?
None of that was ever meant for her.
Her parents never struck her, never raised their hands in violence. That would've been too obvious. Too merciful.
Instead, they perfected neglect.
They looked through her as if she didn't exist. Praised her younger brother Rowan while pretending she wasn't in the room. Celebrated his milestones while ignoring hers. When danger came, shields were raised for Rowan, never for her.
And children notice things like that.
Growing up in that kind of environment twisted Evelyn's view of the world.
She learned early that kindness was conditional. That affection was currency. That if she didn't take what she wanted, no one would give it to her freely.
So she became selfish.
Calculating.
She learned to smile while plotting, to cry when it benefited her, to weaponize her victimhood without ever truly healing from it.
By the time the original story began, Evelyn was beautiful, fragile-seeming, and deeply manipulative.
And fate… rewarded her.
When she came of age, the Moon Goddess herself descended.
As compensation.
As apology.
Evelyn was granted four mates.
Two were Alpha Kings, longtime rivals whose packs had clashed for decades, blood soaking into sacred grounds over disputes neither side remembered clearly anymore.
The other two were vampires.
One was the Vampire King, ruler of the night courts.
The other… was the Vampire Ancestor.
An ancient being whispered about in legends, feared even by his own kind.
Together, these four were pillars of power. Symbols meant to unite the fractured supernatural realm.
Through Evelyn, alliances would form. Through her womb, bloodlines would merge. Through her bonds, the coming war would be survived.
That was the story.
Except Evelyn didn't want them.
She never loved them.
To her, they were trophies. Tools. Proof that the world had finally chosen her.
The affection they offered wasn't enough.
She wanted more.
She wanted everything.
Including what belonged to her younger brother.
Her brother, the one everyone adored.
The one who ignored her existence growing up.
The one whose mate… caught her eye.
Her brother was gay.
And his destined mate was gentle, loyal, and painfully kind, the kind of person who still believed people could change if you just loved them enough.
Evelyn wanted that devotion.
So she took it.
She twisted the truth. Painted herself as the sole victim. Spoke softly about years of "bullying" and emotional abuse, exaggerating neglect into cruelty.
And it worked.
Her brother's mate believed her.
He left.
The rejection shattered her brother.
What began as grief turned into obsession. What should've been mourning became hatred.
In the original storyline, he spiraled.
He plotted.
He tried to ruin Evelyn.
And in the end… he was killed.
Not by her four powerful mates.
But by the very mate who had once been destined for him.
The reason?
He was "bothering" Evelyn.
That was how the story framed it.
A villain's end.
And that… was where I came in.
The screen dimmed, the images fading until only the system glow remained.
I finally understood why the goddess had labeled my role as Villain.
Because in this world, I wasn't here to save kingdoms.
I wasn't here to stop wars.
I wasn't here to fix Evelyn.
I was here to survive.
To prevent my own death.
And to complete my tasks.
"Wow," I muttered internally. "What a mess."
The system pulsed in response.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: PREVENT DEATH
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: PENDING
POINT REWARD: VARIABLE
So this was my first world.
A revenge tragedy disguised as a romance epic.
Except this time… I wasn't playing the heartbroken antagonist chasing after what I lost.
My name here would be Rowan.
And I wasn't waiting to be destroyed.
If Evelyn could steal destinies,
then so could I.
And if the story wanted me dead for daring to want more?
I'd rewrite it.
Not as a hero.
Not as a savior.
But as the villain who refused to die quietly.