'Damn… I'm so thirsty…'
Aurora couldn't help but to press his lips together, as he tried to use what little saliva remained to moisten the cracked wounds at the corners of his mouth.
For the past five minutes, he had been leaning motionless against the back of the chair, staring up at the spiderwebs clinging to the ceiling.
The sun was setting. It poured its final glow into the ancient room, like a candle at the end of its wick.
The air was thick with scents of decay, the young man could also recognise the smell of machine oil.
The surrounding walls were ruinous in appearance, as if the building had been abandoned for centuries, all what's left were battered and broken pieces of a room that could be once called "lavish".
Aurora could tell the owner of this room had a luxurious lifestyle. Scattered across the ground were many mannered wall clocks that would've been hung firmly, if it weren't for the fragmentation of the walls after years of deterioration.
There was no guarantee that he was a rich man. He could've been a clock clerk, or just someone passionate about them.
But Aurora highly doubted the first option, since he's currently on the third floor. Retailers were predominantly found on the ground level to maximise foot traffic, visibility, and convenience; even if there were exceptions, something else had caught his eye, suggesting the owner of this room wasn't a clock clerk.
There was a bed in the corner of the room; one would typically not find something like that inside a store.
Aurora lay in the high-backed rocking chair at the center of the room, he was unwilling to do anything, unwilling even to think.
Afterall, today marked the beginning of his long term mission — performing his duty as a spy from Earth, inside a fantasy world called the "Land of Dawnflame".
Code name: Golden Starfrontlight
***
"Ma'am. I don't understand." Aurora frowned as he stood in front of an officer.
"What was the criteria? I have the lowest performance in my class, was sent to disciplinary hearings five times, failed two missions — to be honest, I don't even know why I'm still here."
"As cocky as always." The officer took a slow sip of her coffee.
"You seem proud of being a failure, a stain to our reputation."
"Now that you've mentioned those missions, you think you could've fooled me?" Her voice was calm, but anyone could hear the threat beneath it.
"You deliberately sabotaged them. Forget about terminating you, you should've had a bullet in your head by now, if it weren't for this—"
She said as she pointed to the brown paper portfolio marked [CONFIDENTIAL].
"Be grateful, this is your second chance at life."
"As for the criteria, there wasn't one. You could say its luck, because the first bar of this mission wasn't about performance or contributions, but whoever was the most compatible."
"You're given seven days to prepare yourself, at the same time next week, you'll be off to another world."
"Do you understand?"
"...Yes, Ma'am."
Aurora took the confidential portfolio and headed toward the door. Just as he was about to open it and leave, he heard footsteps approaching from behind.
The next thing he knew, the officer was standing one meter away from him.
Their gaze locked.
"I'll give you a personal note, Agent 2453." She said.
"Don't. Screw. This. Up."
"You're their kid, afterall. Act like one — like a son of heroes."
Silence.
The air hung still, as if frozen in time.
Yet the room felt like a volcano on the brink of eruption, a scorching pressure coiled in the atmosphere, ready to burst at any second.
In the depths of Aurora's eyes, a raw, incandescent rage churned.
Seeing his reaction, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curled at the corner of her mouth.
"You couldn't even make a poker face, you really are the worst spy afterall." She said as she turned around.
"Save up this energy for your mission, you'll need it."
*Thunk*
Aurora slammed the door shut as he left the room, it was the first time in years he had a reaction like that.
He had lost his parents at a young age. From what he'd been told by one of his father's friends, they had died in an accident while performing a mission.
Was the intel credible? Perhaps; that man must've risked violating some regulation by telling him that.
Even so, Aurora never fully believed it, but he also never acted on his doubts.
They didn't leave him with anything. At the time, he'd been too young, too hungry, too busy worried about whether the rain would leak through the roof again that night.
As he grew older, the suspicion only deepened when he heard gossip claiming his parents had actually abandoned him, and they were still alive.
In the end, he joined the same organisation which his parents supposedly served, in hope to find them. But all he received was their file, and the official record of their noble sacrifice, proving that his father's friend had been telling the truth.
Next week, he will be sent on his mission to another world, on the same day he turns seventeen.
The fact that another world existed, and was currently going through a parallel timeline still overwhelmed his mind.
His eyes lingered on the code name "Golden Starfrontlight" printed on the file.
'Maybe this time… I could live a normal life after all.'
***
Before he realised, he was laying against a chair, staring at the spider webs on the wall.
He couldn't remember how he got here, all he knew was that his mission had started five minutes ago.
'What are the first things to do when transmigrated into another world…? This counts as transmigration right?'
Aurora began to organise his thoughts.
'Surroundings, checked. No immediate hazards yet, but I heard there were some people talking on the street earlier, perhaps they saw me putting on some clothes…'
'Supplies, none. I couldn't carry anything with me, even the tattered clothes I'm wearing right now were found on the floor.'
'My physical conditions are normal, but I'll be needing water soon enough.'
'What else… what else…?'
Just as he was forming a plan in his head, he heard footsteps approaching the door. There must've still existed a staircase in decent condition, because Aurora had counted roughly, the rhythm of the steps suggested there were at least four people heading towards his location.
From the file he had read about the Land of Dawnflame, humans still make up the majority of the population in this fantasy world. Their body anatomy were identical to his own, so they shouldn't see Aurora with hostility — unless they decided otherwise.
Additionally, English was also recognised as a universal language in this place; weird, but convenient.
Aurora quickly scanned the room, then picked up a sharp wood stick, and hid it behind his back.
The footsteps had stopped outside the door.
After a few seconds of silence, a girl's voice called out.
"Hello! Whoever is in the room."
"We mean no harm. We have come in peace."
Aurora stood up from his chair, and walked to the bed. He dragged the heavy furniture towards the center of the room, flipped it over, and made a simple fortress out of it.
He didn't mind the noise being sent to the people outside, once he hid behind the fortress, he began extracting glass shards from the shattered wall clocks scattered across the floor.
Hearing no response from him, the girl asked again.
"May we come in?"
That was when Aurora finally replied.
"How many of you are there? Any weapons?"
"There are three of us." the girl answered.
"My comrades are armed, but I'm only a healer. If you don't trust us, you can only let me in."
"Out here in this forgotten town, we need as many people as we can get. Please, trust us, so we can make it out of here alive."
"That works." Aurora answered.
"Leave your friends out the door. Come empty handed, and I promise I won't hurt you too."
His hands didn't stop moving. Once he found a glass shard large enough, he began sharpening the wooden stick. The shard itself was lethal if handled carefully, but the spear could serve as a secondary weapon — in case he threw the glass shard as a projectile.
"Thank you for trusting us." the girl said as she entered.
She was beautiful. Her most striking feature was her scarlet-red ponytail, reaching all the way to her hips.
She carried no visible weapons, with only a belt pouch far too small to conceal one.
Through a tear in the bed mattress, Aurora watched her step inside. Beyond her, hidden in the darkness, he could not see the silhouettes of her companions.
She immediately noticed the overturned bed acting as a barricade and glanced behind her, as if searching for something.
Seeing her reaction, the young man confirmed his suspicion.
'Now then…' Aurora calmly thought.
'These guys definitely want to kill me… How should I strike first?'