"It looks familiar," Adi muttered. His brow furrowed as a jagged flash of memory—a throne made of bone and a sky turned to ash—threatened to break through his mind. "Why does this feel like I'm not learning a gift... but remembering a curse?"
He sank to the ground, tipping his head back to stare up at the moon. "Of all the ways to get reincarnated," he sighed, "I had to get the weirdest one."
Hidden in the brush nearby, Maria watched him, her eyes wide. He has even more power than she does, she thought, her heart racing. Unsettled by the sheer weight of his aura, she quietly slipped away into the shadows.
Unaware of his audience, Adi pushed himself up and wandered toward the river to wash his face. The cool water did little to clear his heavy thoughts. Suddenly, a rustle broke the silence. A wild, wolf-like beast lunged at him from the treeline. Adi didn't even flinch. He drew his hunting knife, slid smoothly beneath the creature's leaping arc, and drove the blade directly into its stomach.
He left the carcass behind and continued deeper into the woods. "Too quiet around here," he murmured.
The silence didn't last. Up ahead, the heavy sounds of a struggle echoed through the trees. Adi broke through the brush and stopped. A girl was desperately trying to fend off a massive orc.
Wait, is she trying to take that thing on alone? Adi thought.
The girl was panting, her breath ragged and heavy. Why did I follow him? she thought, despair setting in. I'm going to die out here.
Adi didn't hesitate. "Cinder Sovereign." he roared, sprinting toward the beast.
Flames erupted from his palm, solidifying into a blazing, white-hot blade. With one fluid, brutal swing, he brought it down squarely on the orc's head. The massive creature split cleanly in two, collapsing into the dirt.
The girl dropped to her knees. "A... Adi?" she breathed out. Before she could say another word, exhaustion overtook her, and she slumped onto the ground.
Adi caught her before she hit the dirt. Recognizing her face, he blinked in surprise. Maria? What is she doing all the way out here? He carried her back through the jungle to the riverbank. He splashed a little cold water on her face. "Hey. Wake up," he coaxed, but she was completely out cold.
Sighing, Adi draped his jacket over her shivering shoulders and set to work building a campfire.
Hours passed. When Maria finally fluttered her eyes open, the fire was crackling softly. She saw Adi sleeping peacefully on the ground nearby. Watching his chest rise and fall, a soft, grateful smile touched her lips.
When Adi woke up the next morning, panic spiked in his chest—Maria wasn't there. He scrambled up, frantically scanning the treeline.
"Looking for me?"
He spun around to find her struggling on her tiptoes, trying to reach a cluster of fruit hanging from a high branch.
"So there you are," he breathed, letting out a sigh of relief.
She glanced over her shoulder, crossing her arms with feigned annoyance. "Well? Don't just stand there. Help me reach these."
"Alright, alright, I'm on it," Adi chuckled, walking over. With a quick, effortless leap, he plucked the fruit from the branch and dropped lightly back onto the grass.
They sat together on the ground to eat. For a while, it was peaceful. Then, staring out at the water, Adi broke the silence. "Have you ever seen death?"
Maria stopped chewing, glancing at him warily. "No... why would you ask something like that?"
Adi pulled his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them. "Nothing special. Just... wondering what it actually feels like. When you die, what happens next? Do you reincarnate? Or do you just fade away into nothing, like you never existed at all?"
"Adi, why are you talking about these things?" she asked, her voice softening.
He kept staring ahead. "People like to think that if two people love each other and die, they'll reincarnate together. Designed destiny. But it's not true. Usually, when you die, you just die. There are no second chances."
Maria shifted closer, trying to read his expression. "Why are you being so serious all of a sudden?"
"Because death isn't just an end," Adi whispered. "Sometimes, it's a forced restart."
Maria gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "What happened to you, Adi?"
The emotional wall he had built finally cracked. Tears welled in his eyes, spilling over before he could stop them. "In my past life... I wanted to die," his voice cracked, the heavy weight of his past finally breaking free. "But the worst part wasn't the dying itself. It was realizing that when you're treated like trash, no one cares when you're gone. They just sweep you away and say, 'Well, at least the freeloader is finally dead.'"
Maria's heart ached. She reached out, wrapping her arms around him in a tight, grounding embrace. "You're not trash," she whispered fiercely. "And you're not alone anymore."
Adi closed his eyes, leaning into her warmth. For the first time since he had awakened in this strange world, he felt a genuine flicker of peace.
Then, the temperature plummeted.
The crackling campfire didn't just burn out—it was instantly swallowed by an unnatural, suffocating darkness. The gentle rushing of the river and the vibrant sounds of the jungle went dead silent.
Maria shivered, her breath misting in the suddenly freezing air. She pulled back, looking around wildly. "Adi...? What's happening?"
But Adi couldn't answer. He was completely paralyzed.
The shadow stretching on the ground behind Maria wasn't her own. It was shifting, rising from the grass like thick, black smoke, slowly forming the silhouette of a towering figure with piercing, crimson eyes.
A voice, distorted and dripping with ancient malice, bypassed his ears and echoed directly inside his mind.
"Did you really think," the voice whispered, the sound vibrating against his skull, "that a simple reincarnation would let you escape me?"
Adi's blood ran cold. The jagged memory of the bone throne and the ash-filled sky flashed through his mind again—but this time, the memory was crystal clear.
He wasn't looking at the throne.
He was the one who had been sitting on it.