Fear keeps most people alive.
But when I woke up in a deafening silence, I felt nothing.
No panic.
No instinct to run.
Just an empty space inside my chest where survival was supposed to be.
I pushed myself up, the ground cold and unfamiliar beneath my palms. I didn't know where I was. I didn't even know what I was standing on. Still, my body moved on its own—slow, careless steps with no direction. Not bravery. Just numbness.
A harsh white glare suddenly swallowed my vision. Instead of shielding my eyes, I walked toward it. No hesitation. No fear. Only when the light finally broke did reality slam into me.
My breath froze.
Humans—actual humans—were flying through the sky.
Not with wings. Not with machines. Their bodies glowed faintly as they drifted between clouds like it was the most natural thing in the world.
And on the ground, creatures no biology class could explain wandered about lazily.
Where… am I?
One thing became painfully clear:
I wasn't home.
This wasn't Earth.
And whatever this world was, it felt too large, too strange, too wrong to exist.
I tried to remember what happened before I woke up here.
One moment I was at home.
And the next…
Nothing.
My life was intact in my memory. Every detail was clear. But the end—my death—was missing. It was like someone ripped out the last page of a book and left me with a story that didn't make sense.
Wasn't dying a requirement for being sent to another world? That's how it worked in novels. But reality clearly didn't care about tropes. No majestic gods. No bargains. No explanations.
Just me… and this impossible sky.
My spiraling thoughts broke when I heard footsteps behind me.
A man and a woman approached.
The man looked like he belonged on a magazine cover—tall, early thirties, dark hair, sharp jawline. The woman beside him was even more striking: long, dark hair flowing to her waist, eyes warm with a glow that didn't feel entirely human.
"Where are your parents?" she asked gently.
Parents?
I don't even know where I am.
"I… don't know," I answered.
Their expressions shifted instantly—sympathy mixed with worry.
"Come with us," the man said, offering a hand.
Any normal person would hesitate. They could be kidnappers, traffickers—anything. But honestly? At this point, even being dragged into a mad scientist's lab felt like it would give me more answers than standing here clueless.
So I took their hands.
A sleek, matte-black car waited nearby. Its door opened with a soft hiss, revealing a luxurious interior that looked more advanced than anything I'd seen on Earth. The car hummed quietly, the sound more like a heartbeat than an engine.
Magic in the sky, technology on the road.
This world felt like a fever dream.
"Are you hungry?" the woman asked as I sat in the back seat.
I was starving, but confusion drowned the hunger.
Outside the window, the city unfolded—a fusion of steel and sorcery. Towering skyscrapers of glass pierced the clouds, their foundations etched with glowing blue runes pulsing like veins.
Above them, dozens of people floated through the air, weaving effortlessly between the buildings.
So the powerful take the skies…
And everyone else takes the roads.
The man glanced at me through the rearview mirror. "Don't worry," he said softly. "You're safe now."
Safe.
I couldn't even remember how I arrived in this world. Nothing about this felt safe.
"Honey, he isn't answering," the woman whispered.
"Maybe he's cautious," the man replied.
The woman turned toward me fully. "My name is Lara Dominic. And this is my husband, Pete Dominic."
Dominic.
The name echoed in my mind like a sudden spark.
Dominic… Dominic…
Why did it sound familiar?
The skyscrapers… the runes… the flying elites…
This world felt like something I knew—not from life, but from fiction.
Then the memory slammed into me.
I hadn't seen this place in real life.
I'd seen it in a novel.
A novel from my past life.
The Dominic family—one of the strongest magic bloodlines. Revered. Fears. Influential. Their name alone bent political structures in the story.
And the story…
My stomach dropped.
This world didn't end well.
In the novel, humanity was annihilated.
The Demon King rose, slaughtered the strongest families, and drowned the world in fire.
It was the story infamous for having a "bad ending." One where every character the readers loved died horribly.
So let me get this straight…
I died once…
Just to reincarnate into a world that's doomed to die again?
My eyes twitched.
I stared at the ceiling of the moving car, mentally screaming into whatever void or deity decided my fate.
WHOEVER REINCARNATED ME—
OF ALL THE WORLDS OUT THERE—
YOU PICKED THE ONE WHERE EVERYONE GETS WIPED OUT?!
I clenched my fists.