Chapter 1

Prologue

As Casey felt his head hit the floor, he only thought of her. Nevermind the one who had swung the sword.

All of his memories flashed through his mind like in the movies right before the beloved characters death.

The first time she had smiled.

The first time he had heard her laugh.

And then the last.

He had clung to that sound, all the way to the ground.

He was going to curse the one who took that away from him, no matter what it took, even in the afterlife he thought.

The world felt as if it was still going around him as he waited for whatever came after to finally take him.

After all, he had already lived 2 lives.

He waited and waited but it never came and he never went.

Minutes turned to hours.

His head just laid there, unmoving.

What could he do now?

Prologue end.

***

Casey Draton felt that his life was the worst.

He knew that people definitely had it worse

but people also had it better, right?

And he couldn't help but long for better.

He couldn't get the dream of his mom greeting him when he came home out of his head. She'd ask how his day went and he would tell her.

He'd tell her how none of the kids at school would sit with him at lunch. Or how hes trying really hard but he just can't seem to get his math equations right. But she'd forgive him.

"I'm proud of you anyway!"

She'd often tell him. Because she would love him unconditionally.

His father would come home from work and he wouldn't be carrying a new case of beers. He wouldn't have drunk the ones from last week.

Casey would witness his parents kissing accidentally, much like a loving couple. He'd cringe like he'd seen it a million times before and they would laugh together while Casey would secretly wish he had a love like theirs.

He'd get his first girlfriend.

He wouldn't need to endulge in fantasy worlds online to escape. He would enjoy living in the life he had.

And he definitely wouldn't have ended it like he did.

***

"Hey! Wake up kid!"

Casey wondered why an angry old mans voice trying to wake him was apart of nonexistence in the afterlife, until his eyes opened. He wondered who this man was. Was this some sort of celestial premonition? Was this old rough looking man that he'd never seen before apart of some bigger, more complicated existence? It didn't seem so. But what did Casey know about bigger and complicated existences? Before he died, he was stuck in his own small world and he thought the rest of earth was the most complicated existence out there.

"This ain't ya house kid! Get lost!" the man took Caseys wrist, which was smaller than he remembered, and threw him off the bench he had apparently been lying on.

The man then wiped the hand he used to grab Casey off on his apron and stormed off mumbling to himself about dirty kids and how they're ruining buisness.

This was definitely not the afterlife, so where was it? Casey thought to himself while he took in all of his surroundings. The bench he was laying on, and the cobblestone roads. The people leasurely walking and paying him no attention, other than to stare in disgust. And then the shop the old man stormed off into. There were many buildings, the smaller town seemingly surrounded by a forest. They all looked very medieval and especially old and creepy even in the daylight . It was like he was transported back in time.

Now that he thought about it, was he? Was that even possible? Casey knew this couldnt be the afterlife so maybe he just went back in time. But he questioned what for. He had no connection to this time in history.

Casey walked toward the shops and tried to gauge his appearance. He thought that it couldnt be good because he felt dirty and tired. He was taken aback to find a bloody child with shabby ripped clothes in the reflection. He questioned if that was really him. It didnt even look like him. Not even when he was this age or even at all. Casey had a light brown hair and brown eyes and he was relatively ugly. This child, however, had black hair and dead looking green eyes. He even looked to be kind of cute beneath all of the dirt and dried blood.

So who was this child? And why was he covered in this much blood? He tried to feel around for potential wounds but he didnt feel particularly hurt, just exhausted and hungry.

He was interrupted by the same man storming out of the store, shouting at him to screw off and seemed ready to lunge at Casey.

Being a child, Casey had no way to defend himself. So he chose to run in the direction of the densest amount of people, pushing his way through the small crowd. People noticed how dirty he was and in turn they gave him looks of disgust and contempt.

One particular person grabbed his shoulder and while he was telling the small child off, Casey noticed the animal ears atop his head and the slim tail swinging in cat-like annoyance.

This was very unusual. Cat cosplay in the medieval times? The quality was far too advanced and they moved like real-life body parts.

The man finished with his scoldings and while walking away, he wiped his hand off much like the old shop keeper from before. Casey took a good look around at the people in the crowd and he spotted many other people with varying levels of beast-like features among them. From people with lizard heads to people with just reptile looking eyes, or people with wolf heads to people who had just ears and a tail. There were even some that looked about in the middle of the two. Or just some with enlongated ears. And they all looked very real.

Then the thought dawned on him. Casey had definitely seen something like this in the old online world he got lost in. Reincarnation in a foreign world.

Casey was absolutely elated. He had always dreamed to be the overpowered main character with a cute girl to save. He couldn't wait to find out what kind of power he had. Or meet the girl he was destined to be with. Although first he had to clean off the grime covering his body and find out where exactly he was and what awaited him in this vast new world.