1 Ruzen's Transmigration

He transmigrated, instead of going to heaven.

He seldom cursed, but God was playing tricks on him, since his body was the same, but his situation wasn't. It was like he teleported to another world which was ancient earth, natural, pollution free, albeit full of dangers.

He died at 21, young and a sophomore, dreaming of becoming big, studying hard his bachelors in fine arts. The degree required hard work, day and night preparations, but then everything was for nothing, since he ended up accidently triggering his bad luck which he believed did exist, since he got hit on his head by some heavy object he couldn't even see. His death wasn't a car accident, nor was it hit and run, he had just been walking like usual in a narrow alleyway for short cut and bam! He felt a piercing pain and then nothing.

So if God's terms and conditions were well applied, for he didn't smoke, drink nor use abusive language... he should be in heaven right now, eating grapes and floating on clouds. Instead, he was stuck in a place with dry airy winds, sand dunes and a strong sun glaring over a small settlement around the half dried oasis.

Now Ruzen knew he was in a different plane since this couldn't be the heaven everyone imagined, because before opening his eyes he was forced to endure a memory relapse where he viewed a range of fictional stuff that more or less gave him the summary of this world and who he was currently. His identity on this plane was... how to say, rather humble.

He was a foreign spirit who possessed this body of another him on another plane. His original name was Ruzen but the body belonged to the guy named Al'Bae.

It could be said that coincidences were rather heavy on this plane, since he ended up in a body which was like his original and even his voice and skin color were no different.

He was still pale, a bit on the tan side, although that would be resolved if he stayed inside a shaded room for long.

But he was feeling suffocated, even having a second chance at life was not what he wanted. He wanted to die peacefully, or go back to his previous life… he wasn't adventurous enough to stroll around on some dangerous plane, which he knew was more trouble than his original world.

He didn't even have any guidance on why he was here, he just knew he was replacing a native body which looked like his own in his previous life, but then other than that, there was nothing new.

"Mumma, mumma, look, I made sister's ghost mound!" a sharp voice penetrated his mind, as he abruptly halted his footsteps which were getting burned on the hot sand, but thankfully Al'Bae wasn't poor enough to not even afford a slipper. So to some extent, his feet were yet to be blister.

He frowned down at himself, but soon looked on ahead at the child who was not that far, just hidden slightly by a thatch of dry wooden fence surrounding the little mud housing at the back. A young woman stood beside the child not yet facing Ruzen, since she was looking down at some deformed mound supposed to be a 'ghost mound'(?) shaped on the muddy sand bank next to the oasis. The sand was wet so making such shapes wasn't difficult.

Even with such strong sun's glare, the child was still playing around directly under the heat, he was sweating and was tan, but he did not seem to care.

Ruzen was taking everything calmly, for someone transmigrating into such a foreign land, his psychological state was rather strong. However, not even a while has passed when he shuddered with a cold realization.

There were ghosts around the boy, one was an older girl while the other was a young man. Both of the ghosts didn't have any solid form, as they floated in the air, and Ruzen could tell they were weaker ghosts, those who did not have much attack power but were rather helpful when it came to protection of their loved ones.

Now one would think that it was extremely frightful, like Ruzen was thinking, but his memories reminded him that in this world, ghosts were everywhere and there were even rules and regulations regarding ghosts. It was as if these ghosts were just another race who lived among the living.

Ruzen was involved with rather deep philosophical knowledge, yet when he heard the sharp yell of a woman, he snapped out of his daze and saw the mother of the child looking at him in horror. As if he was the ghost and not the other two playing around her son.

"A cursed one!"

He blinked, because he recalled this whole 'cursed one' deal from his new memories.

In this world, the cursed ones were marked with a black tattoo between their eyes, which was diamond shaped and full of rune like lines and symbols. The tattoo was rather small and not fully developed, still the size of a medicinal tablet on Earth, but Ruzen believed that smaller one was better, at least he could hide it under a hood, just… for now he was stuck between turning around and running or maintaining peace and talk some sense to these strangers in middle eastern get up.

He coughed, even as a cursed one, the original body owner did not know why he was hated, so nor did Ruzen know.

He believed he would have to see why there was such a strong reaction on seeing a cursed one, because Al'Bae was a sad introvert and he always lived alone, like a nomad going from one place to another. So with such bare contact with people, it was no wonder he had been oblivious.

Only the hate in everyone's eyes was what Al'Bae saw each day directed towards him. Poor lad. And for why Ruzen took over his body? Even Ruzen had no idea, like the original owner never died, nor did he practice dark arts, so what could be the reason for such exchange? Ruzen was a bit clueless about God's deal.

Anyway, for the sake of maintaining the transmigration decorum, he cleared his throat and very politely asked, "Can I have a drop of water, I won't disturb you all again." He spoke in the foreign tongue that came naturally to him, since Al'Bae was apt with it.

The woman was still horrified, and after seeing him talk she almost jumped. "S-Stay away from my family, Be'hun, make him disappear!"

Ruzen did not know who was Be'hun or if there was only one family living in the small settlement, but soon he noticed one of the ghosts floating towards him, rather fast.

He tried dodging when an attack came in the form of sharp wind force, bringing in sand particles splitting his bare hands and face. But he wasn't fast enough, and the attack hurt a bit.

He concurred it was just to scare him away, not really kill him.

"You won't get anything from us, go away!"

Watching the woman shouting so fiercely, Ruzen wanted to forcefully enter the settlement, but he wasn't yet crazy enough to take that step. "Please, just one drop of water, or else I would curse you all!"

He tried the tactics of scaring them, maybe it would work, even if the approach was a bit pathetic.

He watched amused as the woman and her ghost family stepped back when he threatened, so the goal was achieved.

"W-We will give you water, but don't enter!"

Ruzen was rather surprised that just a small threat made them retreat so readily, and he was even more interested to know just what his curse was… it might come in handy, at least he wasn't as saintly as Al'Bae, who was very meek since birth.

"I won't disturb you, just give me water," he said apologetically, throwing a glance at the young boy who was now watching him alongside the girl ghost, his eyes scared. It made Ruzen guilty but what else could he do in his situation?

The woman noticed his gaze though, and before he could retract them, she hurriedly took away the boy and asked the ghost girl to keep him inside, as if afraid Ruzen would curse her son.

Ruzen frowned, but maintained his peace, because in his heart, even he did not want to act like a bully. Anyway, he waited patiently, he was good at that.