Fantasy World

First I smelled the scent of grass, wood, and dry leaves. The air was the best I had ever breathed, pure and fresh, untainted by the hands of man.

Next, I heard the sound of birds chirping, insects buzzing, and leaves fluttering. Then I opened my eyes and was momentarily blinded by the rays of sunlight peaking through the leaves and boughs of the tall trees.

Confusion was an understatement for what I felt, I slowly sat up, feeling very light-headed.

I blinked a few times then regained clarity of mind and observed things more thoroughly, noticing that I was naked and most definitely in a different body. I looked at my hands, legs, and everything else with shock.

I had never been this pale to the point as if the sun had never shone on my skin, and the shape of my hands and legs were different especially my little brother down there. My body was also smaller than it was supposed to be and looked way healthier and fit, belonging at most to a 16 or 17-year-old, rather than a young adult. I also felt long hair chaotically dance on my back and shoulders as my head moved, looking at it, it was black and straight, long enough as if it had never been cut from birth, messily scattered from my head to the ground.

'Is this a dream?' I wondered.

Suddenly I felt ticklish on my leg, looking down, I was frozen in horror. A giant brown spider was crawling up my thigh, I screamed and kicked while standing up. The spider was thrown by the force of my kick, I began running.

I had not even taken two steps before I tripped on something and fell, most of my body became covered in dirt, and pain made me realize I was not dreaming.

Ignoring the pain, I slowly stood and looked to see what I had tripped on to realize with shock it was my own hair. My hair was at least 2 meters long!

By this point, I began panicking.

I was in the middle of an unknown forest, naked, in a different body.

'What is the last thing I remember?! Is this a ROB situation? Is some omnipotent god playing tricks? Or Isekai?!'

Trying hard to remember my latest memory was met with success. I froze... my face going blank.

"I am dead...? Then this is... Heaven?" My voice was different, smooth as if never used before, and deep, foreign to my ears. I cringed hearing it.

'I am sure there are no spiders in heaven, and I see no angels or anything otherworldy... I am sure there is no pain in heaven or any utopia for that matter... This can only be... Another world. Transmigration!'

Reaching my conclusions, I was speechless, this was not what I expected to happen after death. Reading about it, watching anime and series with a plot that had similar elements, and even fantasizing about it in my head was one thing, but it actually happening. I was completely blown away.

"This changes everything. My understanding of the universe and everything is officially out of the window." I muttered, cringing a little less after hearing my new voice for the second time.

Suddenly I frowned, 'Why am I naked like this? This body is unusual... the way my voice sounds to the skin to the hair... something is fishy. What sort of circumstances lead to a death like this for me to take over? Maybe I was born this way, an elf?'

I quickly checked my ears, they were not pointy. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

A loud daunting roar broke me out of my thoughts, I looked up and my eyes widened.

A huge creature with wings passed by a few dozen feet above me, its shadow covering the sun for a few seconds as harsh winds blew my long hair, it flew away and I couldn't see it anymore due to the trees.

I gulped, "A Dragon?! I am in a fantasy world... This is bad."

I quickly understood I was going to die again real soon if I just stood and did nothing. I was not looking forward to dying again.

Ignoring the cold I felt over my body and the uncomfortable feeling of dirt and dry leaves plus walking barefoot, I collected my hair and made it loop around my arm a few times so I would not trip again, and closed my eyes, listening for the sound of water.

Thankfully I had good senses, a little better than in my previous life, and heard the sound of moving water. I began walking, looking carefully before taking steps. The last I needed was for a snake to bite me, or some other insect.

A while later, I found myself in front of a river that became a waterfall further away. I approached it and looked at my reflection in the water.

Blue eyes stared back at me on a young handsome face, coupled with the long black hair and perfect healthy skin without blemish, I looked good. I was satisfied and turned away to look at the section where the river became a waterfall and approached it.

Looking down, I saw a 100-foot drop to reach the bottom...

'It's impossible to follow in this direction to find any civilization, I have to follow in that direction.' I decided, 'But before that...'

I quickly washed the dirt away since it was uncomfortable, just as I felt better and wanted to begin walking, a loud roar caught my attention.

Two huge forms entangled in the air and fighting were approaching fast, one was the dragon from before, and the other was some giant eagle the size of a house.

Cursing, I began to run in the opposite direction, but I was not fast enough... They passed me by from above but before I could celebrate, something hit me.

It felt as if a hyperfast train had collided with me, I briefly looked and saw it was the tail of the dragon that had collided with me, it blew me away as it broke a few dozen bones at least.

I flew for a few seconds and realized with horror that I was falling from the waterfall, I hit tree branches and broke a few more bones, and landed on the ground with crushed organs, and limbs.

I was dying... again.

And it made sense... realistically it was impossible for me to survive from the beginning, how could anyone survive with such circumstances?

Life is cruel, and death is everywhere. Especially in a fantasy world.

I died but this time something strange happened. A lot of information suddenly flooded my mind, I understood what was going on instantly. The knowledge seamlessly fused with me, as if I was remembering something I had always known.

[Unique skill "Existence" Activated.]

There were strange things in my very soul and I could feel them, they were called skills. One of them had activated on its own as its conditions were met, it was Existence.

I would continue to exist, if my body was destroyed, as a spiritual lifeform, if my spirit was destroyed, it would reform after a few years depending on the damage. I will exist, death is a mere change. My mind, my memory, and my consciousness was Eternal. No one could take or manipulate my memory or mind.

I could interact with the world in a limited way as a spiritual being, and in the worst-case scenario which was my spirit getting absolutely annihilated, It would take a few centuries to reform. My physical body would not reform if it was destroyed, and in that case, I was stuck to exist as a spirit, I had to possess someone to remove the limits. Doing that was a battle of will and imagination over the body.

'So I have some some of pseudo immortality?' I thought as I found myself floating above my unrecognizable body, feeling light as a feather and extremely at ease and calm. The body was bloody and barely recognizable, a gory sight. I tried to touch it but my hand just went through, I floated away in thought.

Checking myself, my spiritual body looked just like the physical one I had just inhabited.

'If I did not have this skill, I would have died... This world is extremely dangerous... What about the other skill?' I wondered and the information came.

'Power Manipulation?!!'