I felt that I saw a very special dream. It was as long as it was beautiful. There, people paid attention to what I say. There, no one bumped on me even when I sincerely tried to avoid them. There, people respected and looked up to me. Why should I wake up from such a wonderful world and return to the harsh reality where I was just a background character?

I had always known that my place was at the backstage of life and that I was never going to become a protagonist. But it hurt so much to realize that even the role of a side character was too good for someone like me. Instead, I had spent my life as a decoration, unnoticed.

Lisa Brightwood was the complete opposite of me. She had always attracted people's attention wherever she went. People adored her, and everyone wanted to become her friend. Men wanted to steal her heart, and some even worshipped her. Me? I had always just observed. This was who I am - the observer.

But sometimes, your conscience just screams at you to act. To enter the scene. To take the leading role. And listening to this feeling had been my mistake... This was that killed me... Or did it?

With a shock, I realized that any of those thoughts would be impossible if I had really died. A wise man had once said, "I think, therefore I am".

I tried to feel something that could prove my existence. Anything.

Ding!

I heard a strange melodic sound.

System initialization...

Analyzing the body state...

The body's condition isn't suited for the Tutorial...

Initiate the transfer to the Safe Zone...

As the genderless monotonic voice played inside my head, I realized that, for whatever reason, the truck hadn't killed me. It meant that there was still a chance for me to come back to reality. Maybe, just maybe, Lisa didn't forget about my sacrifice. Maybe she had even learned my name.

Did it matter, though? I had saved her not to get attention to myself. I did it because I wanted her to continue to shine and to bring smiles to people.

I mustered all of my willpower to sense my body. And I succeeded. I could sense my fingertips, even if barely. After a while, I started to notice my own breathing. Then, I tried to move my eyelids.

A change in the body's condition detected...

Start the re-evaluation process...

Cancel the current transfer...

I didn't pay attention to the voice, as a bright light blinded me as soon as I opened my eyes. Honestly, it hurt. But the pain proved that I was alive.

ERROR...

Conflicting body evaluation results detected...

A response from the Administrators requested...

At my second attempt, I managed to make my eyes stay open. I could feel some strength in my body, so I moved my head to look around. I found myself in a hospital room, lying in a bed surrounded by machinery.

Various tubes were connected to me, and I could vaguely feel that my lower body was naked under the blanket. When I thought about it, I could remember hearing the voices of strangers and of my family while I had been sleeping.

Had gotten hit by the truck put me into a coma? I wondered how much time had passed since then.

Also, it was strange, but I couldn't see anyone else in the room. Who was the strange voice's owner, then?

Transfer to the Safe Zone... [DENIED]

Transfer to the Tutorial... [DENIED]

Awaiting further instructions...

What the Hell?! I thought. In fact, I wanted to curse out loud, but I totally forgot how to talk.

The voice sounded right inside my head. I would write it off as nothing but a hallucination, if not for the fact that the same words that were said by this invisible being floated right before my sight in the form of a transparent screen.

The transfer process was successfully completed...

All Humans were relocated from Danger Zone Number 333...

The Delta Seals over the Dimensional Cracks removed...

This shit doesn't make any sense... I thought in frustration.

Did I end up getting crazy after sleeping for too long?

I wanted to patiently wait until some of the doctors noticed my awakening — something that could take a long time, considering how often people missed my presence — but things suddenly got even stranger than before. And even more frightening.

The whole room — and probably the whole building if not the whole world — started to shake violently. Thankfully, this didn't last longer than a few seconds.

The life-support system beeped loudly, and then it turned off completely. The same thing happened to the lights that illuminated the room. Suddenly, the window a few meters from me became my only source of light. It was a good thing that it was still bright outside.

By instinct, I turned my gaze towards the window. What I saw there almost made me shit my non-existing pants.

Holy mackerel! I cursed internally.

I wanted to scream so much but just couldn't. It was frustrating, to say the least. Being silent after seeing such an unbelievable sight just felt wrong.

Apparently, my hospital room was on a rather high floor, so other buildings didn't cover my line of sight. High above in the blue sky, a large crack appeared as if space itself got broken by an invisible force. This abnormality seemed to be hundreds of miles in size, but it wasn't the most shocking thing.

What made me doubt the reality of all of this were the dozens of enormous dragons that flew through this dimensional fissure and then rapidly left each in a different direction.

As I recalled the words said by the robotic voice, I felt a sudden surge of frustration mixed with despair. As I remembered one of the messages, the translucent words reappeared before me like some sort of a magic trick.

All Humans were relocated from Danger Zone Number 333...

Did you just say that all humans were relocated? I thought instead of saying, even if I really wanted to shout at this invisible jokester. But what about me? I'm a human too! Right?!

Just like this, I was left out by the System.