AN: Here is the first chapter of the side project of your lazy author. Enjoy... maybe...

******************************

It moved with a jerk. The being was weaking up from its long period of unconsciousness, its eyes opening for the first time to the world around it, a dark world, whose source of light was just a faint red glow coming from behind it. It slowly raised its head, looking around with curiosity and incomprehension.

-Mmmh?? Where am I?

The being slowly moved its naked body, going from a fetal position to an upright one. It observed its body, no, His body, judging from the jewels between his legs. A humanoid body, around 170 cm tall, with lean, defined muscles. A youthfull, slightly handsome face, with slightly pointed ears, an emerald green left eye and a deep blue right eye. His straight hairs reached to the middle of his back, and were of a deep black color.

The young man observed himself, moved his body around, then focused on his surroundings. Then he noticed the odd place he was in. Dark, apparently an abandonned place. The air was stale and had a strong musty smell, coupled with traces of chemicals. He looked under him and saw that he had been in some kind of ovale, transparent container on a small table.

The lighting came from a crystal in the back of the room. Most important was the presence of faintly glowing carvings on the transparent recipient, the table and running toward the crystal in series of complexe writings and paterns.

- What am I doing here...!! Are those... magical runes? I can even feel something from them, and from the crystal too... Is this magic? Ridiculous...

''How do I know what those are? Why does it feel ridiculous to me? It's as if it's not supposed to exist...''

-Wait, I can't remember anything?? I'm feeling something that sound wrong yet I don't remember a single thing from my past... No, I even have the feeling I shouldn't be here... I shouldn't be anywhere...

After pondering about those questions for a bit, the young man decided to leave it for another time and inspected the room he was in more carefully. He got down to the stone ground with a small jump.

''... Light... I feel so light and swift! My movement was really, smooth!''

He moved his limbs around, slowly at first, then faster and faster. His fastest moves sharply cut the stale air of the dark room.

''My body is... Great!! I feel really strong.''

Looking at the place where he woke up, the glass container made him think of a basket for newborns. Newborn. That word struck the young man like thunder, the complex system of runes coming from the crystal and converging toward the container in which he was...

-An incubator... I was born there, through artificial means... I was created, probably an experiment, a forgotten one since the place look abandonned.

Looking around in the dimly lit room, eh could see old shelves full of differents tools and vials. Above the container on the ceiling was a strange appartus that pointed toward the container, with runes on it as well.

-Then, doesn't that means I was born again?

''Wait! Why did I say 'again'?''

-Could it be that, I already died once? That would explain why I felt I shouldn't be anywhere. I had already died, and probably accepted it.

''But the place I lived before must have been quite different since the runes and magic sounds unreal to me...''

-Whatever, it doesn't really matter. I'm alive, and it doesn't look like that magical device will sustain me anymore. I need to find something usefull and get out of this place, no point staying here.

The young man had a look at the differents tools and bottles presents in the room, but couldn't find any real use for them since he didn't really know what they were and what was their uses. The few he could somewhat identify didn't strike him as usefull. More like they would be usless for him.

He thought that in the near future if he find people that need things like this he might not mind coming back here to take them and sell it. Only if they are valuable.

He left the room through the only door it had, at the total opposite of where the red magic crystal was. He found himself in a small, dark corridor made of stone, like the rest of the building it seemed. The faint glow of the crystal couldn't illuminate the corridor. Despite the darkness, he could see the 3 doors at the end, one one each side and the last one in front of him.

''It looks like this body of mine is quite performant. Magic sense, impressive physical ability, and I can see in the darkness.''

-The air is still so stale, strong stone floor, walls, ceiling, and the place is kind of opressive... I must be underground...

''Weird, I can somehow tell the quality of the material... What a sensitive body I have''

He went first to the door on the left and opened it. Inside, it looked like a really small study room, full of old books and scrolls on the shelves and a small table with a chair. The young man had a look at the books and scrolls, but he couldn't read the language.

''Differents places, differents languages... It will be troublesome to deal with the inhabitants...''

He left the study and went to the other room. This one looked like a small storage room, with several chests and containers, and what looked like a wardrobe. Going through it, he found a lot of interesting things.

Money, coins made of gold and silver. 37 gold coins and 62 silver coins. They were in a small bag the size of his hand, made of a strange organique material imbued in magic. This small bag could contain more than it seemed. The young man was really pleased with that. There were also several ores and metals, and some wepons with their sheaths, 2 swords, 3 daggers, a spear and 3 staves. For all of them he could feel magic engravings in.

-Bladed weapons? It feels outdated. Another difference between the place I once lived and this one.

''Outdated... Now that I think about it, even the tools, the vials, the book and the scrolls... It all feels outdated... Whatever.''

-They seem to be of superior quality, and they are enchanted. It's a good find.

There were many pieces of differents animal parts, leather, furs, claws, fangs, bones, eyes and other organs in transparent bottles full of liquid, probably some kind of conservative. There were also some pieces of fabrics for clothes, and even a few of them and some shoes. Unfortunately, they weren't his size. Finally, there was a backpack, the same kind as the money bag, with abnormal storage space.

-I guess some of these things will do for now.

The young man used one of the daggers to cut 3 shirts and 2 pants down to his size, and put some on and the rest in the backpack. He also put all the weapons in the backpack except for the spear and a dagger he straped to his side with a belt, the money bag he hid under his shirt. He also put as much ores and monsters parts as he could in there. Then he put a cloak with hood on and carried the backpack.

The space inside the backpack must have been the same size as an average adult man in height and width. The total weight was reduced, but it was still heavy. However the young man felt it wouldn't be a problem for him. He couldn't change the size of the shoes so he stayed bare footed. He left the room with the spear in hand and went toward the last door then stopped.

''I should take some of these books and scrolls. I may not be able to read for now, but I will in the future, and the content may prove to be quite usefull or valuable''

He exchanged a few things for a few books and scrolls, then went to the last door and opened it. He found himself in an empty cave, and in front of him, at a place where there seemed to have been stairs, he only found remains and big boulders. The exit was blocked.

-No wonder the place was abandonned...

''Something must big must have happened above ground, since it's been quite some time and nobody tried to clear the path leading here...''

-Now, How do I get out?

******************************