Let me tell you a story, one full of wonders and shitty moments.

My story.

It all happened on that fateful day, when everyone on Earth disappeared - me included - to another world full of magic, beasts, and wonderful races.

But nothing is perfect, is it?

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Beneath the crimson sky, the once-prospering city was now bathed in flames.

Behind a small, collapsed house, a young man laid down with his back against the ruined wall. His left arm missing from the shoulder down, his face all mangled, his body full of blood.

That was me, of course. Not my best time, to be honest.

“Finally. After all this bullshit, I can finally die.” I sighed, looking towards the sky. My once handsome face turned into nothing but scraps, along with my once gorgeous hair. Fully intending to take those beautiful words as my last ones, I closed my eyes and waited for the sweet release of death.

But the world said no, as an annoying message appeared.

[Conditions cleared. Timeline crossing establishing]

[Returning to the past. Please be ready to start over]

I took a while to process what it said.

And I was furious. After all the shit I went through, I was also denied my long-awaited peace.

So I started cursing. The world itself, the gods, the government, humanity itself, anything I could think of. And it went on for a while. Too bad nobody was there anymore to hear me using the most beautiful and sophisticated words I could think of.

Thus using all my remaining energy, the last spark of life slipped out. With the determination to punch whoever made this sick joke, I died. At long last.

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Did you know that when you die, the last sense to go is hearing? So you can hear everyone shouting, screaming as they are slaughtered everywhere around you, only to be unable to see it, nor even do anything about it. Since it’s the only thing you can do, you get fixated on it.

Then came the actual death.

It was a weird experience, to be honest. Normally, dying would be something bad, but it was strangely peaceful. Serene, even. Feeling like I was yanked by an invisible hand and thrown into nothing, all I could think of was waiting for the moment when I woke up. I intended to instantly kill myself and be done with it.

Suddenly, my senses returned to me. And they did pretty hard, because I smacked my head on the floor. Apparently, I rolled off the bed. I probably took over the ‘me’ from the past while ‘I’ was turning around and couldn’t stop myself.

Massaging my forehead, I started looking around. The place looked strangely familiar. Then I remembered.

“Ah, it’s my old room. Damn,” I said.

Indeed, it was my old room from Earth, the one I’d lived in until I was 19, when I was thrown into a strange new world.

For a moment, I thought it was an illusion or a hallucination. Maybe even a vision from after death. But I quickly dismissed the thought. I could clearly feel and think normally.

Determining the situation, I decided to go on with the plan. Since I didn’t have anything sharp on hand and jumping from the second storey wouldn’t even be close to death, I went to the ground floor to check what was available for my suicidal thoughts.

But, going down the stairs, I saw something I’d completely forgotten about. Three people sat in the living room, a burly middle aged man, a young lady and a middle aged woman. My family, a sister and two parents. A weird concept that had already disappeared from my head. I hadn’t seen these people in decades, the thought of them already gone from my mind.

‘Well, this is awkward. How do I proceed?” I thought. Naturally, I could’ve off-ed myself and I wouldn’t have had to care about anything afterwards. But what if I didn’t manage to do it the first time? Then it would’ve been really awkward. So I decided to probe the terrain.

Going to the kitchen, I got a glass and filled it with water. Nothing suspicious. I looked towards the living room to see the man, who I remembered as being my father, watching TV with the older woman, my mother, of course. Meanwhile, the younger lady, who was my bigger sister, was looking at her phone.

Any feelings towards my family had long disappeared. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt compassion. When I did show some, it was only out of amusement, honestly. Years of torture and solitude usually does that to you.

My observation was interrupted by a ‘ding’ coming from behind me. Apparently, the oven was on.

“Lukas, can you take the meat out please?” my mother, Miranda, asked.

Ah, yes, my name was Lukas. Lukas Clayton. I used it so rarely that I nearly forgot. Names have power, and all that. Also, not a lot of conversation when a sword is being pushed into your face.

I naturally did what my mother said and put the meat on the table. She then came and placed the rest of the meal on as well. Afterwards my father and sister also came to the table and started eating. I reeled in the thoughts of continuing my plan and sat down.

Probably out of curiosity, amusement even, I decided to go along with it. To pretend to be normal and see what would happen. I barely remembered anything about these people and I loved learning new things, whether useful or not.

While eating, I joined my family’s conversations, doing my best to seem like their old usual son. Good thing acting was an essential part of surviving, because they didn’t suspect anything. After the meal the first thing I did was check the date and time.

“Twenty-four hours left... Huh. If it’s like I remember then in 24 hours we all disappear. Good stuff,” I smiled. Going through the same thing was boring, but the feeling of knowing everything that was going to happen was thrilling.

In approximately 24 hours all of humanity would be teleported to another world - a world of magic. While my experiences were shitty, I had to say, the world itself was awesome. Incomparable to what I’d seen in books before. I could actually say it was an amalgamation of all the fantasy stories I’d seen and heard of before.

Anyway, I decided to go along with the whole thing and see what happened. With that, I went to sleep. And it was a damn good sleep.

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In the morning I finally got convinced that it wasn’t an illusion or something similar. While I decided that I’d treat it as a real thing, I still had my suspicions. Not now though, not anymore.

The window to my room was frozen like a popsicle. Good thing the room had heating, otherwise I would’ve frozen to death. Last time, just before the mass-transportation or whatever it was called, the temperatures on Earth got extreme to the point of it being ridiculous.

The northern hemisphere’s temperatures dropped overnight and the southern one’s rose all the same.

Anyway, now that I confirmed it I was free to do anything for the remainder of the day. Relaxing was my middle name and laziness was my girlfriend so I wouldn’t miss a whole day of doing nothing. Especially now that I had a nice bed and a warm house. Oh, let’s not forget the food. I went to the fridge and started stuffing myself the moment I thought about it.

Good thing the others weren’t awake yet.

The rest of the day passed pretty quickly. I didn’t bother telling my parents anything, mostly because I didn’t care and also because it would start a conversation that was too annoying for my liking.

And so, at 6:30 in the evening, when the whole family was having their dinner, the house started shaking. And it kept shaking for a good 15 minutes. I heard about deep ravines forming from the earthquake in my past life, but when I looked out the window it seemed I wouldn’t get to see it. Bummer.

Anyway, when it died down the others got out from underneath the table (a really sturdy table, I gotta say) and started assessing the damages. When it was 6:59 I got a really nice idea.

With a smile, I told them.

“Hey, when you get to the other side, if you aren’t in a city, run as fast as you can. Oh, and don’t trust anyone.”

I wanted to see what they would say when we met later on. I wanted them to think about it for the whole time. Just for funsies.

Oh, and I was sure I was going to meet them. I would escape from those bastards and kick their asses later. Meeting my family later would be a bonus.

They probably wanted to respond and probably ask me what I meant but unfortunately… you can’t be faster than the all encompassing light. Literally, a blinding light came from the sky and somehow went through the ceiling, engulfing every being.

“Eh, let’s just get along with it.” I yawned lazily.

When it stopped, humanity was gone with it. Earth’s intelligent race had completely disappeared.

Or so it seemed.

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Have you ever traveled through space and time across the universe? I don’t think you have, so I’ll tell you how it was. Well, it sucked.

The sensation of not being able to breathe but still living anyway, or wanting to vomit but literally being unable to control your body wasn’t really the most beautiful experience.

Either way, when I appeared again my surroundings changed to a cracked, dry earth, along with a rock wall on two sides, going farther than my eyes could see. All in all, it was a narrow canyon.

With a flash, even more people appeared, naturally confused.

“What happened, where are we?"

"Where is this?"

"Waa, mommy!"

"Ohh, it's really cold"

I didn’t blame them; I had the same reaction the first time. Especially the last guy, he was naked. The teleportation didn't discriminate, whether you had no clothes on or you were asleep. Or having an intimate experience.

This time, I was one of the few ones who didn’t say anything and just looked around. The situation didn’t change, not that I expected anything. Rather, I was relieved. It meant that I could use the knowledge from my past life and become a boss. Maybe even get a castle, who knows.

“Good stuff,” I murmured.

Since I already knew everything I decided to lay down and watch everyone else struggle. And I gotta say, it was fun. I mean, the thrill of knowing everything before it happened was amazing.

When the other earthlings were chatting and asking questions, or making teams for the sake of fulfilling their leadership dream, I took my position and thought about what was to come. Laying on my side, with my left hand supporting my head and one of my feet brought closer, I looked just like a model.

It was my favorite position, one showing how much of a shit I gave. It always infuriated everyone. Especially when I was chewing something in the process but that part wasn’t available this time.

I already knew that these ‘teams’ they formed would be disbanded in a few hours. If they thought this was some kind of hidden camera ordeal, they were gravely mistaken. Yes, they were being watched without their knowledge but the watchers were cold-blooded killers and one of the best at tricking people. Even if they tried to leave, they would be caught the moment they got out of sight.

Now, why didn’t the bad guys capture us now? I later found out that there was a buffer period when the newcomers wouldn’t take any damage. It was something easily solvable with a trap.

What to do with an invincible guy? Capture him.

I was also approached by a few of these so-called leaders but I of course waved them away. The ones that didn’t take no for an answer got a nice knuckle sandwich (though I have to say, I was a bit rude).

And the hubbub continued all the same for an hour, until the fated message appeared.

[Welcome to the Beast World, newcomers. A new adventure full of wonders awaits you.]

[The [Saving Grace] buff will be active for the next hour. Be safe, and good luck!]

Nice words, if you ask me. No useless information, just straight to the point. I love the System.

Some idiots started yelling, asking for answers and saying crap about not deserving any of this.

‘Calm down buddy, nobody gives a shit about you.’

The message just so happened to arouse their thoughts of adventure since some of the teams decided to head off somewhere, their little brains not even registering the ‘new world’ part. Nor the bus-sized scorpion climbing down the cliff wall.

The person closest to it noticed the stinger closing in too late, unfortunately. Closing his eyes, he waited for the pain. But… it never came. A faint, golden barrier formed above his skin and clothes.

The scorpion’s brain was no bigger than theirs because it slammed its stinger straight on the barrier. Not even making it spark, the beast lurched back, slamming into the wall. It then got up and ran away. At least it was smart enough to understand the situation.

“Damn, so that’s what the Saving Grace thing is.” one of the newcomers said.

“Wow, it looks just like magic.” another pointed out.

I scoffed at their remarks.

‘Of course it’s magic, idiots. I think.’

Nobody knew what the System was or where it came from, it was just there. Scientists and important people had been trying to study it for thousands of years. I always had my suspicions that the ones really high-up already knew but with my puny existence I wouldn't be able to find anything.

Speaking of magic, they also realized two things. One, the air was clear. While this was a fantasy world, it was also extremely advanced, more so than Earth, even. That would also mean pollution would be a big thing, but no. Not even talking about the size of the whole planet, magic, along with a myriad of other technologies made pollution almost nonexistent.

And secondly, they were speaking the same language for some reason, even though they were from different continents and countries. Apparently the System implanted the Beast World’s language in our heads when we got here, and we were speaking it unknowingly. Pretty cool stuff.

It seemed that the not-so-normally-sized scorpion deterred some of the valiant earthlings but some still wanted to leave. I didn’t even bother to warn them, seeing their reaction would be priceless.

As expected, when one of the groups was just about 100 meters away, the ground started shaking and deforming. An earth wall rose up and kept going for a while. When it was about 10 meters high, a sweet, sweet voice was heard

“I‘m sorry darlings, but I can’t let you go,” the voice said, to which I smiled.

‘There she is.’