As Alexander slowly drifted back into consciousness, he couldn't believe how uncomfortable his bed was. He shifted around in an attempt to run from the uneasiness, but there was something rough brushing against the skin of his forearms and neck. Annoyed, he pushed himself up.

"Mm? What's this…?" he muttered with his eyes still closed. There was a weird texture in his bed. At first, it was soft, but when he applied pressure in order to sit, it hardened. Like little needles trying to puncture his palms. It was gross. Almost like dirt. That's why he groggily brought his right hand close to his face. Exasperatingly enough, the sun refused to allow this to happen by mercilessly burning down on his eyelids. Someone must've opened the curtains. He sighed.

As he waited for his eyes to adjust to the brightness, and as the drowsiness began to fade, questions started to arise. Sun? The sun hadn't melted his room like this ever before… because it couldn't. Even if the curtains were open, there was a huge building that blocked most of the sunlight. Did he fall asleep on the couch? He didn't remember. Confusion crept in his mind. What happened? Where did he fall asleep last night?

Through blurry vision, he could make out the shape of his hand. On his palm, there were patches of some kind of stuff. Gross. It was dirt. How could dirt end up on his bed? Or whoever's bed for that matter. Where was he? He searched through his memories, trying to remember, forcing himself to remember. Where was he?

The realization crashed into him like a truck. He remembered his conversation with the weapon-girl as well as his current absurd position and it left him slightly dazed, however, it was nowhere near as bad as the splitting headache he suffered when that same girl allowed him to remember his whole life in an instant. He unconsciously rubbed his temples just thinking about it. Furthermore, it didn't seem like he woke up in a luxurious mansion.

He allowed his right hand to fall and looked up. There, he noticed a complex and wide array of thin light-blue lines that looked almost like a labyrinth suspended high above him. Yeah, he was in a forest and the trees surrounding him were huge. As he looked around him he noticed another detail: there was no one else around.

He stood up, wearily, and dusted his white pants off. Wait, white pants? He immediately checked his shirt next and it was white as well. Almost simultaneously, he took notice of four major things and of those things, the last one made his blood run cold. First, the clothes he wore were extremely comfortable, softly hugging his skin. Second, his white shirt had a stitched pattern that he tried to identify but stopped once he realized the following. Third, his forearms and hands were pale white and his fingernails were black and pointy. Finally, he realized he was extremely close to the ground.

"Fuck you, did you have to make me shorter!?" he couldn't stop himself from voicing his thoughts. There was no response. He sighed and continued to check his new demonic body. He had no tail or wings, but as he was checking his hair he made contact with something cold and solid. He tried pulling it off, but it didn't budge. It ended in an extremely sharp point that he lightly tapped with his finger. At that point, he figured what it was. Moreover, he had two of them, each on one side of his head. Horns. 'Well that confirms it, my body is no longer human. This is truly, genuinely happening. I'm no longer on Earth,' he thought, clenching his fists. He knew it was real and what a troublesome situation it was. A race of demons in conflict with humans, who knew what kind of humans they were to evolve in a world like this, and he was the heir to the Demon Royalty. He smiled bitterly, 'Like hell I'm going to get involved in that.'

He understood the weapon-girl position and didn't harbor any hatred for her- perhaps a bit of frustration and anger since she was weirdly annoying, but no hate. She was fulfilling her duty to her master and he could respect that. However, she made a mistake. There were plenty of candidates better than him to solve this situation, certainly. Millions. A diplomat perhaps, someone well-versed in foreign affairs. Anyone with experience in warfare and strategies. A sociopathic loner who bore extreme animosity towards the human race or a peace-loving idealistic guy that dreamed to make a change. People desperate enough to find a purpose in the girl's words and believe they were chosen by destiny for the task. And she chose him without questioning him. That means she must've looked through his memories, right? To complete a task as delicate as hers, she must've seen something. Then, she knew he was not going to get involved.

Alexander stretched out and gave his new body a try. Although he had the stature of a kid, annoyingly so, he felt stronger and more agile than before. How much so? He intended to test that out eventually, but right now he had other priorities. He needed to survive, so a shelter, water, and food were essential, and fuck if he knew how to get any of that. He didn't want to leave this apparently safe spot behind and explore the woods, but sooner or later the sun would set and he was going to be left vulnerable to the night. Yeah, that didn't sound pleasant.

While he made his way through the foliage, he took a strand of his own hair into view. It seemed white, for some reason. He was curious as to what color were his horns, but he had no way of finding that out yet.

As he approached what looked like a clearing, his heart began to beat faster. Could it be the edge of the forest? The wind was getting more and more intense as he walked closer, making the branches creak in protest and some leaves to be swept by the strong currents. He didn't know how close he was to any civilization, whether it be human or demon, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to make contact yet as he lacked too much information, but anything that would increase his chance of survival was appreciated. That's why he hurried the pace.

However, what waited for him was something he didn't expect. As his eyes adjusted once more to the light, his breath caught in his throat. 'No way… there's no way…' he thought, a complex mix of emotions going through his mind.

A violent and frigid breeze hit him, which made him raise his arms to protect his face. The forest extended far and wide in every direction, with patches of different shades of green. What looked like a white river slid through, almost hidden completely due to the treetops. A symphony of sounds and noises suddenly invaded his ears, as each on their own was barely audible, but when they fused together their intensity increased. Finally, a group of mountains faded away far beyond the horizon, directly in front of him.

The trees of the forest below looked tiny and he did not believe for one second they were smaller than the ones around him. It was a simple matter of perspective. He stared down from the edge, doing his best to soothe the weird sensation in his stomach, and ignoring the wind whipping his hair around. He was never good judging distances, but he was sure he wouldn't be able to climb down, nor survive the fall.

The view was spectacular, beyond anything that he had ever seen. Yeah, the girl had made a mistake. He would make the most out of the situation. How could he possibly give up the opportunity to explore this beautiful world in order to fight a war that wasn't his? So many treasures of immeasurable value hidden in plain sight and with free time to investigate them all. So many questions had plagued his mind ever since he realized that the world was bigger than he thought, and now it was even bigger. And the answers were waiting for him. Childlike curiosity swelled up inside. Feelings of wonder and awe filled him, followed by a relentless determination that made his pale-violet eyes harden as if they were amethysts. 'Once I satisfy my curiosity I'll find a way back home. There has to be a way to replicate whatever she did. I'll learn the science behind her weird magic. Mmm, I wonder how long does a demon live. Perhaps I'll also find a way to keep this body.'

He shook his head. No time to ponder useless things and no time either to lose himself in the majestic landscape. 'Well, I guess I can come back here later,' he thought and smiled, 'At least I can die with a beautiful scenery.'

He returned to the same place where he woke up, intent on walking around in circles and listening closely to nature. Maybe he could find a river that way. A couple of seconds later, a stench foul enough to make his eyes water stormed his sense of smell. Even his nostrils burned slightly. It was intense. He collapsed to his knees and puked, but nothing came out. He spat on the ground completely disgusted and stood up, covering his nose with one hand and breathing through his mouth.

He surveyed his surroundings, trying to pinpoint where the smell was coming from, and the only thing that caught his attention was a tree smaller than the rest. He stared at it for a few seconds before moving on. However, just as his eyes focused on something else, he detected movement from the corner of his eyes. That tree was no longer there. His eyes widened and he looked behind him out of instinct. Standing on its hind legs was a huge creature. Its head was almost too high for him to make out any details. Its fur was brown, growing darker as it approached its extremities. Its arms were unnaturally long, but they never thinned out, and they ended in large claws. He gulped. Those looked way too sharp, even reflecting some of the light that touched them. It looked like a bear, the biggest bear he had ever seen. Then, the bear-looking creature seemed to slouch and he backed away in response. It lowered its head and as soon as they made eye-contact, Alexander knew he was a hundred percent fucked. Its vacant, black eyes were straight out of a nightmare. It stared at him impassively for what felt like an eternity. Then, it roared.