I used to think the worst thing in life was being ordinary.Turns out, being dead is much worse.
The rain was cold that night, the kind of cold that soaks through your bones and makes you question every choice that got you here. I was walking home from work, my earbuds playing some ambient lo-fi nonsense to drown out the fact that I had nothing better to do.
Same pattern. Same streets. Same thoughts.I wasn't living — I was looping.
I'd always imagined something would break the pattern someday. A miracle. A catastrophe. A sign that my existence wasn't just another faceless entry in the cosmic attendance sheet.
Some nights I would get wasted or get high on weed and pray or cry for the zombie apocalypse, WWIII, or hope some goddess would sent me to another world to kill a demon king.
What I didn't expect was for that wish to be granted so… literally.
The headlights came first.Too close. Too fast.Then the sound — metal screaming, glass shattering, a sick crunch that I didn't have time to process.
And then, silence.Except it wasn't really silent. It was soft, like the world was wrapped in a blanket and someone had turned the volume down. I didn't even feel pain.
I remember thinking, So this is it?After all the stories I'd read — heroes reincarnating, systems awakening, second chances — I half expected a goddess with a clipboard to pop up and say, "Congrats, you're the chosen one!"
Instead, I got darkness.Thick, cold, and endless.
I guess there really wasn't a point to 'Life' after all...
As my thoughts drifted through the empty space I found myself at peace.
Then came the voice.
[System Initialization… Error.][Rebooting Host Soul… Success.][Welcome, Resonant Soul. Your link with the Origin has been restored.]
I wanted to laugh.A system? Really? This had to be a dream.
But dreams don't feel like drowning in liquid fire.
My lungs burned. My body twisted and shattered. It wasn't pain — it was unmaking. Like my existence was being rewritten one atom at a time.
[Calibrating emotional frequency…][Warning: Emotional state — Empty.][Injecting baseline resonance: Regret, Loneliness, Desire.]
The emotions hit like waves. Memories flooded back — faces, laughter, the weight of isolation that came from pretending to be fine for too long.And under it all, a whisper:
"You always wanted to feel alive again… didn't you?"
When I woke, it was to sunlight.Warm. Real. Almost too real.
I was lying in a field of silvergrass under a lavender sky, the air humming with energy that tasted like lightning and honey. Floating runes shimmered above me, shifting in rhythm with my heartbeat.
"...Did I actually reincarnate?"
My voice sounded younger. Clearer.My hands — smaller, smoother.I caught my reflection in a puddle nearby and froze.
Different face.Same eyes.
A faint blue mark pulsed on my chest — a sigil that looked like two intertwined circles.
[Soul Resonance System: Active.][Objective: Strengthen the Host through Emotional Resonance.][Note: Connection is power. Isolation is death.]
"Connection, huh?" I muttered. "Figures."
I stood up. My legs trembled. The field stretched toward a distant cluster of marble spires and floating towers — a city suspended between clouds.
And beyond that… music.Laughter. Magic.
A school bell echoed across the sky.
Somewhere deep in my soul, the system pulsed — a quiet heartbeat in sync with mine.
[Destination Set: Arcanum Academy.][Tutorial Quest: Begin your new life.]
I looked toward that city of wonder and chaos and took a shaky breath.
"Alright," I said to no one. "Round two, then."
And as I walked toward the horizon, a faint smile tugged at my lips.This time, I wasn't going to let life happen to me.This time, I'd make it resonate.