Just seconds ago, I was behind the podium. The glare of camera flashes hit my eyes, and I heard the resonance of my own voice in the congressional hall as I delivered a speech about the "Comprehensive Future Energy Security Plan." A sudden pressure in my chest. A pressure that made the world shrink for me, smaller and smaller, until it was just the size of a dark, airless point. Then, silence.
And now...
Now I was lying on the cold, damp floor of a cave. No, "lying" isn't the right word. It was more like I had been dumped there, like a trash bag tossed into a dark corner. All my bones ached, but it was a strange ache; not like the muscular pain of old age, but as if my skeleton had been redesigned from scratch, and this initial design was full of flaws. My breaths were quick and shallow, and the air entering my lungs smelled of rot and ancient earth.
I tried to open my eyes. It wasn't absolute darkness, but a dim, filtered light came from somewhere far away, casting strange shadows on the cave's uneven walls. I brought my hand up to rub my eyes, but the hand I saw was not my own.
Skin the color of damp ash, skinny and veiny. Dark, thick nails, more like claws. Arms shorter and more slender than I remembered. A wave of nausea swept over me, but I had nothing to vomit. Just a terrible dryness in my throat.
"Where... is this?" The voice that came out of my throat wasn't mine. It was a kind of high-pitched, frightened rasp, like torn cloth. "The last speech... stroke... Did I...?"
The word "death" didn't dare take shape in my mind. But this body, this place... these bore no resemblance to any purgatory, heaven, or hell I'd ever heard described. It felt more like a crude, disorienting prison.
With great effort, I got myself onto my feet. My balance was off. My height had become much shorter, perhaps just over a meter. With shaky steps, I moved towards the source of the light. The cave floor was wet and slippery, and I nearly fell several times. The light came from a narrow fissure at the far end of the cave. I pulled myself against the wall and peered out.
The view I saw destroyed any lingering delusion that I was in a coma or undergoing some strange procedure.
Two burning orbs shone in a purple-grey sky. Two suns. One larger and orange, the other smaller and white-blue. They cast a cold, eerie light on the ground below. An endless plain of brown-grey rock and sandy hills stretched out. I saw no green plants. Only occasional clumps of sickly, purple fungus. And in the distance, atop a high cliff, stood a crude, primitive structure resembling a stone fort, with tattered flags waving.
"Another world." This time I spoke the words aloud. My harsh, unfamiliar voice echoed in the small cave space. "Reincarnation? Transference?" My mind, trained for years to analyze complex scenarios, kicked into gear swiftly, though filled with dread. This was a new situation. An unknown variable. And I was in the worst possible position: no information, no allies, in a weak and unfamiliar body.
Suddenly, a sound echoed in my head. Not a sound, more like a pure mental vibration that translated into words.
[ Host identification... Complete match. Activating... ]
Before my eyes, without warning, a transparent blue screen appeared. It looked like an advanced user interface, but with script in an unknown language that I intuitively understood in that very moment:
---
Name: Undefined
Race:White Goblin (Krall)
Level:1
Class:—
Skills:—
Traits:Basic Agility, Poor Night Vision, Moderate Resistance to Common Toxins
Status:Hungry, Dehydrated, Disoriented
No objective found.System on standby.
---
White Goblin.
The word stabbed into my brain like a dagger. In the fantasy lore I'd occasionally read in my spare time, goblins were small, green, evil, and stupid creatures. But white? And here... this frail, despised body... I was now one of the most despised creatures in this world.
A bitter laugh escaped my throat, a harsh and ugly sound. "Former President... now a level one White Goblin." The black humor of fate was truly boundless.
But this system... this was an advantage. A window into the rules of this world. A tool. My analytical mind immediately started working. This system could provide vital information, track progress, perhaps even upgrade the capabilities of this weak body. It was the only point of hope in this complete chaos.
A sudden scuffling sound from behind snapped me out of my thoughts. I spun around, my body instinctively hunching into a semi-crouch, as if ready to attack or flee. From the darkness deep in the cave, two pairs of dull yellow glowing eyes stared at me. Eyes full of hunger and hostility.
Two creatures similar to me, but with clear differences. Greenish-earth colored skin, slightly stronger builds, and sharp teeth visible past their thin lips. Green Goblins.
One of them held a bone club, and the other made a threatening gesture with its claws. A guttural, contempt-filled sound came from the throat of the larger green goblin: "Weak white one... this is our territory. We will eat your flesh."
I didn't understand their language, but the meaning of the words was directly imprinted in my mind, as if the system was translating. Fear washed over me again, but this time it was a cold, focused fear. Not the fear of a president; the fear of a creature fighting for survival.
My body trembled, but my mind worked faster than ever. Two against one. They had primitive weapons. I was alone and had little control over this body. Direct confrontation = certain defeat.
The green goblin with the club took a step forward and swung the club roughly towards my head.
Instinct screamed: Run. But logic and years of experience in political battles said something else: If you turn your back, it's over. You must control the first encounter.
The club came down. Instead of pulling back, I threw myself forward with all the meager strength of this new body, ducking inside the arc of the swing. The club whistled past my shoulder and hit the ground with a dry crack. My sudden closeness surprised the attacker. For a moment, its yellow eyes widened in shock.
That moment was all I needed. My own claws – which I now viewed as tools – I slashed with all my might towards its eyes. The aim wasn't precise, but one claw struck its neck, leaving a deep gash. The green creature shrieked and recoiled.
The second one screeched in rage and lunged at me. No time to think. I reached down to the ground and grabbed the first thing I touched: a sharp, fairly large rock. I picked it up and, without any skill, hurled it directly at the second attacker's face. The rock hit its forehead, staggering it momentarily.
I had a chance to flee. Towards the light, towards the fissure. But what awaited me out there? That fort? The endless desert? Other predators?
[ Warning: Bodily condition deteriorating rapidly. Hunger and dehydration affecting motor capabilities. ]
The system neutrally informed me. It was right. My heart was pounding erratically, and my vision was starting to blur.
The wounded first goblin was getting up again, fury and pain blazing in its eyes. I decided. Fighting was futile. I had to survive to gather information. To understand this system. To figure out why I was here and how to climb out of this wretched situation.
With my last bit of strength, I threw myself towards the cave fissure. My thin body slipped through easily and tumbled out. A short fall onto a pile of soft sand. The light of the two suns hit my eyes directly, dizzying me. Behind me, I could hear the angry shrieks of the two green goblins who didn't follow through the fissure, perhaps out of fear of what lay in the desert.
I crawled away on my belly, taking shelter behind a large rock. I was panting. Every part of my body ached. Hunger and thirst screamed inside me like two monsters.
But amidst all this pain and desperation, one thing was clear in my mind: This wasn't the end. It was the beginning. The start of a new struggle. I had died once and been reborn – if you could call this life. Now I was in a merciless world, in the body of a despised creature. But I had two advantages: the mind of an experienced strategist, and a mysterious system that showed me the rules of this world.
Quietly, I stared at the blue screen still floating in the corner of my vision.
"System," I whispered with a voice that barely escaped my parched throat. "First objective: survival. Then... we'll see."
The blue screen flickered for a moment, as if responding. Then, beneath the line "No objective found," new words appeared:
[ Suggested short-term objective: Locate water and food sources. Probability of resources within 500 meters east: 47%. Warning: Probability of hostile entities along the path: 68%. ]
My thin, cracked lips stretched into something meant to be a smile. This was the start of a collaboration. My old world was finished. The new world, with all its savagery, had begun.