The gun was a lot heavier than it should've been.
Or maybe that was just because handling a gun was harder with one arm
Smoke hugged the ruins like a second sky, making the moon a pale dim smear of light. A broken bulb dimly litting the mud soaked battlefield. Somwhere beyond the shattered concrete, artillery thundered in dull distant booms that felt less like a sound but more like a memory.
This war will still happen even when he stops
This war will even outlive him
He pressed his back against a hill letting gravity slide him down with his boots scraping weakly against the rubble. His gloves came away slick when he pressed it to his size
Blood
Way too much Blood
"Shit..." His voice a silent echo, swallowed away by the distant gunfire ahead.
He pressed onto his radio
Silence and static
His entire squad gone - maybe dead or scattered or deserted, he didn't know and will never know
Every breath now took effort as his vision slowly wavered, black creeping in like oil in water. He checked into his magazine out of habit more than hope.
Just 2 rounds left
He rested his rifle on his lap and pulled out a handgun from his side
He knew what he had to do but didn't know if he truly had the strength to do it
It was either he rots away on his dirty field or allow some lucky enemy solider take him and do god knows what.
His fingers turned cold. HIs chest felt heavy. Every heartbeat feeling weaker than the last and ticking away his final moments
He used the meagre ounce of strength he had summoned to face the pistol towards his temple.
There was no more fear but just a task he was set out to do and complete
Nothing more, nothing less. Failure is never an option
He finally pressed on the trigger and suddenly the world lay still.
The explosions grew more distant and eventually faded away and the smoke thinned.
Even the darkness disappeared
There was no light or warmth on the other side.
Just a great big pile of nothing, existing without a body or breath or pain. Just existance with only his thoughts as company
This is it, he thoughts, well this is boring
Something then feels him
It wasn't a physical feeling, he of course had no body, but yet he felt hands grabbing him moving around him.
As if measuring.
Then-
[Error]
Words had flickered into existance
[NO MANA ATTRIBUTE]
A long pause
[Compatability check...]
[...Passed]
He tried to rack his brain in the situation but before coming to any sort of conc-
[Subject will be transported into a different world to take on dark malevolent forces]
[Does subject accept?]
What appeared before him was a YES and a NO.
Information pressed into him all at once.
A world governed by mana.
A system built to manage and control it.
[Survival probability is LOW]
The presence lingered behind the words. whatever set him this message didn't feel kind nor cruel. but just observant
It waited. No promises. Just a simple choice.
He suddenly remembered the battlefield. The blood and piles of bodys and blood and noise and blood.
"If there is truly another life..." the thought formed clearly. "I will live by my own rules and die a normal death"
This acceptance is not at all heroic or even thought through carefully.
It was just straight instinct. The instinct of every living thing to continue living.
[CONFIRMATION RECIEVED]
Sensation returned violently.
Cold air slammed into his lungs and filled them. Dirt filled into his mouth as he coughed, his body curled in on itself.
Muscles screamed in protest- too small and light and unfamiliar.
He rolled onto his side,gasping, fingers clawing at grass
The night sky above him was just wrong. Too many stars. No smoke or fire.
One final line burned into his mind.
[WELCOME, ANOMALY]
The presence vanished
Now he was alone in a world where he shouldn't exist