Pushed back by the impact I barely have the chance to squeeze my trigger in a futile attempt at retaliation before slamming onto the floor. My grip on consciousness pulled out along with the bullet drilling through my head.

 

Panicking, my mind a fog of awakeness and death. But I am alive, oxygen forces its way through my nostrils, burning my empty lungs, it hurts and I scream, shooting up as I do.

 

Sat up, I take note of the frightened men above me, they wear charred clothes and only one of the two has boots not completely destroyed.

 

They look at themselves and then to me. Trying to stand I call out for their help, I've no clue who they are, or where I am but it feels wrong. All very wrong.

 

"Help…" the word comes out coarse and groggy, my lungs still burning, I wince but hold up my hand to them.

 

The men flinch, one damn well running. I look about myself, finding nothing bearing any familiarity aside from the wet walls that surround me. Startling, there's a skeleton on the floor, right next to where I laid a moment ago.

 

Turning away from it I find my other hand is heavy, I take a look at it and find the rather large brown, bound book.

 

I look to the men again, the one who ran waits for his partner ahead, and offer them a different hand to take and help assuage my pain however they can.

 

This time the men bolt, they've been arguing with each other over not killing me right. I've been a victim of a murder and yet I still live.

 

Watching their backs as they flee prompts me to run after them; my surroundings are not exactly hospitable.

 

"Stop…!" I call out, louder and clearer this time.

 

The men seem to start running even faster, "Hurry up, he's about to chant us to smithereens! I told you we shouldn't have taken this job!"

 

"Ah, give it a rest, we're getting a lot more money with the rest of the crew dead anyway, he did us a favour!"

 

Their words...it sounds…foreign and new, in fact, they are. The two are speaking in a different language than my traditional English, and yet I understand every word.

 

I chase after them until I can see a bright light pierce through the veil of darkness, a smile creeps onto my lips. Freedom. But then the one with boots tosses something at the top of the entrance.

 

Whatever he threw explodes in a large and violent blast of rock and debris that tosses me back. The light goes out and my ears ring, I am left in the dark with the only exit I know of blasted to smithereens.

 

I lie there until I've recovered and then I walk toward the pile of rock, intent on kicking in an opening only to fail and hurt my ankle. I fall onto the floor, fatigued. There's a ringing at the back of my head but I ignore it and fall yet again into unconsciousness.

 

When I come to nothing has changed around me, except for a serious neck ache and a growling stomach.

 

Finally, I looked down at myself. My body feels like it's itching everywhere. Taking a close look at my fingers; they are longer, slimmer than ever before and I even have long, sharpened red painted nails.

 

This is unusual for me, my fingers have always been short and stubby, and I've never been brave enough to paint my nails. Exploring the rest of my body, I notice that I stand taller, taller than my usual five feet, and underneath the grey robe and cloak, I wear I had on only underpants and not the modern kind.

 

Was I cosplaying again?

 

My stomach growls and I remember why I'm up. I am starving. I pick up my only possession and begin walking back the way I came. Flipping through the book I find it speaks of spells, fires, summoning patron gods and more fire.

 

I must have been cosplaying.

 

Walking all the way to where I woke with the entrance shut off, there isn't much light to go by, although there are bits and pieces of these glowing rocks on the floor. Thanks to these I get to see that there are two skeletons on the damp floor.

 

My heart throbs, but I try not to panic, these skeletons with hair on their skulls and swords and arrows by them could easily be all part of the cosplay. Although, that left me no explanation for why my body isn't my body.

 

My ears perk and the hair on my neck stand as a roar echoes from deep within the cave, several chittering follows and insects and rodents zoom past me. Should I be running along with them?

 

"No, It's only sound effects. This isn't a cave, it's a building shaped like a cave. These aren't actual skeletons, they're for immersion purposes. This is my body; I probably suffer from dissociative personality disorder."

 

Granting myself the best of explanations to my situation, I pick up the sword next to the skeleton props and walk forward, chances are the only way out is in.

 

Careful to place one foot in front of the other as I venture deep into the cave, regardless of whatever I think this is, my body tells me otherwise. Soon, I leave the long narrow path that leads back to the entrance and enter a large, structured opening with many routes to choose from.

 

The base of this new part of the cave has elevations that can work as stairs to the top where I stand, and to the base, where the largest Bear I've seen feasts on the carcass of something green and alive…well, perhaps not after that crunch.

 

Standing there, mystified by the sight, I let out a gasp and shift back, an action I soon regret. The giant halts its feast, sniffing the air above it and quickly sets its sights on me.

 

It lets out a powerful roar that reverberates through me, regardless of whatever I think this place is it's hard to ignore the screaming instinct to turn tail and run.

 

And so, I flee!

 

Running back through the path not bothering to look back to see the beast chasing after me as its rapid stomping shakes the very ground. It's difficult running away from a giant hungry Bear in long robes, and before I know it, I'm tripping over myself, falling to the ground.

 

There's a beeping sound and for a moment I think I have my phone again.

 

[You suffered a shallow cut. HP -2]

 

HP? What the hell?

 

The Bear roars again, I turn over my back and face the Bear and meet a gruesome fate. However, my shoulders fall and I sigh, relieved to find the beast is too large to make it any further through the path.

 

Dusting myself off I laugh in its face and it roars some more. Thinking it wise, I step away from, journeying back the way I came with my mind on the beep I heard.

 

The source of the beep is the blue box floating in front of me, unshaken by my turning view.

 

I try tapping the box but my hand passes straight through it. However, it does open up a new, much larger box filled with details about…myself?

 

[Character Information]

 

[Name]

 

Asher Taserman (Formerly Pluzur the Eternal Flame)

 

[Class]

 

Warlock; Pyromancy

 

[Age]

 

138 years

 

[Affiliation]

 

Lesser God of Burning (Severed)

 

[HP]

 

200/200

 

INT

 

179

 

[MP]

 

578/578

 

[Skill List]

 

Name Proficiency

 

Flames -

 

Fire Bolt -

 

Fire Ball -

 

Unable to focus on the overwhelming news that I have been hitchhiking in a foreign body that was not only resurrected by my soul falling into it but is apparently a century old.

 

I left the scratching and roaring sights of the bear in the background for a more serene place. Next to the dead. Yes, after almost being mauled by a bear and discovering my 'stats' I'd likened myself to the truth that these skeletons were not props after all.

 

I take a closer look at the screen detailing my abilities. Luckily, I am familiar with the mechanisms of a game world, and if it is truly the type of world I am stuck in and not some fucked up reality TV show, then my next action should have an effect.

 

"Flames!" I proclaim, my hands outstretched and my eyes closed. Feeling no heat, however, I open up my eyes to a new notification.

 

[Action Unavailable.]

 

[Please re-select all job classes after resurrections.]

 

Right, I haven't set my class. How do I do that?

 

As though reading my thoughts, the box is replaced by an in-depth detailing of my 'old' class; Warlock-Pyromancy and the potential new classes I could now choose from.

 

Ugh, I hate reading.