I couldn't believe my eyes, in front of me there was a transparent window displaying text that I can only assume is meant for me. Waking up in an unfamiliar body, I take a close look at the name in front of me. "Roshia Qinlen?" I speak to myself, looking closer at the window to fully grasp what I'm seeing. There must be some kind of mistake, this is probably just a terrible fever dream.

"This is..." I cut myself off, still unsettled by the awkwardness of hearing a voice that I'm not used to. I was so taken aback that I hadn't noticed the first time. It sounds soft, attractive in a way—this woman's voice might send a tingle down your spine... Well, I guess now that'd be my own voice, but I still can't get used to it. This is all far too aberrant for my liking. "I could've sworn that I died, but what is all of this?"

Memories begin to flood my mind. Not the memories of what happened on the bridge—I remember those all too clearly—these are memories of the body that I'm in. The memories were far too unnatural: Horned men and women conversing, a woman with long ears looking down as she held me beneath her opulent breasts. "Wait! Am I a baby?!" I panic in my mind, briskly snapping out of the recollection of memories.

Just when I started to think that the window was in a fairly inconvenient location (being right in front of me), I'm left startled when the window moves from in front of me, angling itself a little bit further to the side of where it'd been before. "Oh! Well... Thank you." I thank the invisible force responsible for moving the window. Maybe it'd moved on its own, I don't know.

"You're welcome!" A voice calls out from above me. I continue examining the window, trying to make out the meaning of the words until I bolt out from beneath the blanket that'd been engulfing my lower half. 

In less than a second, I'm across the room, looking up to see a shadowy figure over my bed. I couldn't see since it was apparently nighttime, and on top of that, my lights were off! I look around frantically, feeling about with both of my hands. Finally, my hand brushes across a light switch, turning the lights in the room on to reveal what'd been looming over me. 

In the place of the voice, there is a fairly beautiful young woman with white wings. Her skin was a pale white, only making her bright red eyes stand out even more in contrast to her all-white appearance. She wore a dress with a golden collar connected around her neck. The back of her dress looked like it was missing, only continuing around her waist. The dress went all the way down to her ankles. Matching her golden collar was a golden arm bracelet that covered where her bicep should be on her right arm. 

"Who are you?!" Despite my back being against the wall, I try to fan out some aggression. Maybe I can scare this strange woman away! "Me? I'm a [Moderator]! I've been sent to check on you now that you've woken up since you've been kept out of the loop! Welcome to the [Awakener Program]!" This odd woman, calling herself a 'moderator', spoke merrily. Somehow, each time she speaks I feel myself become more relaxed despite this woman trespassing in my- or what is now my home.

"Alright 'Moderator', what is your name?" I add more emphasis to my question this time. It doesn't feel right, to call this woman by that strange name. 

"You can call me Anaphiel!" I take note of the name, taking this as an opportunity to ask questions. "What happened to me, why am I in this body? I died, didn't I!?" I question eagerly, plowing the fear I'd been feeling aside.

Anaphiel places a finger against her chin at the sudden question. She must've been thinking about what to say. "You did die, but, you're an [Awakener]. Thanks to your skill, [Rebirth], you were able to come back from death—it only took your skill a few years to activate too!" I feel my heart sink deeper into my chest, consuming all of her words and their meaning.

"You don't seriously mean years, do you?" Nervously, I muster up the courage to ask. "Yep, you've been dead for a good decade!" A decade?! That's ten years, isn't it?! "You're kidding me!" Again, I shout out to her but was interrupted by her nails tapping against the ceiling of the room. It never occurred to me just how long her nails were. They weren't inhumanely long, but they were sharp enough to be used as claws if Anaphiel pleased.

"Thank you for your attention!" I couldn't even protest. There was a weight overwhelming my body, preventing me from speaking.

"You're an Awakener, one of the thousands of individuals who were selected for what we [Guardians] call the Awakener Program. The Program is used to grant mortals such as yourself powers blessed to you by the [Founder]. You were randomly given the [Returner] Class, but you were killed before your [Class Skill] could properly activate. Because of that, you were stuck at Level 0, unable to use your [Rebirth] Skill." Anaphiel stops talking, looking to see if I have any questions. I'm too awestruck to ask anything, so she continues.

"Because you died after you got your class, you weren't able to properly level up. You became a glitch in the world that was forgotten. I happened to find your soul, and because of that, I was able to give you the Experience Points that you were supposed to get from your first death. Needless to say, now you've fully awakened in the body of a young girl!" Anaphiel claps her hands together joyfully, waiting for any questions.

"So, what's with this window? It's not exactly very clear..." Asking Anaphiel, I've been stuck in the dark about this window ever since I woke up. It doesn't actually give me any specific details, other than my current name and basic information. "That's the next thing..." Anaphiel's happy-go-lucky tone changes to one that I can only see as nervous.

Tapping her fingers together, Anaphiel directs an awkward smile my way before she continues. "Your window is... broken." 

Anaphiel can see the contorted look of confusion beginning to sprawl across my face. "What do you mean by 'broken'?" I question with a brief stutter in my speech. While I was basically clueless about a lot of the things that happened over the past decade, I definitely knew that this was anything but good!

"The [Barodon] broke your window after it came through the [Gate]. It wasn't supposed to be there, a monster like that is supposed to be locked away outside of the [Realm], but somehow it managed to slip through our [Barrier] and caused a calamity once the [Invasion] bega-" Anaphiel is cut off by my frantically waving hands. "Woah! Woah! Woah! Slow down, this is way too much! I don't know what any of what you're talking about means!" 

Anaphiel sighs, "I guess that makes sense. I should simplify things for you, shouldn't I?" She clumsily rubs the back of her head. 

"Your window is meant to display your [Awakener Information], similar to a game's menu. It displays your Level, Class, and more! Your window is broken because you were killed by a creature that's just too powerful for Awakeners to handle right now. Here, I'll fix it."

Her hand reaches out and a finger taps against my forehead before I even get the chance to complain, not that I was going to. A warm light engulfs my body, blinding me for a brief moment. When the light fades, the window in front of me shows much more information than before. It has more prompts, and more information has gone through my head about how to use it. "Say 'Status Window'! Or think it!" Anaphiel claps, waiting for me.

"Alright... Status Window!" The window expands out in front of me, showing much more information than what it showed me before!

This looks a bit promising, assuming that these numbers go up to 10, that is. Otherwise, I think I'm in a bit of a pickle. I can see the information on my skills down at the bottom left corner... 

And... Open!

Something doesn't add up about this description, but I don't even know what most of this stuff legitimately means, so I'm in no position to vent or complain.

"Corruption...?" I question, glancing up at Anaphiel, uncertain of the meaning of what this is. "Just check the [Stat Explanation] Menu!" Anaphiel suggests. "I'm really out of the loop..."

I think about the Stat Information expanding, and it does! The information seems fairly simple.

"I guess these are understandable..." I scratch the side of my head, having a hard time understanding. "So, is my Class rare or something? How many other people go through this 'cycle'?" I look back up to where Anaphiel was, only to find that she's no longer there. "Huh...?" 

I turn my attention to my left, finding Anaphiel hovering over my shoulder, upside down. "A-Ah!" I scream, tumbling to the floor. "Don't do that!" I rant, collecting my now scrambled thoughts behind the sound of her chuckling. This girl is seriously creeping me out!

By the time I'm on my feet, Anaphiel is speaking again. "Now that you understand, it's time to catch you up on everything you've missed! I can't have you walking around clueless, otherwise, you'll draw the attention of people—you don't want too much attention." Is that some kind of warning? It feels like there's something that I'm missing. Maybe I've heard these words before.

Anaphiel taps me on the head for a second time, except this time, it's followed by a sharp pain rushing through my head and then the rest of my body.

Unable to take the pain, everything goes white in my vision and I collapse to the ground. The last thing that I see is Anaphiel hovering over me, a clueless expression on her face...

Coffi

Thank you for reading Chapter 2, I have a lot planned! The stat system may change later down the line, but for now, I think that it's fitting for the current theme!