Rain.
It had been raining since the moment Alen Beta left the grocery store.
The weather forecast had called for a light shower.
Instead, the sky had opened like someone had overturned an ocean.
"Should've brought an umbrella..." Alen muttered, pulling his hood tighter as he walked down the sidewalk.
At seventeen years old, he wasn't anything special.
He wasn't the smartest student in school.
He wasn't an athlete.
He wasn't rich.
He wasn't famous.
He was just an ordinary teenager trying to make it home before dinner.
A loud laugh caught his attention.
Across the street, a little girl chased a bright red balloon that had slipped from her mother's hand.
The balloon bounced across the wet crosswalk.
The little girl giggled as she ran after it.
"Emily! Stop!"
Her mother dropped her shopping bags and sprinted after her.
At that exact moment...
A horn shattered the afternoon.
HOOOOOOOOONK!
Heads turned.
A fully loaded semi-truck was sliding through the intersection.
Its tires screamed against the soaked pavement.
The driver fought desperately to regain control.
The truck wasn't stopping.
People on the sidewalk froze.
Some screamed.
Others looked away.
The little girl stood in the middle of the road, clutching her balloon, too frightened to move.
Time seemed to slow.
'Someone...'
'Please...'
'Anyone...'
Alen's feet were already moving.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He didn't think.
He didn't calculate the distance.
He didn't wonder if he would survive.
He simply ran.
Each step splashed through ankle-deep water.
The truck grew larger.
The little girl looked toward him, tears welling in her eyes.
"Mister...?"
"It's okay!"
Alen shouted.
"Don't move!"
One final leap.
He wrapped both arms around the girl and threw every bit of strength he had into pushing her toward the sidewalk.
She rolled across the wet pavement.
Strong hands caught her before she hit the curb.
Safe.
Relief flooded Alen's chest.
Then...
A shadow swallowed him.
There wasn't enough time to turn.
The impact came like a collapsing mountain.
Steel.
Glass.
Pain.
Then...
Silence.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Alen slowly opened his eyes.
There was no pain.
No rain.
No truck.
He floated in an endless sea of darkness where even the concept of distance seemed meaningless.
"...Am I dead?"
A cheerful chime answered him.
[Initializing Cross-World Reincarnation System...]
"...What?"
More glowing blue windows appeared one after another.
[Soul Integrity: 100%]
[Memory Preservation: Complete]
[Cause of Death Confirmed]
Another window appeared.
[Heroic Sacrifice Detected]
Alen stared.
"So... I really died?"
[Affirmative.]
He closed his eyes.
"The little girl..."
The System paused for a moment.
[Status: Alive.]
[Estimated survival chance without intervention: 0.02%]
A quiet smile spread across Alen's face.
"...Good."
The darkness remained silent.
Several seconds passed.
Then another message appeared.
[Psychological Analysis Complete.]
Results:
Compassion: Exceptional
Courage: Exceptional
Self-Preservation: Below Average
Judgment: Accepted
"...Hey!"
"What does that last one mean?"
The System ignored him.
Instead, a new notification appeared.
[Congratulations.]
[You have been officially Truck-kuned.]
"..."
"...Excuse me?"
[Truck-kuned.]
"...That's... actually what you're calling it?"
[Affirmative.]
[Common designation among higher-dimensional observers for heroic deaths involving large commercial vehicles immediately preceding reincarnation.]
Alen blinked.
"There are... higher-dimensional observers?"
[Yes.]
"They actually call it Truck-kuned?"
[Yes.]
"..."
"I don't know if I should be embarrassed or offended."
No response came.
Instead...
The darkness trembled.
The cheerful tone of the System vanished.
Warning symbols flooded the void.
[Unknown Phenomenon Detected.]
[Scanning Soul...]
[Scanning World...]
[Cross-referencing Universal Records...]
For the first time...
The System hesitated.
[ERROR.]
[ERROR.]
[ERROR.]
"...System?"
No answer.
Ancient symbols began appearing in the darkness.
One.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Then hundreds.
Each rune radiated an impossible presence.
Some burned like stars.
Others flowed like rivers.
Some felt ancient as mountains.
Others were as endless as the night sky.
Alen couldn't read a single one.
Yet somehow...
They felt familiar.
The darkness itself seemed to bow before them.
The System's voice returned.
Only now...
It sounded uncertain.
[Impossible...]
[All Fundamental Laws have acknowledged the same soul.]
The runes slowly circled around Alen.
Not threatening.
Watching.
Waiting.
One final message appeared.
Unlike the others...
Its letters were formed from living light.
[Designation Confirmed.]
World Law Host Candidate
Destination Selected: Namidia
A crack split the darkness.
Light poured through it.
Wind rushed past him.
The void shattered into countless fragments.
As Alen fell toward the light, the last thing he heard was a voice.
It wasn't the System.
It was older.
Calmer.
As vast as the universe itself.
"Welcome home, Child of Understanding."
Then everything went white.
End of Chapter 1