The first thing I felt was warmth.
Soft light pressing against my eyelids. The distant sound of wind. And somewhere beneath all of it — voices. Faint, overlapping, arguing about something I couldn't quite make out.
I knew those voices.
My parents.
They always argued like that. About money, about the hospital bills, about who was responsible for what. Our financial situation wasn't bad — both of them had decent jobs — but my heart condition had a way of making even decent money feel like nothing. The treatment never stopped. And neither did the fighting.
In the end, they left me at the hospital and moved on with their lives.
I never hated them for it. I understood.
But Uncle Jourial stayed.
He spent everything he had on my treatment without a word of complaint. At some point, he stopped being my uncle and started being everything — the only warmth left in a life that had very little of it.
I wished I'd had more time with him.
---
"Hey — boy. Can you hear me?"
The voices faded. The light got brighter.
I opened my eyes.
My vision was a blurry mess at first — vague shapes, soft colors, nothing clear. Then slowly, the world came into focus.
A girl was standing over me.
Light pink hair. Two small horns curving out from her head.
My body reacted before my brain did.
The memory of that monster slammed back into me all at once — the claws, the pain, the ground — and I scrambled backward with a scream that probably echoed down the entire hallway.
"Hey — hey! It's okay!" She raised both hands, stepping back to give me space. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a nurse, I promise. Just breathe, okay? Screaming like that isn't going to help your recovery."
She didn't flinch. Didn't seem offended. Just waited, calm and steady, like she'd done this exact thing a hundred times before.
Slowly, carefully, she moved closer and placed her hand on my head.
Then she pulled me into a gentle hug.
I don't know why that broke me.
Maybe it was the warmth. Maybe it was how long it had been since anyone had done something like that. It reminded me of being young — of the rare moments when my mother would hold me during the bad nights, when my heart would act up and the pain got to be too much.
Tears were running down my face before I even realized it.
"There you go," she said quietly. "Just breathe. You're safe. I just need you to calm down so I can check on you properly."
It took a while. But eventually, my body listened.
I lay back against the pillow, morning light falling softly across the room, and managed to speak.
"Where… where am I?"
The girl smiled and stepped back, pulling out a small notepad.
"You're in the hospital. An adventurer found you while she was passing through the Meadow of Demise — it's a restricted area, extremely dangerous, full of predatory monsters. Your condition was critical when they brought you in." She glanced at me over the notepad. "I'm going to assume you got lost."
"...Yeah," I said. "Lost. That's one way to put it."
She gave me a look that suggested she didn't entirely believe me, but chose not to push it.
"My name is Rima Niroza. Head of nursing here. You can just call me Rima." She tucked the notepad away. "And you?"
"Arthur. Arthur Shozoria."
"Alright, Arthur. Get some rest. I'll check on you again later — and try not to scream this time. You scared half the floor."
She left with a small, teasing smile.
I stared at the ceiling.
*How was I supposed to explain any of this?*
That I didn't belong here. That I had died — actually died — and woken up in a field being eaten alive. That I had no idea what this place was or how I got here or why I was still breathing when I had absolutely no reason to be.
I couldn't explain it. So I'd keep quiet until I understood more.
That seemed like the only reasonable option.
I shifted my attention to the thing hovering in the corner of my vision.
The panel.
Rima hadn't reacted to it at all — hadn't even glanced at it. Which meant she couldn't see it. Which meant it was mine alone.
I focused on it and let the display expand.
[HP: 210 / 210]
[ATK: 120]
[DEF: 112]
[Mana: ××]
[Strength: 12]
[Magic: ××]
At least my HP was back to normal.
Everything else, though…
*These stats are terrible.*
Strength of 12. ATK and DEF that a half-decent monster could probably laugh off. And those Mana and Magic slots — completely blank, like the system hadn't decided what to do with them yet.
*Who would have thought my life would end up tied to something like a game interface.*
I genuinely hoped this was a dream.
Because if it wasn't…
I might actually lose my mind.
---
The door opened again.
I expected Rima. It wasn't Rima.
The girl who walked in was different — long black hair, golden eyes that caught the light in a way that felt almost unnatural. She wore armor that fit her like it had been made specifically for her, practical but clearly expensive. She moved like someone who was used to walking into rooms and having people pay attention.
I stared. I'm not proud of it, but I stared.
"You're awake," she said. "Good. How are you feeling?"
"I've been better," I managed. "Sorry — I don't think we've met."
"We haven't. Not properly." She pulled up a chair and sat down without being invited, which somehow felt completely natural coming from her. "My name is Rosie Frogoria. I'm the one who found you."
I straightened up a little.
"You're the adventurer."
"That's me." She crossed one leg over the other, studying me with those gold eyes. "I was passing over the Meadow of Demise when I saw the commotion below. At first I thought it was just monsters fighting each other — happens all the time out there." A brief pause. "Then I heard you scream."
"...Right."
"So I came down." She said it simply, like it was nothing. Like diving into a monster-infested field to save a stranger was just part of the routine. "I got there with about two seconds to spare, by the look of it."
"That sounds about right," I said. "Thank you. Genuinely. I don't think I'd be sitting here without you."
Rosie shrugged. "Part of the job."
She was quiet for a moment. Then:
"The monster that attacked you — it was a hybrid type. Low-ranked, but still far too dangerous for an unarmed person with no combat experience." Her tone shifted, just slightly. "The Meadow of Demise is restricted for a reason, Arthur. It's not a place anyone wanders into by accident. So I have to ask — what were you actually doing there?"
The question landed exactly where I'd known it would.
I looked at her.
She looked back. Patient. Waiting.
"I genuinely don't know how to explain it," I said finally. "Not because I'm hiding something — I just don't have a way to put it into words that would make any sense."
Rosie held my gaze for a moment longer. Then she nodded, slow and deliberate.
"Alright." She stood, tucking the chair back into place. "You don't have to explain anything right now. Rest first. We can talk again once you're back on your feet."
She moved toward the door, then stopped with her hand on the frame.
"One more thing." She glanced back over her shoulder. "You're not in whatever place you came from anymore. Things work differently here." A small pause. "Welcome to the Kingdom of Avalon."
She left.
The door clicked shut behind her.
I sat there in the quiet for a long moment, turning those words over in my head.
*The Kingdom of Avalon.*
A new world. A new life. And no idea what either of them meant yet.
I leaned back against the pillow and let my eyes drift to the panel again — still floating there in the corner of my vision, quiet and patient.
That's when I noticed it.
A small icon, tucked into the far edge of the interface. Faint. Almost hidden. The kind of thing you'd miss if you weren't looking carefully.
I stared at it.
Something about it felt familiar — like a word on the tip of your tongue that you can't quite reach.
I knew it from somewhere.
But my memory, still clouded from everything I'd been through, refused to give me the answer.
*...What is that?*
[End of Chapter 2]