…

…

“Argh!”

I can feel the solid ground pressing on my face. I caught a whiff of both earth and grass yet, it’s not the only scent that I can smell. I could also smell something burning, a mix of burned wood and meat, and… something… very pungent, a smell of rust.

I open my eyes and the first thing I see are dead people covered in blood. Their metallic armor loses its shine and is now painted in red. Weapons scattered on the ground above the pool of dry blood.

The scene in front of me put me in shock and I immediately pushed myself to rise up but a sudden burning sensation crawled in my right upper leg.

“What! What?!”

The pain prevented me from standing up and I kneel down as fast as I push myself up. I turn around to look at the source of that burning sensation.

A spear with a half broken shaft was stabbed behind my right leg.

“Ahhh… Ahhh…”

I panic, I turn around looking for help instead what I see can only be described as a nightmare.

Dead…

Dead…

Dead people.

Both soldiers and mercenaries can be seen around the forest that I am currently in. I surveyed the area and I could see a plain in the distance. My eyes widened, I thought that I’m in the worst place right now but I was wrong. The plain has more dead bodies than this forest.

I turned around once more and I could see smoke rising up from every direction.

Dum! Dum!

Dum! Dum!

Dum! Dum!

I can feel my heart beating so hard, beating so fast. I felt a chill crawling behind my spine.

I look around.

Look…

Look around…

But nothing, I cannot find any human being around me.

I pull myself towards the nearby tree and push myself up.

“Argh!”

“Where…”

I’m just going to ask ‘Where am I?’ but a memory suddenly came into my mind.

A man named Cole who lived as a mercenary and participated in this war and this area, right here, is a… battlefield.

(What!?)

Confusion suddenly strikes me.

I look at my hand…

It’s different from what I remember.

No, my statement was wrong… it’s more like… (why do I remember a different set of hands?)

My soft and smooth hands are now full of calluses and scars and it looks somewhat muscular compared to before.

“These… these… aren’t my hands.”

(Is it?)

Dum! Dum!

Dum! Dum!

Dum! Dum!

I touch my face.

Caress my cheeks, my hand went straight to my nose bridge then towards my forehead. After that I touch the back of my neck and slowly touch my ears.

Then I shifted and looked at my body.

I scan my hands, they are rough and full of calluses. My arms are bulging but they are not the same as weight lifters. They are more similar to regular athletes, then I look towards my chest, which is packed with muscles, down to my perfectly toned legs.

(It looks… different… yet it feels very familiar.)

“This doesn’t make any sense!”

(I’m in… a different body?)

I know, I clearly remember myself. I am Jon Reyes, a 46-year-old working guy.

Yet! I also remember Cole.

There is no discrepancy in my memories, I can easily remember both of those people's lives. The list of assignments Jon needs to submit before the end of the week. The current mercenary team that Cole belongs to. What did Jon do last weekend? The current status of the war Cole is involved in. I remember Jon's favorite coffee shop and I knew Cole’s favorite food.

I look at my hand once again and ponder.

“Who am I? Am I Cole or Jon?”

I wanted to think, relax and settle these once and for all but my instinct told me to move.

I guess Cole's instinct told me to move.

I took a deep breath and surveyed the area once again.

Dead soldiers can be seen all around the forest, ponds of dry blood can be seen everywhere, the smell of burnt wood, iron and blood is lingering around this forest and most importantly, there is nobody out here.

My instinct told me to go back to the city.

I really wanted to do that.

(What am I…)

But something occurs while thinking about ‘what I’m supposed to do next’, like a snap of a finger the information came to me.

“This place… this war… is between the Kingdom of Slexor and the Kingdom of Vosleno, however…”

I glance towards the plain. I saw burned down war weaponries, dead monsters, rip and burn flags and more dead soldiers wearing their bloody uniform.

“This war is also a fictional war told in the novel ‘Titan’.”

That’s right!

This war, this situation is very familiar to Jon.

Jon loves to read novels in his free time, and his favorite genre are fantasy novels.

Titan, is his favorite collection in that genre. This collection has 10 main books and multiple related books to help world building. He already read the whole collection 22 times... 22 times!

Jon is a fan of this title and more so he is a fan of the author.

So there’s no mistake about it.

(This story… I know it's like the back of my hand.)

…

I began thinking.

“Cole… Cole…”

This is not a familiar name.

Forget ‘Extra’, Cole is not even a ‘One Timer’.

I pondered about the related books such as, ‘Side Story Series’ but I came up with nothing.

“Cole is most probably a ‘Nobody’.”

‘Nobody’ is the classification that Jon created for characters that appear as ‘Grandfather’, ‘Soldier’, ‘Merchant’, etc…

These characters appear in novels with no names and usually interact with the other character once or twice the scenario.

“Or maybe he didn’t exist in ‘the story’.”

That is also a possibility.

(If that is true, that means Cole will not affect the main story line.)

“I think that is a good thing.”

I nod and smile.

“Hmmmm…”

I examine the area around me, the sun is still up and it looks like it's noon.

“If I’m not mistaken…”

I look towards the other side of the forest across the plain.

“Something will happen in that area.”

…

“The question is… will ‘it’ happen today or does ‘it’ happen already?”

I shake my head.

“Hmmm… I cannot risk going in there, but I also cannot just wait here until ‘it’ happens.”

So I made my decision.

“I should wait in this area until nightfall before I scout that place… just to be safe.”

I look at the dead soldiers and look at their hips. There are several pouches and small bags hanging on those belts.

I made a calm decision.

“While I wait, I should gather as many resources as I can.”

Cole is an average person, he has a small house in the slum area and he lives on a day to day basis. The current money he has was spent on water and food for this war. Cole thinks that he didn’t need to save his money because if he died in this war no one will benefit from his savings and because of that Cole doesn’t have any money left.

(If I go back to the city right now, I will just go straight to the guild and request a quest to earn some money just to buy my necessities.  Why would I do that if my only goal is to gain money?)

Countless dead bodies are lying around the area. The soldiers on both sides of the camp will not return until ‘that’ disappears.

I feel a glint of light run in front of my face. I looked above, passed the trees and I saw ‘my’ first Titan.

The titan Silver, a 6 winged eagle looking creature, as big as two castles combined, its silver feathers reflecting the light of the sun. It is a four legged monster that looks like a griffon, but instead of a mismatched front leg and hind leg, all of its legs are similar to that of an eagle.

In my point of view, it looks like a glittering bird flying above the clouds.

According to the book, the war immediately halted and both sides retreated when Silver appeared near the vicinity. This is not an unusual occurrence because Silver usually roams around the Southern Continent. However, Silver is known to have a bad temper against noisy areas and it usually uses its full force in killing any creatures that’s creating such noise. That is why in the Southern Kingdoms there are flags that are raised when they notice Silver is approaching their land.

However, even though it is sensitive to loud noise, just walking around will not disturb the mighty Silver.

After realizing the presence of Silver, I look at the forest on the other side of the plain once again.

“If I’m right… it will be wasteful to throw ‘that’ opportunity away.”

I look at my leg and I cut the shaft of the spear, near the spearhead, using my sword. I didn’t remove it completely because I knew that it might result in extensive blood loss. After cutting the shaft I begin to move.

 “Sigh… I should think of a plan while looting the bodies.”

Life is War.

Jon and Cole might not be the same person but there is one thing that they both believe in…

I... must survive.

This world is not kind to the weak or people with weak hearts. It's a predator or prey type of world.

Jon knows that through books and Cole knows that through experience. Both of them knew that in order to survive in this world you must do everything that you can even if it means destroying your wall of morality.

I loot every pouches that I have seen, whether they are from allies or enemies it doesn’t matter.

I gather as many coins as I can get, after a while I also find a potion.

After acquiring a potion from one of the dead bodies I decided to use that immediately.

I remove the whole spear by pulling it out of my body, which I believe Jon will pass out through the pain, but thankfully this is Cole’s body and I already have some experience in this kind of situation.

After pulling it out, I pour the red potion on the wound.

There is no pain after dousing my wound with the red potion. However, there is a warm and minty feeling penetrating on the wound, similar to when a person puts mint flavored muscles relieving cream over his skin.

I’m already familiar with how fast the wound will close up when I use a red potion but a part of me is also surprised and excited to see that happen.

After treating the wound, I continue to gather bottles of water, dry bread, coins, items and more. I just didn’t take away unique looking weapons or armor because I believe it might create unnecessary problems in the future.

The looting galore finishes at sunset and I’m currently resting on the nearby tree and looking at the forest on the other side of the plain.

I’ve only looted the soldiers on my side of the forest and the soldiers on the plains near ‘my’ side of the forest, I didn’t even try to approach the center part of the plains.

Because if I’m right.

I don’t want to attract the creature on the other side of the forest.

So I sat there and waited…

Wait for ‘it’ to happen.

(If that will hap…)

Boom! Booom! Boom!

A loud sound came on the other side of the forest.

I noticed some trees fall down, smoke started to rise up on that side.

Faint shouts and screams can be heard in that area.

Boom!

I didn’t move…

I am calmly waiting and observing the ‘scenario’ while leaning my back on the tree and eating the hard bread that I store in my pocket.

It suddenly became quiet on that side of the forest but I still didn’t do anything.

After sometime, with the cover of darkness. I started to walk towards the source of the loud noise earlier. While I walked towards my destination, I didn’t forget to loot the soldier along the way.

(I really need some cash.)

I slowly approached the source of the noise earlier until it became visible to me.

The moon light shines over the dead bodies in the area.

A big looking guy with a dented shield and headless body.

Average built guy is torn in half, the lower part can be seen in the deeper side of the forest while the other half is located near the plain area.

Then an armless woman with a scared and crying face lying down on the ground.

Another unrecognizable man has a caved chest slump beside the tree. Resting beside him is the tree trunk which was used to smash his body.

“I was right all along.”

In the book, this setting, this war, is only to set up the monster that they encountered.

Apparently, this group of adventurers are looking for the son of a noble that didn’t return from the war. It is unfortunate, but they encounter a powerful enemy here.

They will not return for a couple of days and the adventurer guild will request a search party for them.

Max, ‘Support’ Character, will track down and encounter the monster that killed this group for the first time but he will not be able to defeat it, so he chooses to run away and report it back to the guild.

When Max returns, he will meet one of the ‘Main’ Characters, Ellie, a mage with a fiery attitude.

They will team up and hunt down the monster and kill it.

This is the start of their journey together.

“However, that is not my journey.”

While looting the bodies, I already made a plan for myself.

Cole is not a hero.

Jon… is clearly not a hero.

I don’t plan to be a hero.

I’m also not a stupid ‘protagonist’ of novel that will get all the over power skill and weapons and became the hero of the story.

No.

Because I knew that if I took those important things or changed something from the story then…

Every information I know will change or worse, they will disappear.

Instead, I will use the information to live a comfortable life in this very dangerous place by not disturbing the main story line.

Jon lives an above average life on earth, he has a good apartment, he can eat three times a day and he can buy any books that he wants and he owns some luxurious things. Cole on the other hand lives a very poor life. This time… Cole… Jon… ‘I’… I will ensure that I will live comfortably in this world. I will take all the treasures that I can to ensure that I will have a safe place, food on the table and enjoy my life to the fullest.

I will use the information that I have to achieve my dream.

I look at the bodies once again.

“I’m sorry”

That is the only thing I could say…

Deep in my heart I’m really… I'm really sorry.

But even if I tried to help them, Cole cannot beat that monster.

Because the monster they encountered is categorized as one of the many powerful humanoid creatures on ‘Bestiary: Humanoid”.

Ogre Vulture.

A 12-feet tall monster with a bulk body and hyper regeneration. On top of that it is immune to pain and poison. These monsters are Necrophagia, and they receive an additional regeneration buff whenever they eat dead bodies.

They have the attitude of storing dead bodies in their nests, which is why the Bestiary said that ‘you should assume that they are always full’. You need to prepare thoroughly and carefully in fighting this monster, and the only way to beat this monster is to burn it to the ground until it becomes an ash.

I look at the dark gloomy sky.

“This might not be the first time I will apologize to dead people.”

This book, this story, has many deaths and tragedies in it.

Sigh.

I gaze at the dead bodies in front of me.

“Aside from saying sorry, I also wanted to say thank you.”

I carefully walk towards the half upper body of the dead man.

His face is in shock, his clothes were ripped off and his body is soaking in blood.

“Sorry for disturbing your body but you will not be needing this anymore.”

I put my hand inside his rib cage and pulled his heart out.

The smell of blood and innards launches at me.

As Jon, I knew I would vomit non-stop in this kind of scenario.

“Good thing Cole is a mercenary.”

After I pull the heart out, I wipe away the blood and innards that were attached to the heart using the cloth that I gathered beforehand and secure it with a makeshift bag.

I stood up and walked away, didn’t disturb the bodies except for this one.

I walk towards the plain and look back one more time.

I feel conflicted.

I know those people will die but I didn’t do anything, I feel bad about it.

Yet, I feel great at the same time, because now I know that the information I have can be used in this world. I immediately remove that thought in my head and look forward.

I whispered.

“Many people will die in this world… I just have to make sure I’m not one of those people.”

I silently travel back to the City of Slothub in the Kingdom of Slexor.

******************************************

Dear Readers,

Thank you for finishing the first page of my novel.

I hope you continue to read on.

Can I take a little bit of your time to request a comment on the book?

I would like to know what you think of my novel.

This will help me improve my writing and story telling to keep you guys more engage in the story.

Look forward on how Cole survive? or dominate? the world.

Thank you and have a good day.