Cold dirt pressed against Cid’s cheek.
Groaning, he rolled over and blinked at a sky that was entirely the wrong color.
Purple clouds drifted lazily across a pale green expanse, looking like an oil painting gone wrong.
"Great," Cid muttered, rubbing his temples to soothe a pounding headache. "Either someone spiked my energy drink, or I’ve finally lost my mind."
Brushing off dry leaves that glowed with a faint, bioluminescent shimmer, he sat up.
Memory hit him in fragments.
Flashing truck headlights.
Screeching tires on wet asphalt.
A sudden, weightless sensation of flying through the air after a late-night run to the convenience store. He had been holding a plastic bag containing two pork buns and a strawberry milk.
Waking up in a fantasy world after a sudden traffic accident was the ultimate cliché, but Cid wasn't about to complain.
He had spent his entire previous life blending into the background, playing the quiet, unremarkable student who never made a wave.
Now, he had the kind of power that could level mountains.
Standing up, Cid stretched his arms over his head until his joints popped in a satisfying sequence.
He felt surprisingly light, almost bouncy, as if the gravity of this strange place couldn't quite hold him down.
"Let's check the vitals," he murmured, patting his chest to make sure he was still in one piece.
Underneath his torn, cheap hoodie, his heart beat with a strange, rhythmic resonance.
It didn't feel like a normal human pulse anymore.
Instead, it felt like a miniature engine humming beneath his ribs, radiating a warmth that spread all the way to his fingertips.
Curiosity sparked in his chest.
Looking around, he noticed a massive, gnarled oak tree a few yards away.
Its bark looked thick enough to stop a bullet, covered in moss that pulsed with a faint green light.
"If this is one of those fantasy worlds," Cid said, a slow grin spreading across his face, "I should have some kind of cheat code, right?"
Pointing an index finger at the tree, he chuckled.
He mimicked a gun shape with his hand, closing one eye to aim.
"Bang," he whispered.
An absolute torrent of blinding, golden light erupted from his fingertip.
Deafening thunder shattered the silence of the forest, ringing in his ears.
Air pressure dropped instantly, kicking up a gale-force wind that tore leaves from the canopy.
Sheer force from the blast ripped a massive trench through the dirt, completely obliterating the oak tree.
Actually, it didn't just obliterate the tree.
It erased everything behind it for at least half a mile, carving a smoking path of destruction through the wilderness.
Cid stared at his hand.
His fingers were slightly charred, but they didn't hurt at all.
In fact, they tingled with an addictive, electric energy that made him want to do it again.
"Holy crap," he breathed, his eyes wide. "I'm a walking nuclear warhead."
Laughing aloud, he clutched his stomach as the absurdity of the situation washed over him.
Stupid, really.
But absolutely perfect.
---
Rustling bushes broke his self-congratulatory moment.
Heavy, rhythmic footsteps crunched on the dry leaves to his left.
Cid spun around, keeping his hands casual but ready to unleash another accidental apocalypse if necessary.
Out of the dense foliage stepped a creature straight out of a nightmare.
Three eyes glowed with a malicious crimson light on its wolf-like face.
Its body was easily the size of a minivan, covered in jagged, obsidian-like armor plates that scraped against the trees.
Drool sizzled as it dripped from its fangs, burning tiny holes in the glowing grass below.
"Nice doggy," Cid said, stepping backward with an easy, mocking grin. "Did you see what I just did to that tree? You really don't want to try me."
A low growl vibrated through the beast's chest, shaking the dirt beneath Cid's boots.
It clearly didn't care about his warnings.
With a sudden, terrifying burst of speed, the armored wolf lunged forward.
Cid didn't panic.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl in his mind.
He could see every individual droplet of saliva flying from the beast's jaws, suspended in the air.
"Too slow," Cid laughed.
He sidestepped the lunge with effortless grace.
His body moved faster than he ever thought possible, leaving a faint afterimage of his blue hoodie in the cool air.
Slamming into the dirt where he had been standing a millisecond prior, the wolf kicked up a cloud of dust.
Shaking its massive head, the beast spun around, its three crimson eyes scanning the clearing wildly.
"Up here, buddy!" Cid called out, waving.
He was floating.
Not flying, exactly, but hovering a few feet off the ground, balanced on a thin cushion of compressed golden mana.
Amused by his own newfound agility, Cid did a mid-air flip just to show off, crossing his legs as he hovered upside down for a brief second before spinning right-side up.
"Let's see what else this body can do," he mused, looking down at his hands.
Clenching his fist, he watched as golden energy swirled around his knuckles.
It condensed quickly, forming a hard, glowing gauntlet of pure force that hummed with power.
Roaring in frustration, the wolf jumped again, jaws wide open to swallow him whole.
Cid swung his fist downward.
His punch met the beast's armored forehead with the force of a falling meteor.
Shockwaves rippled through the clearing, flattening the surrounding bushes in a perfect circle.
Obsidian armor shattered like cheap glass under the impact.
Sailing backward, the beast crashed through three thick trees before landing in a motionless, twitching heap.
Silence descended on the forest once more.
"Whoops," Cid said, landing lightly on his feet. "Maybe I went a little too hard on that one."
Walking over to the fallen beast, he poked its snout with the toe of his sneaker.
It was completely knocked out, snoring softly despite its cracked armor and bruised ego.
"Well, at least I know I'm not helpless in this place," Cid shrugged, dusting off his jeans.
---
Clapping hands echoed behind him.
Slow, deliberate applause cut through the quiet forest air.
Cid spun around, his golden energy flaring slightly, coloring his eyes a bright, dangerous yellow.
Standing at the edge of the clearing was a young woman.
She wore silver-and-blue plate armor that hugged her athletic frame, a longsword sheathed at her waist.
Her silver hair was tied back in a high ponytail, and her icy blue eyes stared at him with a mixture of awe and deep suspicion.
"Incredible," she said, her voice smooth but commanding. "I have tracked that shadow-dire for three days. To see it felled with a single, unarmed strike..."
"Just doing some light cardio," Cid replied, flashing his most charming smile. "I'm Cid. Cid Namikaze. And you are?"
She didn't return the smile.
Instead, her hand drifted slowly toward the hilt of her sword.
"You speak a strange dialect, stranger," she noted, her eyes tracking the golden residue fading from his hands. "And that magic... it does not belong to any known guild of this kingdom."
"I'm new in town," Cid joked, taking a relaxed step forward. "Just arrived today, actually. By air, you could say."
"Stop right there," she ordered, drawing her blade in one fluid, metallic hiss.
Gleaming with a faint blue aura, the sword hummed with a cold, biting power that made the temperature in the clearing drop instantly.
"Identify yourself properly," she demanded, raising the blade to point directly at his chest. "Only the high priests of the fallen empire possess the golden light. If you are an imperial remnant, I am duty-bound to execute you."
Cid raised his hands in mock surrender, though his eyes danced with amusement.
"Whoa, easy there, beautiful," he chuckled, completely unbothered by the threat.
"I don't know anything about a fallen empire. I'm just a guy who got lost."
"Your empire fell three hundred years ago," she spat, her stance shifting into a deadly combat pose. "Their lineage was wiped out. Yet, your mana signature is identical to the records of the mad emperor himself."
"Mad emperor?" Cid blinked. "Sounds like a fun guy. But seriously, I'm not him."
"We shall let the royal mages decide that," she said, her icy blue eyes narrowing.
Lunging forward, she swung her sword, trailing a freezing wind that threatened to lock his joints in ice.
Cid grinned, shifting his weight.
This was getting interesting.
He sidestepped her first slash, the cold blade missing his nose by mere inches.
He could feel the frost biting at his skin, but his golden mana flared up defensively, melting the ice before it could form.
"You're pretty fast," Cid teased, ducking under a horizontal sweep that sheared a nearby bush in half.
"Quiet!" she snapped, her attacks growing faster, more desperate as she realized she couldn't touch him.
With a swift twist of her wrist, she channeled her mana into the ground.
A wall of sharp icicles erupted from the dirt, trapping Cid in a cage of solid ice.
"Got you," she panted, lowering her sword slightly as she caught her breath.
Cid looked at the thick ice surrounding him.
He tapped it with a fingernail, feeling the intense cold.
"Nice trick," his voice echoed from inside the frozen prison. "But I think I prefer the heat."
A tiny spark of golden light flared from his chest.
Instantly, the ice shattered into a million steam droplets, filling the clearing with a thick, warm mist.
Through the fog, Cid walked out completely unscathed, his clothes perfectly dry.
She stared at him, her jaw dropping in sheer disbelief.
Nobody should have been able to break her glacial prison so easily, let alone vaporize it.
"Who... what are you?" she whispered, her confidence wavering for the first time.
"Just a traveler," Cid said, stepping closer until he was just inches from her blade.
He gently tapped the flat of her sword with his index finger, sending a tiny vibration through the metal that forced her to lower the tip.
"But I think you're going to tell me everything I need to know about this world," he added, his playful tone turning slightly more intense.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to rumble violently.
A dark, crimson light began to bleed through the cracks in the dirt, far brighter and more malevolent than the magic of the wolf they had just fought.
Color drained completely from the young woman's face.
"No," she gasped, looking down at the glowing earth. "The seal... it's breaking."
Before Cid could ask what she meant, the ground erupted, swallowing them both into a dark, roaring abyss.
---
Falling through the darkness felt surprisingly peaceful.
Cid didn't scream, unlike the silver-haired knight who was flailing beside him as they plunged down a subterranean cavern.
Instead, he adjusted his posture, aligning himself to ride the turbulent currents of wind rushing past his ears.
"Grab on!" he yelled over the roaring sound of shifting tectonic plates.
She glared at him through her panic, but she had no choice.
Reaching out, she grabbed his hand.
Cid pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist as he flared his golden mana once more.
A bubble of warm light expanded around them, cushioning them from the falling rocks and debris.
They landed with a heavy, echoing thud on a stone platform deep beneath the earth.
Moaning in pain, she rolled off him, holding her bruised side.
Cid stood up effortlessly, brushing the dust off his shoulders as if they had just stepped off an escalator.
"Where... where are we?" she whispered, looking around the massive underground chamber.
Colossal pillars of black stone rose to support a vaulted ceiling that was lost in shadow.
In the center of the chamber sat a massive, glowing throne.
Upon the throne sat a skeletal figure clad in decaying imperial armor, its empty eye sockets suddenly flaring with a brilliant, golden fire that perfectly matched Cid's own.
"Welcome back, my lord," a raspy, ancient voice echoed throughout the cavern.