"Wh...what happened?! Where am I?" A voice was heard echoing in the midst of heavy darkness.
The darkness was so thick and heavy like that of a void, it was so hard to see anything as there was barely any lighting.
"Wh... why does it feel like I’m spinning?" The voice asked again as the void began spinning faster and harder.
It was difficult to determine where the ground or the sky was as everywhere was covered in thick darkness. Pitch black.
"Did I die? Oh right! I was shot in the back by that bitch!" Max sighed in anger as he tried to look around him but it was difficult.
"Suz... you betrayed me, my love for you, and everything." Max sighed as the void kept spinning. "I should have listened to Joe when he said all girls are the same. They should only be used as tools by us to satisfy our sexual urges that’s all.
I should have listened to his advice but Instead, I decided to fall in love and see where it got me. Dead, my soul wandering around this pitch black void! Screw me! Screw love!
Screw you Suz and screw destiny!" Max shouted out that his throat felt like it was burning until he kept quiet, the eerie pitch dark void reciprocated the silence back to him.
"Oh well! There’s no use shouting now, I’m dead. I should just accept my fate and let it go. But if... ahhhh!" Max screamed as his head began spinning around, his vision growing blurry as strength was being sapped from him.
’Curses! Even in death, I still do not have peace. What do you want from me now? Do you want to finish me totally that my soul won’t be found?’
{You have been chosen as the host for the Draconic Harem system.}
{Transmigration will now begin... Good luck!}
"Huh? System? Transmigration? What the fuck is all this?!" Max shouted in confusion as his head was spinning so bad that he felt like he would collapse.
Slowly, then at the extreme far end of the void, a bright white light shone in his face. But even with the bright light, it was unable to illuminate the dark void.
"Now what I..." Max trailed off as his body rocketed on its own towards the bright light.
He zoomed so fast that he felt like a meteorite about to strike Earth.
"Crap! What is going on? Where the hell am I headed?!" Max cried out as he approached the bright light with blinding speed and then...
His body shot through the light and then, darkensss again. But this one didn’t last long as Max’s eyes slowly fluttered open. His eyesight felt blurry at first and it felt like he was just being reborn for the first time.
His hands slowly crept up his head pressing on it tightly as if trying to ease the gnawing headache.
"Wh... what is going on now?" Max managed to croak out as he slowly raised his upper body to take in his surroundings. "Huh?!" That was what left his mouth as he examined his surroundings.
As he tried to sit up, his back pressed against something hard and it made him realise that it was the floor. No bed. Just a thin, flattened mattress layered with worn blankets in the corner of the room.
The walls were cracked and discolored, smeared with the ghosts of forgotten posters that had long since peeled off.
Cobwebs clung to the corners like parasites, and a single plastic fan spun weakly from above, clicking with every rotation like it might fall at any second.
There was no separation between living space and kitchen just a rusted gas burner beside a sink piled with unwashed dishes.
A small fridge, humming louder than it should, stood at an awkward angle beside a chipped wooden table missing one leg and propped up with books.
A battered laptop sat atop the table, its screen cracked, next to a stack of unopened mail and crumpled instant noodle cups.
One window was half-covered with a torn curtain which let in a sliver of sunlight, just enough to illuminate the dust dancing through the air.
And that was it. No bathroom in sight. Max could only assume it was shared down the hall.
"Huh?! This isn’t my apartment! Nor is it Suz’s. So where the hell am I?" Max asked as he tried to stand up when something cut his hand. "Ouch!" He muttered as he looked down to see a cracked mirror with his reflection staring back at him.
"What the actual fuck?!" He screamed as he grabbed the mirror and stared hard at his reflection.
The face staring back at him was unfamiliar: gaunt, pale, and worn out. Dark circles carved themselves beneath dull brown eyes, the kind that looked like they hadn’t known a good night’s sleep in weeks.
His hair, a tangled mess of black strands, looked greasy and unkempt, as if water hadn’t touched it in days. His lips were dry and cracked, his cheeks hollow from malnourishment.
But beneath all that neglect... there was something. A sharp jawline, hidden under the shadow of stubble. Straight eyebrows. A nose that was neither too large nor too small just right.
He looked like someone who once had a spark but life, poverty, and loneliness had snuffed it out.
His arms were skinny, lacking muscle, but his frame had balance.
"This is not me!" Max shrieked out in surprise as the cracked mirror fell from his hands...
The glass shattered into countless pieces as his pale reflection stared at him from the broken pieces.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Max asked as his hands crept to his unkept hair, grabbing it in frustration while looking around the apartment with a confused expression.
He grabbed his cheeks and even squeezed on tight to see if he was dreaming but the sting from pinching it too hard made him realize he wasn’t dreaming at all.
"I need t..." His thoughts trailed off as he heard a loud ding in his head.
{Welcome to the Draconic Harem System!}
"Draconic Harem what?!" Max asked in confusion as he stared at the glowing blue system screen in front of his eyes.