The first thing I felt was cold.
Not the kind of cold that tickles your spine or nips your fingers, but the kind that gnaws at your soul. It seeped
into my bones, into the marrow, and clung to me like a second skin. It was suffocating. Disorienting. Real.
So... I didn't reincarnate. This isn't heaven. This isn't hell. This is-
My eyes snapped open.
Darkness. Endless, choking darkness. But it wasn't just the absence of light-it was alive. The air pulsed with
malevolence, like the world itself was breathing, whispering, watching.
I sat up, slowly. My body ached. Not just physically, but spiritually, like I'd been shattered and stitched back
together wrong.
I could barely make out the ground beneath me-twisted, blackened stone slick with a crimson sheen. The sky,
if you could call it that, was a swirling mass of blood-red clouds churning like a storm. No sun. No stars. Only
a faint violet glow from cracks in the ground that pulsed like a heartbeat.
And then the smell hit me.
Rot. Sulfur. Blood.So this is the Nether...
I stood, wobbling like a drunk toddler, trying to make sense of where the elf-goddess had dumped me. My
stomach churned-not from fear (okay, maybe a little)-but from the overwhelming stench of death. The air was
heavy with despair, and for a moment, I swore I heard... laughter. Faint. Distant. Mocking.
"Great," I muttered, voice dry and raspy. "First I get denied reincarnation. Then I get groped by gravity. Now
I'm in Hell's unfinished basement."
Somewhere in the distance, something screeched.
It wasn't human.
I froze.
Okay. Don't panic. Don't run. Running attracts monsters. I've seen anime. Running is code for "Eat me,
please."
I took a slow breath, eyes scanning the desolate, nightmare landscape. Twisted trees with no leaves. Jagged
rocks like skeletal fingers clawing at the sky. Pools of what I hoped was water, bubbling unnaturally.
I needed shelter. A weapon. Food, maybe? No, scratch that. My stomach had officially shut down in protest.
But most of all-I needed answers.
"Alright, Hinata," I muttered, slapping my cheeks. "You've died. Been denied an afterlife. Kicked into a
monster pit by an angry elf chick. You can either curl up and cry... or do what you always do."
I paused.
"What do I always do?"
Before I could dwell on my existential crisis, something rustled behind me.
I turned-and saw it.
A creature crawled into view, low to the ground, bones exposed through tattered flesh. Its mouth was a jagged
grin stretched ear to ear, and eyes glowed faintly yellow like dying embers. It twitched. Sniffed. Snarled.
Oh. Right. Running it is.
I bolted.
The terrain was uneven, sharp rocks tearing at my bare feet. I didn't care. The creature shrieked behind me,
clawed limbs skittering like a centipede on steroids.
"I take it back!" I shouted to no one. "Running is bad! Very bad!"
I darted behind a pillar of stone, heart pounding, lungs burning. The creature screeched again, louder this time.Closer.
And then-
BANG.
A flash of red light exploded across the landscape.
The creature wailed-a horrible, earsplitting sound-as its body erupted into flames. It writhed for a second, then
collapsed into ash.
I blinked.
What... just happened?
A figure emerged from the smoke, heels clacking against stone like a metronome of doom. She stepped into
view-tall, slender, and annoyingly confident. A long crimson coat billowed behind her, and her eyes-sharp,
golden, with slit pupils-locked onto mine.
Her silver hair glowed faintly in the dark.
She looked like a warrior who'd walked straight out of a fantasy poster... or an underworld fashion magazine.
"Tch," she muttered, sliding a smoking pistol into a holster at her thigh. "You scream louder than the demon."I blinked again.
"You... saved me?"
She smirked. "Debatable. I just don't like wasting bullets."
"You're an angel," I breathed.
"Wrong," she said flatly. "Try again."
"Demon?"
"Strike two."
"Uh... bounty hunter from Hell?"
She paused, then shrugged. "Close enough."
I slowly stood, brushing soot from my pants-what was left of them, anyway.
"Name's Hinata," I offered.
"I didn't ask."
"Right. Of course you didn't."She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Listen, newbie. This is the Nether. You're obviously fresh meat.
And around here, fresh meat gets eaten. Fast."
"I noticed."
She looked me over, then tossed me a rusty dagger from her belt.
"Try not to stab yourself with it. And try harder not to die."
I caught it clumsily. "Thanks... uh, what's your name?"
She gave me a long, unimpressed look.
"Alis," she said. "Try not to forget it. I hate repeating myself."
She turned, coat swirling as she walked.
I hesitated.
Then followed.
Not because I trusted her.
But because I was still alive.And in the Nether, that had to count for something.