My eyes opened slowly.
The morning sun was already peeking through the curtains, drawing warm lines across the floor. My chest rose in a steady rhythm — no pain, no glow, no voice.
Just silence.
For a moment, I simply lay there, letting the breath settle inside my lungs.
Then the memory hit.
That final whisper.
"Welcome back, 539."
The number echoed in my mind… cold, sharp, familiar.
539.
My designation in the lab.
My identity before I ever had a name.
Why here?
Why now?
Was it just a hallucination?
Or… did something from that world reach into this one?
Two worlds.
Two lives.
Two versions of me that shouldn't ever meet.
I sat up slowly, gripping my head as thoughts spiraled.
Maybe my memories didn't come by accident.
Maybe I was sent here… with a purpose.
To finish something.
To change something.
Because the world I came from — it wasn't done with me.
And this world — Eden — was definitely not safe.
I glanced around the quiet bedroom, breathing out a shaky laugh.
"This world… was supposed to be a novel."
I remembered reading only the first volume when I was young.
Back when life still had hope.
So how was I in it now?
Living a story that should've ended in death?
And worse — was the future already written?
Or had my arrival changed everything?
My heartbeat quickened with every question.
But then another thought struck me — something I had completely forgotten.
Everyone in Eden has a System Interface.
A guide.
A tracker of power, stats, skills — the foundation of every awakened being.
Sebastian had one.
I should too.
If last night was really a reawakening, then the system must have updated.
Maybe even evolved.
I swallowed, feeling a strange anticipation crawl up my spine.
Only one way to know.
I lifted my hand slightly… and whispered:
"System."