The moonlight spilled dimly through the cracked blinds, illuminating a crumpled room that reeked of marijuana and stale beer.
Steven sat hunched over his computer, eyes locked on the glowing screen as a conspiracy video droned on. Papers and empty cans cluttered the desk and floor, a chaotic reflection of his mind. Tonight's rabbit hole was about reptile people. Lizard men. Elites that never died, but just reincarnated into power, century after century.
Steven was a software engineer by day, but his real passion was learning about the world's hidden patterns - politics, history, wars, cryptocurrency, economics. To him, it was all connected by invisible threads. Conspiracies were just unacknowledged truths. When he wasn't working or theorizing, he escaped into anime or webnovels, where imagination felt safer than reality.
"...This is proof that Dwyane Wade was Sir Christopher Warren of England in his past life," the YouTuber said, voice trembling with conviction. "Look at the eyes, the smile, remove Sir Warren's moustache and they're identical!"
Steven leaned closer, squinting. "Heh… maybe there's some truth to it. Or maybe Sir Warren's just his ancestor. Genes, man."
He chuckled to himself, rubbing the back of his head. Then, with a long yawn, he shut down the computer and flopped onto his messy bed.
Within minutes, sleep claimed him, unaware that the faint hiss from the kitchen wasn't the fridge, but a leaking gas valve whispering doom into the night.
Steven turned over, half-asleep, as the hiss from the kitchen grew louder. A faint chemical smell drifted through the air, but he was too tired to notice.
In his dream, he saw symbols, triangles, eyes, golden rings, floating in a vast void. Whispers echoed in languages he didn't know but somehow understood.
He coughed once. The air felt heavy.
"Awaken, Observer."
The voice was deep and layerered
His eyelids twitched. The darkness thickened. Then there was a spark. The old desktop's loose wire made contact. A flash of light filled the room.
For a brief, blinding moment, Steven saw an eye open in the center of the flame.
And then everything went silent.
Steven couldn't tell if he was floating or falling. There was no body, no breath, only the echo of his last thought:
"Awaken, Observer."
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
[Welcome, Steven Kane.
Status: Consciousness preserved. Physical form- terminated.
Reassignment protocol: SUCCESSFUL.
Rebirth in progress…]
Steven blinked. Or at least he thought he did. Golden lines formed around him, connecting into triangles, eyes, and circles, like an architect's blueprint drawn across the void.
[E.Y.E. SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
["Knowledge is control. Control is reality."]
A calm, synthetic female voice filled his mind. It was soothing, yet inhumanly precise.
[E.Y.E: "Welcome, Observer Candidate. Your consciousness has been selected for continuation under Directive 001 - the Illuminati Genesis Program."]
"Wha... What is this? Am I… dead?"
[E.Y.E: "Affirmative. Cause of death: accidental gas ignition. Probability of divine selection: 0.0000007%. You have been chosen for evaluation in an alternate plane."]
Before he could process that, his vision shifted. The darkness fractured like glass, and blinding sunlight poured through.
He gasped. Air filled his lungs. He could feel again.
He sat up abruptly on a silk-lined bed beneath a canopy of white curtains. The room was spacious, decorated with gold and marble, and outside the tall window he saw rolling hills, horses, and distant stone towers.
"What… what the hell...."
He looked down at his hands. They were smaller, smoother. His skin pale, his body young.
A memory not his own surfaced:
"You are Lord Lucien Valemont, second son of Duke Valemont of Norwyn."
[SYSTEM UPDATE: HOST MEMORY INTEGRATION COMPLETE.]
[Identity Mask: Lucien Valemont (Age: 13)
Bloodline: Noble.
Access Level: Tier 1 Citizen.
Illuminati Rank: Initiate (0 Tokens)]
[E.Y.E: "Rebirth successful. Your mission is to rise within this civilization and re-establish the Order's dominion. You will shape this world's destiny through knowledge, influence, and invention."]
Steven or rather, Lucien took a deep breath, staring at his reflection in a mirror. A boy's face stared back. He had dark hair, intelligent eyes, noble clothing.
He whispered, "So… the conspiracy was real all along."