NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: A Whole New World
It took days to adjust to this new body of his. Honestly he was not even sure if it had been just a couple of days. Maybe it had been weeks, it was hard to tell as he drifted in and out of consciousness. But what he did know, even from the get go, was that this body was not his own.
Yet this body he now occupied was also not one of a newborn, that much he knew. It was not muscular in any sort of way but it was far larger and powerful than his previous body. He saw flashes of memories of a life that was not his own, bursts of emotion that was not his own; but he was only able to see glimpses and not the whole picture
The following was a summary of the information he had been able to gather:
Firstly, his name was Lukas Drakos.
Lukas had worked hard to get where he wanted to be. Lukas had worked hard to earn the respect he knew he deserved.
Then something happened to Lukas.
He did not know what it was but he knew it had caused this body pain like he had never felt before. He had spent just a second of reliving the event but it felt like his entire body had been torn apart again and again and again.
That same pain was still there when he finally awoke, a constant dull throbbing that spread across his entire body. He was still healing and Julien...or Lukas now wondered whether or not he would ever heal from this pain.
Secondly, Lukas Drakos was not human.
His body was very much humanoid in nature but that was where the similarities ended.
The first time he awoke, Lukas had found himself in a dimly lit room and as he slowly recalibrated from regaining his consciousness, he realized he had been underwater all this time. He had soon drifted back into a deep slumber but those few seconds had allowed him to come to a few conclusions.
This body had no difficulty in breathing even submerged in water.
It was natural to him. What human did he know was capable of breathing underwater?
In his past life, he had always felt slow and clumsy under the surface of the water. Now, it was as if the water obeyed his every movement.
Lukas was able to move with a grace that he had never even been able to, all of it fluid and without resistance. There was nothing abnormal about his appearance when he looked down at his body. It was thin but yet still had some decent muscle mass on it. It was large yet not disproportionate. He was far taller, his frame much wider than compared to the body of Julien Fronterra.
The only trait that stood out above all else were the scars that streaked across his frame, starting from below the neck and ending just above his hip. Someone or...something had torn his body apart. No wonder he had felt so much pain.
What had happened to the original owner of this body? As hard as he tried to think, he had no answers.
Thirdly, Lukas Drakos was royalty.
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He already knew that this world was not his own, that much he could tell as a few glimpses into the memories of the original were made known to him.
He had read stories about this in his past life, worlds of magic and fantasy.
The world he now lived in was nothing like the modern one he had once inhabited, kingdoms and the aristocracy was how this world worked.
One thing was for certain, it was that he was most certainly royalty.
The room, despite not being the most well-lit, was lavish and filled with the fanciest decor he had ever seen in his life. And Julien Fronterra had made a decent living from being the world's most famous professional fighter.
Paintings, vases and chandeliers filled the room he had awoken in. At least Lukas would not have to suffer through poverty again because that was not something he wanted to have to go through in his second life. He was even dressed in posh robes which he quickly, however, threw to the side.
The more he looked around the room, the more he realized that, despite the luxury, it had been quite a while since the room was properly maintained.
Would someone who had all this wealth not have had people to clean and tidy the place up?
If he was really a noble of some sort, would there not have been people tending to him?
So many questions but yet no one to answer them.
Finally, Lukas Drakos had been bedridden for a very long time.
All of the memories of the original Lukas Drakos were from when he was young and now this body he had inherited had grown to become a young man.
He guessed he could have been anywhere from his late teens to his early 20s. He needed a mirror to be sure.
Had Lukas been in a coma of some sort? That seemed to be the only logical conclusion. But for how long was the biggest question on his mind. How he had been put in the coma in the first place? It did not take a genius for him to deduce that it had something to do with the scars that still throbbed with a dull ache.
He was lucky to have survived whatever had given him those injuries.
Lukas suspected waking him up had required some divine intervention, the same one that had put him in this new body: The Man in Green.
He was honestly surprised he had not lost his mind when he came face to face with that being.
After the encounter with what he could only assume was a god, his state of mind had been fragile. He was on the verge of insanity so he would not have been surprised if the god had made sure he remained sound of mind.
This new body of his, though powerful, was stiff and weak after years of dormancy.
"Lukas?"
He turned to face a woman standing at the door.
The woman had scales that covered her arms and a long reptilian-esque tail that trailed close behind her.
What confused him the most was not her appearance but instead, the look on the woman's face, the warmth in her voice and the love in her eyes. The woman raced forward and crushing him with a hug, tears running down her face.
Tears of happiness and joy streamed down her face as she held tightly onto him as if afraid that he would escape her embrace.
"My son! My son has returned to me!" The woman cried, rocking from side to side; crushing him in a tight hug.
This woman was his mother.
That was something that he had never been able to have in his life but this....was a new life.
So Lukas hesitated only for a moment before returning her embrace and holding her close, unable to bring himself to break away. For once, there was no need for Lukas to worry about where he was or what this world had in store for him.
None of that mattered. Not right now.
The only thing that mattered in this moment was that a son had returned to his mother. And he would not leave her again.