Darkness.
A damp, rotten smell fills the air. The sound of heavy chains rattling echoes through the void.
A boy sits curled up in the corner of a cold, stone prison cell. His hair is messy, his clothes are torn, and his breath is ragged. His wide, terrified eyes dart around the small, dimly lit room.
His hands tremble as he grips his head.
"How... How did this happen to me..?" His voice cracks with disbelief. His breathing quickens, panic rising.
"No! No! No! No! No... this can't be real! I thought this kind of thing only existed in fiction!! Right?"
Then, as if the weight of reality finally crushes him, he throws his head back and screams—
"GOD…!! YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME!!!??"
His desperate cry echoes through the empty prison.
Then—silence.
Everything fades to black.
We go back... to where it all began.
It was 2025.
My name is Sang, a 16-year-old boy, living in the heart of India's capital, New Delhi, or I just called it the City of Dung and poop. You'll know what I mean if you ever went to Delhi. Anyway, we moved here two years ago with my big, noisy family.
I was the definition of ordinary. Not tall, not short. Not ugly, not hot. Just... average. My greatest joy? Anime, manhwa, web novels, webtoon—you name it.
This weekend was shaping up to be a good one. Peaceful. Quiet. No school, no study, & no drama. Just me and my laptop.
Ohh! Look, our front neighbors just finished their construction few days ago. They were noisy as hell.
Crack! I stretched, my back popping as I exhaled in relief.
"Ahhh, that feels good..."
I plopped onto the soft carpet—black t-shirt, loose shorts—my perfect battle gear for a day of binge-watching.
I looked around. The house was unusually quiet today.
"Hmm... Where's everybody gone?" I paused for a sec. No noise. " Mm... Whatever. Not like I care! HeHehe! Time to find something juicy to read on Web novel."
Actually, I discovered this website not too long ago and I'm new at reading novel. So, yeah I like this already. And How know, I might also try writings in the future.
He grinned, pulling open the site.
Pages upon pages of colorful covers and catchy titles flew past my screen.
"Hmm.. There's alot to pick. I don't know which to choose. Should I just choose randomly?"
I kept scrolling, as there no interest.
Then—something caught his eye.
A newly uploaded novel. No ratings. No reviews. Just Nothing. Nothing wrong with the cover but...
Something feel off. Stared at the screen.
"LORD OF THE ISEKAI..." read the title.
"Hmm... Sounds interesting."
(Slow motion) He slowly moved the mouse pointer over it.
But suddenly...my finger trembled. A cold shiver ran down my spine. My heart beat faster. The room got darker around the corner.
Don't click that.
It wasn't a voice, but an instinct. Like something in his soul screaming danger. The type of instincts you feel when you know something is terribly wrong. I turn around as I feel like someone was behined me for a sec, feeling uneasy. He hesitated, stared at his laptop....
"Hmm… Tch. I'm probably just hungry."
He clicked the novel.
The synopsis appeared:
When an ordinary boy opens the wrong story... he awakens in chains.
And then—BOOM. He's consciousness fade. Everything went black.
Unconscious. Weightless. Silent.
Sang slowly regained awareness, with dizziness. His body ached, and something wet trickled down his forehead.
His vision was blurry, but light and color began to form.
He blinked, trying to make sense of the world.
"Whatttt... what happened to....?"
The first thing he saw made his blood freeze.
A man's severed head... inches from his face. Its bloodshot eyes stared straight at him.
"Hahhh! Fuck!! What the fuck?" Sang gasped, scrambling backward in terror.
He looked around, and what he see terrifies him from his core.
He was lying on the ground just outside a burning houses. Screams filled the air. Fire devoured rooftops. People ran and some figures was chasing them with weapons. Corpses lying around and some dogs were devouring their flesh. And some man pounding someone while holding, woman screaming. It was straight out of thriller movie.
He was surrounded by bodies, smoke, and smell of death.
"No, no, no... What the fuck is this? This isn't ...This CAN'T be happening!!"
Before he could even think straight, he heard a heavy footsteps approaching behind him. A shadow loomed over his body.
A deep voice growled:" Hmm.. This one looks extra tasty. Take him."
Another voice replied:" Oyy!! Those new guys kill too much. We need them alive..!"
A man in battered armor stood there, holding a blood-soaked axe, eyes cold and uncaring.
He fixed his gaze to Sang, who was trembling in fear. Sang opened his mouth to scream—
But the world went black again.
When I finally regained consciousness, the world around me was swaying. A rough wooden cart creaked beneath him, wheels groaning as it rolled through muddy terrain.Cold iron shackles dug into his wrists.
Confused, he looked around—dozens of others were packed into the cart with him, chained like animals. Men, women… most wore torn clothes and haunted expressions. No one spoke and no expression. Almost as if they were already unlive.
Panic surged in his chest. I tried to stand, to scream—but froze when I met the eyes of the others.
They weren't fighting. They weren't hoping.
Their eyes… were hollow.
That's when I realized.
These were no mere prisoners.
They were merchandise.
Slaves—headed toward a fate worse than death.
And I was one of them.
The caravan moved steadily along a dirt road, cutting through a forest thick with fog and silence.
Their destination?
Gravemire Town—a place infamous across The Forsaken Realm. A cesspool of corruption, blood trade, and the blackest of markets.
Especially... imfamous in slavery.
After traveling for what felt like hours, the convoy finally reached a flatter, well-worn road. But then, In the distance—dust. Hooves. Dozens of mounted men riding in fast from the east.
Another bandit group?
No… something worse.
An armed faction, possibly kingdom army or rebel, thundered in—nearly a hundred strong. The bandits, only half their number, stopped the convoy and readied their weapons nervously.
Sang tensed, watching from inside the cart. His wrists still chained, his heartbeat loud in his ears.
"Are they going to fight…? Who are they…?" he thought.
The leaders of both factions stepped forward, exchanging sharp glares.
The rebel leader—cloaked in crimson armor and a half-broken mask—spoke first in a language Sang had never heard before:
"I hier duhn yo fucking waster nocking of the yagon fortility no lester at dafton creek? Got quiry assdon in son potick?"
Sang blinked, confused.
"The fu*k language is that...? French? Spanish? Or something else entirely?"
He didn't know it yet, but he was hearing the common language of Human Race from the North Western Peninsula.
The rebel leader's eyes narrowed, his voice cold and sharp." You filthy scum… Preying on the helpless to survive? You call this survival?"
The bandit captain chuckled as if he'd heard a joke." Oh, come now, Commander. These people are strays in our land. It's their fault for wandering into our claws. They should've chosen better roads."
He grinned deviously." But... why don't we make a deal, eh? After all, we're not that different."