That bastard.
That backstabbing, pompous, two-faced son of a gun whose choices and death almost destroyed half of the continent in Ashes of the Accursed.
He wasn't a hero.
He wasn't even a good antagonist.
"Even the guy who was killed by a rock was far better than him!"
Ronan was the kind of character who you hated from his first smug line. It was actually the author's grace that he did not live that long in the book.
But that bastard was now me.
"Out of everyone,"
I stared at my reflection.
"Out of every badass, every underdog, even the actual saviours in the entire book, I get reincarnated into him?"
I took in a deep breath.
"At least I am not someone from the other book"
Yeah, I almost forgot the book I was reading back on the plane, I Reincarnated into a Cursed World as an Extra, was about a boy who reincarnated into a world of curses from a book he read.
As an Extra, just like the title.
I wonder why this sounds so Familiar.
That's because it's my current situation. It is literally the same world.
Varek reincarnated into the world of Ashes of the Accursed living through it and making the story I would read. And I become Ronan a stepping stone in the original book and a cameo in the second book.
"What in the inception is this?"
I transmigrated into a transmigrator's Story.
Varek read a book and got reincarnated. I read a book and got reincarnated.
Maybe out there was someone reading the story of like. I hope they also get reincarnated. The more the merrier right?
I stared into the distance.
But that's beside the point.
My issue with Varek's story was Varek Himself.
The very concept of his existence bothered me.
When he arrived in this world, he turned it into his playground. Pulling the strings from behind the scenes, thinking he was the prophesied saviour of humanity, while he was the actual opposite. He was their ruin.
Our ruin.
On a brighter note, he probably transmigrated a few weeks ago. Maybe I could plan on how to convince him my survival is a part of the changes to the plot.
"I like Dorian better,"
Dorian was the protagonist of Ashes of the Accursed. Though he was a bit stuck, there was an allure to him and his cause.
"Wait!"
What the hell was happening?
I ran my hand through my hair in silence for a few seconds. Something was not right.
Why does the thought of Varek bring nothing but disgust to me?
"I did not hate him before, so what changed?"
Then something flashed in my mind.
"Am I being influenced by Ronan's memories?"
I mean it was plausible, because aren't we all the sum of all our memories and experiences?
Memories...
"Shit!"
This world, Oblivra, was a very peculiar one. It was quite similar to Earth. Its lands, its oceans, and its civilisations were all thriving and familiar. Then came the Sundering.
It wasn't exactly stated in the books what caused it and how it began, or maybe they were going to and I died before they did, but whatever it was, it shattered the natural order expanding Oblivra and plunging it into an era of fire, shadow, and endless screams.
The skies cracked, creating fractures that began to spill out horror creatures who fed on human flesh.
The age of Demons began.
It was the classic demon invasion story with heroes rising to lead Humanity in reclaiming their falling world, but it was not all roses and sunshine.
Things worsened for humanity as the demons constantly gained ground, eventually bringing a large part of the planet under their control.
A part of humanity gave up on Oblivra and set its sights on the stars, hoping to get a new home.
They discovered a habitable planet which was already populated, and history repeated itself.
Humanity invaded the planet, intending to colonise it, but failed terribly and was pushed back to Oblivra.
The Alien race was out for Revenge. It was not satisfied with just pushing humanity back and even attacked Oblivra, hoping to colonise it.
From an outsider's perspective, it was comical. Like watching a raccoon getting kicked out of a dumpster by a bigger raccoon, only for it to go to another dumpster across the street and get chased back by a family of angry possums.
And now all wildlife is converging on the raccoon's original dumpster, arguing over whose trash it really was.
Humanity, in this case, was the raccoon. It was scrappy, persistent, wildly overconfident, and perpetually covered in metaphorical and literal garbage.
But how did Humanity get the chance to start a war with an alien race, you ask?
You see demons were not the only thing that spilled out of the fractures in the sky. Energy also spilled out of the fractures invading Oblivra terraforming it making it conducive for the demons.
The Energy did not just change the planet, it also changed humanity, but not in the usual positive way it did in most novels. Descendants of the Sundering survivors changed.
They were born with unique marks. A symbol etched into their flesh and soul. It did nothing at first, but by age 16, they had to awaken it or lose themselves by 18, becoming an empty, hollowed being without thought or identity.
A Bleath.
Awakening this mark granted humanity hope in the form of supernatural abilities that levelled the playing ground. But this power come at a cost. The sacrifice of one's memories.
The marks were soon labelled as curse marks, and the abilities as curses because they were not exactly favourable. The energy powering these abilities was eventually named Curse Energy, or CE in short.
The awakening process of these cursed marks was not as long as it was life-changing.
I just recently went through it.
Yes, the stone layering and being baked was the awakening.
My eyes surveyed the mess I had created in the room. I could see the bits of stone that had cocooned me just moments ago everywhere.
"How is this possible? Ronan already underwent his awakening."
I was sure of it.
I had the memories to prove it.
So why the hell did I go through the same thing just moments after being transmigrated?
"Is it because I am not Ronan?"
It was a strange thought.
I could tell I was not Ronan Fitzroy but Kairos Lim.
But was I really?
After gaining Ronan's memories, I felt different. I had relived them as him.
I was not just Kairos or Ronan, but a weird amalgamation of both.
Then my face lit up.
I had two curse abilities! This was definitely better than having one!
I was special.
"Maybe I really am the protagonist!"
The was only one way to find out.
"My runes."
Whenever one awakened, they received runes that quantified the changes their body underwent. It was the perfect way to see your growth.
But something happened
"Knock!"
It was brisk, but my eyes immediately went to the door.
A few seconds later, it opened.