Born In Ashes: The Enigma

---) Pocket Watch (Ancient Relic): A powerful space time relic imbued with a Universal Core. Currently heavily damaged and cannot be used.

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"Space-time relic…" Azrael frowned as he read the information that appeared before his eyes. At the same time, he was quite confused about the source of the pop-up window that showed him the details of the watch.

If his mind weren't in a strange, numbed state, he would have definitely thought he had gone crazy—especially after seeing the strange monster sleeping under a tree in the garden.

"This room looks somewhat similar to the one I used to live in, but it's bigger and more luxurious…" Azrael muttered as he pulled up the right sleeve of his shirt and looked at his elbow. "This body looks exactly like mine when I was fifteen years old. There is even the birthmark on the elbow."

He took a deep breath and turned his head to look at the monster sleeping in the garden.

"Could it be that I somehow ended up in a completely different world that is somewhat similar to Earth?"

As he spoke, Azrael glanced at the old looking pocket watch in his hand. The words— Space-time relic— made him think that this watch might be the reason he had ended up here.

What concerned him most, however, was his current situation.

He wasn't entirely sure whether the body he was in was his own or that of someone else in this world who just happened to look exactly like him.

If it was his own body, that meant the thing that sent him here—most likely the pocket watch—had somehow reverted his body to its fifteen year old state.

If that were true, the next question was: where exactly was he now, and why did this place look so similar to the home he used to live in?

If this place resembled his old home, did that mean there was another version of him already living here?

Of course, that was only possible if he was still in his original body.

But if he wasn't—and had somehow ended up in the body of someone else who looked like him and lived in this house— then it was unlikely there was anyone else who looked like him around.

"If it's the first case, then I am in trouble, because there is no way I can explain to the people living in this house how or why I came here," Azrael muttered with a gloomy look on his face. "And if it's the second case, and I have somehow ended up in someone else's body, then I am still in trouble because I know nothing about this world, nor about the person whose body I now inhabit."

Just as Azrael was contemplating his situation, the pocket watch in his hand began to tremble slightly. A hazy, silver white light emitted from it, covering his entire body.

Startled by the strange phenomenon, Azrael was about to drop the pocket watch from his hand. But before he could—

(The area you are in is being watched by an unknown existence)

A line of prompt text flashed before his eyes, causing him to freeze.

He looked down at his body and saw that under the effect of the silver white light from the watch, his form had become transparent—as if he wasn't in the room...No! as if he wasn't in this world at all.

Azrael also sensed a strange pressure sweeping over the house—a pressure so intense it could freeze every living being in place.

However, due to the silver white light from the pocket watch, the strange pressure couldn't touch him and eventually moved away.

Azrael held the pocket watch with a thoughtful expression as he stared at the prompt that had appeared before his eyes.

"An unknown existence…" He muttered, trying to sense the strange power that had been scanning the surroundings.

He noticed it moving further away, though it seemed to have lingered a bit longer when passing by his room.

"Is this thing looking for me? And is the pocket watch hiding my presence from it?"

Still covered in silver white light, Azrael walked to bed he was sleeping on earlier and tried to touch it. But to his surprise, his hand passed through it as if he was a ghost.

Seeing he couldn't touch the bed, Azrael was even more certain that the silver white light emitting from the pocket watch had transferred him into a completely different space—a space separated from the outside world.

Azrael had many questions in his mind, but there was no one around to answer them.

"Also, what is this pop up window that keeps flashing before my eyes? Some kind of computer chip? Or something else that displays information like data?" He murmured, his eyes still on the disappearing prompt informing him of the fading presence of the unknown entity.

The hazy silver light from the pocket watch still enveloped him and showed no signs of fading.

Just as Azrael was considering what to do next—

Rumble!

The entire house—no, the tens of kilometers surrounding the house—began to tremble as a terrifying aura rose from one section of the estate.

As the aura surged, Azrael felt the strange power that had been scanning the area be completely annihilated.

The moment that power vanished, the pocket watch in his hand returned to normal, and the silver white glow surrounding him disappeared.

Crack! Crack! — — —

Several sharp cracking sounds echoed, and more fractures appeared on the already broken pocket watch.

At the same time, as the silver-white glow disappeared, two more prompts flashed before his eyes.

[Hidden Task — Successfully hide yourself from the beings of ??? has been completed]

[Reward — One Cosmic Energy Affinity Pill]

Azrael was momentarily stunned when he saw the prompts in front of him and before he could react, another information window opened before his eyes— and when he looked at it, he finally received the answer to one of his earlier questions.