Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra

"S-So...r..y."

Adrian could see Aurelius nearby, standing like a statue, his face frozen in disbelief, as if the scene before him was too impossible to comprehend. It seems the main character has been tranced.

Lloyd and Elara worked frantically to close his wound with magic, but the poison had spread too quickly, leaching the life from him even as they tried to heal him.

Aria was still searching her ring, her fingers scrambling for anything, her breaths coming in ragged sobs. "Don't… please, don't leave me. I'll save you, Adrian, I swear I will!"

But the darkness was so close now, the roar of the explosion growing louder, consuming all sound, all thought.

He could see it—the relentless tide of destruction rushing toward them, unstoppable, inevitable. And as his vision darkened, he felt a strange calm settle over him, the last vestiges of the relic's light pulsing faintly within him.

'It's over now...'

'...'

But somewhere, deep down, a small voice whispered that maybe this had all been a dream, that he would wake up any second now, back in his room with the sun streaming in through the window.

But as the darkness pressed in, as the light around him started to fad to nothing, he knew he wouldn't wake up.

This wasn't a dream.

It was the end.

He closed his eyes, surrendering to the pull of sleep, the darkness a welcome reprieve from the pain. He could feel Aria's hand, warm and steady, clutching his with fierce determination, her voice a faint echo as she begged him to stay, her words a soft lullaby that carried him toward oblivion.

And then there was nothing but silence, and the darkness embraced him fully.

"..."

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"..."

The darkness gave way to a strange, ethereal light.

Blink~

Adrian blinked stunned as he found himself standing in a vast, misty expanse that seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions. Through the swirling fog, he could make out the silhouettes of massive structures – ancient ruins that towered like mountains against an impossible horizon, their crumbling forms both magnificent and unsettling.

'Did I... die?'

It was the first question that came into his mind.

He frowned, taking in his surroundings with growing confusion. Something about this place tugged at his consciousness, a half-forgotten memory that danced just beyond his reach. The weathered stones, the peculiar quality of the light filtering through the mist – it all felt hauntingly familiar, as though he had walked these grounds before.

Or perhaps...

His footsteps echoed strangely as he began to walk, the sound neither muffled nor clear, but something in between. The mist parted and swirled around him with each step, revealing glimpses of more ruins – grand archways, fallen columns, and structures that defied conventional architecture.

'I've been here before,' he realized, though he couldn't place when or how. The knowledge sat in his mind like a dream half-remembered, just vivid enough to recognize but too hazy to fully grasp.

Then, a voice reverberated through the mist, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Alex."

His eyes widened, body tensing at the sound of a name he hadn't heard in what felt like lifetimes. A name that belonged to another world, another life – his real life before all of this.

Immediately, his guard went up.

Could this be...?

The entity that had sent him into the novel? The being responsible for his rebirth? TheChroniclesMaster or whatever they were? His mind raced with possibilities, each more unsettling than the last.

The name echoed again, "Alex."

He gripped his head, trying to sort through the conflicting memories and emotions surging through him. If this was indeed the entity that had sent him into the novel, did that mean... had everything been false? The relationships he'd built, the battles he'd fought, the life he'd lived – was it all just an elaborate illusion?

"No," he whispered firmly, then louder, "No!"

He shook his head violently, rejecting the doubt that threatened to overwhelm him.

The memories of his life as Adrian weren't just stories on a page – they were real. The warmth of Aria's hand in his, the trust of his companions, the pain of his wounds, the triumph of their victories, and the sting of their defeats – those feelings were too vivid, too genuine to be mere fabrications.

The mist ahead of him began to shift and coalesce, drawing his attention. A figure emerged – or perhaps 'figure' wasn't the right word. What appeared before him was unlike anything he had ever seen... or had he?

The entity's form shifted like a mirage, never quite settling into a definite shape. What he could make out resembled some kind of majestic beast rather than any human or humanoid race he knew of. But trying to focus on its true form was like trying to catch smoke with his bare hands – the more he tried to understand what he was seeing, the more it seemed to defy comprehension.

Yet somehow, deep in his soul, he felt he had seen this being once before, in a moment lost to the depths of his memory.

The entity's voice resonated again, each word carrying the weight of ages: "Alex... you have proven... yourself... so I will lend a hand this time..." There was a pause, heavy with significance. "But it comes with a price..."

"A heavy one..."

The words sent a shock through his system. "W-What are you talking about?" he stuttered, his voice sounding small in the vast space. "Do you mean you'll save me? Or..." His heart clenched as he thought of the others, facing the approaching explosion. "...everyone?"

But the entity offered no clarification.

Instead, it moved – or perhaps the space between them moved. One moment it was distant, the next it was upon him, approaching with impossible speed. Before Alex could react, before he could even draw breath to speak, the being's form collapsed into a point of brilliant light and shot straight into his forehead.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

His mind went blank.

All thought, all memory, all sense of self disappeared in a flash of white that consumed everything. The last thing he registered was a sensation of immense power flowing into him, and then...

Everything went white.

The mist, the ruins, his consciousness – all of it dissolved into a singular point of pure, brilliant light, carrying with it the weight of a choice he hadn't even had the chance to make, and the echo of a price yet to be revealed.

In that moment of absolute whiteness, somewhere between life and death, between one world and another, Alex – or Adrian – or whoever he truly was, ceased to exist as an individual and became something else entirely.

The light expanded, ready to return to the world he had left behind.

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(A/N: We are approaching the end of the volume. The next chapter will be the last chapter. Since the month ends today, I advise you to read it before the day ends. It will be released after 5 or 6 hours later. Or even earlier.)