There was nothing but bckness. An endless, silent void that swallowed everything. Mindy floated there, weightless, stripped of any sensation except for the faintest pull of anticipation. Before her hovered a single panel of soft golden light, smooth and gsslike, etched with elegant script that shimmered like stars in water.

  [Transmigration Sequence Initializing...]

  Mindy stared at the glowing words, her heart calm despite the vast emptiness around her. She had no body, only awareness, but that didn't bother her. The system had expined it would be like this.

  A clean ste before rebirth. And she was ready. Or at least, she thought she was.

  Suddenly, a sharp buzz crackled through the airless dark, and the panel flickered violently.

  [ERROR DETECTED]

  [DATA STREAM CORRUPTED]

  [RECALIBRATING…]

  [CRITICAL FAILURE: Transmigration Process Interrupted]

  "What?" The words left her mouth as a ripple of panic shivered through her consciousness.

  "What's going on?" she asked again.

  The panel glitched again, stuttering like a dying signal. It then went dark for one breathless moment.

  Then:

  [SOLUTION FOUND]

  [Emergency Protocol Engaged. Preparing Alternative Entry…]

  Before Mindy could process the message, the world dropped out from under her.

  She fell.

  She fell so fast that the nothingness around her quickly turned into motion, blinding, rushing, roaring motion. Wind without wind, a scream without sound. She tumbled through the void, a flicker of consciousness torn from its moorings, spinning toward something unseen. As green lights along with yellow started to appear at a rapid rate in the void.

  And then:

  *Thud*

  She hit something.

  A gasp tore from her lips as she quickly sprung up, gasping continuously.

  She y on her knees on the soft earth as dirt along with fallen leaves clung to her bare skin. Sunlight filtered through the forest canopy above, dappling the mossy ground with gold and green. Birds chirped in the distance. And a breeze rustled through the branches.

  What the fuck just happened! she thought to herself as scenes of the past fshed through her mind.

  One moment she was in an endless void. The next thing she saw was the system she had been talking to earlier fsh with error signs. Before she then felt the feeling of falling in this expanse of darkness.

  As green lights along with yellow emerged in the void, practically consuming it, her vision suddenly changed to a breathtaking ndscape. The sky was blue, and up there she caught brief gnces of creatures unknown to her as they fpped their wings. However, this experience was short-lived because below her was an area filled entirely with green. A forest.

  All she knew was that she was falling. She had no idea what to do, so she just raised her arms in an attempt to protect her face as her speed increased along with her descent to the ground.

  As she regained awareness, she suddenly raised her head, her heart pounding, her chest heaving as she looked around where she had just fallen.

  In front of her were trees. Long thick trees filled with leaves that scattered the ground around her. The light of the sun shone as it pierced through the canopy of the trees, slightly catching her eyes.

  She then fell to the ground on her back as her heart began to calm down, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain.

  "Ah!" she groaned slightly as she sat back up. Her arms reached for the point on her back that hurt when her dazed eyes widened in realization. She was naked. But not just that. She was naked and alone in a pce completely unfamiliar to her.

  She tried to stand up when suddenly another burst of pain came to her. However, this one was different.This one came along with a surge of memories that crashed into her mind like a tidal wave.

  In these memories came two things. One were nguages she had never learned. And two was knowledge on how to use her system.

  She clutched her head as she endured this light bit of pain. And just as the pain dissipated, her face suddenly contorted into one filled with anger and fury.

  Her teeth clenched, along with her fists, as her head faced towards the sky, where she then screamed with all her might.

  "Damn you! You stupid system!"