"What the f*ck was that? Aaghh," Zen groaned, confusion warring with the sharp ache radiating from every bruise.
He pushed himself up, wincing as fiery pain lanced through his ribs.
His mind raced, a jumble of fragmented memories – the alley, the men, the crushing darkness... then the agony of falling through skies.
He rubbed his temples, trying to push through the pounding headache that mirrored the thrumming energy in the air.
As his bleary eyes scanned the towering trees, their bark swirling with faint, internal light, the voice that had spoken his location echoed again, soft yet resonant, seeming to vibrate within his very bones.
"Hello, Zen," it said.
Startled, Zen scrambled back, sharp twigs digging into his palms.
He whipped his head around, peering into the dense, shadowed undergrowth. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he demanded, his voice cracking with fear and exhaustion.
Only the rustle of enormous, glowing leaves answered him.
The voice spoke once more, directionless yet intimate, like a thought spoken aloud inside his skull. "Calm yourself. I am Iris, a servant of Miss Erza."
"Iris?" Zen muttered, his eyes darting warily across the alien landscape.
The air tasted thick and green, tinged with an unfamiliar metallic tang. "Where are you? What's going on? Who is Miss Erza?"
"I am not a physical being," Iris explained, her tone patient but firm. "I exist as a guide, a consciousness sent to assist you on your journey in Narza by Miss Erza."
"Journey?" Zen choked out, frustration bubbling up. "What journey? Where am I? And what's Narza?" He pushed himself fully upright, his muscles screaming in protest. The sheer scale of the trees, the unnatural light, the charged air – it all screamed wrongness.
"You are in Narza," Iris replied, her voice carrying a hint of reverence. "A new world, vibrant and teeming with life, yet profoundly vulnerable. It requires protection from powers beyond mortal ken – specifically, from the encroaching Void and its monstrous legions. As for how you arrived here..." A pause, heavy with implication. "Zen, your life in your previous world ended. Miss Erza chose you, plucking your soul from the brink of oblivion, to serve as her avatar here. Your task is to set up protective arrays across this land. These arrays will act as conduits, allowing Miss Erza to weave a divine shield over Narza."
"Who is Miss Erza?" Zen pressed, the name echoing strangely in the heavy air.
"Miss Erza is a higher being," Iris answered, her tone imbued with deep respect. "She is a guardian of realities, tasked with managing worlds, ensuring their balance, and shielding them from existential threats. Protecting vulnerable realms like Narza is her sacred duty."
Zen stared blankly at a giant, iridescent beetle crawling on a nearby root, his mind reeling.
He died?
He was chosen?
It felt absurd.
"Wait, wait, hold on!" he stammered, running a trembling hand through his hair. "I died? And out of everyone on Earth – billions of people – Erza picked me? Why? Why in hell would she do that?"
"Your soul," Iris said gently, yet with undeniable certainty, "is unique. Among the countless souls across the cosmos, yours possessed the singular resilience necessary to survive the transference to Narza intact."
"Why?" Zen demanded, incredulity sharpening his voice. "Why would my soul be any stronger? I was just... nobody."
The memory of his crumpled form on the apartment floor flashed, bitter and raw.
"Because," Iris answered, her patience unwavering, "your soul is ancient. It has journeyed through countless lifetimes across myriad different worlds. Each existence, each trial, each ending, has tempered and strengthened it, forging it into the vessel capable of bearing this burden now."
Zen opened his mouth, another question forming on his lips, but it died instantly.
ROAR
A sound ripped through the forest stillness – a deep, guttural ROAR that shook the very ground beneath his feet. It was primal, a terrifying blend of a predator's challenge and the groan of shifting tectonic plates, echoing through the massive trunks.
"What was that?" Zen whispered, panic turning his blood to ice. He could feel the vibration in his chest.
"Run!" Iris's voice snapped, sharp and urgent. "Run in the opposite direction! Now!"
Pure instinct took over.
Zen didn't think much and he bolted.
He crashed through thick ferns that released clouds of shimmering spores, ducked under low-hanging branches that scraped his shoulders, his feet slipping on the moss-slick forest floor.
The roar seemed to chase him, vibrating through the soles of his worn sneakers.
"What the hell is going on? And what the hell was that?" Zen gasped between ragged breaths, the humid air burning his lungs.
The scent of crushed vegetation and damp earth filled his nostrils.
"It's something dangerous, but just keep running!" Iris urged, her voice tight with controlled alarm. "Focus on moving!"
Branches whipped at his face and arms like angry serpents, leaving stinging welts.
His heart hammered against his bruised ribs, a frantic drumbeat of terror.
He stumbled over a gnarled root, crashing painfully to one knee before scrambling up, disoriented by the chaotic symphony of snapping twigs, his gasps, and the lingering, bone-chilling echo of the roar.
"Arggh! What the hell did I do to this forest to be treated like this? Arggh!" Zen shouted into the oppressive green gloom, frustration momentarily overriding fear.
Up ahead, through a break in the massive tree trunks, he spotted a dark fissure in a moss-covered rock face – a small cave, its entrance just large enough for a human to squeeze into.
Desperation clawed at him.
"Iris! Should I hide in there?" Zen panted, pointing towards the shadowed opening.
"No!" Iris's voice cut through his panic like a whip crack. "Stay away from the cave! It's not—"
But it was too late.
As Zen hesitated, drawn to the promise of shelter, a shape detached itself from the absolute darkness within the cave entrance.
Not a shadow, but substance.
A massive, triangular head, wider than Zen was tall, emerged.
Emerald scales, each the size of a dinner plate and polished like obsidian, caught the faint forest light.
Cold, reptilian eyes, glowing with predatory intelligence, fixed unblinkingly on Zen.
The head alone filled the cave mouth, and the sinuous body behind it promised impossible length.
Zen froze, paralyzed by a terror deeper than anything he'd ever known.
The air filled with a dry, musky scent, like ancient leather and dust.
"Iris!" Zen choked out, his voice a strangled whisper. "Why the f*ck is there a giant snake in front of me?"
"Zen, would you shut up? You're going to die if you keep shouting!" Iris hissed, her voice taut with urgency.
Behind him, the ground-shaking roar came again, closer now.
Much closer.
Zen turned his head slowly, dread coiling in his gut.
Through the trees, he saw it – a creature towering above the canopy.
Jagged, forest-green scales armored a body the size of a small house.
Powerful, clawed limbs tore at the earth.
A long neck snaked forward, ending in a head dominated by rows of serrated teeth and eyes that burned with malevolent, hungry fire.
It spotted the snake – and Zen.
"Holy sh*t," Zen breathed, the words barely audible. "That's f*cking Godzilla!"
"Shut up!" Iris's warning was sharp, almost angry. "Stop drawing their attention!"
"Iris! What do I do?" Zen's voice cracked, high-pitched with raw fear.
He was trapped between two living nightmares.
"Run to the left!" Iris commanded, the force in her voice jolting him into action. "Now! Into the thick ferns! Go!"
Zen obeyed, throwing himself sideways with a burst of desperate speed.
He crashed through a wall of enormous, glowing ferns, the fronds whipping against his skin.
As he ran, risking a glance back, he saw the two titans lock onto each other.
The colossal snake – the 'noctusk', as Iris would later name it – uncoiled further from the cave, its body impossibly long and thick as an ancient tree trunk.
It hissed, a sound like steam escaping a ruptured boiler, venom dripping from enormous fangs.
The dragon-like beast – the 'drakonis' – lowered its massive head and growled, a sound that vibrated the air itself.
Its powerful, spiked tail slammed down onto the forest floor with a thunderous CRACK, gouging deep trenches in the earth and sending showers of dirt and glowing moss into the air.
"F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck," Zen chanted under his breath like a terrified mantra as he plunged deeper into the forest, the sounds of the colossal clash erupting behind him – the screech of scale on scale, the thunderous impact of bodies, the splintering crash of massive trees being uprooted.
"Zen, stop swearing like you're about to die!" Iris snapped, her voice strained by the distant cacophony.
"But I am going to die because of you—!" Zen shouted back, ducking as a falling branch whistled past his head.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," Iris replied, a hint of genuine contrition cutting through the tension.
"If you're sorry, get me back to my world!" Zen demanded, leaping over a moss-covered boulder.
"I can't," Iris answered, her tone final. "You're already dead in your previous world. Narza is your reality now."
"Figures," Zen muttered bitterly, the truth landing like another blow.
He didn't see the titans clash fully, but he felt it.
The ground bucked violently, nearly throwing him off his feet.
Behind him, the forest roared with the sounds of destruction – a symphony of snapping timber, bestial roars, and the earth itself groaning.
The tremors chased him as he ran.
"What were those things?" Zen panted, his lungs burning, his legs trembling with exertion.
The air tasted of dust and ozone now.
"The dragon-like creature is a drakonis," Iris explained rapidly, her voice taut. "A forest wyvern. Immense strength, a bite force capable of crushing stone, and an innate sense that lets it track prey within a hundred-meter radius. The snake is a noctusk, a guardian. It was protecting its eggs in that cave. Its venom liquefies nerve tissue – potent enough to kill a creature ten times your size in minutes. Its scales are nearly impervious to conventional weapons."
"Great," Zen muttered, sarcasm laced with genuine despair. "Just fantastic. So I'm stuck in a world where the local wildlife makes nightmares look like bedtime stories." Sweat stung his eyes, and the metallic taste of fear was thick in his mouth.
Before Iris could respond, her voice suddenly sharpened to a piercing edge. "Zen! Dodge! Left, NOW!"
"What? Wh—" Zen started, turning his head.
A sharp, sudden sting pierced his upper back, near his shoulder blade.
It felt like a hot needle driven deep into the muscle.
Zen stumbled, a gasp escaping him.
His vision blurred at the edges, and a strange, cold numbness began spreading rapidly from the wound.
He tried to reach back, fingers fumbling, and felt the small, feathered shaft of a dart embedded in his flesh.
The world tilted violently.
His limbs felt leaden, unresponsive.
He crashed to his knees, the forest floor rushing up to meet him.
"What... the heck... is this?" he slurred, his tongue thick and clumsy. His head lolled.
From the dense underbrush, shadows detached themselves.
Five figures emerged – small, hunched, with leathery green skin stretched taut over wiry frames.
Their eyes glinted with malicious glee in the dim light, and their wide mouths split into grins filled with sharp, yellowed teeth.
One, clutching a crude spear tipped with a jagged shard of obsidian, let out a high-pitched, grating cackle and pointed directly at the paralyzed Zen.
"Damn..." Zen managed to slur, his voice fading into a whisper as the cold numbness spread to his chest. "...ugly little... bastards..."
The goblins' harsh, mocking laughter echoed strangely in his ears, growing distant and distorted.
Rough hands grabbed his arms, dragging him across the rough ground.
The vibrant, terrifying world of Narza dimmed, replaced by an encroaching, smothering darkness as consciousness slipped away.