The harsh blue light from Kai's monitor was the only illumination in his bedroom as his fingers tapped furiously across the keyboard. Empty energy drink cans and snack wrappers littered his desk—evidence of another all-night gaming session. His test obsession was a brutal demon-world MMORPG that had consumed his life for the past three months.

  "Just one more level," he muttered, ignoring the dull ache in his chest that had been bothering him all evening.

  At eighteen, Kai should have been preparing for college interviews or hanging out with friends. Instead, he'd retreated further into virtual worlds after his parents' divorce st year. The games were an escape—particurly the isekai genre where protagonists got transported to fantasy worlds and became powerful heroes.

  The pain in his chest suddenly intensified. He winced, pressing his hand against his sternum.

  Just indigestion from all the junk food, he thought.

  On screen, his character had just defeated a demon lord, absorbing its powers in a fsh of crimson light. The game's upgrade menu appeared, showing his character's transformation into a more powerful being.

  "That's what I want," Kai whispered, leaning back in his chair as the pain spread across his chest. "To start over somewhere else. Somewhere I could actually matter."

  The pain became crushing now, stealing his breath. His left arm went numb as cold sweat broke out across his forehead. Through dimming vision, he saw his character on screen, now transformed with horns and glowing red eyes, standing victorious over fallen enemies.

  "I wish... I could be reborn... in another world," he gasped, the words barely audible as he clutched at his chest. "Even... as a demon... just somewhere I could be... something more..."

  The monitor light flickered as Kai slumped forward. His final conscious thought was wondering if anyone would find him before his character timed out from inactivity.

  Somewhere between existence and nothingness, consciousness lingered.

  Am I dead?

  Kai felt nothing—no body, no pain, not even the sensation of floating. Just awareness in an endless void.

  A presence materialized before him—not visible, but undeniably there. It seemed to study him with amused interest.

  "Interesting," a voice echoed, though Kai heard it without ears. "Another human wishing for another chance. How delightfully unoriginal."

  Kai would have flinched if he had a body. "Who—"

  "Does it matter? I'm bored, you're dead, and you've made a wish at a most opportune moment." The presence circled him. "You wished to be reborn in another world, even as a demon. That's convenient, as I happen to have a vacancy in a particurly fascinating demon realm."

  Before Kai could respond, the presence continued, "I'll grant your wish, but with a twist. Memories are such cumbersome things for infants. Let's keep them locked away until you're ready, shall we? When you come of age, everything will return. Until then, you'll need to survive on instinct alone."

  Arm surged through Kai's consciousness. "Wait—"

  "Don't worry, I'll be watching. You'll be my entertainment for the coming years. Make it interesting, won't you?"

  The void began to dissolve around him. Panic set in as Kai felt himself being pulled into a crushing darkness.

  "Good luck, little demon," the voice faded with what sounded like ughter. "Try not to die too quickly this time."

  Pain. That was the first sensation. Intense, overwhelming pain as something squeezed and pushed from all sides.

  Then light—blinding and harsh after the darkness.

  Then cold air filling lungs that had never breathed before.

  A newborn's wail echoed through a dimly lit stone chamber, but the cry had an unnatural quality—slightly too deep, slightly too forceful for a human infant.

  "It's a boy," a tired voice announced. "Strong lungs on this one."

  "The mother?" a different voice asked.

  "Gone. Lost too much blood. These mixed breeds always cause complications."

  A rough hand lifted the crying infant. In the flickering torchlight, the small form already showed signs of its demonic heritage—slight bumps where horns would eventually grow, skin with a faint reddish tint, and eyes that glowed briefly when they opened.

  "What shall we do with it?" the first voice asked. "It's half-breed sve stock, but it survived the birth."

  "Take it to the crèche with the others," ordered a stern female voice from the shadows. "One more worker for the pits eventually. Mark it as caste-bound—sve mother, unknown father."

  The infant was wrapped in a coarse cloth, a small metal tag affixed to the bundle. The tag bore a simple mark designating the lowest of castes—Thrall. Property. Sve.

  "Does it need a designation?" the handler asked.

  "The mother didn't name it before passing," came the reply. "Just put it in the registry as Thrall 7249. If it survives to working age, it can earn a use-name."

  The newborn was carried through dark corridors lined with glowing runes, past chambers where other sves worked under the watchful eyes of overseers. None spared more than a gnce at yet another sve child born into bondage.

  In a rge room filled with rows of simple cribs, the infant was pced in an empty spot. Around him, other demon children of various ages were attended by older sve women too infirm for harder bor. Most of the infants were full-blooded demons of the sve caste, their features more developed than the newcomer's.

  "This one's different," observed an elderly caretaker, her own horns broken from years of abuse. She peered at the infant with milky eyes. "Something odd about the soul. Feels... foreign."

  "Don't start with your superstitions," the handler warned. "It's just another half-breed. Probably won't st the month."

  As they walked away, the infant's cries subsided. His tiny hand closed around the edge of the rough bnket, grip surprisingly strong for a newborn.

  Inside that small form, locked behind magical barriers that would hold for eighteen years, the consciousness that had once been Kai slumbered. The human soul, now encased in a demon infant's body, would wait for its awakening.

  But first, it would need to survive.

  In the shadows beyond the realm, a presence observed with detached amusement. The board was set. The game could begin.