Chapter 1: Why Him?
"For fuck's sake, why him?"
I cursed after seeing my reflection in the mirror of that lavish room. I leaned in closer, but the reflection didn't change. Same face. Same damn guy. Lucian Drelmont.
Out of all the people I could have ended up as, why did it have to be him?
I ran a hand through my hair, frustration boiling inside me. The room around me screamed wealth—fancy furniture, expensive decorations—everything looking like it belonged to someone important. But that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that Lucian Drelmont was a dead man walking.
He was one of the minor villains from the game Sword of Radiance—the same game I had poured more than 800 hours into.
.
.
My name was Allen Cross before I became this guy. I wasn't anyone special. Just another corporate drone stuck in a soul-crushing 9-to-6 job at a design company—one of those so-called black companies where they overworked you, paid you just enough to survive, and expected you to be grateful for it. No bonuses, no promotions—just endless deadlines and stress.
Gaming was my only escape. Sword of Radiance was my go-to, the one thing that made life bearable. And now, somehow, I was inside it.
But instead of being a hero or even some random adventurer, I got stuck as him.