Book Restoration System: Savior Of The Forsaken Legends [BL]

Auri barely had time to react as the ceiling above him gave away and slammed against his back. The impact pummeled him to the ground, knocking what little oxygen was left in his lungs. A wave of dizziness exploded in his head, his mouth gasping desperately for air, but only a mixture of ash and smoke rushed in, choking him with his every gasp.

'I'm going to die.'

Pain. An intense, searing pain rippled through him as the flames licked his exposed flesh. His hands extended forward, clawing, reaching for anything, but all he managed to grasp was the books that fell from his grandfather's hands. His fingers enclosed around the spine of one book, gripping it tightly as if his life depended on it.

'I'm going to die.'

Somewhere beyond the rubble, distant voices called out his name, but it was getting harder to hear. The burning wood continued to press down on him—an unbearable weight that enclosed him in a fiery grave.

Auri coughed weakly, and with one final gasp of breath, his world faded into a blurry darkness.

'I don't want to die.'

A ripple.

Like a drop of water falling into a still lake, something cold fluttered in his skin. It spread through him in calming waves, easing the pain of his burns, and filling his lungs with unadulterated air.

Auri fluttered his eyes open, blinking at the sight of a full moon peeking through the hole in the ceiling. His brows furrowed at the unfamiliar sight and flinched when another water droplet splashed onto his face.

Then another.

And another. Until it became an unceasing nuisance that forced him to get up.

Auri froze. "Where am I?"

His surroundings were not of burning bookshelves and thick clouds of smoke, but of the interior of a desolate temple that hadn't seen the light of day.

The chamber was a vast and open space with large pillars made of white marble and stone floors with cracked surfaces. Stone alcoves with lifelike statues lined the walls, their figures cracked and worn with vines rooted in their eroded body. It was a sight that would make an archeologist drool, but the still emptiness of the place only scratched his mind with spooky imagination.

When Auri twisted his body around, he shrieked at the sight of a woman statue staring down at him and lost his balance, sending him tumbling into the pool of water below.

"Gah! Help—!"

Auri thrashed his arms and legs, his fear of suffocation resurfacing, only for him to realize that the water was only at his chest level. He stopped struggling and heaved, then stared into nothingness for a good minute before the realization started to sink in.

"I'm in another world."

His heartbeat sped up. It pounded against his chest like an excited child wanting to play outside and run around in the vast meadow. A part of his brain told him this could be just an illusion, a moment of peace before his death while the fire continued to devour his body in the real world. But the coolness of the water in the pool wrapped around his body told him this was real.

"Am I really in another world? Did I die?"

Auri shivered as a light breeze swept over to him and realized he was not wearing any shirt, just his scorched pants and a pair of sneakers. Well, he did remove his shirt before storming inside the burning shop to use as a face cover for himself and later for his grandfather.

At the thought of his grandfather, his excitement instantly evaporated, replaced by a strong feeling of concern. The old man had been exposed to the toxic burning substances for an extended amount of time. With Jim's help, they were able to rescue his grandfather from the fire, but he didn't know what happened after that. He could only hope they were able to rush him to the hospital.

"I-I can't be here." Auri turned towards the woman's statue. "Send me back."

Silence.

The woman's statue remained unmoving, knelt in front of the pool with both her arms extended forward, her palms facing the heavens, as if she was giving an offering.

"Hey! I said, send me back!"

Again, silence.

"I don't know what you see in me or whatever the fuck is wrong with your world, but I can't be here. Not until I'm sure my grandfather is safe."

Still, nothing.

"Hey, can't you hear me, you stupid goddess of whatever!"

His voice echoed in the empty chamber of the abandoned temple, but he still received no response from the higher forces responsible for his transmigration.

Auri breathed, his chest still filled with worry for the loved ones he left behind, especially his mother. It hadn't been a year since his brother vanished. And now, he was gone too—sent to another world at the worst possible time. Having lost two sons in a span of six months, she was heartbroken for sure.

Tears gathered in his eyes, but the sudden ripples in the moon-bathed water halted his grieving. Dust sifted down from the broken ceiling, and soon, tremors from the ground started churning the water.

An earthquake.

"You've got to be kidding me." Auri waded to the edge of the pool and lifted himself to the ground. "Why, of all places, you'd send me to an abandoned temple?"

The tremors intensified, sending larger pieces of rock to the pool of water below. The stone walls creaked, and their timeworn cracks began to spread. Jagged lines appeared on the temple floor, and when the vaulted ceiling caved in, the collapsing statue told him it was time to run.

Auri turned on his heels and bolted to the crumbling archway, gasping when it collapsed right after he passed through. "Surely, you didn't send me here with nothing to defend myself, right? System!"

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, an unexplainable feeling rose in his chest. It expanded through him, like a growing heat that pulsed through every fiber of his being, and warped reality as his vision flickered at the edges.

Light glitched in the dark corridors he was running through, and the parchment-inspired screen appeared in front of him, hovering in midair with inked characters flickering into readable texts.

[SYSTEM ACTIVATED]

[Initializing…]

Auri's heart skipped a beat. The System was something a game developer could only fantasize about. And now it's happening to him.

[Savior's DNA Detected]

[Heir Confirmed]

[Welcome, Successor of the Book Restoration System]

A system of what now?