Death was quick. One second I was crossing the street, headphones blasting an epic JRPG soundtrack, and the next—a horn, blinding headlights, and... nothing.
No pain. Just... absence.
I don't know how long I drifted in that void. It felt like floating in a sea of ink, my thoughts the only thing keeping me anchored. I remembered everything—my cramped apartment, my ridiculous manga collection, my fanfic drafts I never finished. My backlog of games I swore I'd catch up on.
And Marvel's Midnight Suns.
Man, I loved that game. The strategy, the characters, the Hunter. I even created my ideal version—strong, charismatic, morally complex.
Then, I saw it—a flicker. A light. Like a save point at the edge of reality.
Instinct took over. I reached for it.
And suddenly, I was burning. My whole body ached like I was being forged anew. Fire. Pain. Memory.
Voices. Ancient, echoing, familiar.
And then... breath.
My eyes snapped open.
The world was misty, dreamlike, but the figures standing above me were clear—Doctor Strange, Nico Minoru, Blade. My heart nearly stopped. This wasn't cosplay. This was real.
"I think it's working," said Nico, her voice a mixture of hope and fear.
"Welcome back, Hunter," Strange intoned.
Except I wasn't just the Hunter.
I was me. And more.
Somehow, I had been reborn—in the resurrected body of the Hunter, but carrying all my memories, my obsessions, my personality. Fused. Enhanced.
My name is Orion Hunter now.
And things just seem to get complicated.
The pain was fleeting, but the weight in my chest lingered like a scar written in fire. I had awakened in my own grave, memories roaring like a flood. Not just of centuries past—Lilith, Sara, my death—but also... Another life, a gentle mother, friends, games, stories, choices may they've been good or bad.
Two lives, spliced like DNA strands, tightly wound into a unique single vessel familiar but strange at the same time.
Orion ''Hunter''
That name... not given, but chosen. A fusion of two identities. The ancient warrior raised to destroy his own mother, and a modern outcast obsessed with fantasy because reality was too empty.
And now, my reality was fantasy.
I tried to breathe. The room the others had left me in—likely to let me "recover" from being resurrected—was filled with an eerie calm. Shadows danced on stone walls. My body still felt stiff, raw with the echo of otherworldly power. But then—something snapped awake inside me.
A sound. A chime.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
[User: Orion Hunter]
[Memory Sync: In progress]
[Gamer Authority Protocol - Activated]
[Welcome to the Fateweaver Interface.]
A translucent window blinked into my vision. My stomach dropped. This wasn't magic. This was... Something else.
A floating blue prompt hovered:
> Tutorial Available. View? YES / NO
My instinct—modern me—wanted to yell "YES." But something old inside me stirred... Hunter... tensed.
This wasn't right.
Magic, I could understand. Lilin. Demons. Rituals. But this? This felt... invasive. Artificial. And far too similar to those "System" tropes I'd read about in isekai fanfics. Usually, a gift like this came with strings and from someone far to above one imagination.
Still, my curiosity (Orion) overruled my paranoia (Hunter).
"...Yes," I whispered in my mind.
---
[SYSTEM TUTORIAL - WELCOME FATEWEAVER]
Main Objective: Restore Balance and Rewrite Destiny
Side Objectives: Influence Companions / Alter Fate Threads / Modify Events / Discover Mysteries
Skill Acquisition: Missions, Interactions, Fate Gacha
Fate Points Earned Through: Combat Performance / Narrative Divergence / Relationship Milestones
Caution: Your knowledge may attract higher-dimensional attention. Proceed with care.
---
My jaw tightened.
> "May attract higher-dimensional attention."
I didn't like the sound of that...
I thought back to my knowledge—too much knowledge. Things about the Midnight Suns I shouldn't know. Future betrayals. Hydra's plans. The boss fights Mephisto and Chthon. Even data-mined suits that hadn't released yet.
I now understood something deeply wrong: this fusion—this me—wasn't just unnatural.
It was dangerous.
---
[NEW QUEST: "Accept thy Self"]
Objective: Confront your Duality
Reward: Beginner Skill Pack + 100 Fate Points
---
My eyes briefly flicked across the faint shimmer of the active interface.
This world had rules.
But I could see behind them.
And if I wasn't careful... something else might see me.
Now more focus of external factors aka the people that ''resurrect'' me the time seems like it at frozen without me noticing.
The world around me was a blur as I tried to get up, my body feeling like it had been through some hellish fire. My vision swam, everything shifting between dreams and reality.
And next thing I know i blackout and after what feels hours to me I seems to wake up in a bed... But wait that's my... My room?
As I tried to piece my fractured thoughts together, one thing was clear: I wasn't in my old life anymore one aspect from another time and another world.
The fog of confusion clouded my thoughts, but then, something more pressing grabbed my attention.
A figure. In the shattered reflection of a mirror, I saw... myself.
But not the me I had been. My face was more weathered, stronger. My hair, once short, was now longer, falling around my face like a warrior's mane. There was an unfamiliar hardness to my expression, as though I had been through countless battles.
"Is that me?" I whispered to myself, my breath ragged.
Suddenly, it hit me. This wasn't just any body. A dark, intricate armor clung to my form—black and gold, pulsating with a strange energy that felt both alien and familiar. It hummed with power, as if answering some primal call.
My hands were steady as they gripped the hilt of a sword that had appeared out of nowhere. A dagger materialized in my other hand, as if it had always been there.
''Wow they're beautiful.'' I said to myself inspecting them and looking at my armour.
But then... something grabbed my attention
> [Welcome to the Marvel-TRN994 Universe, Orion Hunter. Objective: Domination through ''Evolution''. Initial Status: Fallen?]
The words hit me like a punch in the gut. I was no longer just some ordinary guy. I was something... more. But what?
Fallen?
I looked down at myself, the sword and dagger weighing heavily in my hands. A symbol glowed faintly on the armor. It was mine, yet it wasn't. The power inside me, it surged, both exhilarating and terrifying. And the System... I could feel it, like an invasive presence, merging with my soul.
> [First quest: Survive the test zone. Reward: Unlocking the first system functions.]
I knew this wasn't just a game. It was something else entirely. I was no longer just human. No longer just me but something more.
Before I could process any further, massive portals tore open in the distance, and from them, monstrous shapes emerged—creatures of nightmare, towering and grotesque, clawing their way into existence some looked like Liliths Demons but other I don't recognise.
Instincts kicked in. The Hunter inside me stirred, a forgotten part of my soul and memories, I raised the swords, ready for whatever came next. I was no longer just a man.
I was Orion Hunter—and the universe would soon learn that name.