Darkness lingered like fog—thick, suffocating.
Then, light.
It was not a blinding light but soft and warm like morning sunlight filtered through gauzy curtains. Hana Kim stirred. Her last memory was of her apartment: the quiet hum of the fridge, the unfinished lesson plans on her desk, and the bottle of sleeping pills she had finally decided not to resist.
But something had come after that. A space of stars. A massive chessboard floating in the void. Divine statues loomed like guardians, watching as she and thirteen others were chosen. Proxies. Champions of gods.
Then came the fall—graceful, like petals drifting on wind—and now, she awoke.
She lay atop a hill blanketed in soft moss, surrounded by glowing wildflowers that pulsed faintly with life. Above her stretched an endless twilight sky dusted with aurora-like ribbons of colour. In the distance stood a silver forest, its trees whispering secrets to the wind.
When she sat up, she noticed her hands first. They were slender, and delicate, but unscarred and unfamiliar. Her skin was a shade lighter, flawless. Her eyes, once a dull brown, now shimmered with pale green light. Her hair, which she had always kept shoulder-length and simple, now fell in silver waves down her back.
She felt...different. Ethereal.
A small pool nearby reflected her new image. Her features had sharpened, her body taller and more elegant. The quiet strength she never felt on Earth radiated now with natural grace. Her ears were long and pointed—she had become an Elf. A race known for their empathy, spiritual resonance, and mental clarity.
She touched her face with trembling fingers. "Is this... me?"
"You're awake," came a voice.
A woman stood nearby, cloaked in violet and green. Her eyes glowed softly, and a satchel of dried herbs hung at her side. She was a local—not a proxy, but someone from this world.
"Where... am I?" Hana asked.
"The Petal Hills of Eastern Lirien. You must have come from a soul bloom." The woman crouched beside her and handed her a flask of sweet-smelling tea. "Drink. You're safe now."
Hana accepted it gratefully, but as she opened her mouth to speak of the game, the gods, the board—her voice caught. The words collapsed before they could escape, and divine energy flickered around her throat like a warning.
She looked away, swallowing her frustration.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"You're blessed by the Forest Spirit, I can feel it," the woman said kindly. "Rest, and you'll remember who you are."
Hana nodded, though a part of her wasn't sure who she was anymore.
She had been chosen as a proxy of Envy and Kindness—a contradiction, but an honest one. Her divine gift was Empathic Mirror, a skill that allowed her to reflect another's strength or pain back at them, shaped by her own emotional resonance.
She had once envied everyone—their confidence, beauty, achievements. But she had also spent her life helping others achieve what she never could. Always supportive. Always second.
But not anymore.
In Auron, she had a second chance. To find value beyond comparison. To become more than a reflection of others.
Her fingers brushed the glowing wildflowers. They leaned toward her, humming with mana.
"I won't waste this life," she whispered.
As she followed the herbalist into the forest village, her heart was calm. No grand speeches. No lofty ambitions. Just a quiet determination to walk forward.
And maybe, along the way, to finally find herself.