Suffocating.
I could not breathe.
The first thing I saw was water. Dark, cold, and swallowing everything. I tried to reach the surface, hoping to escape, but my body felt foreign. My movements were slow, as if they no longer belonged to me. Am I drowning? The question echoed in my mind, faint yet urgent.
From afar, I heard a woman screaming, but I could not see her. My lungs burned. I clung to the last breath I had left as my consciousness slowly faded.
Then, within that darkness, he appeared. A man was swimming toward me, his face filled with panic. Handsome. Extremely handsome. Even more so than anyone I had ever seen, perhaps surpassing even the celebrities I used to see on screens.
That was my final thought before everything went black.
I woke up to the blinding light of the sun.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I realized was how unfamiliar this place was. Curious, I scanned the room. It was neat, containing nothing more than a wardrobe and the bed I was lying on.
One thing stood out immediately. Everything was made of wood. It was nothing like the modern buildings I was accustomed to, which were mostly constructed from concrete. I turned my head toward the open window beside me. Outside, the weather was bright, and lush trees surrounded the area.
I tried to recall how I had ended up in the water. No matter how hard I tried, the only memory that surfaced was going to sleep after taking my medication. Sleepwalking was impossible. My sleep quality was not that poor. Besides, as a heart failure patient, I was always careful about maintaining my condition.
"Oh, Kael. You are finally awake."
My thoughts were interrupted by that cheerful exclamation. If I remembered correctly, this was the same woman's voice I had heard while drowning. But who was Kael?
The woman I had never seen before had black hair and blue eyes that made me pause for a moment. She was very beautiful. Strangely, I felt a sense of familiarity toward her.
Anxiously, she rushed over and pulled me into a tight embrace.
"My sweet child, could you please stop making your father and me worry?" she said, holding me close.
I froze. In my memories, I was an orphan. Why was this woman calling herself my mother? Besides, I was already an adult. Being hugged by a stranger felt deeply unsettling.
When I tried to raise my hand to push her away, I froze again. My hand was incredibly small. Not only that, my point of view was much lower than usual.
Shocked, I could only remain silent, unable to process what was happening. The woman who claimed to be my mother noticed my reaction and released her embrace, smiling gently.
"You must still be very scared. It is all right. You are safe now, Kael. Get some more rest. I will cook your favorite food later."
She gently stroked my hair before leaving me alone.
I tried to calm myself.
Perhaps this was a case of transmigration, like the ones I often read about in online novels. A very clichéd genre. Usually, transmigrated protagonists were chosen ones, or at least people who had read the original work of the world they entered.
But why me? Had I ever read a novel like this? I needed to confirm that first.
Slowly, I climbed down from the bed. My movements were awkward because my body was now much smaller. Seriously, how old was I for my body to be this tiny? I stood on my tiptoes, struggling to reach the door handle that felt impossibly high. After managing to open it, I stepped out cautiously, scanning the area for my mother in this world. She was nowhere to be seen.
Outside my room, the atmosphere remained the same. Everything was wooden. In the center of the main room was a fireplace, currently unlit, likely used for heating.
I walked through the small house. Aside from my room, there were only three others. One was the kitchen, located beside the main room. I was certain of that because of the old fashioned cooking hearth and the dining table with fresh fruits neatly arranged on top.
The other two were bedrooms with their doors tightly closed. I assumed one belonged to my parents, given its location right next to mine. Across from the kitchen was a slightly open door leading outside. Without thinking, I ran toward it to take a look.
The scenery outside matched what I had seen from the window. A dense, tranquil forest stretched before me. In front of the house was a small vegetable garden surrounded by a wooden fence.
"Kael. I told you to rest. Why are you running outside instead?" my mother's voice rang out, her hands on her hips.
I turned toward her voice, still not accustomed to being called by this name.
"But I am fine, Mom," I replied, my voice slightly lisping.
She tried to suppress her smile, but failed.
"My child, why are you so adorable?" she said before kissing and hugging me tightly.
I froze completely at the affection.
"See? You give in to Kael far too easily, dear. If this continues, he will become terribly spoiled," a man's voice sounded from behind me, resigned yet warm.
Curious, I immediately turned around.
It was the man who had saved me while I was drowning. So this was my father. His expression was filled with affection, though there was a hint of helplessness.
He approached and lifted me into his arms.
"Kael, if you want to play again, stay away from the lake. It is very dangerous. You do not want to drown again like yesterday, do you?" he said gently.
"Dear, Kael just woke up. Do not make him remember something frightening," my mother scolded softly.
"Look, you have scared him stiff," she added with concern.
My father sighed, but his eyes remained filled with worry.
"Are you still scared, Kael?" he asked.
I was not scared.
I was simply overwhelmed by how close I was to an extraordinarily handsome man. Was the word handsome even sufficient?
I examined him closely. Long blond hair. Green eyes as fresh as young leaves in the morning, soothing to behold. But there was one detail that stunned me.
Pointed ears.
Was my father a cosplayer? But did cosplay even exist in this world? To be sure, I reached out and pulled on his ear, wanting to see if it was fake.
No matter how hard I tugged, it stayed firmly in place.
"Ouch, Kael. Do not pull your father's ears," he exclaimed, wincing.
So they were real.
That meant I was truly in a fantasy world.
Was my father an elf?
But my mother's ears looked completely normal, just like a human's. I touched my own ears. They felt normal too. Not pointed. Nothing unusual.
Then my father was an elf, my mother a human, and I was a half elf.
That might explain why I did not have pointed ears.
I lost myself in speculation until my father interrupted.
"Come on, dear. Let us go inside. Kael might be quiet because he is hungry. After all, he has not eaten anything since yesterday."
I snapped out of it and nodded enthusiastically. Seeing my reaction, my parents exchanged relieved smiles. My father carried me back inside, holding me close.