"Where the Hell Am I?"
Just a few moments ago, Aarav was about to give a presentation on stage. But the moment he looked down at his paper, everything changed — he found himself standing in the middle of a forest, out of nowhere.
Confusion gripped him. His mind barely processed what was happening when he realized — he wasn't wearing a single piece of clothing.
He stood barefoot on something that looked like a drainage path. His feet were wet, but the water flowing beneath him was strangely clean.
Ahead, the ground stretched out into an unnatural plateau, spreading far into the distance as far as his eyes could see.
...A road?
He stood frozen, confused and embarrassed.
Aarav had never felt so naked under the open sky — because, for the first time, he actually was.
Then, a thudding sound reached his ears — the heavy rhythm of hooves pounding against the ground.
He looked up, only to see two horses halt nearby. Their riders pointed directly at him, and one of them quickly dismounted.
Aarav's agitation spiked. His mind screamed at him to run, to hide, to do something.
"What the hell... and why won't it rest?!"
He glanced down in horror at his manhood, feeling an indescribable urge to disappear from existence.
He curled up near the drainage line, hugging his knees close in a child's pose, shutting his eyes tight — as if somehow, that would make him invisible.
But then, he felt it — the ground trembling beside him, the sharp thuds of more horses rushing past, and the unmistakable sound of people — their panicked screams ringing in his ears.
Voices. Footsteps.
"Am I dead?... But how...?"
The thought barely formed in his mind.
Not daring to open his eyes, Aarav stayed still, frozen in place.
But the sounds around him didn't fade like a dream — they grew louder, more real.
Finally, he forced himself to peek through half-closed lids.
Far off, he saw them — people, naked, sprinting across the plateau.
And right in front of him, two figures stood — their outlines becoming clearer with every step they took toward him.
His heart hammered violently in his chest as their shadows loomed closer.
Closer and closer they came.
From the ground where Aarav crouched, trembling and small, he finally saw them — and with that sight, the mysteries swirling in his mind started to take some broken, fragile shape.
A thousand theories raced through his head, crashing into one another like waves.
Then he saw her.
A tall woman — taller than him by at least four inches — approached with a look carved from coldness and a faint trace of disgust twisting her agitated features.
Her skin was pale, almost alabaster under the sunlight, and her sharp blue eyes felt like knives.
Short, light blonde hair framed her face, but what truly caught him was the eyepatch.
One of her eyes was hidden under it, and from the corner where the cloth could not fully reach, a deep scar stretched out, clawing its way across her skin like a cruel reminder of some past violence.
Aarav suddenly felt a crushing insecurity crawl up his spine.
Back in his own town, he was never considered a small man by any means. His grandma even used to call him impressively tall. Standing at 5'11 with a lean, muscular frame, he carried an aura of quiet strength and stoicism.
But now, standing before this woman—this tall, war-goddess of a woman—he felt like a complete dwarf.
"It's not fair..." he muttered internally, a pitiful whimper only he could hear.
His gaze shifted to the other figure beside her. A boy, no older than twelve or thirteen at most.
Yet even he was alarmingly close to Aarav's own height... and at this rate, would probably surpass him soon enough.
In front of these literal giants, Aarav knelt down, doing his best to salvage whatever dignity he still had.
Deep inside, though, he was caving in disappointment.
"She was a nice person... the first pretty girl who ever talked to me. And me? I'm nothing but a filthy pervert. A dog. That's what I am!"
The thoughts screamed inside his mind, bitter and unforgiving.
But even as shame and despair gnawed at him, a small rational part of him kept asking the one question he couldn't ignore—
Am I really here? Or is this all some weird illusion?
Suppressing the wild urge to jump up, yell something stupid, or just vanish, Aarav forced himself to stay still.
Frozen, kneeling, staring up at the two figures towering over him.
One thing was certain — he was no longer in his own world. Somehow, Aarav deduced that much.
"Am I really... isekai'd? Or did I die and these people are the gatekeepers of hell?"
Looking at the crowd of naked people — all oddly similar yet visibly taller — he couldn't help but think he had, in fact, landed in hell.
"Wait, does that mean I'm tall now too?"
A small grin appeared on his face... only to vanish a second later.
"No, wait! It doesn't matter! If this is hell, what are they going to do to me?"
"And what the hell did I even do to deserve hell?! I'm innocent!"
His thoughts spiraled. "That girl— it was an accident! Shit, shit, I didn't do anything wrong! I'm at the wrong place, I..."
Aarav clutched his head, feeling like his mind was about to explode.
Intrusive thoughts swarmed in — each one more absurd and nightmarish than the last.
Dying at the young age of nineteen didn't feel like an exciting thought — and Aarav confirmed it when he saw the naked people being tied up as they tried to run.
It was a disturbing sight, and somewhere in the back of his mind, it shattered the tiny sliver of hope he was still clinging onto.
Just this morning, he had felt like life was finally about to soften for him.
He had even thought — maybe, just maybe — he had found a beautiful girl for himself.
And now here he was.
Stripped. Humiliated. Ready for judgment.
His thoughts were interrupted when the boy beside the woman gestured at him — motioning him to stand up.
Cautiously, Aarav rose to his feet, awkwardly trying to hide his... excited part, his face burning a deep crimson.
But the moment he stood upright, he realized the horrifying truth.
There was a gap.
A massive gap.
"I'm a dwarf!"
In front of the eye-patched woman, he felt like a literal child.
She looked down at him with no sympathy — only the faintest trace of irritation in her cold blue eye.
And then, she finally spoke.
Her voice was sharp, her tone impatient — but her words made no sense to him.
They felt completely foreign, alien.
Aarav's whole body froze, a shiver shooting up his spine as panic and strange relief wrapped around him at the same time.
"I don't understand a word... Am I really isekai'd? Am I even alive?"
He wasn't sure of anything anymore, but a deep, gnawing paranoia gripped his heart.
Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked up at the endless sky and whispered in a raspy, broken voice:
"I want to go home... Please, if there's a God who brought me here... I don't want anything! Just send me back!"
The thought of transmigration always sounded cool in fiction.
But living it — standing naked in a strange world, surrounded by towering strangers — was nothing short of horrifying.
Soon, the woman said something again — sharp, impatient — and the kid's expression changed from calm to concern.
He looked at Aarav with pity, pulled a small dagger from his cloak, and shouted something at him — gesturing for him to do the same.
Aarav froze.
It didn't take much to understand.
They wanted him to drop everything — reveal himself fully — so that they could tie him up.
An overwhelming wave of humiliation and helplessness washed over him.
Still, he felt as if he had no choice.
As he awkwardly obeyed, desperately trying to preserve some dignity, the boy suddenly burst into laughter.
And the woman's face shifted.
From irritation...
To anger.
She barked something at Aarav — words he couldn't understand — but he could feel the growing intensity in the air.
Panicking, Aarav tried to raise his hands in defense, to plead, to show he meant no harm —
But the woman reached down to her belt and revealed something horrifying.
A whip.
A sinister, black whip that gleamed even in the dim light.
The boy tried to stop her, grabbing at her arm, but she shoved him away without hesitation.
Aarav instinctively turned, trying to run —
He knew it was useless — but instinct screamed louder than logic.
Then, in a split second—
CRACK!
The whip struck him, and his entire world exploded into pain.
Pain that was so unbearable, so consuming, that his mind refused to even process it.
Everything after that was a blur.
Rough hands tied his legs.
The thudding of hooves filled the air.
He felt himself being dragged — cold, wet, powerless.
He shut his eyes tight.
He didn't want to see.
He didn't want to know.
Everything felt so wrong.
Before he completely faded out, he caught a glimpse of her —
The woman.
Standing over him, her face blurred in his vision.
A faint, cold smile curling at her lips.
And then —
THUD!
A heavy door slammed shut.
And with it, Aarav lost his consciousness .