'Painful... Goddamn, what did that fucking thing do to me...?'
Opening his eyes, Bernard felt a stinging pain in the back of his head which was accompanied by a terrible ringing in his ears.
'Where the fuck did that thing teleport me to?' He thought while rubbing his head.
Looking around, Bernard realised he was in some kind of market, as he saw merchants selling their wares at their shops. Taking a shallow breath, Bernard tried to take a step forward before promptly dropping to the floor, kicking up some dirt.
'What happened? Why did I fall...?' Bernard was quite confused, as he didn't see any way he could've tripped. "Maybe I'm injured somewhere and just don't feel it?"
Examining himself, Bernard realised three things: one, he wasn't wearing the same clothes as before; now he was in some brown clothes, with no coat, and the shirt and trousers felt coarse, and his shoes were covered in dirt and had a few holes; two, his skin tone wasn't pale; originally he was very pale, as he wasn't in the sun much, but now he had lost all paleness; three, his body felt hard to move.
'With all the knowledge at my disposal... There really is only one conclusion… I've swapped bodies. How curious, is the original body's mind destroyed? How does this work? Ah, forget it, I won't get any answers anyways.'
Bernard's eye twitched from annoyance and anger as he realised he had no clear goal he had to do here, making the fact he might be trapped here forever, unable to return, more prominent in his mind. 'Whatever that thing was, it seriously had to choose me!?'
Sighing, Bernard got up slowly while making sure not to fall again. Looking around, he realised he was being stared at by many people.
Dusting off some dirt from his clothes, Bernard slowly started walking, making sure to be careful as to not fall, and although he walked unstably, he was able to walk. The corners of his mouth curled up from that realisation.
'It seems I can walk, albeit slowly and wobbly; I'll need some practice if this is a permanent body change.' Bernard's face contorted into guilt as he realised he might never be able to see his sister and mother again.
Gritting his teeth, he continued walking, passing some merchant stalls and other people. While walking, Bernard realised the area around him had shifted from a bustling marketplace to a deserted housing area.
'Huh... I don't think I walked that fa—" "AHHHHHHH!" A bloodcurtling scream interrupted Bernard's thoughts. Turning his head to the left, into a nearby alley, he saw a body lying in it, a girl who looked no older than 17 standing over it. She had porcelain-like skin, and she was, by all conventional standards, a beauty, but her face was contorted into an expression of dread and fear.
Bernard's eyes filled with shock; quickly, he decided to run over, quickly breaking into a sprint. He reached the girl and the body. Bernard almost threw up from how disgusting it was; since he was up close now, he could tell the body was a woman. Her neck was snapped backwards, her eyes ripped out of her sockets, with all 10 of her fingers bent at an impossible angle. The worst was her sickly grey skin, which seemed to have all of its life force ripped out.
Putting his hands on his mouth to prevent throwing up, Bernard's brain decided to run, as whoever or whatever that did this could still be here... Immediately sprinting out of the alleyway, Bernard saw two police officers walking over from his left.
'Shit, if they see me fleeing, I'll definitely be imprisoned... What luck do I have?! ' Biting his lip, Bernard decided to run away; risking his life by staying there wasn't worth it.
Bernard started sprinting and didn't look back or stop as he did, his eyes full of annoyance at how unlucky he was. 'HOW AM I SO UNLUCKY??' A MONSTER FORCES ME HERE FIRST, AND NOW I ENCOUNTER ANOTHER MONSTER??'
After running for thirty minutes and taking many twists and turns, Bernard finally stopped in a small dirty alleyway, which was empty. While leaning on the alleyway wall, Bernard realised he was lost... 'Ah fuck... Hopefully they don't find me.' He thought while taking heavy breaths, beads of sweat dripping down his face onto the rocky ground below.
Taking a deep breath, Bernard calmed down; putting his hand on his chin, he began to think.
'That body, although most of the damage looked like it could've been done by a human, such as the snapped neck and bent fingers, that grey, lifeless colour of the skin isn't something a normal human can do... Thus, the being who killed that girl was a monster…?' Bernard's eyes showed his intense fear as he continued to think.
'If I was put here by another monster, could my purpose be here to hunt down that monster that killed that girl? Everything seems a bit too coincidental; first I teleport to this random city, and then I wander near a dead body, which was undeniably killed by something inhuman.'
"Then... That means my target for whatever this is... is killing whatever killed that girl..." Bernard shivered in fear from his conclusion.
Pulling his hand through his hair, Bernard's thoughts continued flashing through his head, 'If I don't kill this monster, there's a high chance I'll never get home... To my sister' gnashing his teeth, Bernard decided he was going to try to kill it.
If I want to kill it, I'll definitely need a trap of some sort and a weapon. Both of which cost money... 'Bernard was on the verge of tears, as he had realised he had no money at all.
'I'm screwed.' That was Bernard's only conclusion after analysing all of the information he had at the moment; he was in some unrecognisable town, which had a monster living within, he was somehow in a new body, he had no money, and he needed to hunt a monster with all the odds against him.
Looking up into the sky—which had now turned pink—Bernard decided to do whatever it took to survive and return home.