When Ellington heard the intangible voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, he mimicked everyone in the room and froze in place. But unlike them, it was out of fear. Yet even though he was scared, he wasn’t a fool. He knew he needed to get the heck out of there.
However, before he could even entertain the thought, a tearing sound reverberated throughout the room. It sounded like fabric being torn apart. As Ellington turned toward the noise, he saw it was actually the space around them warping and distorting, as though it were being ripped open.
It was like something from a sci-fi movie.
Ellington panicked. If the voice was powerful enough to freeze time and make a tear in the fabric of the universe, there’s no telling what it could do to him. He read way too many mangas to know that whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything good.
‘Could it be aliens? Do they want to harvest my body and study my illness? Could truck-kun not find me and have to come looking for me? Am I being summoned to a demon-infested world?’ So many thoughts swirled around Ellington’s head as he watched the rift become bigger.
Youngling, your thoughts amuse me so. I forgot how interesting you smrteľnýs can be.
‘Of course, it can read my thoughts,’ Elli thought in exasperation. ‘With everything else I saw it do, reading minds is probably just a parlor trick to it.’
He must have amused it once again because its laughter filled the room. However, this time, it didn’t feel as ubiquitous as it did before. It felt like it was coming from a particular area, and he knew which one it was. The rift.
In most cases, where an unimaginable creature is coming after a person, the said person would hightail it out of there. And he would have done the same, but for some inconceivable reason, he felt that the being meant him no harm.
With a fair bit of trepidation, he moved his body away from the frozen doctors and got off of his hospital bed. He bravely stepped toward the rift, watching it crackle with unknown blueish energy as it grew.
After a couple of moments, energy stopped flowing into the rift, and he could hear loud thuds coming closer and closer. Ellington began berating himself. Because that definitely didn’t sound like something that wouldn’t hurt him. It appeared his instincts might be flawed.
“It’s okay. So what if I’m about to die? It doesn’t matter. I was already about to do that, anyway. At least this time I will get to see something spectacular before I go,” Elli muttered, trying to look on the bright side of things.
“I like the way you think,” the voice said. This time, it sounded very close.
Bracing himself, Ellington held his breath as he stared at the rift, only to be completely dumbfounded when a fluffy white arctic fox walked out of it. While he could not predict what would come out of the tear, it sure wasn’t this.
He had to admit that the fox looked majestic, with its bright blue eyes and snow-white fur that seemed to glow. It regarded him calmly before it walked closer.
Hello, Ellington.
“Who… what are you?” he asked, questioning his sanity. Something he should have done in the first place when his room froze. “Why are you here?”
I have no name, but you may call me Zivot. As to why I am here. Well, that’s because I have done you a great disservice.
“A disservice? What do you mean?” Elli asked with a tilt of his head, never noticing that the fox didn’t answer what he was.
My daughter, Aite, has tampered with your fate, disturbing the balance of your life. For that, I’m truly sorry.
“I…I don’t understand,” Elli responded, confusion etched across his face.
You were never supposed to have cancer or die in this hospital. Your original path was to bring in a new era of figure skating. Exactly like you had always dreamed of doing.
Ellington felt as though a bomb had been dropped on him. He rather one did, actually. Because he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had to suffer through all that pain… for what?
“Why would she do that?” The distraught boy finally managed to ask. “Is there a way to fix it?”
I’m sorry, but it can’t be undone. Fate’s tapestry has already repaired itself. This task wasn’t significant enough to be rewoven. Because it would automatically go to another person. You should have heard of him. He’s now the most influential person in the sport.
Once again, Ellington felt stunned, because he knew exactly who he was talking about. He couldn’t believe that could have been him. To think he was the biggest fan of a person who was supposed to be him. He almost couldn’t even think straight.
To fix what my daughter had done, I would like to give you a second chance in another world. In this world, you will be healthy and you will redo your life and follow the path that was yours in the first place.
Suddenly, the fox had Ellington’s full attention. “What do you mean?”
Do you know the novel Ice Fire?
“You’re sending me into a book?” Elli questioned. He had read a lot of webnovels. He knew where this was going.
Not exactly. Ice Fire is based on a world in a different dimension.
“Wait, are you telling me that the book world is real?!” the brown-haired boy asked with surprise. “Then how did the author know about it?”
That’s because not all stories are fiction. The worlds in the most popular stories, where people feel they are vivid and detailed, only come about because some lucky few can connect with other universes through dreams.
“Wow. That’s actually really cool.” However, now that he thought about it, if he was going into the book world, how was he supposed to follow his original path? “What about Liam? Isn’t he going to do that already?”
He was supposed to, but once Aite tampered with fate’s design, it caused a ripple, making certain events go awry.
“Let me guess, you want me to take Liam’s place?” Elli asked. He had to admit he didn’t really mind and was getting a little excited about being able to follow his dreams.
Yes, as you know, the story of Ice Fire is about a man coming back from the future and bringing artistry back to figure skating, but the ripple brought back the wrong person. This person is pushing jump culture into the world, changing the progression of the world. I need you to bring artistry back.
Ellington had read enough entertainment plots to know it won’t be that easy. All the excitement dimmed, and he became worried. In the original book, Liam had to face many problems, but he had a cheat to help him. If this new swapped places with him, doesn’t that mean he would have one as well?
Your thinking is correct. The person does have a cheat, although it’s nowhere similar to the originals. The cheat allows him to use admiration to manipulate people. In this world, he would be called a white lotus.
“Hopefully, I will get one as well,” Elli said with expectant eyes.
Don’t worry, I wouldn’t send you there empty-handed.
Suddenly a gray and white cat plushie appeared out of nowhere, floating in the air next to him. “A cat doll?”
It is called a system. You might have heard of it from your fiction books, but if you have questions about it, you may ask me.
As soon as Ellington heard the word system, he grabbed it out of the air and hugged it tightly to his chest. He couldn’t believe it. He was given his very own system. This had been his dream since he had gotten into the quick transmigration genre.
I guess you know what it is. I assume you will accept the task?
Nodding his head, Elli said, “I will.”
Very well.
Suddenly, his vision went dark, and he was falling. However, before he completely blacked out, he heard the fox tell him good luck and that a gift would be waiting for him once he arrived.
