I had always been the kind of person who believed in the simplest of truths—help those in need, stand up for what's right, and always lend a hand when someone is struggling. It wasn't anything extraordinary, just basic decency. At least, that's how I saw it.
But that belief, that core of who I was, didn't prepare me for the moment that would change everything.
The accident happened in a blur. One second, I was crossing the street, walking home from work, and the next, I heard the screech of tires and the panic of a child's scream. My reflexes kicked in before my mind could catch up—pushing the kid out of the way, throwing myself in the path of the speeding car.
Pain. The kind of pain you can't describe because it's so overwhelming it wipes away everything else. I remember the sound of my bones cracking, the rush of air, and the cold bite of the pavement beneath me. And then… nothing.
I don't remember dying, or what happened afterward. Only a deep silence and the flicker of a bright light, as if the world itself had folded into something else entirely.
When I woke up again, it wasn't the sterile walls of a hospital that greeted me, nor the familiar hum of city life. No. I was lying on the ground, beneath a sky that was impossibly bright, with strange, towering structures in the distance. The air felt different, thick with something I couldn't quite place.
I tried to stand, but my body… it was different. More powerful, yet not quite my own. And then I saw them. They appeared like something from a dream—beings with eyes that glowed like stars, and a presence so immense that it sent a shiver through my very soul.
"You are the one," a voice rumbled, deep and reverberating like the sound of thunder.
I blinked, unsure if I was hearing things. "The one?"
"Chosen," the voice continued, and there was a sharpness to it now, as if the air itself had shifted with purpose. "The Saint."
Saint? Me?
Before I could respond, a light engulfed me, and everything seemed to blur together. Memories—dreams, fragments of forgotten places and faces—rushed into me, faster than I could process. I saw kingdoms on the brink of ruin, dark clouds gathering over lands that had once known peace. I saw a world struggling to survive, a world in need of someone like me.
But I wasn't someone special. I wasn't a hero. I had been an ordinary guy. A guy who just tried to help.
Yet here I was, a Saint—born into a world of magic, war, and divine politics. The weight of it settled on my shoulders like a cloak of lead.
Would I ever be ready? Would I be able to live up to whatever purpose fate had planned for me? Or was I destined to be another pawn in a game too grand for anyone to control?
As the light faded and the world around me came into focus, I understood one thing. My journey had only just begun.