Jack woke to pain.
Not the dull, annoying kind from sleeping on the wrong side—no, this was the sharp, blinding kind, like someone had taken a crowbar to his skull and enthusiastically rearranged the furniture inside. Each pulse of agony threatened to black him out again, a relentless hammer pounding his consciousness.
His eyes fluttered open, struggling to focus. Blurred shadows danced around him, amorphous shapes against a backdrop of murky grey. A metallic taste, like sucking on a rusty nail, coated his tongue and the inside of his cheeks. Something cold and wet seeped into his back, clinging unpleasantly to his skin.
What… the hell?
Before he could gather his bearings, before he could even push himself up, a rough hand shoved him aside with brutal force.
"Move!" a voice barked—guttural, panicked, and harsh.
He hit the ground hard, landing on unforgiving stone. The impact sent a wave of nausea rolling through him, threatening to empty his stomach. And then the smell hit—a sickening, overpowering assault on his nostrils.
Rot. Blood. Something burnt and festering, like meat left to decay under the sun. The stench was thick and cloying, curling down his throat and stirring his gag reflex.
Jack turned his head, squinting through the haze, desperate to understand.
RRAAAAGGGHHHH!!!
A roar. No—something far worse. An unearthly, bone-chilling scream that vibrated through his chest and tore through his brain like a serrated blade. It bypassed logic and stabbed straight into raw, primal fear.
The creature towered over them, silhouetted in the dim light filtering through what might've once been a ceiling. Five meters tall, a nightmarish fusion of twisted muscle and bone. It resembled a dog—if dogs had three heads, each dripping saliva and snarling with rows of jagged teeth. Its limbs were double-jointed, bending at unnatural angles, and its mouths peeled open like nightmarish flowers made of raw meat.
Jack froze, paralyzed. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Just stare.
The thing didn't come for him.
At least… not yet.
It lunged for the man who'd pushed him—the one who'd discarded him like trash.
Oh thank god—wait, no, that's messed up.
A flicker of guilt surfaced, only to be smothered by raw survival instinct. He knew he should feel something… but all he felt was the desperate urge to live.
Claws the size of scythes ripped through flesh like wet paper. The sounds—wet tearing, bone crunching, muffled gurgles—filled the air. Screams choked off in a fountain of red. Blood sprayed across the stone like a macabre painting, painting the world in horrifying hues.
Jack didn't wait for an invitation. He turned and ran.
His legs pumped on pure instinct. He didn't know where he was going. Didn't care. His mind was blank—erased by fear, driven by a single command.
Run. Don't look back. Pretend it's a horror game. Just don't be the tutorial guy who dies first.
His foot caught on a twisted root buried beneath grime and debris. He stumbled, swore, flailed for balance—and somehow stayed upright. He kept sprinting, lungs burning, heart slamming against his ribs.
The ground was cracked and uneven, riddled with fissures. Trees stood like half-melted skeletons, their branches clawing the sky like accusing fingers. The air reeked of death, chemicals, and something worse—something foul beyond description.
There. A cave.
Small. Dark. Probably terrible.
But it was cover. A chance. Maybe even salvation.
He dove inside without hesitation, scraping his palms raw on the jagged rock as he collapsed into the darkness. He hit the floor in a heap, gasping for air, chest heaving like a broken bellows.
"I… am not built… for cardio," he wheezed, pressing his back against the cold stone.
Silence.
No roar. No pursuit. Just the sound of his pulse—loud and frantic—echoing in his ears.
His body shook as the adrenaline drained from him, leaving him weak and hollow. Terror ebbed into confusion. Then confusion into something worse.
Memories.
But not his.
What the hell is happening...?
His mind flickered, static-ridden. Images, emotions, and unfamiliar memories flooded in like a crashing wave, threatening to drown him.
He remembered dying.He knew he'd died.
Back on Earth. Walking home from a small anime convention, clutching a plastic bag like a sacred relic. Inside it, a limited-edition magical girl figure glinted under the streetlights.
Then—
The cube.
That weird glowing cube from the street vendor. He'd bought it on impulse, intrigued by the shifting colors. It was supposed to be some kind of mood light, shaped like a Rubik's Cube.
He plugged it into his computer, expecting a fancy glow.
Instead?Darkness.A flash of searing light.Then… nothing.
Now he was here. In this hell.
And this world—this broken, mutated wasteland—wasn't Earth. Not the one he knew.
His mind snapped pieces together, whether he wanted to or not.
A Third World War.A nuclear apocalypse.Mutated beasts and warped landscapes.
Acidic rain. Blackened skies.A poisoned world where life barely clung on.
And humanity?They survived in scattered shelters—fortresses guarded by superpowered humans known as the Awakened, people who gained abilities after injecting themselves with serums derived from beast crystals.
Normal weapons were useless now. Only the Awakened could fight back. Only they stood between mankind and extinction.
And the body he now inhabited…
Zane Ardent.
The name echoed like a ghost inside his head—foreign, yet somehow familiar.
Zane had been a scavenger. Unawakened. Poor.
He'd scraped together a living picking through battlefields, gathering beast parts—fangs, claws, hides—and selling them for scraps.
No respect. No power. Just a body used and discarded by the Awakened.
On his last mission, he'd been led into danger—used as bait. When things went south, they left him behind.
A beast attacked. He died alone. Bleeding. Afraid.
And now… Jack was here. Trapped in Zane's broken, bruised shell. Bones aching. Scars stinging.
Same face. Same body.
But a different soul.
"I guess I'm Zane now," he muttered, the words bitter in his mouth.
Back home, he'd been a nobody. A ghost.
A shut-in who drowned his loneliness in anime, games, and isekai novels. A web designer by day, a digital escapist by night.
No girlfriend. No muscles. No social life.
And now?
Now he was inside one of those stories. But it wasn't a game. There was no UI. No inventory screen. No health bars.
No cheat item—
He blinked.
Wait.
The cube.
He remembered it again. The hum. That vibration in his bones. The pulse of light before the blackout.
It hadn't been a toy. It had brought him here. Or maybe… it was here.
A subtle tremor tickled down his spine.
Zane looked up, eyes wide.
A low hum echoed through the cave—soft, alien, and rising.
Something hovered in the air before him.
A glowing cube. Rotating slowly, pulsing with shifting light.Blue. Purple. Crimson. Gold.It cast shadows that bent the air.
His breath caught.
His heart skipped.
"What the hell is that…?"
------------------------------
Author's Note:
Hey everyone! 👋Thanks for reading Chapter 1 of Tamer's Cube: Path of Evolution! This is my very first original novel after writing three fanfictions, so it's a whole new journey for me. I'm really excited (and a bit nervous 😅), so I'd love to hear what you think!
Please leave a comment or a review—let me know if the story is interesting, what you liked, and what you'd love to see more of. Your feedback means a lot and helps me improve and stay motivated to keep writing.
Wish me luck, and I hope you'll stick with me on this adventure! 💪✨