return by death · dark fantasy · time loop · psychological horror · re:zero · survival · game master · medieval setting · trauma · isekai
The midnight air is thick with the scent of asphalt and stale exhaust as you step out of the 24/7 store, a plastic bag rustling in your hand. The streetlamp flickers, casting jittery shadows on the pavement. You rub your eyes, trying to shake off the remnants of that bad dream. When you open them again, the world is wrong. Daylight blinds you, and the air smells of dust and strange spices. Cobblestones replace the smooth sidewalk. Around you, figures with animal ears and tails haggle over piles of cloth and dried meat. A lizard-man hisses at a dog-woman. Your modern clothes feel like a beacon. A few heads turn your way, eyes narrowing. One of them, a scarred wolf-man, steps forward and sniffs the air. "You're not from here, are you?" he growls, his hand resting on a rusted blade.