The Ascension of the Celestial Priest

2; A New Life.

Gasp!

A deep breath was heard under the clear sky. It was already sunrise, with the morning sun warming up the misty forest waking up its sleepy denizen one at a time. Its white light shone over the canopies of trees barely able to shed its radiance onto a lone body that is covered with blood and leaves.

The being struggled to open his eyes, feeling excruciating pain coursing through his body. He felt weak and his psyche unstable. Suddenly, events of the previous night flashed in his mind. He immediately raised his hands to shield his eyes as if he was expecting something was about to fall on him.

And to be fair, something had fallen on him which was the last thing he could remember. He had just gone out to a grocery store, talking to his boyfriend and just generally having a good laugh before he crossed a street under a construction site. Maybe he was too distracted to actually tell where he was or he didn't get to see the warning signs but the next thing he heard was a sharp clanging sound. He then looked at where the noise is coming from but to his surprise a metal rod used in propping up large structures fell down on him in a matter of split seconds. He didn't even get to scream before he woke up in a desolate forest, in the middle of nowhere.

"Where am I?" he asked himself after collecting his bearings. He looked around and all he could see were threatening shadows made by the tall trees making the morning somehow more sinister than usual. The place he was laying was in a small clearing with a book and a long slender white staff beside him. Upon further inspection a dusty road can be seen within a few meters from him.

Suddenly a huge load of information and memories flashed into his consciousness, almost unbidden, forcefully imprinting itself to his mind in such a painful fashion that by the time the whole process was done, he was left lying on his back, sweating bullets further ruining his already dirty robes with a matte of grasses, mud and sweat.

"Lukas," he muttered to himself. In short he never would have guessed that instead of the afterlife, he was somehow reattached to a new body with a new life in a brand new world. He then remembered his previous life. He had a good thing going on for him. He was making a decent living being an avid gamer and a streamer, following his passion. He still had a lot of dreams to conquer. He even found a potential partner to spend his whole life with but that was all robbed away from him by a freaking metal rod.

And now he was attached to a body named Lukas, the same name as his old one except this one was a Son of one of the weakest noble family, the House of Raydore. Awakened with a magical element of Light; something which should have been the greatest gift became a constant curse for him. He was weak, branded as a less talented one as opposed to his younger sister. And even on his second qualifying quest to become a certified Adventurer, he was abandoned by his team in such an insidious way that even the current Lukas had a moment of pity coursing through his heart. But when it crossed his mind that it was such betrayal that led to the previous host's death, his heart went cold but then a vicious smile formed in his face. He has obtained a new lease on life and there are already people after him.

Lukas slowly raised himself up. His whole body felt so fragile as if it would break in pieces.

He then looked at the rising sun and for the first time since he arrived in this new world of Magic he became angry. If it wasn't for what happened to him he would have been at home cooking dinner for the two of them and probably spending a pleasant evening with a man he loved with all his heart, without a worry in the world.

"Dammit!" his hand smashed into the tree, slightly scorching it as his light element flared under his intense emotions. He looked at his hand as his chest tightened up with all the emotions he's experiencing. In almost all the stories he had ever read most transmigrators were ecstatic to find a world where magic was real and they were able to fly in the air, control the elements with their will or even blessed with strange telekinetic abilities but for him, what he had lost far outweighed what he had found. His family, lover and his friends where all in his old world, making him feel vulnerable and unsafe in this new place he found himself in.

Shaking his head, he looked around at the forest before he decided to take a direction he somehow felt familiar. He was lucky that according to his previous host's memories he was still in the outskirts of the Evergreen Forest and he should probably hurry up while he can still get out of the forest alive.

Limping and half running; he crossed the trees and bushes in a half a minute by using the white staff as a support until he reached the road, feeling grateful that he had found the runic staff near him. He also had the mind to also take that book which was now clutched on his free hand. He looked back at the trees that adorned the forest and sighed. Of course he had seen the horrifying death the previous host went through and though he had many questions like if the previous host died by being mauled alive, why was his current body seemingly healed, and why he was borne onto this specific body in this new world, or the reason why he was chosen. He then guessed or more like felt that this might be caused by some kind of a cosmic being. He wasn't a devout believer back on earth and maybe, just maybe all this happened for a reason though as he thought more about it, he had to make sure he survived long enough to get the answers to all the questions that are currently plaguing his mind.