- Early Morning -
Death is pain.
Death is trauma, consequence, and separation. It doesn't care who you are or what you've done. It takes without asking and leaves behind whatever damage it feels like. I used to believe I was above that. That the things I'd lived through made me different.
I was wrong.
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was heat.
It wasn't full of warmth nor discomfort. It was heat that pressed into my skin from all directions, heavy and unavoidable. My instinct was to move—to thrash, to recoil—but I forced myself to stay still. I didn't know what was happening, but panicking in an unfamiliar environment was a good way to make things worse.
As awareness settled in, so did memory.
Fragments surfaced without order or warning. The sound of a gunshot. The sensation of impact. The heat of metal tearing through flesh. The look on a familiar face as realization set in—shock giving way to horror as he understood what he'd just done.
Another shift.
I was kneeling, clutching my side, hands slick with blood that wasn't all mine. Every breath made it worse. I knew that moving, struggling, panicking—any of it—was accelerating the end. That knowledge didn't help.
I hated it.
The helplessness. The inevitability. The way the world narrowed until there was nothing left but pain and regret.
That hatred became anger.
Another image forced itself forward. A woman's body. Broken. Still. Beautiful in the way ruined things sometimes are when there's nothing left to save.
A voice followed.
"It is unfortunate what befell you," it said, echoing from everywhere at once. The voice was ancient and heavy. It felt less like something meant to be understood and more like something you could only endure until it was finished "But life has a way of disrupting even the most carefully laid plans, does it not, little lordling?"
I opened my eyes.
The place defied language, but that didn't stop my mind from trying. Endless red flesh stretched outward in every direction, layered and pulsing. Embedded within it were massive eyes, each larger than several people put together. They watched without blinking.
Their pupils were pitch black. Their sclera burned with beautiful and brilliantly bright golden flames. They were so bright that looking at them for too long made my head throb.
The flesh moved constantly. No matter where I turned, I was being watched.
I looked down and realized I was standing on a small stone platform, barely large enough to stand on comfortably. It floated above the shifting mass below.
The voice returned, firmer now.
"You desire power you do not yet understand. That matters little. You will inherit these flames. You will bring chaos to this world and any other you set your gaze upon. Claim what is yours."
Laughter followed. Not mocking. Knowing.
"May chaos take the world."
The golden fire surged outward, swallowing everything.
Then I woke up.
- Later -
Waking up wasn't an issue, it was a relief. I never realized the vice grip that place held on my mind until I noticed just how clear everything was once I regained consciousness.
Unfortunately for me, I did not have the time to dwell on what I'd just witnessed. Today is the day that Max gets her powers, and that means that I have to do everything perfectly.
I couldn't linger on the dream. Today mattered more.
Today was the day Max Caulfield got her powers.
I moved through my morning routine with discipline. I started off by eating a balanced breakfast, favoring protein and health over taste. Not exactly what I'd prefer, but I'll have all the time in the world to indulge in my desires in the future. I've been living like this since I stepped up for my family back home, so I can deal with it for as long as I need until I outgrow it.
Gotta thug it out.
Although thoughts like these are what make me all the more eager for my inevitable godhood, I digress. My stats made a slight bit of progress-it's not much, but I still feel way better than I was just a day ago.
|Vincent West|
{Health: 100%}
{Stamina: 78%}
{Rank: Mortal}
{Class: Cultist — Level 2}
{Strength: D+}
{Constitution: C}
{Dexterity: C+}
{Intelligence: B}
{Wisdom: C-}
{Charisma: S}
{Luck: A-}
Progress. Glorious and beautiful.
I've only been reincarnated for a short while and the grind of a Gamer already favors me. I love to see it.
Some would probably see what I did to the man at the lighthouse as overkill, but they just wouldn't understand it.
I enjoyed what I did. I regret nothing. He may not have deserved to die, but that means nothing to me in the grand scheme of things. My growth and entertainment are simply more important than his continued existence, and I stand by that fact.
Speaking of growth though...
[Gentle Fist Taijutsu — Practitioner]
[Pyrokinesis — Beginner]*
A few of my skills have improved as well.
After the situation with my dream, my [Pyrokinesis] leveled up as well as gained an asterisk, but the Game refused to answer me every time I question it about it.
Sadly though, I couldn't focus on that too much longer.
It was time to move.
I wasn't in the girl's bathroom when Chloe Price died.
That wasn't luck, nor was it coincidence. It was placement.
Nathan Prescott was already inside when the moment arrived, just as he was supposed to be. Just like I planned.
His voice was loud, defensive, fraying at the edges while Chloe was confrontational, and reckless, convinced so much that she could bull rush her way through anything.
Max Caulfield though? She was hiding.
She was crouched inside the stall, breath shallow, trying to make herself invisible. I knew exactly where she was. I knew when fear would overwhelm hesitation.
Chloe wasted no time attempting to bully Nathan into giving her what she wanted.
"I got nothing for you." Nathan said, his annoyance at her existence clearly evident.
Chloe didn't care though.
"Wrong. You got hella cash."
Hella? Really? I can't wait to go to a new world.
"That's my family. Not me." Nathan responded curtly.
"Oh boo hoo, you poor little rich kid. I know you've been pumpin' drugs and shit to kids around here," Chloe started as she walked directly to Nathan and continued in his ear, "I bet you respectable family would help me out if I went to them. Man, I can see the headlines now."
"Leave them out of this, bitch." Nathan said, his patience thinning rapidly and his annoyance shining through.
Chloe either didn't notice or didn't care, seeing as she continued to press him even harder.
"I can tell everybody Nathan Prescott is a punk ass who begs like a little girl and talks to himself-"
Nathan didn't let her finish though, as he pulled out a gun and said his own piece.
"You don't know who the fuck I am or who you're messing around with!"
I may not like this universe all that much, but it's so exciting to live through scenes you've seen through nothing but a small screen. It makes me excited for the endless possibilities the multiverse will bring me.
Chloe, seeming to realize the trouble she was in, started to plead with him.
"Where'd you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!"
Her cries didn't phase Nathan though. In fact, they only seemed to enrage him further.
Instead of stopping, Nathan advanced towards her and pushed her into the bathroom door with his gun pressed against her stomach.
"Don't ever tell me what to do. I'm so sick of people trying to control me!" He said with barely contained rage.
"You are going to get in hella more trouble for this than drugs!" Chloe tried to convince him, but alas, her word choice didn't work in her favor.
"Nobody would ever even miss your "punk ass", would they?"
Nathan's response seemed as if they were Chloe's final sentencing, in a way, because in the next moment she tried to push Nathan away, and he instinctively pulled the trigger.
The gunshot came. Chloe fell. Max screamed.
And time broke.
The rewind pulled everything backward. Sound vanished first, giving way to the graying of the world as a whole. Then motion itself snapped into reverse as reality corrected itself.
It was so beautiful, and yet so terrifying.
And I remembered all of it.
When the world reset, I was exactly where I was before. I'll have to brainstorm on this later.
This time around, Max pulled the fire alarm when Nathan had his gun pressed against Chloe's stomach and startled Nathan and Chloe into leaving the bathroom immediately.
Nathan stumbled out of the bathroom first. Shaken. Chloe followed, alive and unaware.
Max came out of the bathroom last, followed by me once I was sure that I wouldn't be noticed.
She looked wrong. Not relieved, and definitely not safe. She looked like someone who'd seen something the world insisted hadn't happened.
I crossed her path casually.
"Rough morning?" I asked.
She looked up at me. completely startled, and hesitated before answering, "Yeah."
I continued the conversation with her in a much lighter tone, doing what I could to ensure that she associates the positive emotions she feels immediately after this traumatic event with me.
Somewhere throughout this process I let a flicker of heat slip free in the environment around us. Too much warmth to be natural, but not enough for her to question me just yet. Just enough.
From the confusion I could see written all over her face as we continued our conversation I can tell that she noticed.
Behind my eyes, the System confirmed what I already knew.
[Temporal Phenomenon Detected]
Source: Max Caulfield
Type: Rewind
Resistance: Partial (External Variable)
[+10 Affection with Max Caulfield]
I smiled.
This may have just been reconnaissance, but it was exactly the type of environment I needed to gather information on what I should do next.
Things are looking up.