Cold.

When I opened my eyes the next time, I found myself floating in a pool of liquid. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if it was liquid or not, but as I slowly stood up, drops of e6shadowy black void dripped down my body. I glanced around at my surroundings, and vast stretches of emptiness seemed to span endlessly as far as my eyes could see. Was this really the end?

Everything felt so strange, like that feeling you get when you wake up after not sleeping enough. It felt like I had a splitting headache, yet the second my hand touched my forehead, the discomfort seemed to vanish.

“Well well well, it looks like someone’s finally awake,” A solemn voice uttered as ripples of the abyss formed below my feet. A shadowy figure soon came into view, like the sun rising above the sea of darkness at the break of dawn. With each step the figure took, the space around me seemed to warp as objects filled the once-empty void. What started out as ruined structures, bits of debris that seemed to materialise randomly quickly coalesced into gigantic, grandiose marble pillars that held up the ceiling of an equally elaborate hall.

The figure now unveiled, sat casually before me on an intricate gilded throne, with his predominately black outfit, a robe, long trousers and a top hat similarly inlaid with gold. It was the first chance I had got to get a good look at the man, but there was just something about him that felt off about him which I couldn’t put my finger on. Was it the overall vibe of his outfit somehow managed to look sleek yet ancient at the same time, or maybe how a cup of tea seemingly materialised into his hand from thin air?

No, those weren’t the reason. To me, the man felt strange because I couldn’t sense him. Sure I could see him just fine but he had no presence sitting in front of me, as if he could simply vanish the next moment without realising. Yet deep down I knew that this man was no ordinary being, whether I was in the afterlife or not, he was either the gatekeeper to the other side, or perhaps a deity who resides in the gap between the living and the dead.

“Take a seat,” he gestured, and in the next moment, I found myself sitting on a similarly elaborate throne, roughly ten meters away from him, with a long wooden table between us.

“Greetings Arata Eos. I think that I am quite well-versed in your history, yet I believe you lack that same familiarity with mine. There’s some quite important stuff I want to get to so I’ll keep my introduction brief, I am Kairos the Timekeeper”

As Kairos told me his name, I immediately began thinking if I had heard it somewhere before, yet I couldn’t think of any historical figure, mortal or god that matched his name or appearance. Perhaps it was the name of a God from a legend long since lost to time, which meant that the being before me had predated all of known history.

“So what do you want with a dead man like me Kairos?”

“Ahh, cutting right to the chase, I’ve always liked that side of you Arata,” Kairos remarked before clearing his throat. “There’s something a bit wrong with your statement, you are no dead man Arata, in fact you are quite precious to me.”

“Not a deadman?”

I looked at Kairos, scanning his appearance. Sure he didn’t exactly look like the angels or gatekeepers commonly depicted in folklore, but if he was a primordial being, what business would he have other than sending me to the other side?

“Arata Eos, I have to come to offer you a contract,” Kairos began, sitting up slightly as he rested his teacup in the air around him. My eyes widened upon hearing his words. A divine being contracting with someone like me?

In simple terms, a contract is a binding force between two entities built upon a set of agreed rules or conditions. Failure to uphold the terms of the agreed contract means giving up all benefits gained and being subject to potential repercussions from the other party. The most common types of contracts were those where there is a severe difference in power between the two parties, oftentimes the more powerful of the two lends the weaker one a portion of their strength in exchange for them carrying out their will.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I’m sure that I have left a certain impression on you in our meeting thus far, and you are probably wondering why I would go to such lengths as to choose you as my incarnation, but rest assured that all will be revealed when the time is right. As I have said before Arata, you are special, it has certainly been a while since someone could wield both mana and aether,”

Kairos lifted his hand up and out of thin air, streams of what appeared to be molten gold, shining brilliantly in the otherwise dimly lit room began gathering at his fingertips until the liquid metal bubble seemed to morph into a simple golden ring. It seemed to dance in the air, gently floating over towards me before it mysteriously stopped, suspended by nothing.

“Now, contracting with me, or gods in general is a little bit different than contracting with other beings. It’s difficult for us to directly imbue you with our power which most other contracts do in the form of a stigma. Instead, I have instilled this ring with the slightest bit of my essence which will help prepare your body for when you eventually become ready to accept my power,”

“So I gain nothing from accepting the contract now?” I asked.

Kairos laughed at my words, “Look at you, focused so much on what you have to gain, yet you fail to see what it is you can lose, though I suppose you mortals are always like this. I suppose that's why he turned out the way he did. Or maybe, deep down, you already know what I am going to offer you. After all, why else would someone capable of turning back the clock come to you at the time of your demise?”

“Regression”, I muttered. It was the obvious answer. A second chance, a way for me to correct the mistakes I made in the past, to walk down a different path to the one I chose.

“Ahh, a smart one aren’t you, indeed I will offer you a chance at regression. You have no idea what it's like being able to see all the alternate futures and realities, endless possible outcomes, some more realistic than others. I am curious about you Arata Eos, your futures are quite, let’s say, exciting, and I hope that you will choose to realise a more extravagant future this time around.”

“Any terms?”

“Oh wow, I knew you were going to ask that but still, at least try to be less predictable,” Kairos scoffed before the corners of his mouth curled up into a wicked grin.

I’m sure you’ve heard of an organisation from your worldline called ‘The Legion’ right?”

My blood seemed to boil at his words. Was this guy trying to annoy me? The Legion was a group of people who quickly rose to the top of the criminal underworld. They were scum, no maybe even worse than scum for the crimes they had committed against the Zonian Empire. Their goals were often mysterious and the only way you could trace them would be to follow the path of chaos and destruction they left in their wake. But most importantly to me, they were the ones who took everything from me. By now, it had been probably five or six years since that fateful day, yet it still branded itself deep in my memories.

Hellfire cascaded down from the night sky as if the gates of hell had been unleashed upon our world. The putrid air was congealed with jet-black smoke, and you couldn’t even hear yourself over the cacophonous screams of innocent civilians, as the entire capital of Zion was set ablaze. As one of the many mages who called the capital our home, each one of us fought till our very last breath, till the last drop of mana had run dry, till the final swing of our weapons before they shattered. Until I was the only one who remained.

On the ash-stained ground, pools of blood seeped through the cracks, and broken weapons; blades, axes, hammers, littered like tombstones. I remember limping through that graveyard, half dead, mentally drained, insides gripped and choked by the hideous smog searching for my party members. But I would only ever find their corpses, rather, what was left of their corpses.

“What about the legion?” I snarled.

“I want you to aim towards their destruction, and rest assured that I will provide you the means to bring about their annihilation. Those are all the terms I have, if you agree with my conditions, then put on the ring and you will be regressed. Otherwise, I have no trouble with bringing you over to the otherside.”

I smirked slightly as I slipped the ring onto my right index finger.

“I was planning to do that anyway”