My legs were too overworked to hold me up anymore, in what felt like an instant my face met the floor. Pain shot through my head when I hit the ground and my vision started to fade. I never really wanted any of this in the first place, why do I always attract problems?…

…

I can fix this… I can find a way to reverse all of this confusion and pain…

Due to an excessive want for a way out out of his current situation a new ability formed within Strain.

’New ability gained: Save Point Jump,

Any previous save point can be leapt back to by the user thinking of the moment in which they set that save point and thinking the phrase, “Jump save point,” with meaning. Any save points previously set after the one that was jumped to will be reset.’

A small spark of hope began to unfurl within me.

Internally I still barely understand what’s happening, but with this new ability maybe this feeling of confusion and pain will go away.

’Jump save point!’ I lay collapsed on the floor, waiting for an affirmation.

It pained me to think about it, but I was going to have to reset to make things right.

pain washed over me in progressive waves, every few seconds it felt like I was getting washed down with boiling water, I wished I could scream, but as it turns out, it seemed I didn’t even have a mouth at all. I sat in a dark void, I tried to move my arms or legs, but, I didn’t feel my body, or anything at all, except… Pain. Pain that leveled up over time, ever so slightly, after every short burst the pain would increase. It was all I could really think about for a while in this void.

’It hurts.’

‘It hurts.’

’It hurts.’

‘It hurts.’

It felt like days had passed at this point, my thoughts devolved into one primary statement,

’It hurts.’

Suddenly, a thought popped into my mind like a breath of fresh air for the first time in centuries, ‘Why was I here in the first place, what was I going to do here-‘ I remembered something, I needed to go back and fix things, I couldn’t just sit here and forget about it because of this overwhelming pain, well, I actually probably could, but I need to get out of here before I lose myself-

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I felt my body again, rather, I had a body again. I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was in my bed again. One could not describe the amount of relief I felt when I realized I was back in my bed again. The price to pay for my abilities is one I don’t really like, but, if it meant defying fate then I’d do anything in the long run.

I couldn’t waste this, I was given a second chance, so now it’s time to use it to the fullest.

I quickly got out of bed and walked outside my room to greet my sister, a part of me stung when I saw her but I tried to keep my composure, after all, they weren’t dead yet, which is reason enough for me to keep going and savor every moment I have with her now. After she served me breakfast I told her I would be gone for a little while and headed out. The first problem to get out of the way was Vengeance. I know now that if I let him get into the city he’ll kill hundreds of people, the only way for me to stop him from doing that from what I can tell is to quickly intercept him and kill him. My second problem… is the man with the blade, it seemed like he got there just moments before me, so if I shorten the amount of time I’m at the hill I can get there in time, I know it will work this time, I have everything planned out now.

I finally approached the top of the hill, but, although I expected the trees approaching the bottom of the hill to start falling, nothing happened. Confusion set in within me, events should be playing out exactly as they did before, but, they’re not. Questions raced through my mind trying to find an answer to what was going on but nothing made sense. I wasn’t early, I checked the time, mere moments ago, It couldn’t have been me slightly changing up my morning as no one but my sister was even changed at all.-

“Hey kid, how long are you gonna stand there like that?”

I tried immediately whipping around to see where the voice came from but two strong arms came from behind me and held me in place. I tried to squeeze out of their grasp but it was too late, if I was going to die here, I might as well get some information.

”Who are you?”

After I couple seconds of silence the man spoke,

”Before I answer that I’m going to say something, a girl who’s fake name is Elivia sent me here, she told me that you would expect me to come from the bottom of this hill and that you knew a way to beat me perfectly if I did. It seems like you really were waiting for me to come from the bottom of that hill, you two must know something I don’t so I have to ask, how did either of you know these things?”

Realization hit me like a high flying arrow to the head. The man holding me was Vengeance. And the reason he didn’t come from the bottom of the hill is the information that “Elivia,” person gave to him. But, something didn’t feel right at all about this whole situation, someone out there can predict and intercept my loops, it seems there’s an entirely new problem at hand, Elivia.

”I can’t answer that question in full at the moment.” I answered with the small spark of hope I had inside of me beginning to fade.

”Well if you can’t answer my question than I might as well follow through with my agreement. And for who I am, it seems you’ve already pieced that together yourself.”

Suddenly, Vengeance turned me around and reached a now glowing arm towards my face. I tried thinking of a way to avoid this situation but I was at a total loss in the moment. He reached a single finger out and my right eye began to sizzle and burn. I screamed out in pain as the flaming energy coursed into the area around my eye. He didn’t go for a killing blow, he went for torture, his ability was at a lower output, he was slowly burning away my eye. I tried reaching out a hand to stop him but stopped myself fearing I would lose my hand in the process as well. If he was going to put me through this much agony in the first place, why didn’t he just want to kill me?

‘This pain is nothing compared to what I’ve been through.’

My aura began to spark up and flare out and along my body, my Absorb ability had been slowly reaching the threshold for an explosion ever since I reached that strange dark void, and now, I couldn’t hold it back anymore...