Chapter 3: The Weight of the Past – Cassis

Cassis ran.

The cold evening air burned his lungs, but he didn't stop. His boots pounded against the cracked pavement as he led Arianna through the streets full of monsters and bloody corpses. Buildings loomed around them, their windows shattered, their structures trembling with the aftershocks of the apocalypse. The people who had survived the first wave had found some kind of shelter, a house, a shed, … Anyone left in the streets was being eaten by monsters. This worked to their advantage as the monsters were busy with the corpses and didn’t get up to chase them. In the distance, he could hear the monstrous wails of creatures still spilling through the gates that had torn open the sky.

His childhood home wasn’t far now. Just a few more streets. Just a little farther. He was lucky that his past self had been on his way to visit his parents for his mother’s birthday.

But his mind was elsewhere.

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I’ve already lived through this nightmare.

Fourteen years of carnage. The first day had been the worst of them all.

He still remembered it vividly—the helplessness, the despair. He had lost his family before he had even grasped what was happening. Before he had even been strong enough to fight back. On this day he had only been able to hide in the garden shed of one of their neighbours and didn’t come out until the monsters had left. He hadn’t known it at the time, but after the monsters had sated their hunger, most went back to their homes: the newly formed dungeons. They would come out of the dungeons again if they weren’t cleared before a certain deadline. And in some regular intervals there would be monster waves independent from the dungeons and quickly scaling in difficulty. Humanity would learn of that soon.

But in two days only some monsters would be found outside of the dungeons: stragglers, left behind by the dungeon monsters and newly mutated animals and plants due to the increase of mana particles in the atmosphere. They just had to hunker down hat his parents’ house for that time frame and then he could plan how to protect everyone.

In the past, however, he had been alone after that day. Everyone he knew was gone. He had run to his parent’s home and found blood stains and bits and pieces of his parents and younger brother. The monsters had eaten them. He screamed and screamed until he thought he had gone mad. But reality came back soon. He became hungry, had to look for something to eat. And some time later the monsters came back. He took his father’s hunting knife and killed all who came to his family’s home. That was when he awakened.

System Message:

Awakening Detected!

Cassis has successfully awakened as an F-rank awakener. The awakening process is complete, and new abilities have manifested. As an F-rank, the following features have been unlocked:

* Basic Awareness: Cassis can now sense and interact with mana in the environment.

* Mana Perception: Basic understanding of mana particles in the surroundings, but power is limited and needs refinement.

* Stamina Capacity: Low. Continued growth and training are necessary to enhance endurance and control over awakened powers.

This is just the beginning. Your journey to greater strength begins now.

F-Rank Ability Acquired:

* Elemental Affinity: An initial connection to an elemental force, still weak and requiring intense focus to harness effectively.

Stay vigilant and train wisely, for your true potential has only begun to surface.

Afterwards he became a solitary soldier in a war against the end of the world. For months, he had survived on sheer instinct, clawing his way through the ranks of the awakened, never expecting help.

And then, one day, the voice came. Through a blue screen he saw her words as text and then he heard her in his head. He hadn’t known Patrons could do that. And in the following years he hadn’t heard of any other Patron with the ability to project their voice directly into an awakener’s head.

At first, he had ignored it. Patrons didn’t care about F-rank awakeners. If they did, it was only to toy with them for entertainment, to watch them suffer. So, when he first heard her voice—soft, uncertain, pleading—he had thought it was some cruel joke.

Then, came the battle against the two-headed serpent.

A five-meter-long nightmare of fangs and venom. He had fought with everything he had, but in the end, even though he had slain it, he was dying. His body had been torn apart, his vision dimming, and the voice—her voice—had been crying.

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Then, warmth. A sudden weight in his hand. A potion.

No patron would waste precious resources on an uncontracted F-rank. But she had. And when he hesitated—when he had been ready to let go—she had begged him to live. Please, Cassis. Please drink it. Please…

Her voice had been like an angel’s.

And so, he had drunk the potion and survived.

That was how it all began.

Arianna. A virtuous deity who had chosen him, a nobody. She had offered him a contract, something he hadn’t thought himself worthy of. He had tried to refuse, told her to find someone stronger, someone deserving. But she had been stubborn, even crying again, telling him she couldn't bear to watch him suffer without helping.

She had told him of the contract benefits—how he would become stronger, how she could send him better items, how his rank progression would be accelerated. But none of that mattered as much as the way she sounded. Earnest. Genuine. So, he had accepted. And for ten years, she had been his only companion in a world of endless bloodshed.

She had always been the same. Always bright. Always kind. She had begged him to find allies, to trust others. But he had refused. He only needed her. And then, one day, she had threatened to leave if he didn’t find companions. He had called her bluff.

And she had disappeared.

At first, he thought she was simply giving taking some time to cool off. But days turned into weeks. Weeks into months. And then years. She never returned.

He had burned with fury. He had let her in. Trusted her. And she had abandoned him like everyone else. He had vowed revenge, trained harder than ever, fought recklessly to the brink of death. If she wouldn’t return to him, then he would force her back.

And so, four years after she had vanished, he had reached S-rank. And in an S-rank dungeon, after slaying a dragon, he had found it.

A wishing lamp.

A single wish.

He had wished for revenge. For her to suffer as he had suffered.

The lamp had activated. And then—

Error.

System needs to recalibrate due to impossible wish.

Computing... Computing...

Solution found.

Wish fulfilment is starting.

And when he had opened his eyes again, he had been here. Disoriented and aching, he had found himself standing in the middle of a familiar street. He had recognized the cracked pavement, the layout of the buildings—but something felt off. There were no signs of battle, no corpses, no stench of blood and death that had long since become familiar to him. There were quite a few people in the streets. They looked ... normal, pre-apocalypse normal.

The air was still, yet there was an eerie tension in the atmosphere, as if something terrible was about to begin. The people around him were silent, looking upwards.

So, he looked up, too and saw the sky of his nightmares. Dark red, swirling with ominous energy. The sky of the first day. The day everything began.

His breath caught. His mind reeled. He looked down at his hands—smooth, unscarred. The countless wounds and callouses from fourteen years of war were gone.

No… He staggered, his chest tightening. It can’t be.

That was when the first gate tore open.

A massive rift in reality, swirling with darkness. He had seen this scene before—had lived through it. He could never forget the sight of those gates birthing the creatures that would bring ruin to humanity. But before the first monsters could emerge, something unexpected happened.

Something fell from one of the gates.

Not a monster. A person.

His body moved before he could think. He ran toward the falling figure, confusion warring with instinct. The descent was unnaturally slow, as if unseen hands were guiding them down. As they neared the ground, the floating figure drifted toward him, settling gently into his arms.

A woman.

His breath hitched. She looked young, around his age, with soft brown hair and delicate features. She was… cute.

She stirred, her brows furrowing slightly, and then her eyes fluttered open—vivid blue, bright with confusion.

“…Cassis?” she whispered.

His heart stopped.

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The past. The first day of the apocalypse.

And then, she had fallen from the sky.

Arianna. In the flesh.

And she had recognized him immediately.

She had been confused at first, but then she had spoken of a car. A car accident. The wishing lamp had called his wish of having her in this world impossible.

She had died in that car accident. That was why she had disappeared.

Not abandoned him. Not betrayed him. She had been dead.

A sick feeling curled in his stomach. He had hated her for years, burned for revenge against a woman who had never once meant him harm. And now, she was here. Alive. And he had dragged her into this world. A world that was being destroyed. A hellish world.

She must never know. She must never realize what he had done.

She was confused, scrunching up her eyebrows and asked for his age. Deliberately he said 28 instead of his real age of 42 years. That was his age when the apocalypse began. He had to convince her that he had no knowledge of the future. It was the only way to keep her in the dark, to not lose her again.

She told him that she was 27. He was surprised and asked, “You’re younger than me?”. She had been so mature in their interactions in the past but if she was now 27 that meant she was only 17 when they first met. Even more guilt burned in his stomach. He had shown a teenager this dying world, had expected her to support him through terrible battles. And now he had ruined her life by bringing her here.

Cassis, he told himself, you will protect her. And one day, you will find a way to send her back. The S-rank dungeon with the wishing lamp will appear again. You must become stronger.

The sound of growls brought him back to the present. Some of the hyena like monsters were finishing their “meals” and taking notice of him and Arianna. Quickly they turned a corner, his childhood home finally in sight.

“Arianna,” he said, glancing at her. “We’re almost there.”

She nodded, gripping the small shovel she had found in the treehouse. The shovel she had used to kill a goblin to protect him. This wasn't right. He was too weak. He needed to do better, to protect her better. He was the same F-rank as last time.

He clenched his fists. He would not fail her, not this time.