Zayn wasn’t particularly bothered about his cheating girlfriend and the bastard he’d called best friend in the past. They were extras of the last decades – or was it yesterday?

Zayn was still confused about what was going on right now. Was he in the afterlife, or did he somehow end up thrown a decade back in time? Did it make sense that he thought about time-traveling being possible, in the first place? Definitely not! It was much more logical that he was in his afterlife right now.

But it was also not logical that a bunch of Gods would create a game to take over the world in the future. Compared to the ‘impossible’ things he had witnessed in the last decade, Zayn felt that traveling in time might not actually be impossible.

He retrieved his phone, glanced at the screen to make sure that it was the 11th of November 2025, and opened Skynet. The moment he opened Skynet to research something an advertisement about Forgotten Lands popped up.

[Do you want to have fun and earn a fortune? Do you love playing games, exploring magical lands, and fighting fearsome monsters? Then join the first super realistic VRMMORPG Forgotten Lands and create your heroic tale!]

Zayn rolled his eyes when he saw the advertisement that highlighted in-game currency exchange and some other factors that would attract various gamers, and non-gamers all over the world. It had been a while since he saw this advertisement, but he recalled it well. In the past, he’d been interested in Forgotten Lands because it allowed him to earn money by selling in-game currency. However, he had been too busy studying to join when it launched. He didn’t have enough money to spare for the VR helmet, either.

It was an interesting function that attracted numerous professional players and all kinds of corporations. Zayn found out much later that the Gods of Trickery and the God of Wealth came up with this feature to make use of humans’ worst trait: their greed.

They didn’t care about small exchanges of money. The Gods focused on pulling more players in Forgotten Lands to establish more anchors all over Earth.

Evidently it worked out well.

‘I am really not dead?’ Zayn wondered, just to slap himself firmly. The slap resounded through the room, taking his family by surprise.

“Zayn?!?” His mother exclaimed in shock, whereas his brothers stared at him in shock.

Zayn felt someone tug at his shirt. It was his sister with tears in her eyes, “Brother…are you hurt? Don’t hurt yourself…please…”

But Zayn didn’t hear anything. All he could tell was that the slap hurt. It actually hurt.

‘Is that for real now?’

He recalled a conversation with the Lesser God, one of the few conversations he had with that nasty bastard.

He said that he was happy to have destroyed the Root of Origin and that the Primordial Pantheon would never be able to get him. All he had to do now was to get rid of the last ants who resisted his dominion before he could have his own world to rule and shape as he pleased.

‘That idiot died shortly after bragging that he outwitted the Primordial Pantheon. What a fool,’ Zayn didn’t feel great recalling the Lesser God, but the conversation posed useful.

‘Could they have done something? But then why do I remember everything? Everyone else seems to recall nothing. I am certain that I was dead.’

“Could it be that I’m still alive?” He murmured, only for his sister to shout, “Of course, you are alive, brother!!!”

Zayn was pulled out of his train of thought and looked at his sister. Natalie was already 13 years old, but that little monster acted like a spoiled brat with her brothers. No. She acted like that in front of everyone. It was adorable.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Losing his little sister was one of the worst experiences he went through. It was a period of grief and suffering, but also a slap in the brothers’ faces. They had been too weak to protect their beloved sister. Their hard work to protect those they loved had been for naught.

It was all for naught.

Zayn pinched her cheeks gently and smiled at Natalie.

“That’s nice, isn’t it?” He asked, a light chuckle escaping his lips.

His sister’s cheeks felt warm. It was the complete opposite of how she’d been when Zayn found her dead body, split into several pieces. Zayn didn’t want to recall those times. He’d been crying too much during those days.

Feeling pain and warmth were two factors that confused Zayn. He was still not 100% convinced that he traveled back in time. Therefore, he decided to test out a few more things. His knowledge about the afterlife and dreams was not extraordinary but he recalled one of his illusionist acquaintances bragging about his illusions and that they were near-impossible to see-through.

Zayn got up from the chair and returned to his room. He rummaged through a few boxes where he found a spinning top made out of metal. It was one of the toys he used a lot when he was young. He spun it and stared at the spinning top rotating around its axis until it stopped after twenty seconds.

Zayn then stabbed himself with a small needle to feel the pain and take a look at his blood. There was nothing wrong with it. Everything was normal.

He moved onto observing his body for any additional fingers, toes, or other body parts before doing a few other things only to figure out that nothing was out of the ordinary.

‘Am I really alive?’ Zayn wondered, ‘If… I’m alive, the others will be back as well, right?!’

Zayn’s heart leaped across the room. He got his phone and was just about to dial a number when he was once again reminded that his family didn’t seem to know anything about the Forgotten Lands and the horrors that awaited him.

“Let’s just say that I traveled back in time. The others don’t recall anything, but I can remember everything that happened. Will it be the same with the others? What am I supposed to do now?” Zayn asked himself, pocketing his phone once again.

If nobody recalled the terror caused by the Forgotten Lands what could he do to change the future? It didn’t matter whether he was currently in a dream, in the afterlife, or he’d traveled back in time. The question that tormented his mind was simple.

What would he do if he was given the chance for a re-run?

‘It would be the best if I could stop Forgotten Lands from launching.’ Zayn figured.

The VRMMORPG initiated the descent of the gods’ domains. It creates the first anchors to connect Earth with the Pantheon and the worlds they rule. The anchors would be used to manifest World Bridges, granting the armies of the Gods access to the earth, and initiating the first Nightmare Wave.

‘The Lesser God said something about the gestation period, or was it something else? The anchors required half a year to stabilize…’ Zayn recalled.

He didn’t understand the complex system utilized by the Primordial Pantheon and their Gods but he understood that their game would insert tiny traces of energy into every human connected to the game. Half a year later their Heart Decks would manifest in reality alongside the world bridges and other otherworldly structures.

‘The Heart Deck is the seed planted within humans to create the anchors. It gave us hope to overcome the adversaries…but we never had a chance to survive, in the first place.’ He thought in disgust and misery as memories of the past resurfaced.

Zayn felt like rushing to the phone and try calling the president or his secretary, pleading with him to shut down Forgotten Lands before it could launch. There were only a few downsides to that. First of all, Zayn would never be able to reach the president. He was a nobody.

Second, who would believe him? His warning would sound like the gibberish of a drunkard.

Third, nobody could imagine a game turning into reality, let alone that a game could have been created by a bunch of Gods who had the intention to conquer Earth – for whatever reason.

Of course, nobody would believe him. Zayn wouldn’t believe his words either in their stead. It didn’t make any sense.

If he recalled properly close to 50 million people would become players on the launch day. The game’s popularity was too great.

Six months later the regions with the highest density of players would turn into the major anchor points. The players would awaken their Heart Decks slowly and be granted the characteristics of their in-game characters before the true nightmare would begin.

Zayn understood that he wouldn’t be able to stop the game from launching all over the world.

That meant he had to change his plans. He could join the game sooner than before, and attain the strength needed to deal with the anchors before the world bridges could connect to Earth. By doing this, Zayn could prevent the end of the world before the horrors he went through once could happen again.

He could save those who died to protect him in his first life.

This time he could save them. No. This time Zayn would save them!

He was ready to change the future.

How hard could it be? It was just him against the entire Primordial Pantheon.

That sounded like a walk in the park.

Right?...RIGHT?!?