David POV

I stand amidst the ruins of what was once a proud city, a shell of its former self now reduced to smoldering ashes. The air is thick with the stench of death, a bitter reminder of the battle we just fought and lost. Bodies lie scattered like broken dolls, the corpses of soldiers who fought valiantly but fell to the overwhelming tide of spirits. I watch as their lifeless eyes stare blankly at the sky as if searching for answers that will never come.

Why? Why wasn't I stronger? I was supposed to be one of the heroes, a beacon of hope, but in a world teetering on the brink of annihilation, I am now powerless. I am David Hudson, an otherworlder, a reincarnated hero, but...why was I the last remaining one...the weakest hero...the one with no special powers, the one who couldn't make a difference. I feel a surge of anger and frustration boiling within me, cursing my weakness, my failures.

I could do nothing but scream and cry in despair...My comrades, my friends...the brave souls who stood beside me, are now gone. I can't help but feel that I've betrayed them by not being strong enough to save them. But in that moment of desperation, something ignites within me a flicker of defiance. I mustered the last remnants of my strength, pushing aside the pain and fear. I have to fight. I charge at Noctaron, the dark figure looming before me.

With every ounce of energy I could muster, I surged forward, ready to confront the inevitable. But before I could reach him, in a blink of an eye, I saw my own headless corpse. A wave of darkness then crashes over me, dragging me down into an abyss. I feel myself falling, weightless and lost, engulfed by a void that swallows all light and sound. I was dead. In this endless darkness, I floated, and then, suddenly, there was a presence. A light flickers, and from it emerges a familiar figure, a god-like being radiating an aura of power, he was a tall handsome blonde man with bright white feathery wings.

My heart pounded in my chest as I realized who it was.

"You..." I whispered in the void, "Why come now? Where the hell have you been?!"

"You must be wondering," the god's voice echoed, "Why you do not possess unique powers like the others. If you had, perhaps you would have made a difference in the battle."

"Of course, I wonder! Why wasn't I stronger? If I had just one special ability, heck, if you had just given me something as simple as some money to help out my parents, I would have had a better headstart, and I could have saved them. I could have saved everyone!"

The god's expression remains calm, almost sorrowful. 

"I foresaw this future, David." he replied sadly, "Your defeat was inevitable, no matter the heroes who stood beside you, no matter the power. The only way to win is to learn from your mistakes. And our greatest mistake was allowing your mentor, Calvin Silver, to die too early."

"You knew this, didn't you? You knew how it would end!" I cursed, my voice trembling with anger, "Then what was I supposed to do? What could I have done?"

"You were not meant to carry this burden alone," the god replied with pity, "I blessed you with the power to change fate, a gift that cost me my own life. What you see before you is merely an afterimage, a remnant of my regrets."

"Change fate? Change my destiny?" 

"You will have only one chance to see this through," the god says, "Do you accept this power?"

"What power?"

"To change the past."

Change the past? I hesitated, uncertainty gnawing at me. But as I think of the soldiers who fought bravely, of Calvin, and the countless friends I've lost, my resolve hardened. 

"Yes," I finally said.

I blinked, and suddenly I was standing in front of a mirror, brushing my teeth, my 14-year-old self looking back at me. I still have my full head of blonde hair with my green eyes glowing full of life...I am back in the past...

----------------------------------------

*Present Time*

Calvin POV

I blinked awake, groggy and disoriented, the dim morning light slipping through the blinds. I groaned, rolling over to escape the glare, only to find Duke poking me insistently with his nose.

[A/N: Think of him as a much larger Tetsuya #2.]

Duke, of course, didn't listen. He let out a low huff, his nose pressing more firmly into my shoulder. And just when I thought I could ignore him, he took things to the next level. With a quick tug, Duke grabbed the edge of my blanket and yanked it off, leaving me defenseless in the chilly room...which only made me more sleepy as he then rolled me out of bed.

"Seriously? You never let me sleep in."

But as always, one look at that goofy, happy face made it hard to stay mad.

"Luckily, you're cute," I grumbled, reaching over to scratch his head to which he responded with a big, slobbery lick across my cheek, his tail wagging with excitement, "Alright, alright, I'm up."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I stumbled out of the bedroom floor, stretching and yawning as I made my way to the bathroom to wash up. After washing up, I packed my things as we left the inn and headed to our new home closer to the Heart Kingdom's royal capital. Duke trotted along beside me as we made our way to the downstairs diner. We were practically regulars at this point as we'd stopped by here a couple of times, and the staff knew Duke as well as they knew me. So they already prepared our regulars.

Halfway through my coffee, I noticed someone approaching. A cloaked figure, hood drawn low to hide their face, stopped by our table.

"Calvin," He called me in a whisper, "Can we speak alone?"

"...Hell no."

"...What?"

"Yeah, I'm still gonna go with a hard no on that one. I'm not going anywhere with a mysterious guy who approaches me in a diner."

"It's important, Calvin. You're the only one who can help."

"Look, if you really need my services, put in a request with the guild. I'm not about to run off with some random guy who won't even show his face."

The figure sighed, then, with a reluctant motion, pulled back his hood. He was this young guy with long blond hair, green eye, about my height, and he didn't seem to have any crest on him, so he was not a noble. He looked like he was about 2-3 years younger than me, but has no other noticeable features.

"My name is David." he introduced himself as he sat across from me without my consent.

"Ok, David, still not going anywhere with you."

"Why are you saying my name like that?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Nevermind that-"

"What part of 'I don't go places with random strangers' didn't you get? Just because I know your name and your face doesn't mean I'm going to follow you off to who-knows-where."

"Man, I knew you were annoying, but this is a new level...tch."

"Look, if you really wanna talk to me that bad, I'll meet you at the nearby guild office branch after my breakfast, that way, it'll work out for the both of us."

"Thank you so much! I'll head out first, I'll meet you there!"

...Weirdo.

----------------------------------------

David POV

I arrived at the local guild office, still slightly fuming from my conversation with Calvin. But to my surprise, there he was, leaning against the counter and chatting with one of the clerks. He glanced over as I approached, raising an eyebrow like he'd been expecting me. My mentor, with his white hair contrasting sharply against his rich tan skin, turned his head and gave me a knowing smile...but unlike the Calvin I knew...his current face has much lesser scars.

"You're here already?"

"Hey, you asked me to be here." he shrugged, "Let's be quick, a job came up."

"Is there a room that we can use to talk privately?

"Alright. There's a room in the back we can use."

We made our way to a small, quiet room off the main hall. Calvin leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching me sit down with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. Mostly the latter.

"I'll get straight to the point. I came from the future, Calvin. The world I saw was nearly destroyed, overrun by spirits. Noctaron rose to power as the new king of the dead and brought humanity to the brink of extinction. I'm an otherworlder with the power to come back to the past, and-"

"How old are you?" he asked as he cut me off, "Not mentally, but like...the you right now."

"I'm 16."

"So you're only 3 years younger than me, how the hell would I become such a good mentor, I ain't that much older."

"What does age have to do with anything? Anyway, originally, I would be in the Diamond Kingdom's royal academy right about now, but I would be kicked out in a year. And as an otherworlder assigned with the role of being a hero...I did what any other 16-year-old with an urgent destiny might do...I put together a party of friends and threw myself into the work..."

For about a year, we traveled from town to town, taking on contracts from guilds. We learned the ropes together, honed our skills, and exorcised more than our fair share of troublesome spirits. We started small, mostly handling low-level hauntings, the kind that scared people but didn't have much bite. But the more we succeeded, the bolder we got. We pushed our limits and took on bigger jobs with more serious risks. The praise...the thrill....all of it was addictive.

But that boldness turned to recklessness, and one mission was all it took to ruin everything. I couldn't remember much of that day, only fragments...flashes...the fear in my friends' eyes, the overpowering aura of the ghost that had decimated us. When I finally came to, I was alone, my friends gone. After that, I couldn't bring myself to keep going. I shut myself in my home, away from people and their expectations, away from the nightmares that haunted me. Days turned into weeks, then months. Before I knew it, three years had passed in isolation, the weight of my failure growing heavier with each day.

Then one day, a rumor spread through town about an impossibly powerful ghost nearby, one so strong that even the local guild couldn't handle it. No one knew where the exorcist had come from, but his infamy was spread throughout the 4 nations. Seeing the chance, my parents pestered me to go see the infamous exorcist, and just to quiet them down, I did.

I watched from the shadows as he fought, facing down a ghost that should have wiped out anyone else in a heartbeat. There was something about the way he moved, the sheer strength in every strike, that was both terrifying and mesmerizing. And then, when the fight was over, I immediately asked him to teach me. I saw what I was missing.

----------------------------------------

"Oh wow, didn't know I could inspire people." was all he said after I conveyed how I met him, "So how long were you under my...tutelage? Teaching? Whatever."

"I'd say a year before you met your fall." 

"How?"

"You sacrificed yourself to protect the Spade Empire."

"Well, I'll just stop you there, I would never sacrifice myself for other people."

"What-"

"No offense, including Duke here, there are only 3 other people in the world whom I'll be more than willing to risk my life for...shit...the ghost, I can sense it nearby. If you're a student of mine, come help secure the perimeter."

Calvin then bolted out of the guild hall, and I barely had a second to react before I was right on his heels, following him. My pulse quickened as we rounded the corner and went straight into the town square. There, in the center of it all, stood the terrifying sight of a tall terrifying woman, frozen in the middle of a crowd that was scattering away from her in every direction. Her long black hair spilled out from beneath a bloodied mask, and in each hand, she gripped a knife. Her stance was unhinged, and feral, and her gaze shifted restlessly as she sized up every soul around her.

As we closed in, Calvin's movements slowed, his eyes fixed on the ghostly woman in the center of the square. Duke and I fanned out, keeping wary eyes on the edges of the crowd and guiding anyone nearby to keep a safe distance. Duke even forcibly pushed people into nearby buildings and made sure no one was close to the site, as clever as ever.

Calvin took another step forward, and the woman's head snapped toward him, her dark eyes narrowing. There was a strange, unsettling calm in her gaze as she assessed him, and then a twisted smile pulled at her bloodstained mask.

"Handsome boy," she said with a voice that carried a dark undertone that made my skin crawl, "Tell me…am I beautiful?"

With a single, smooth motion, she removed her mask, revealing a wide, horrific slit that extended from one side of her mouth to the other.

"Hell no, bitch, you're ugly inside and out."

You're not supposed to antagonize her...damn.

For a second, her face twisted, and then she let out an ear-piercing screech, her eyes narrowing in fury. Without another word, she lunged at him, blades gleaming in her hands as she closed the distance in a heartbeat.