Micheal blinked as he came awake, his mind groggy.
"Huh?" He muttered as he woke up, rubbing his eyes.
An instant later, his heart spasmed as he jolted up, long
years of constantly being on alert kicking in. His hand
clutched at his chest, searching for the gruesome injury he had
taken while he quickly took in his surroundings.
'My Recovery stat means my body will regenerate at a rate
roughly 41 times that of a normal human on Earth. Even with
that, though, I was stabbed through the heart. One of the Full
Heal Technique users must have…' Micheal's thoughts trailed
off as he stared around him, at a loss.
"This is… my Cabela Tent from Earth?" He muttered out
loud. He would recognize this tent anywhere due to the
colorful, and rather poorly painted, interior. When he had been
much younger, his siblings had gone camping with their
parents every summer. One summer they'd decided to paint
the interior of the tent, filling it with brown and green trees,
white and black pandas, and a variety of colorful creations.
"But… how?" He stared, not understanding. He waved his
hands in the air, almost not believing his eyes. His heart was
flooded with emotions as the memories of his death
haphazardly washed over him, vague and difficult to
remember accurately.
'Status.' He thought, calling up his Status.
Nothing happened.
"W-what?!" His heart began to pound as he realized he
couldn't call up his Status.
The mythical Status Screen.
When the Apocalypse first struck Earth, everything had
started with that damned screen. An illogical, magical screen
that appeared in the air in front of every human, visible to only
oneself.
Without hesitating, Micheal burst out from his tent, his
eyes scanning the surroundings. He appeared to be in some
sort of forest clearing, with a small brook crashing down off to
the south. Towering oaks and cedars could be seen, spreading
out around him.
'Am I in some sort of dream trap? An Ability I'm unaware
of? Perhaps the Gods of the 12 Tribes can manipulate
memories?' His mind instantly raced as he tried to process
what was happening.
For, he clearly recognized when and where he was.
He was out on a camping trip with his best friend, trying to
find some peace and quiet away from the chaos that had swept
over the world. This clearing, the tent, everything was
identical.
He remembered this moment keenly. After all… what
happened next was unforgettable.
His turn to join the apocalypse had come.
'If it's like my memories…' He thought, rubbing his chin,
'Then I am about to be Chosen as well.' His eyes widened.
The Apocalypse. The Seven Layers. The Chosen.
Everything that had happened to him over the past 10
years washed through his mind.
He had been a regular, 18-year-old, just finishing up high
school and preparing for college when it all went down. His
biggest worries had been his SAT score results, the test he
needed to score well in to get into a good college, and if his
favorite schools would accept him.
Seemingly randomly at the time, roughly 1,000,000 people
vanished. A great flash of light swept across the Earth when
this happened, terrifying the world.
These people disappeared completely from the face of the
Earth. They could not be seen, nor heard. Their locations
couldn't be tracked, it was as if they had vanished from reality
itself.
As one might expect, mass hysteria and panic broke out.
People had vanished from all over the World, from America to
France, Germany to China. Some people thought it was aliens,
others thought it was some massive conspiracy, while still
others thought it was the end times.
Exactly one month later, the same thing happened. Except
this time, it wasn't just 1,000,000 people.
It was 10,000,000.
A 3rd month passed.
100,000,000 people disappeared.
And finally, now, it was the end of the 3rd month and the
start of the 4th month.
A time when 1,000,000,000 people would vanish from the
face of the Earth, in a great flash of light.
Micheal and his best friend Shin would be a part of that
Fourth Wave.
In the preceding three months, the world had almost
broken down in shock and horror. Everyone was trying to
understand what was happening, but no one truly could. Life
itself had almost ground to a halt.
Trade continued, unabated even in the face of the end of
reality. But people began to live freer lives, no longer
worrying about the future. After all, the daunting fear that
hung over everyone, the mass vanishings, was something
inescapable. Science couldn't explain it.
The majority thought it best to live and let live.
'It should be happening in just a few minutes.' As Micheal
came to this conclusion, he realized something.
'This is not a dream. There is no Ability that I know of that
can make something so realistic for so long. As well, it should
be impossible for me to not be able to access my Status
Screen, even if someone is using some type of rare Artifact.'
His thoughts raced ahead,
'There is only one possibility.' He looked around the forest
clearing, his heart calming,
'I've gone back in time.' As an expert that had been
through thick and thin, he was able to adapt to situations like
this in a short period of time. He didn't allow himself to get
overwhelmed, instead moving forward to plan.
As he thought this, he felt something flash at the edge of
his eyesight, right on his hand. He zeroed in on the light,
staring.
A faint image of a ring could be seen, resting on his hand.
As Micheal looked at it, slowly, this ring fell to dust,
vanishing. Particles of light drifted off of it, fluttering into the
air.
'An Artifact? Ah, I remember. I picked up that mysterious
ring in a game of chance somewhere. Was it in the 4th Layer?
The 5th?' Micheal thought, shaking his head. He couldn't
remember where he got it exactly.
'I won it through pure luck. I never could figure out what it
did and kept it with me as a lucky charm…' He continued,
frowning,
'Is it responsible for this?'
'So the reason I came back… it isn't because I was
specially chosen or anything of the sort.'
'It's just because of dumb luck, huh?'
As this series of thoughts flashed through his head,
Micheal couldn't help but smile ruefully.
'At least something has gone my way.' He clenched his
fists as the full scale of what had happened swept over him.
'I'm getting another chance. I can change the future.' His
eyes widened, a fire appearing in them,
'I can change the course of events. I can stop billions from
dying, I have the chance to make it so humanity isn't wiped
out!' He knew the future. He knew secrets that no one else
knew, where hidden treasures were, which Abilities were most
powerful or useful, how to score large numbers of Points…
All of his information had been largely outdated at the
time of the final battle. After all, what use was there in
knowing where something was on the 2nd Layer if that thing
was already looted and they were on the 7th Layer?
'But now… I have a chance. We have a chance.' His eyes
trembled,
'Humanity has a chance. And it's up to me.' His body
shivered as emotions flowed through him, feeling a huge
amount of pressure settle upon his shoulders.
If he did not change the future, all of humanity would die.
'There is so much we didn't know the first time around. So
many people died, so many lives wasted. I need to make
humanity as a whole stronger, but I also need to focus on my
own power.' He nodded as he realized this,
'The 12 Tribes of Gods… they are literal Gods. They are
born at the Lord Tier of Ki Cultivation, just one Tier below the
strongest Tier I ever reached. By the time we reached the 7th
Layer, only a few of humanity's strongest experts managed to
reach the Emperor Tier, let alone the God Tier like that
General.' He mused over the specifics, his eyes hardening.
'And we only faced their initial forces on that final
battlefield, we have yet to face their actual army. We were
slaughtered by what was essentially just a scouting force.' He
shook his head angrily, passion filling his blood.
He would not let things end up this way again.
He would stop the future he had lived from happening. He
would save his family, this time around. He would save the
White Knight, he would stop the Great Disaster of the 2nd
Layer, he would kill the Vile King before he spread his legions
of death, he would stop everything.
'Humanity will survive…' He thought, closing his eyes for
a brief moment,
'I will change the future.'