Huff Huff
A-Am I going to die? Like this? Alone?
I don't want to die like this, in a spaceship in the middle of space. I don't want to be alone in the middle of nowhere. I see the stars out the circular windows every time I look; it is quite lonely. Although I am tired of the same view, it still is elegantly shining.
I can't accept this! Anything will do, I just don't want to be alone, surrounded by wires and the stars while wearing such uncomfortable clothes. It isn't even fashionable, it's just an outfit astronauts wear. Plain white and boring.
Ugh… I am losing it.
When will this end? It has been so long I can't even remember my family.
He looks up and stares at the screen in front of him. His sight starts to blur, and then slowly he starts to close his eyes. Seemingly, the screen in front of him stayed the same as it was hundreds of years ago.
[Quest]
Player Name - N/A
Destination - Kepler 442 b
Distance Left - 105 Light Years.
His eyes were closed and it looked like he was sleeping. His heart was going fast and sweat was going down his face. Although all that was happening, he looked relaxed to the point that he was dead. His heart started to beat faster and faster. Unable to move or do anything about the fastening heartbeat, his eyes stayed closed. And then, it went silent. Nothing was heard from the guy. His heart had finally stopped beating after 1010 years.
The screen in front of him had changed the moment his heart stopped beating. A blue screen lit up the area. It came in with a message.
[Player N/A has died]
[Player ■■■■■■ has achieved the requirements for 'Quest to ■■■■■■■']
[Regression Activating]
Everything turned dark. It was like he had lost his mind, unable to think. Like he was nothing, he could feel nothing and nothing had existed to begin with.
A bright light and an unfamiliar ceiling, tiled and white. In the area around him, he could see a woman in front of him, smiling as her hand was coming closer. He was confused and quite scared by the sudden appearance of someone who had looked so familiar to him, yet he couldn't put his finger in the reason why.
Confused and scared, he felt like screaming to relax his nerves. His body wasn't listening to him and he was unable to move. His voice had not let out a sound until he heard it, a cry. His whole body was out of his control, and he was crying like a baby.
"Yichen, his name is Li Yichen."
The woman had spoken a name that sounded so familiar. It was his name. He was in shock about what was happening. Still crying, he had begun to think about what was happening.
Where am I!?
At that moment, he realized. He had regressed. All of the web novels he had read during his time on Earth gave him the impression that it would be easier on his mind to find out that he went back in time.
Even though he was quite scared, he was also excited. He had never thought that dying in space would lead to him returning to when he was just a baby. He thought he had died after seeing the sudden darkness but had not lost his mind.
He was trying to rethink what happened before he regressed. The time before from a thousand years ago when the disaster had begun. He was unable to think of the memories of his past that he had long forgotten within the spaceship that was wandering in space.
Within his thoughts, he heard a ding the was like a message within his ears. His immediate thought was that he might be hallucinating.
It was the system he had seen before his death in the spaceship. But it said something different from before and had more information, as well as more systematic options than before. His regression seemed to affect the system to the point it had changed.
[You have regressed. Would you like to obtain advance details?]
Huh!? Y-Yes!
[Options]
-Childhood
-Teenage
-Adulthood
-Destruction of Earth
Yichen thought to himself, thinking that he should do it in order from time to time. He thought for a second and decided to himself to click on childhood.
This option he had considered first was the most optimal choice since he should gather information slowly so his brain doesn't overload with information.
He clicked on 'Childhood'. His eyes went dark, and a flash went by and his mind started to gain early childhood memories. He tried to summarize the information that he had been implanted with.
The information he had gathered was not informative and, overall, not important. He gathered his thoughts once more.
He opened the system and decided that it was a good idea to try to find out about his memories from the destruction of Earth. Since it was only a year's worth of information, it wouldn't overload his brain. It had been such a long time since then, so he thought he should try reminding himself of what happened with more details.
He clicked the option, and once again, his mind was filled with memories from 2030.
The destruction of Earth was such a huge disaster that was only within the span of a year. Although it was an important event he had almost forgotten all details.
Thinking back on the memories he had gathered from the system, he began to collate them with the memories he had gained from his childhood.
In the Year 2006, I was born with the name Li Yichen. But that was so long ago that I had forgotten it. Sitting there in the arms of my mother who had died so long ago before the explosions and destruction of Earth in 2030.
Before the disaster had hit, the world government had sent out an emergency on our phones to decide who would survive the destruction of Earth a year before hand.
With the message they sent, it said:
Each family can pick a single child to send to Base 10 at XXX. Each continent will have a Base 10 at XXX. Out of each family, 160 million people will be chosen in each continent.
After the world received that message, everything went into chaos. Not a single person could understand the announcement they had received.
The people at first was just confused and decided to ignore it. Most people thought it was just their government testing the alerts for emergencies. But after a week everyone went into panic and began becoming afraid of what would happen and without any information.
The places near the edge of the techtonic plates begame having daily earthquakes from 6.1 to 7.9. The Earth became warmer and the forest began to burn.
The destructive phenomenons made people anxious. Many of the residents who remembered the global message from the start of the year went to the located, Base 10. Whether they were working, in school, or at home, everyone went to the area.
The people at Base 10 had told everyone that they would decide who gets in the base. It was more organized than expected. They were not bombarded with people shoving and pushing. The soldiers were calling out names and SSNs to identify each person when it became quiet.
The unlucky ones that weren't called were not heard from. The ones who had been called escaped with a spacecraft had started to go off into space the moment they had been strapped to their seat and were secure.
The destination where everyone headed was the planet that was most similar to Earth, Kepler 442 b. Although it was 1,115 light years away from Earth, NASA told the soldiers to tell the passengers that they would speed travel 1,100 years in a day so it would not take long before arriving, but it might have some side effects.
Somehow, I had unluckily gone astray due to the malfunction of my spaceship. So instead of speed traveling for 1,100 years, I had to survive for 1,115 years. A single human couldn't survive for even 200 years.
The ones who had realized that my ship had gone astray just left it because of how long it had been since then, but they did not realize that I had been unlucky enough to have a system that kept me alive for the last 1010 years.
The unbearable years went by, alone within my thoughts.
Now I am a baby who had regressed to 2006, 24 years before the destruction of Earth.
As he thought, a nurse had picked Li Yichen up and put him in a bassinet.
Li Yichen was alone in the single room and had broken out of his zoned-out state, only to realize that he was staring at another unfamiliar ceiling. He closed his eyes to think more and heard a ding once more.
Once more, the system had sent another message to him. Instead of options, it was the system asking him to enter his information. It was a choice to pick a name.
Out of shock, he reached out his hand to try touching it. He saw the message more clearly and a description before him.
[Congratulations Player #10]
Please choose a name before continuing.
___________
It was different from before when he had first seen a change in the system with the option of regaining his memories.
Original, when he had first gained the abilities of having a system it was just giving quests. It was the first time he had seen the option of choosing a name.
Looking at the system before him, he tapped at the lines below the option to choose a name. A keyboard appeared. He started to think of names.
Maybe my name would be fine?
[The player's name is unqualified]
Yichen looked at the message, confused. Thinking to himself that maybe he couldn't use his name but would have to use a name similar to a player username.
Haha. Reminds me of when I'm choosing a name for some video game.
Staring at the screen, he proceeded to think. Nothing came to mind at that moment. He entered another name.
[The player's name is unqualified]
He stared once more, then tried again. The system once again said that it was unqualified for a name. And again, he entered another name.
After a long time of trying different names, he became slightly pissed off and annoyed. He thought of using a title instead of a name. He decided that he will use the first thing he comes to mind.
Please work. Please work. Please work!
Monarch of the Endless Stars
Slightly cringed at the name, which felt more like a title than a name. He sighed and hesitated to click accept. Unable to think of any other usernames, he had to just accept his fate.
After spending many long years in space like no other human, he accepted that it was fitting to be called Endless Stars.
[Player Monarch of the Endless Stars]
[Would you like to pick a nickname so I don't have to use that long name? Obviously for my benefit.☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆]
[Y/N]
Huh?… You're practically saying I didn't need to spend that much time picking out a player name. Couldn't you tell me beforehand that I could pick a nickname? And can it just be my name? It took so long to pick a name that it feels like my efforts were wasted.
The system gave another reply that showed it was annoyed with his improper attitude toward it.
[Listen here, it isn't my fault you didn't ask. Shouldn't you be happy you didn't die after 1,010 years in space and were given another chance?]
[Just a single word is fine. And no, not your name. I just don't like it. ┑(￣Д ￣)┍]
In disbelief, Li Yichen stared at it. He clenched his fist, trying to hold his anger. He thought to himself, how can this system be so… so.. sassy!?
Fine. Ok then.
He started to type once more with the automatic floating keyboard before him.
Abyss
[You are so emo.٩(˃̶͈̀௰˂̶͈́)و]
He could feel the emotional impact of the attack.
Clicking out of the system, he stared at the white ceiling. He started to get tired from the efforts of inputting a name into the system. He was worn out and felt like he could just sleep for eternity like the years in space he had experienced.
He yawned and started to close his eyes. He lost consciousness for a few hours, then woke up again. Nothing happened, and it seemed like nothing would happen for several more days.
The nurses would come in occasionally to check up on his health. They would check up every three hours. It was always the same thing. Although it was boring, he would just stare at the white ceiling.
Similarly to his past life, he remembered how he would love to watch paint dry and the quietness of the night. Although it was not night, it was still peaceful and quiet.
Once again, he opened his eyes. He stared above him, the ceiling was different. He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling feeling the deja vu.
Again? Where am I now?