I felt my temples explode in excruciating pain as I descended into the abyss. Mania began to bloat and cloud my mind, my grasp on reality beginning wane as I heard voices of the pharaoh seem to invade my consciousness. I shouldn't have let him sway me like that.
Who was I? Alan. What was my purpose? To defeat the invading monsters.
Like I was reciting a mantra, I barely held on for what seemed like eons. Then, a vision of the world spread out before me. The world was dark and gloomy, like a spark-less plug. Soon, lights began to populate the planet and continents thrived. I stood before time itself, and watched as centuries and millennia passed.
Fragmented shards of my thousands of years fighting the pharaoh consumed my soul, the cost of saving humanity. I smiled as I saw the lights flicker on in the world, a sign that my sacrifice was not in vain.
Blue clusters of star energy hummed as the nebula energy harvester worked smoothly, then everything went quiet (on Earth). Lights turned off slowly, then darkness. My heart. My soul. My everything. It could not fail.
I was the destined lone protector of this planet. I gritted my teeth as voices from the pharaoh infiltrated my thoughts. Rage slithered into my hollow body like a black cobra, the poison seeping deep into the crevasses of my soul. My team did not die for this. My desire burned hot and bright with fury, seemingly conquering the laws of space and time.
Soon, a portal opened up again, and the voice spoke to me.
"Only time will tell what you will do, o' cursed one."
I screamed aloud: "What do you mean! What is your purpose? To whom do you answer to?"
Then, everything went dark.
My eyes reopened to a classroom and a worn tabletop. I was a teacher, right. Before this whole fiasco began. I reversed time once more. God knows how many times I've done this.
I squinted carefully at my monitor. This really was 2024. If the date stipulated was as such, I had some preparations to carry out. And fast. I sprinted out of the teacher's lounge with a mixture of fury and adrenaline pumping through my veins, then narrowly avoiding a student in the corridor.
"Mr Wei. Where are you going in such a rush? I thought you had class in 15 minutes with us."
I slowed down to a walking pace, then looked at her incredulously. Her black locks of hair and slender face. Her calm voice. It was her alright.
The best monster killer the world had.
Right here, in Lihua High School.