AWAKENING ARC
EPISODE 1:
Where It Ends, It Begins
ᜌ᜔ᜃᜓᜇ᜔ ᜀᜈ᜔ ᜅ᜔ ᜐ ᜅ᜔ ᜉᜒᜆ᜔
At 50 years old, his life had been nothing but a series of failures shattered dreams, endless regrets, and a fate he could never escape.
But in the end, it wasn't failure that killed him. It was fate itself.
The night air was cold as he walked home from his late shift. His feet ached, his mind fogged with exhaustion, but none of that mattered when he saw her—an 18-year-old girl, unaware of the car speeding toward her.
Then it happened.
The screech of tires. The blinding headlights. The roar of an engine.
He didn't think. He just moved.
His body slammed into hers, shoving her away from death's grasp. And in that split second before impact, a single thought crossed his mind:
"At least this time, I did something right."
Then came the pain. Bones shattered. Flesh tore. The world spun.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
But death wasn't the end.
When he opened his eyes, he wasn't lying broken on the asphalt.
He was somewhere else.
The sky above him stretched endlessly, shifting between colors he couldn't describe. The air was neither warm nor cold. It simply was.
"Where am I?"
Panic coiled in his chest, but before he could move, a voice echoed—not in his ears, but in his mind.
"You have been granted a second chance, mortal."
It was calm. Commanding. And utterly inhuman.
"You have lived a life of failure and regret. But now, you are given the chance to reset."
A second chance?
It made no sense. He had died. There was no coming back from that.
The voice continued, ignoring his confusion.
"You will return to the past, armed with the knowledge of your failures.
Your actions will determine your future."
A strange sensation rushed through his body, like invisible threads weaving something new within him.
Then came the whispers.
>ETERNAL RESIDUE"ACQUIRED
-Arming with past failure as draft knowledge and improving decision making.
- Intelligence amplified x2
— Physical dilemma resolved.
— Merging past and future strength... 2x amplification granted.
>CHRONO NEXUS"ACQUIRED
— Temporal awareness unlocked.
— Potential pathways expanding…
He barely had time to process it before a sharp static noise cracked through the air.
the voice glitched
Your future…
>ERROR DETECTED
… your f—fate….
SYSTEM COMPROMISED"
A sharp static noise cut through the air, as if something was wrong.
The air itself seemed to fracture. Lines of code, glowing red, slithered like cracks in reality. His surroundings flickered—momentarily replaced by something else.
A glimpse of chains. A shadowed figure watching.
Then—
> UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED.
> FORCED OVERRIDE
>THANATOS CODE ACQUIRED
>TEMPORAL DOMINION ACQUIRED
Then, as suddenly as it started, the voice returned.
"Your future... depends on you."
A weight settled on his chest—a responsibility he never asked for, but one he could not refuse.
He opened his mouth to speak. To ask why him.
But before the words could form, the world around him shattered—
And he was fallin
---
"And just like that, I was no longer me. I was... something else."
---
> "Is this... a dream?"
Alvaro Ramirez's eyes snapped open.
The first thing he saw was the ceiling—aged, cracked, stained from years of heat and rain. A sight deeply familiar.
But impossible.
For a long moment, he just lay there, unmoving, his mind struggling to catch up. His fingers twitched against the rough banig mat beneath him. A distant whirring sound buzzed in his ears—the weak rotations of an old electric fan, barely pushing against the warm, stale air.
Then his gaze drifted to the wooden cabinet near the corner.
On top of it sat a worn-out cassette player, the same one he had used to rewind and replay OPM songs decades ago.
A sharp chill ran through his spine.
His heart pounded.
No. This isn't right.
Alvaro bolted upright. His breath came in sharp gasps, his chest rising and falling erratically. His body felt... light. Too light. His joints didn't ache. His muscles weren't stiff from years of exhaustion.
With shaking hands, he reached up and touched his face.
Smooth. No wrinkles. No rough patches from years of stress.
His fingers—slender, unscarred.
His pulse quickened. Panic flared in his chest as he scrambled toward the mirror against the wall. His legs almost gave out when he saw the reflection staring back at him.
A teenager.
Fair, wide eyes filled with shock. Jet-black hair, messy but not yet thinned by age. His skin—youthful, untouched by decades of regret.
His breath hitched.
This is me.
But it couldn't be.
His frantic gaze darted around the room, searching for any sign that this was some cruel trick. And then his eyes landed on his small study desk. Sitting on it, slightly faded but unmistakable, was an old high school ID.
With trembling hands, he snatched it up.
> ALVARO RAMIREZ
Grade: 1st Year - Section C
School Year: 1990 - 1991
His vision blurred. His throat ran dry.
No. No. NO.
He was supposed to be fifty years old. A man burdened by failure, regrets, and a life of missed opportunities.
And yet—
He was back.
>SKILL "ETERNAL RESIDUE"
>DRAFT KNOWLEDGE processing...
A sudden pulse surged through his body, like a shockwave rippling beneath his skin.
Then the memories struck.
It wasn't just a recollection. It was a forceful, brutal download of every moment of his past life. Every regret. Every mistake. Every failure.
> "My name is Alvaro 'Aro' Ramirez. I am 50 years old... and my life has been nothing but a series of failures."
Pain clenched his chest as his mind replayed his wasted years in excruciating clarity.
---
Flashback: A Timeline of Failure
📍 199X – High School: The First Signs of Regret
Mediocre in everything. Never outstanding, never special.
Spineless. Too scared to stand up for himself.
Had a crush—never confessed. Watched from afar, always afraid of rejection.
Heartbreak. She ended up with his best friend instead.
Failed Math. Confidence shattered. Felt like a born failure.
📍 200X – College: The Path He Never Chose
Took a course he didn't want, just to please his parents.
Socially awkward. A lone wolf in a sea of strangers.
Struggled with academics. Barely passed. Felt invisible.
First job interview—rejected immediately.
📍 201X – Career: The Weight of Reality
Dead-end job. Low pay, no passion.
Watched his peers succeed while he remained stuck.
Became bitter. Blamed fate, but never changed.
Struggled financially. Drowned in debt.
📍 202X – The Final Years
50 years old. No savings. No achievements. Just an old man filled with regret.
That night. The young girl. The speeding car.
He jumped—saved her—and died.
And now—
Somehow—
He was here again.
---
A cold sweat dripped down his back.
His fingers dug into the fabric of his old school uniform, still hanging by the door.
His breathing was erratic, his body trembling as he struggled to process the impossible reality before him.
> "This… this is real."
"I've been sent back to the past."
"This is my RESET."
A wild mix of emotions surged within him.
Dread. Confusion. Hope.
For the first time in his life, he had a second chance.
And this time—
He wasn't going to waste it.
-------
"Arooo!"
His mother's voice rang through the quiet of the room, pulling him from the haze of confusion that clouded his mind.
"Wake up! You'll be late for school! Go here and eat breakfast.
Prepare yourself for the day!"
A wave of warmth washed over him, the kind that could only come from hearing the familiar, comforting voice of a mother. It was the feeling of love, of being needed. The feeling he thought he would never experience again.
Aro blinked, stunned. Could this really be happening? His mother—she had always been his anchor in life, but she had grown frail in the years he remembered. Her energy was spent. He had visited her often, caring for her in the twilight of her years. But this—this felt different. Her voice had the strength of a woman full of life, not a weakened soul clinging to the fading light of time.
He felt his chest tighten, the emotion overwhelming him.
"Yes, Ma. I'm coming."
He rushed to get up, his heart pounding in his chest, a mix of excitement and disbelief coursing through him. Could it be? Was he really back in time? Was this... real?
Aro scrambled to his feet and quickly made his way to the door. His fingers trembled slightly as he touched the cold handle. With a slow, careful motion, he opened it, the sound of the creaking door cutting through the quiet.
His heart raced. A part of him feared this was all just a dream. That any moment now, the illusion would shatter, and he would find himself back in the cold, dark void from which he had come.
But as the door opened, a bright light flooded his vision, blinding at first. The light slowly began to fade, revealing his family standing in front of him.
A warm, welcoming sight.
He saw his mother, his father, his siblings—all of them were there. Smiling. Their eyes gleamed with that undeniable spark of life and love.
Aro stood frozen, the flood of emotions almost too much to bear. They weren't just smiling at him—they were welcoming him back.
The reality of the moment hit him like a wave, and for the first time in what felt like forever, Aro felt something he hadn't felt in years: hope.
I'm back... and I won't let this slip away.
end of episode 1