Chapter One: Rebirth

????'s POV

Bzzt! Bzzt! I woke up to my alarm ringing. "Ugh.." I gave a quiet sigh. The buzzing continued, as I quickly sat up. I looked over to my side, I saw my phone with a note stuck on top of it: Finish Papers for Tina's Meeting, it read. "Hm?" I hummed in confusion.

I picked it up, "my cellphone..I thought I'd never see this again.."

This place... This room seems awfully familiar..

A knock on my door interrupted my thoughts. "... come in." I said. The door opened to reveal a woman whom I knew. She wore a maid suit, "Master Collins, Good Morning, Breakfast is ready." She spoke.

Noah's POV

"... Li?" I said, confused. "Yes? Is something the matter?" She asked. "Eheh.. No, nothing." I waved her off. "Then please, pardon me." Li bowed, she then walked over to my window and opened it up to allow sunlight to come in.

Please..live

a flashback came to me..

"Hey Li?" I began. "Yes?" She asked. "This may sound strange, but can you tell me today's date? The Year included, please." I asked. "Today is October 28, 20xx, sir." Li stated.

20xx? That's a 6 year difference... Is this a dream? Or maybe a near death flashback? Although, this feels too real to be a dream...

Then...time travel?

I look back up to see Li still standing there. "That's all I wanted to ask, eheh. You can go now." I smiled at her. "As you wish, sir." She bowed and exited the room.

I got out of my bed and began to walk to the bathroom.

Time travel, huh? Considering the variety of powers we have discovered, time travel seems to be the most plausible answer.

The water splashed down the sink drain.

20xx.. so I'd be 29 right now.

I walked over to my closet to get changed.

As for October 28th... Didn't the first solar eclipse happen on October 29, 20xx?... October 29th, 20xx marked the darkest day in human history. A solar eclipse happened suddenly, igniting what would later be known as..

Armageddon.

People suddenly fell into slumber, and chaos ensued. But that wasn't all the eclipse brought with it. When the sun reappeared, the world was no longer the same. People woke up to face a terror only thought to exist in fiction. And with that, society crumbled. Humanity no longer stood at the top of the food chain.

Did the Armageddon I remember actually happen? Whatever the case, this isn't so bad. Whether or not the Armageddon will take place, the fact is that I'm here. With that said..

I probably need to take care of this I sighed at the note on my phone.

Bezz! Bezz! "Sir? Calling me on a Sunday like this... is there something you need?"

"I'm not coming to work tomorrow. I'm not feeling well, I don't think I can finish up all the needed documents for the meeting." I replied to the voice that answered my call.

"Have you been staying up late working again? Work is important, but so is your health... I will notify the others and move the meeting back."

"Thanks Xavier." I answered. "Is that all, sir?"

"You know, you should stay home tomorrow too." I began.

"Huh? Why? Did something happen?"

"Don't ask. I won't deduct it from your vacation time. Get your family together, stay home, don't go outside."

"A-alright, sir."

Call ended

Hopefully Xavier heeds my advice and stays home. The Armageddon might have been just a bad dream, but I can't be sure. For everyone's sake, let's hope it never comes.

Tomorrow's the solar eclipse... I'm really crunches on time if I want to prepare for it, aren't I?

"Good morning, dear! You're finally up, I was getting worried." A familiar voice spoke. I looked up to see my dear wife, Parish. "Honestly, I keep telling you not to stay up so late." She sighed.

..Noah, don't you feel sorry for me? Why did I get stuck with a dead man like you? We can drop the family charade. Do you really think, we ever have a damn about you?... Tch!

"Papa! Are we going to the park today?" My son, Abel, asked from the dining table.

...papa..you are pathetic.. I thought you were better than this.. how disappointing..Go die alone..

"Abel, you know we can't. How about next weekend?" Parish smiled.

I made a lot of mistakes. One of them was having so much faith in something as pitiful as family.

"Dear, are you okay? You seem distracted." Parish asked. "It's nothing, where's Neo anyways?" I asked. "Neo? He's probably still in his room... why do you ask?" She answered.

Tch.. "why did I ask?!".. "We're you planning on letting him starve?" I said, icily. "Huh? No! Of course not.. but he always skips breakfast.." she answered, hint of confusion in her voice. "And you've never tried to convince him otherwise? That's quite irresponsible as a mother." I snapped. "But..I"

"Papa, why are you angry at mom? It's not like my brother ever listens!" Abel said, grabbing onto Parish's arm. "I've..tried. You know how stubborn that child is..." Parish explained.

"Ah? Dear! Where are you going?" She asked, as I made my way up the stairs. "Looking for my son. Where else?"

I made my way up the stairs and down the hallway toward Neo's room.

*Current heart rate is yellow. Please take a deep breath and keep calm*

My collar buzzed. "You sure are a noisy one, I almost missed your voice function." I muttered. I lost control just now..it's just, seeing their faces flicked a switch in me.. I sighed, "it's alright, Noah. They haven't done anything yet. Focus on the task at hand." I strolled over to Neo's door.

"Hm.. the child would be 12 years old right now, wouldn't he?" ...For my entire life, I had shunned my son, Neo. Although he hasn't done anything wrong, I still couldn't save him.

"He..probably hates me. But I still need to talk to him." For once, I want to try to make things right. I creaked his door open, is he asleep? He is still a child, after all. I reached my hand out to him who I could see was lying in his bed, "Neo, wake up, it's morni-!"

"Ugh!" I felt myself forced to flop on the bed and I felt a weight on my back. "Oh, it's just you. What are you doing here?" Neo's voice said, as he sat on me. "Uh..waking you up? Can we have this conversation while you're not sitting on me?" I groaned.