1 Aftermath

During the 2050s, the people of Earth have evolved into beings that were simply powerful, to the point of considering themselves as beings beyond mortality, Gods. Due to the strange energy outbreak from a nuclear power plant. It all happened because an employee carelessly left the cargo unguarded eighteen years ago.

No man could have expected this event. It contained unworldly materials that even humans have yet to explore and explain. It was a matter of time before it combined with nuclear energy. After that, everything changed. The majority of the population gained new abilities and technology because of this phenomenon.

After the blast, only a select few advanced beyond others devoured the world with its energy. A group of six individuals received unrivaled abilities. Hidden among the six was the seventh member—a man never before seen in public.

The person was a tall male, supposedly standing around 6'6". He had messy black hair and wore a light brown cape covering his black clothing and black shoes to top it off. His existence was blurry, but the other members cleared it up and confirmed that he was indeed real.

Since then, there have been no sights of him, although rumors say he resides in the mountain ranges.

After reading the article, he became furious. Refrain, our main cast, had been sitting on a tree stump at that time. He crumpled and threw the report away in distress, annoyed that every piece had always mentioned him. Would these people stop? he said to himself.

He didn't want to bother with the world anymore, just wanting to protect his family and friends from his hometown.

If there were anything he could do, it would be to stay put. To wait for what's next to come.

The reason people searched for him was that he had something that everyone desired, the ability to rewrite history itself by going back in time with his soul.

Some wanted to use his power for evil. Some desired it for themselves. In the end, neither intended to use it for good; everyone was selfish.

He would understand if his friends asked him because he knew them very well and trusted them with his life. He can't talk to them right now due to location reasons; what else could he do? He could try to reach it to others, but they might use their powers on him if they found out about his true identity.

Working for others wasn't an option either, nor fight them, but knowing the world's ever-changing evolution, they surely would be able to find him.

Was there anything he could do? He asked himself. He didn't know the answer to that question; he was confused. These were rare times where he didn't know what to do, his ability doesn't work on everyone, there are only a few people who can still remember what had happened beforehand and notice the change, and those were his friends from the group of 6 and a few others that he knew.

If he tried to rewrite history without the employee tampering with the cargo, these people would notice this.

And how exactly would he know where and when the employee did it? Of course, he knew where the nuclear power plant was, but the employee wasn't there when he went back in time. How was that possible?

After some thinking, he eventually concluded. He decided to go back in time once again.

He stood up, having an annoyed look on his face, preparing to rewrite history. The process wasn't as easy as it sounds. There were a few requirements for him to use that ability.

The first requirement was to have quiet surroundings while using this ability; otherwise, his soul wouldn't transfer back due to interruptions or disturbance. The second was resolve. He had this one in the bag, and he did it before. That means he can do it again. The third was to lose his life force proportionate to how many years he went back in time.

So far, he's lost eighteen years of his life and was resolved to lose more of it for the sake of changing the world.

He never had any second thoughts about this ability, nor did he have regrets, only to save people; this was his cause. Nobody would be able to stop him now. Convincing him wouldn't work, as he was pretty stubborn, or rather, strong-willed. Once he decides on something, he never bothers to rethink it.

He knows that saving the world would be more important than himself. After preparing, his body falls to the ground as he enters a subconscious state, in which he goes back to the place where it all began.

After doing so, he arrived at the Nuclear Power Plant even before the cargo arrived. It was around 4 am.

He hid and waited for the event to start.

It was 11-AM, hours had passed, the cargo had appeared. However, there was no sight of anyone giving the employee the cargo box. He began to ask himself questions. Did an invisible person provide the load? A person not of this world? Was this all planned?

Was the employee hypnotized? More questions came to mind; he only became more confused, not knowing what to do anymore. He waited for the employee to do something and blinked a few times to confirm if what he was seeing was real or not. Others would have reacted the way he did if they saw cargo randomly being given. But after blinking one more time, the employee had disappeared.

Where did he go? He questioned. Does this employee also have a unique ability? How? Refrain had been reaching the ends of his composure. Little did he know, the employee was already behind him, attempting to stab his back with a dagger. He noticed this and jumped away as far as he could; this was possible due to his high reflexes.

Besides his unique ability, he diligently trained physically for three years. Using heavy logs and automatic arrow launchers, he dodged while being blindfolded in the woods. He had a master once, but the master died because of old age when Refrain turned 21. Now, he is currently at the age of 36.

After landing, he noticed he had received a small cut to his arm, acknowledging his opponent's skill.

The first idea that came to mind was taking the dagger from the man to reduce the risks. He dashed, but the employee jumped incredibly high, only to keep ascending. Astonishing was a word for this feat.

He was then taken aback, realizing something. Was the employee the mastermind of all this? With this knowledge, he prepared his legs, as he attempted to jump with all his might, reaching some height, but was not as high as the former's jump.

Suddenly, the employee quickly swooped down towards him, similar to how a hawk would catch their prey. The man was dropping down fast; with this, he saw an opportunity to attack, leaning to the right; just when the employee passed him, he grabbed the man's foot, pulling him up, using his strength to swing him towards the ground.

As the employee was falling towards the ground, the man desperately threw his dagger towards him. He was already anticipating this desperate attack, so he grabbed the blade that nearly hit his face, throwing it right back at the employee, hopefully finishing the fight with the move he performed.

Boom!

The employee hit the ground, creating a gigantic crack in the land, as the dagger came flying down from above and would land directly where the man's heart would be. He landed a few meters away from the person to make sure there weren't any hidden weapons or the tricks the man had left.

Time had passed, and now it was nighttime. " It's finally over, " he thought. Refrain, now convinced that the person was 100% dead, was satisfied with what he had done, knowing that he achieved his goal.

He decided to go back to the present time, hopefully changing the timeline. He had successfully returned to the current timeline.

He stood up and was about to celebrate, but he fell unconsciously towards the ground before that happened.

Thud.

He woke up on the rough floors of his house. After falling from his bed, he wondered about what had happened to him. He checked his body and the knife wound, his clothes were still the same, and the knife wound was still there. After pondering for a while, one of the villagers had arrived and saw that he was awake. Fortunately, he was awake at that time.

"I'm guessing you had a bad dream; I thought I'd bring you back home. You ate too many grapes, you know? We were worried after you fell on your back that night. Grapes can make you drunk, after all. Are you alright now? " The villager said with concern. After receiving such words from the villager, what he thought had happened may have all just been a nightmare.

Bullcrap. All those years, how could one accept such a statement like, "I guess you had a bad dream. "

He punched the wall beside the bed, furious with the response. To confirm the villager's statement, he decided to try his ability, completing all the requirements as such, he would enter his subconscious state, yet he only saw black.

He exited this state. Was it the end? Is it over? He couldn't accept it. Since he still didn't want to believe it, he decided to travel back to where the other six hung out to ask whether he changed the world or if it was all just a nightmare.

Because for him, he knew that something like that really couldn't have been just something like a dream. After all, he kept the same wound and clothes.

He then stood up and walked towards his house's door, venturing off to find the six.

After a few hours of traveling through the mountain ranges, he finally arrived at his destination, a beach resort. He never really knew why their base would be at a beach resort.

Knowing his friends, they probably had a reason. To proceed and not attract attention, he took out a face mask he always keeps out of his pocket and wears it to hide his identity. He walked through the sidelines of the beach in the hope that nobody was able to identify him. Although, the people were wondering why a masked idiot was acting edgy on the beach. He arrived at a beach mansion and proceeded to enter. But before that, he had to get past two guards.

He approached one of the guards. "No. 7, 9742. " He said with a monotone voice; both of the guards recognize this code and nod, letting him pass into the hut. Now, he knew he was correct; it wasn't a dream. Because the guards had recognized this code, he was satisfied with this. But the only way to find out if it were an actual dream or not was to ask his friends. He switched one of the nearby levers, sending him down by using a pod to an underground basement—the place where they held their meetings.

The group of 6 were there, but they were in peril right now. They had been waiting for something until Refrain had stepped out of the pod, that is. They noticed the opening doors of the pod and turned around. "What the hell, man!?" they all said this simultaneously. He wondered why, so he asked one of them. "What's the problem? "He said with a hint of confusion. Aside from the fact he might have taken their powers away, he thought of trying to laugh at them; but doing that didn't seem very nice.

"Where the hell were you? You said you'd come to meet up with us in the tournament final so that you could help us win, but you were a no-show. "

Surprisingly, they once again said it simultaneously.

He couldn't believe it, the answer that was given to him by the true "God" he respected. Athena had graced him with a reply. He was grateful for that and the wisdom he had received throughout his life.

" I'm sorry! " He cried out to his friends, but his friends wondered why, so they laughed at him. He also laughed because he had confirmed that it wasn't a dream; the scene in front of him now resulted from his efforts.

FIN.