Altering The Event

"ALEX!" Thomas screamed and woke abruptly out of bed.

He covered his face with his left hand, panting heavily and sat upright.

"Did you have a nightmare or something? Looks like you have seen a ghost!" Alex asked worriedly and sat besides him.

Thomas immediately hugged Alex and tears ran down Thomas' cheeks. Corbin rushed in from the bathroom and found Alex consolidating the sobbing Thomas.

"Wh-at hap-pe-ned?" Corbin mumbled with his toothbrush in his mouth.

Alex shook his head to indicate he did not know either and Corbin got the hint. The three of them walked towards the academy all quietly, heading for their morning class.

"Do you mind filling us in? It is okay, you can talk to us," Alex treaded lightly and tapped Thomas' shoulder for a second.

Thomas was still in slight shock from yesterday. His mind tried to process the events and timeline, however the pain and memories still lingered and felt very much alive.

Alive enough to make it feel real and for Thomas to almost vomit. Alex's head being bit off or the sounds of bones being crushed, even the gushing sound and splattering of blood was still heavily engraved in his memory.

Thomas turned his head, "I dreamt of you dy---" A sudden pulsated wave hit his mind and immense pain flooded him.

"Ah…" Thomas abruptly fell down on one of his knees and touched his head with both hands.

The pain would not stop.

"Hey, hey relax!" Corbin helped Thomas back up, "No need to strain yourself in telling us, alright?" Corbin added.

He then turned to Alex who nodded as well, Thomas could wait in telling them his supposed nightmare. However Thomas received a dreadful thought…

"What if telling Alex about his death had caused him the pulsating pain just now? Did the system not allow it?" Thomas pondered towards no end.

Alex then grinned out of nowhere.

"Come on guys, look on ahead! Today we get to look at the material for Thomas' new sword, let's get excited and focus on that!" Alex tried turning the mood around.

This is when Thomas noticed something, it was like when he had first died. Some conversations and events were scarily similar, if not identical.

They reached their first class and Thomas idly looked out the window, to indulge seeing the soothing scenery of the garden. It helped calm him down slightly.

Thomas bit his underlip and brought up his quest log.

[Arcane System Awaken]

[Quest Log…]

[Main Quest: Slay The Demon]

[Reward: 75 Exp]

…

The quest was still there, this could only mean one thing. Thomas knew the events would fold just the same, but a new thought came to mind. What if he could alter them?

Thomas swiftly began scribbling a couple of notes down. What did he know so far? They would avoid any "hierarchy" crap throughout the entire day. Have a peaceful lunch for once, then he would head towards the library and their group would split up somewhere before and after that.

This meant after lunch, Thomas would have to take his leave and try to find the moment when Corbin and Alex were separated. After lunch Thomas left the two after lying about heading for the library and then began trailing them.

About two hours passed before Alex would turn to Corbin with a friendly pretend expression. Thomas was not the only one trailing them.

"Yo Corbin, I have something to take care of! I will pick up Thomas along the way, do you mind waiting at the rendezvous point and fetch us some cold drinks?" Alex smiled broadly.

Corbin did not suspect anything one bit and smiled with a nod before they separated. Two people emerged from right around the corner of one of the smaller buildings outside.

"Alex, you are coming with us!" The student back at the stairs incident grinned alongside his friend.

They wrapped their arms around Alex's shoulders so he would not escape and they headed back into the academy. Thomas trailed them all the way back to the North-Eastern Wing on the 8th floor.

"Someone has instructed us to teach you a lesson, are you ready to repent?" The first guy rolled up his sleeves and cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, I am all for being educated! Why do you not enlighten me, Mr. Second-Year," Alex smirked to piss them off.

Thomas locked around for a clock. It was still a few minutes early before the incident. He saw Alex and the two engaging in battle, beating eachother up to pulp.

After a few minutes Thomas began to hear a whistling sound coming from above and heavy steps. A murderous aura dreaded over him, it was coming. He rushed in to break up the fight.

"Alex! I called Corbin to bring over some assistance, let's beat these guys to pulp!" Thomas yelled and joined in, drawing his wooden sword.

Alex welcomed Thomas with his kept smirk ever since the start of the battle. All four of them pummeled each other and incurred injuries.

"Stop! Let's leave before more people arrive," One of the students screamed and they retreated.

"This ain't over Alex!" The other one remarked and Thomas forgot to try and remember who that was.

Thomas quickly picked Alex right back up who had suffered more injuries and headed for the stairs on the opposite side of the hallway.

"Thanks, you saved me," Alex smiled.

This could not be further from the truth, Alex was the real hero in the other timeline. Standing up for the bullies against the demon in spite of his injuries and jumping in front to save Thomas' ass.

Thomas sighed in relief once they reached the rendezvous point and looked around for Corbin without any success.

"Quick thinking about telling Corbin to go get assistance," Alex complimented Thomas on his earlier call.

Thomas still felt uneasy, "Except that I lied! Corbin is supposed to be here," he answered and turned his head all over.

There were no signs of him. A thought began to dread over Thomas and he glanced over to look at Alex who also began to worry by the looks of Thomas' face.

"Wait for me, I know where he is," Thomas sat him down.

Alex tried to get up. Albeit, his injuries started to kick in and the adrenaline was already gone. Alex no longer had any strength to stand and could not help but to stare at Thomas' back while he took his abrupt leave.

"THOMAS! What is going on?!" Alex yelled without receiving any answers.

Thomas hurriedly sprinted back towards the academy.

"It cannot be…" Thomas manically laughed, "Wait for me Corbin! Please tell me my gut feeling is not true!" Thomas bit his underlip hard, causing a slight bleed.