2 Return

Micheal blinked as he came awake, his mind groggy.

"Huh?" He muttered as he woke up, rubbing his eyes.

An instant later, his heart spasmed as he jolted up, long years of constantly being on alert kicking in. His hand clutched at his chest, searching for the gruesome injury he had taken while he quickly took in his surroundings.

'My Recovery stat means my body will regenerate at a rate roughly 41 times that of a normal human on Earth. Even with that, though, I was stabbed through the heart. One of the Full Heal Technique users must have…' Micheal's thoughts trailed off as he stared around him, at a loss.

"This is… my Cabela Tent from Earth?" He muttered out loud. He would recognize this tent anywhere due to the colorful, and rather poorly painted, interior. When he had been much younger, his siblings had gone camping with their parents every summer. One summer they'd decided to paint the interior of the tent, filling it with brown and green trees, white and black pandas, and a variety of colorful creations.

"But… how?" He stared, not understanding. He waved his hands in the air, almost not believing his eyes. His heart was flooded with emotions as the memories of his death haphazardly washed over him, vague and difficult to remember accurately.

'Status.' He thought, calling up his Status.

Nothing happened.

"W-what?!" His heart began to pound as he realized he couldn't call up his Status.

The mythical Status Screen.

When the Apocalypse first struck Earth, everything had started with that damned screen. An illogical, magical screen that appeared in the air in front of every human, visible to only oneself.

Without hesitating, Micheal burst out from his tent, his eyes scanning the surroundings. He appeared to be in some sort of forest clearing, with a small brook crashing down off to the south. Towering oaks and cedars could be seen, spreading out around him.

'Am I in some sort of dream trap? An Ability I'm unaware of? Perhaps the Gods of the 12 Tribes can manipulate memories?' His mind instantly raced as he tried to process what was happening.

For, he clearly recognized when and where he was.

He was out on a camping trip with his best friend, trying to find some peace and quiet away from the chaos that had swept over the world. This clearing, the tent, everything was identical.

He remembered this moment keenly. After all… what happened next was unforgettable.

His turn to join the apocalypse had come.

'If it's like my memories…' He thought, rubbing his chin,

'Then I am about to be Chosen as well.' His eyes widened.

The Apocalypse. The Seven Layers. The Chosen.

Everything that had happened to him over the past 10 years washed through his mind.

He had been a regular, 18-year-old, just finishing up high school and preparing for college when it all went down. His biggest worries had been his SAT score results, the test he needed to score well in to get into a good college, and if his favorite schools would accept him.

Seemingly randomly at the time, roughly 1,000,000 people vanished. A great flash of light swept across the Earth when this happened, terrifying the world.

These people disappeared completely from the face of the Earth. They could not be seen, nor heard. Their locations couldn't be tracked, it was as if they had vanished from reality itself.

As one might expect, mass hysteria and panic broke out. People had vanished from all over the World, from America to France, Germany to China. Some people thought it was aliens, others thought it was some massive conspiracy, while still others thought it was the end times.

Exactly one month later, the same thing happened. Except this time, it wasn't just 1,000,000 people.

It was 10,000,000.

A 3rd month passed.

100,000,000 people disappeared.

And finally, now, it was the end of the 3rd month and the start of the 4th month.

A time when 1,000,000,000 people would vanish from the face of the Earth, in a great flash of light.

Micheal and his best friend Shin would be a part of that Fourth Wave.

In the preceding three months, the world had almost broken down in shock and horror. Everyone was trying to understand what was happening, but no one truly could. Life itself had almost ground to a halt.

Trade continued, unabated even in the face of the end of reality. But people began to live freer lives, no longer worrying about the future. After all, the daunting fear that hung over everyone, the mass vanishings, was something inescapable. Science couldn't explain it.

The majority thought it best to live and let live.

'It should be happening in just a few minutes.' As Micheal came to this conclusion, he realized something.

'This is not a dream. There is no Ability that I know of that can make something so realistic for so long. As well, it should be impossible for me to not be able to access my Status Screen, even if someone is using some type of rare Artifact.' His thoughts raced ahead,

'There is only one possibility.' He looked around the forest clearing, his heart calming,

'I've gone back in time.' As an expert that had been through thick and thin, he was able to adapt to situations like this in a short period of time. He didn't allow himself to get overwhelmed, instead moving forward to plan.

As he thought this, he felt something flash at the edge of his eyesight, right on his hand. He zeroed in on the light, staring.

A faint image of a ring could be seen, resting on his hand. As Micheal looked at it, slowly, this ring fell to dust, vanishing. Particles of light drifted off of it, fluttering into the air.

'An Artifact? Ah, I remember. I picked up that mysterious ring in a game of chance somewhere. Was it in the 4th Layer? The 5th?' Micheal thought, shaking his head. He couldn't remember where he got it exactly.

'I won it through pure luck. I never could figure out what it did and kept it with me as a lucky charm…' He continued, frowning,

'Is it responsible for this?'

'So the reason I came back… it isn't because I was specially chosen or anything of the sort.'

'It's just because of dumb luck, huh?'

As this series of thoughts flashed through his head, Micheal couldn't help but smile ruefully.

'At least something has gone my way.' He clenched his fists as the full scale of what had happened swept over him.

'I'm getting another chance. I can change the future.' His eyes widened, a fire appearing in them,

'I can change the course of events. I can stop billions from dying, I have the chance to make it so humanity isn't wiped out!' He knew the future. He knew secrets that no one else knew, where hidden treasures were, which Abilities were most powerful or useful, how to score large numbers of Points...

All of his information had been largely outdated at the time of the final battle. After all, what use was there in knowing where something was on the 2nd Layer if that thing was already looted and they were on the 7th Layer?

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'But now… I have a chance. We have a chance.' His eyes trembled,

'Humanity has a chance. And it's up to me.' His body shivered as emotions flowed through him, feeling a huge amount of pressure settle upon his shoulders.

If he did not change the future, all of humanity would die.

'There is so much we didn't know the first time around. So many people died, so many lives wasted. I need to make humanity as a whole stronger, but I also need to focus on my own power.' He nodded as he realized this,

'The 12 Tribes of Gods… they are literal Gods. They are born at the Lord Tier of Ki Cultivation, just one Tier below the strongest Tier I ever reached. By the time we reached the 7th Layer, only a few of humanity's strongest experts managed to reach the Emperor Tier, let alone the God Tier like that General.' He mused over the specifics, his eyes hardening.

'And we only faced their initial forces on that final battlefield, we have yet to face their actual army. We were slaughtered by what was essentially just a scouting force.' He shook his head angrily, passion filling his blood.

He would not let things end up this way again.

He would stop the future he had lived from happening. He would save his family, this time around. He would save the White Knight, he would stop the Great Disaster of the 2nd Layer, he would kill the Vile King before he spread his legions of death, he would stop everything.

'Humanity will survive…' He thought, closing his eyes for a brief moment,

'I will change the future.'

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