The pain vanished, as if it never existed.
Still, the pain was too real for it to be nothing. To be just a fever dream.
He was lying in his bed, staring at the beige colored ceiling in his room.
A while passed until he noticed where he was.
His memory was clear as day.
In the memory, he couldn't hear, see, or smell, but the pain... The pain was real.
He noticed he was shaking and drenched in sweat.
Bo tried to calm himself.
'What is happening?' he asked himself.
'I've read novels and watched television shows like this… does that mean I'm in a weird time loop?'
Then he heard crying.
He got up and exited his room, where he saw Abi crying.
He hugged her. She flinched at first, then accepted his hug.
'It wasn't funny, I can't lose you both…' Bo thought.
"It wasn't funny!" She continued crying, "I can't lose you both…"
He stared at the wall behind Abi, his eyes distant. It's the same. Everything is the same.
He was in a loop. He had to be.
Then something clicked, not physically.
As if something changed in his soul.
He felt goosebumps and a weird feeling in his abdomen.
Suddenly, he could remember everything better about how Abi searched for him and cried about being afraid of losing him twice already. How Hunger had killed him the first time, and he was killed somehow the second time. Both were traumatic experiences, both made him shake again.
Then he heard a knock on the door.
He couldn't open it. He was too scared.
He dragged his sister to her room. She was about to scream, but he put his palm over her mouth right before she managed to let out mumbled voices.
He stopped and looked at her seriously.
"Listen, I need you to hide in your room and keep quiet, okay?"
Her mumbles became louder as she tried to get away from him in anger. He didn't let her.
"Listen!" his whispers now loud, "Take this seriously. Go hide in the closet. Now!"
She looked at him for a moment, her eyes shocked.
"Go!" Bo whispered as loud as he could.
She ran into the closet and closed it behind her.
Bo quickly went to his brother's room. He didn't enter it, as he didn't feel right by doing so, but he already did it once, and this time he was much more sure that this situation was extremely dangerous.
He opened a closet, which was tall and safe. It was metallic, and a screen the size of a palm was presented in the middle. He quickly put his palm, which opened to safe, slower than he would have preferred.
He quickly took a greatsword, the same one he took the first time he felt suspicious about this situation.
It was quite beautiful, the blade was shining, and he was able to see his own reflection on it. The handle looked like it was made out of gold, but he suspected that it was some other type of material. His brother used it after all. It couldn't be made of ineffective materials.
It was quite heavy, but it was the only weapon in his house.
It was always weird to Bo that Cal didn't use firearms, but now that he knows how weird the world of Heroes is, he doesn't doubt him. There was probably a reason.
A knock resounded a second time.
Now dragging the sword behind him, Bo approached the door.
He was thinking of a way out, a way to avoid this nonsense.
'But how? I can't jump out of the window, especially with Abi. There is no way to escape.'
He was sweating. He was scared. But he was the big brother now. He had to do this, even if he was doubting his choice every step.
'Maybe I could call the authorities? But he's Hunger, what authorities will work against him? Also, he hasn't done anything yet, even if the authorities could do something…'
He was now in front of the door. The door was all the same, a white, plain door, with family magnets sticking to it. It usually gave off a warm feeling, but this time it was as cold as the day his brother died.
A knock went through the door, and this time it seemed more impatient.
Knowing that continuing to think would only delay the inevitable, holding the sword upside down with his right hand, Bo opened the door.
Standing behind it were Hunger and the Creator.
Hunger had his usual bright smile, while the Creator was trying to hide away as best as possible, as usual.
'Hello. My name is Al…' Bo thought to himself, testing his theory.
"Hello! My name is Al, and I'm scouting for recruits to the Organization. Are you Novice Greatness's little brother? The first one anyway."
'Well, this really is a time loop.'
Bo was deep in thought, forgetting for a moment that Hunger was standing right in front of him.
"Are you?" Hunger interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes," Bo answered nervously.
"Is everything alright?" Hunger asked, "And may I ask why you're holding a greatsword?"
He hasn't glanced down once, holding eye contact with Bo from the moment the door opened.
A chill ran down the spine. His smile was as fake as all the other times. The memory of how Hunger killed him with that psychopathic smile surfaced.
"No," Bo answered, trying to keep his voice from breaking.
He wanted to swing Cal's sword at Hunger, but he doubted it would help him survive.
'What if this isn't a time loop? What if I die now, leaving Abi alone?'
Doubt crept in.
"It seems you're afraid... Why?" Hunger asked.
His smile disappeared. His expression is now colder than ever. The Creator still hid away in his hoodie, as if he wasn't even there.
Bo had to find a quick answer.
"You're scaring me," he blurted.
'What?! I didn't mean to say that!'
"Why?" Hunger asked, his face cold and unchanging.
"Because… because…" Bo stopped himself with some effort.
'What am I doing?!' Bo thought, sweat flowing on his face.
"Oh?" Hunger looked surprised, "It seems your Deity has control in the realm of emotions, and is quite powerful at that."
He looked upwards in thought.
"Well, it doesn't matter," he looked back at Bo, his eyes containing something other than cold now, something sinister.
Hunger shifted in place, and a breeze passed by Bo. Suddenly, Hunger was holding Abi with a kitchen knife at her throat. A tiny drop of blood slid down from where the knife was placed.
Abi had a terrified face. She wanted to scream, but she froze, quietly whimpering.
"Wait! Stop!" Bo shouted immediately, both his hands now on the handle of Cal's greatsword.
Hunger had a bright smile as always, but his eyes were the same as they were a moment ago, and Bo could now read them perfectly.
They were ambitious. They wanted more. They were hungry.
"Can you answer, please?" Hunger asked politely, as if he wasn't holding his sister.
Bo didn't want to, but what choice did he have?
"Because you killed me before!" Bo shouted, looking at his sister, trying to calm her down.
Tears were coming out of his eyes uncontrollably.
Hunger had a new expression, an expression Hunger seemed unused to, as if he needed to find the right one for a moment. He was confused.
He looked at the Creator, who shifted in place the moment they made eye contact. The Creator nodded, after which Hunger looked back at Bo.
He wore his maniacal smile now. The same one he had when he killed Bo.
"Enlighten me," Hunger commanded.
"I… I think I'm in a time loop," Bo answered, looking at the floor.
He couldn't look at Hunger with that smile.
'Not again…'
"Open your status."
"Status," Bo whispered.
The same grey status appeared before Bo, even if he didn't want it to appear this time.
--------------------------
Name: Ư̸̧͍̣͍̤͈̘̦͍̘̹̦͕̟̓͛̀̔̆̚n̷̨͉̜͔̯̙̙̖͈͇͑́̇̎͘͝ŗ̴̧̧̟̣͇̰̘̤̼̈́̍͛̀̿̀̌̚̕ȩ̸̧͇̟̲̣̌͂̿̔̉̈́̆͝a̸̹̳̞̍̒͑͜d̶̢͈͈̱̥͖̟̉̌̐̎́̿̄̌̍͜a̶̰̰̦͗̋͗͊͒̓̚b̵̻̩̠̍̒̌͆̐̈́̽͠l̴̢͇͇̝̭̃̅͌̂̇́̔̐̓͐̏͌͆̕ͅe̴͔̞̼͖̥͉̣͋̋͊́̾̈́̽̎̍
Cultivation Stage: Novice (Pure)
Legacy: Bitter Obedience - First Stage
--------------------------
"Now read exactly what it says," Hunger commanded, this time with less patience.
And so Bo did, slowly.
He started with his name, which made Hunger shift in place as if he were a predator wanting to pounce.
Then he moved to his Cultivation Stage, which calmed Hunger down a bit.
Then he moved on to Legacy, but he suddenly fell down before even finishing the word.
This was familiar. His body was cut in half.
He couldn't see his own body this time, but he knew what had happened. The pain was the same.
He heard screams. It was Abi.
He had to move, but he just couldn't. His body didn't respond.
He saw Cal. Cal tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Darkness crept in, fading the vision slowly.
Yet, instead of darkness, came a memory.
It wasn't vague or fleeting. It was as clear as day, as if he was living the memory this exact moment.
He was playing video games when Cal came home.
Cal had short black hair and green eyes, unlike in the visions.
He was tall, serious, and happy.
Bo wanted to say something, to hug him, to tell him to come back, but he couldn't.
He was only experiencing, not being able to do a thing.
"Hey," Bo greeted Cal without losing too much attention from his game.
"You should stop with this nonsense," Cal said, looking unapprovingly at the television screen."
Bo didn't even look at Cal, as every time he came home, he immediately started lecturing him about something.
The television shut off.
"Why?" Bo screamed at Cal.
Cal walked in front of Bo, blocking the television screen.
"Because you aren't ready."
"Ready for what?"
A slight wind blew into Bo's face.
He felt a small pain in the left side of his throat and was about to reach for it with his hand, but noticing the greatsword beneath his chin made him stop.
He looked at Cal, frightened.
Cal withdrew the sword behind his back. A golden shine replaced the sword, making it disappear.
"There will come a day when you or someone you care about will be in danger, and I won't be there to help you. You need to get strong, Bo, or you will regret it."
Familiar darkness enveloped his vision.
-----
Bo screamed, pouring his anger out.
He didn't notice that he had resurrected already, so he frightened Abi.
Emotions flooded him. Pain, anger, sadness.
But what had hit him most was a more complex emotion. Regret.
He regretted not trying to strengthen himself before all of this. Not trying to learn more about his brother's world and how he can become strong like him.
He was naive, thinking his brother would save him every time he was in trouble for the rest of his life.
Well, it was time to act. Time to change.
'I need to understand how Abi and I survive this timeloop and how I get out of it,'
He was angry, but one thing that he was good at was staying rational and calm, although it was hard to stay calm when someone was killing you painfully.
'First, Hunger will visit me. I need Hunger not to kill me in our first conversation. Earlier, I managed to do that.'
He thought back, trying to remember, and again something clicked.
As if his memory had now improved, he could remember each loop up to now perfectly.
He remembered how he persuaded Hunger that he was chosen by Acceptance, and how he hadn't checked him as thoroughly as last time after that.
'The most important thing is not to let him use that power that makes me tell him the truth.' Bo thought.
Hearing crying, he got out of his bed and ran to Abi, hugging her.
'It will be hard, but Abi is the most important thing here. I have to stay sane for her.'
"I'm here, always," he said, looking at the door with determination.