For a long time, Adrian just stared at the sky... Blue. Calm. Empty. A sky like any other day.
Like nothing had ever gone wrong.
A dry laugh slipped out of him again, quieter this time. It didn't even sound human anymore.
"Three times…" he muttered, his voice barely audible. "Three damn times…"
His fingers dug into his hair, gripping hard enough to hurt.
"I knew everything. I knew what was going to happen. And I still—"
His voice broke.
A sharp breath hitched in his throat, and suddenly it all came crashing down.
The rats.
The screams.
Sarah's wings being torn apart.
That moment when her voice cut off.
His body jerked forward as if something had punched him in the chest. His breathing spiraled out of control, short, uneven gasps tearing through him.
"I watched her die again…" he whispered, shaking. "I heard it…"
His nails pressed harder into his scalp.
"And I couldn't do anything… I couldn't—"
His words dissolved into a choked sound. His shoulders trembled, and for a second it looked like he might cry—
—but nothing came.
Just emptiness.
Just that hollow, suffocating weight pressing down on his chest.
"I'm useless…" he said, the words slipping out before he could stop them. "What's the point of knowing the future if I can't change a single thing?"
Silence answered him.
The park remained peaceful. Distant footsteps. Birds chirping.
Mocking him.
His breathing slowed… but only because something else was creeping in.
"…Is that really the problem?" a voice echoed in his mind, far too like his own as Adrian just froze.
His hands slowly lowered as he heard that voice again.
The same voice he heard before dying last time.
"…What?" he muttered hoarsely as a faint chuckle echoed in his head.
"You're blaming your 'failure' on fate now?" the voice said as Adrian's jaw tightened. "Shut up." he said but, "No, think about it," the voice continued, ignoring him completely, "You had knowledge. You had time. You had multiple chances." it said and then paused and, "And yet… you still lost her."
"I said shut up." Adrian said with his fists clenched.
"Why?" the voice asked lightly. "Because I'm right?"
Adrian stood up abruptly from the bench, pacing a few steps before stopping again. His breathing was getting heavier again, anger mixing into the panic.
"I tried to save her!"
"Did you?" the voice replied instantly.
That made him stop.
"What do you mean—"
"Did you try to save her," it repeated, slower this time, "or did you just panic and react every single time?"
Adrian opened his mouth—
—and then closed it.
Fragments of the last three loops flashed in his mind. It's just as he said, all I was doing was running and reacting. If a problem appear, I tried running from it and ended up in a bigger one.
I had no real plan and no control whatsoever over what was happening.
The voice hummed again, almost amused.
"See? You weren't in control. You were just… chasing after her like a lost dog."
Something in Adrian snapped at that.
"I was trying to keep her alive!"
"Why?"
The question hit harder than anything else.
Adrian frowned. "What kind of question is that? Because she—"
"Because she what?" the voice pressed as he hesitated.
"…Because she didn't deserve to die."
A soft, almost pitying sigh echoed in his mind.
"How noble."
Adrian's teeth clenched.
"But let's be honest," the voice continued, its tone sharpening slightly. "That's not the whole truth, is it?"
The voice asked as he just maintained silence... Adrian didn't answer.
Because something about that felt… wrong.
The voice leaned in closer, like a whisper right against his thoughts.
"You loved her."
His chest tightened.
"You still do."
"…So what?" he snapped.
"So what?" the voice echoed, amused. "You're acting like that doesn't matter."
Adrian looked away, jaw tight.
"She broke up with me."
"And?" the voice said immediately. "Since when does that mean anything?"
"That means she doesn't want me."
"Or," the voice corrected smoothly, "it means she thinks she doesn't."
Adrian frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The voice chuckled again, low and knowing.
"It means she made a choice."
A pause.
"And choices can be wrong."
Something shifted in Adrian's expression.
"She chose to leave you," the voice continued. "She chose someone else."
Mike.
The name surfaced in his mind instantly.
That stupid grin.
That confidence.
The way Sarah used to look at him now.
Adrian's hands slowly curled into fists again.
"…Mike."
"There it is," the voice whispered.
A beat of silence.
Then, softly—
"You don't just want to save her."
Adrian didn't respond.
"You want to prove something."
His breathing slowed.
"You want to prove… that she made the wrong choice."
A flicker of something darker passed through his eyes.
"I…"
"You want her to look at you," the voice continued, "not with pity… not as some ex she moved on from…"
Each word landed heavier than the last.
"But as the one who should've been chosen."
Adrian's heart started beating faster again.
Not from panic this time.
From something else.
Something sharper.
The voice softened, almost gentle now.
"And what better way to prove that… than surviving when no one else can?"
Images flashed in his mind again.
The cafeteria.
The monsters.
The chaos.
Sarah… in danger.
Mike… struggling.
Dying.
Again and again.
"You have the advantage," the voice whispered. "You know what's coming."
A pause.
"So stop wasting it."
Adrian's fingers twitched.
"You don't need to 'save everyone.'"
Another pause.
"You just need to win. Just grow out of this week shell of yours."
Suddenly, my heart started beating a lot more faster than before as I started feeling lot more dizzy.
'Its time...' I thought, as I realised that the apocalypse is about to begin.
This time however, I was not in the cafeteria... With that one final thought, I passed out.
.
.
.
Adrian didn't remember hitting the ground.
For a while, there was nothing.
No pain.
No sound.
No thoughts.
Just… darkness.
Just then, a sharp breath tore through his lungs.
His eyes snapped open.
Air rushed into him like he had been drowning, his chest rising and falling violently as his body jolted upright. For a second, everything blurred—sky, trees, the empty park.
'Wonder how long I was out for,' I thought to myself, as I sitting upright on the same bench I passed out on.
"Weird," I muttered, standing straight for a bit, as I immediately felt a difference.
I felt an overall change around my body which make me physically stronger whenever I pass out in every round, it makes me stronger than probably most of population but probably not the strongest person even before the apocalypse.
Mostly at a level of strong but not that strong, but this time... It felt different.
"Status," I said and...
[Name:- Adrian Elijah
Species:- High Human
Grade:- F (No further upgrade potential)
Mutation:- None
Characteristics:- None
Abilities:- Telepathy, Telekinesis, Transcendence.
Authority:- Level 9
Artifact:- 1]
[Telepathy
Grade:- F
Level:- 1
Description:- Able to connect mind and communicate with them in 100 meter range.
Limit:- 0 / 3.]
[Telekinesis
Grade:- F
Level:- 2
Description:- Able to use the power of mind to affect the physical world, through weakly.]
[Transcendence
Level:- 1
Description:- Gave a permanent boost to all physical abilities by 10%, including strength, stamina, agility, recovery, etc.]
"Death do makes me stronger," I said with a sigh and then I finally looked away.
"Now then," I said looking at the dogs surrounding me, "Let's die together shall we?" I said.