'I'm tired...' Terrence gasped. His breaths came slow and rough, while blood pooled at the tip of his lips.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Half his body was gone, ripped off.
How did it come to this?
As he lay there, waiting for death, his thoughts drifted back to the past.
Twenty years back, the human world faced hell. Gates to their domain opened everywhere
Cities collapsed in days. People ran, screaming, with nowhere safe to go.
Monsters poured in waves, shrugging off everything the military hurled at them.
Bullets and other modern weapons didn't even slow them down.
They even resorted to nukes, but the blast only claimed more human lives than monsters.
For a while, it felt like the world's end was only a matter of time.
Then came the Manaborn.
Humans who awakened abilities after adapting to the world's sudden flood of mana.
They gained superpowers that science couldn't explain.
Flying, super strength, summoning, elemental control, and more.
But what made them invaluable was their ability to hurt the hell-spawns in ways that ordinary weapons couldn't.
Within months, they began to turn the tide.
Humanity started pushing the monsters back, reclaiming ground and establishing new footholds.
Cities were rebuilt. Stronger, better, forged from the ruins of what was lost.
Technology raced forward, forced to evolve at a speed no one could have predicted, as the apocalypse drove the brightest minds to their limits.
Finally, peace was restored, though it came in a new form—inside the safety of the city walls.
Unfortunately, those very same walls crumbled, and Terrence, one of the many survivors who fought to protect it, was forced to accept a painful truth.
Against the devils, humans were nothing but ants.
"If only..." he gritted his teeth in frustration. "If only I'd discovered my power earlier... I might have..."
He couldn't finish the thought before drawing his last breath.
In the end, it was just wishful thinking from a dying man.
.
.
.
.
"NO!!!!!!"
Terrence bolted upright, sweat dripping down his face as his eyes darted around the room.
'Was that all just a nightmare? Is the sanctuary still safe? '
His breathing slowly calmed down.
The nightmare was over, but something still didn't feel right.
'Where am I?'
This wasn't the room he knew.
The cold metal walls were gone. So were the bunk beds and the loud voices of the soldiers preparing for war.
Instead, all he saw was a bed, a TV with the latest gaming console, a desk with a high end PC, and bookshelves filled with manga, novels, figurines.
He cringed just looking at it… then remembered that he used to be a die hard otaku.
'Wait... this place!' His eyes widened as he tried to process what he was seeing.
There was no mistaking it. This was his room, back from the days when life was still peaceful.
A place where he could play games, watch anime, read manga and novels, and just be himself without being judged.
His paradise. His old bedroom.
Nostalgia hit him more as he stood up.
His fingers drifted over the books on the shelves, each one a reminder of better days.
Then, he glanced at the mirror and checked himself out.
He was thin for his height, with a tired gaze that matched his jet black eyes.
Next, he ran his fingers through his messy dark hair, getting stuck in the knots. It had been over a year since his last haircut.
'This can't be real. No way I came back, right?' He pinched his skin, slapped his face, but the pain was too real.
Then he grabbed a manga, expecting the words would be jumbled like in a dream, but the text was clear as day.
thud!
He dropped the book.
'My blood pressure's rising. I need to calm down.'
Tilting his head, he breathed in and out, slowly calming his pounding heart.
'Why me? Why did I come back to the past?'
He wasn't the strongest Manaborn, so there was no reason for him to be chosen.
Instead, he was just a regular soldier, an extra—one of those characters the author barely bothers to describe.
But just to be sure, he started muttering.
"System! System Interface! Abracadabra! Level Up!"
No response.
No glowing windows.
No notification.
'My head hurts. I don't have enough braincells for this. ' He sat back in his chair and leaned back.
As he glanced around, his eyes landed on the calendar hanging on the wall.
'The date!'
To double-check the time, he slid open the drawer and grabbed his phone.
The latest, top-of-the-line model. Yeah, his priorities back then were focused on other things.
Who could blame him? It wasn't like he ever expected monsters to invade his world.
'It's May. That means I still have at least seven months before the invasion.'
'I need to make this second chance count. I don't care how I came back anymore. What's important is how I make the most of it.'
Just as he was thinking about what to do next, a knock came from the door.
Curious, he walked over and grabbed the handle. But before turning it, he took a deep breath.
'Act normal.'
That was the plan. He couldn't risk slipping up, not when one wrong move could get him labeled insane.
When the door opened, the scent of home-cooked food hit him first. It was warm, rich, and very comforting.
What made him happiest wasn't the food or the smell, though… it was her. A face he hadn't seen in over ten years.
She looked just as he remembered.
Platinum hair neatly tied behind her head, eyes as blue as the sea, and that same gentle smile that always made him look forward to seeing her.
"Terence, I brought you some food. Figured you would be too tired from all that late-night gaming," Her voice was sweet and tender.