Chapter 2: Chapter 2- Changing The Past
Chapter 2- Changing The Past
Zen was a strikingly handsome young man. So much so, he was always the center of attention wherever he went. He had medium-length midnight black hair that seemed to droop over his face messily. His face was smooth and perfect with two sharp yet weirdly hypnotizing purple eyes that seemed to captivate anyone who looked at them.
He was of average height and build, making him rather unathletic. However, he was gifted with something many others didn’t have... A gift that he himself used a lot for the rest of his life. A photographic memory.
He could remember everything he saw with a single look at it, making him extremely knowledgeable in many things.
"How did I go back in time? This shouldn’t be possible... That kind of power shouldn’t exist." He muttered. Zen knew more than anyone else about the powers that could exist in this world. Something as ridiculously powerful as time manipulation was simply a taboo. Something that ’they’ would never allow to be cultivated.
’And even if it does exist... Who made me go back in time? And why did they do that?’
Many questions popped into his head. But he had no real answer to them. All he could do was squeeze his cheeks a few times before turning around to go out of his room.
Zen had been living alone for almost two years at that point. He had no parents or siblings, so he grew up in a small orphanage in the southern parts of the capital. He was raised in extremely poor conditions, often not finding anything to eat for days on end, and having to work to get enough money to survive.
Eventually, when he reached the age of 14, he left the orphanage to fend for himself. He found a job, attended school, and was now in his first year of high school. His life wasn’t easy, far from. He was still extremely poor, working as a cashier in a small convenience store near his house.
It was a tough but peaceful life, something he yearned for since he was a child. However, unbeknownst to him, that peaceful life he yearned for was going to be shifted upside down soon enough.
"This is the exact same apartment I lived in... Every detail..." He muttered. The marks on the wall, the old furniture, and the picture of a beautiful garden hanging on his wall, which he found in a dumpster while working. That was his home for the longest time, and that only further confirmed that this was truly the past...
"Ok, I need to calm down and think about this carefully." He muttered as he sat down on the sofa. "I was killed, and then I woke up in the past as my 16-year-old self... First thing I need to know is... What’s today’s date?"
The reason for that was something that Zen was very worried about. Standing up, he walked to the calendar hanging on the wall, and there he saw it.
"12th of May... Wait..." That was when it struck him like a thunderbolt. "12th of May... The Awakening is... today."
That word alone made him frown deeply. This was a day he would never forget, the day his life changed forever. The day he awakened and became a Hunter. It was the moment when Zen wasn’t the average boy from the slums anymore.
That was the moment his journey to be one of the strongest Hunters in the world began.
"They returned me to the very day everything started... That can’t be a coincidence." He knitted his eyebrows. ’They want me to do it... All over again?’
Almost 34 years of being a Hunter. In those 34 years, Zen experienced everything: pain, happiness, excitement, heartbreak, immense sadness, loss, anger, hatred... Revenge. He felt it and experienced it all.
He won people he loved more than anyone else and then lost them all in one fell swoop. He saw them all get butchered before his eyes, and all he could do was watch with tears of blood rolling down his face.
That feeling squeezed at his heart so much that for a second, he had to lean against the wall and take a deep breath.
He grabbed his shirt and squeezed it tightly. ’It hurts... It hurts so much...’
The images engraved in his brain were still as vivid as ever and will haunt him for the rest of his life. Death was a lot more bearable than having to see those things again.
"But... If I’m truly back in the past... Doesn’t that mean..." He opened his eyes. "I can change that outcome? I know everything. I know what will happen and how it will happen. I can prevent it all. I can make it so that it doesn’t happen!"
It honestly felt like it was too good to be true for Zen. To actually have a second chance and erase all his regrets in life. How could he say no to that? He yearned for something like that.
To be able to do it all over again, but this time... He won’t let those mistakes he committed in the past happen again.
"Whoever did this... I don’t know what you want or why you did it. But I’m taking this opportunity. I need it..." He muttered as he clasped his fingers together. His eyes turned immensely cold, hatred flickering in them for a fleeting second. "I have a big score to settle with so many people. If I can bring my wrath upon those demons, then I will do exactly that."
All his enemies, the people who have caused him all his pain and suffering, they all deserve the worst punishment imaginable, and no worse punishment than Zen. A Zen who knew everything.
*RING* *RING* *RING*
At that moment, Zen heard his phone ringing, so he stood up and walked to it. "Hmm, it’s my alarm. I guess I used to wake up quite late." He muttered. "I need to get ready for school."
Since the Awakening ceremony was today, Zen knew already what was going to happen, and he was aware of the outcome.
’If it is truly the past, then everything that I know of should happen, the exact same way it happened before.’
In his mind, Zen had already recalled every single detail of that day, so figuring out any difference wasn’t going to be a problem.
With that, he started preparing himself while making notes in his head of what he was supposed to expect and what he wanted to immediately do after awakening.
’If I can start now, I should be able to become way stronger than I could have ever. I have wasted a lot of my potential. If I can maximize all of my attributes immediately, I can reach whole new levels I could never even dream of.’
One of Zen’s biggest regrets was not becoming a full-fledged hunter immediately after awakening. Being the peaceful and timid boy that he was, he stayed for almost 3 years without doing anything about his powers. That heavily damaged his potential and set his life for the next 30 years, something he wished he could change.
Now, he had all the time in the world to cultivate his foundation and get farther ahead than all the hunters of his generation.
After getting ready, he picked up his bag and walked out of the apartment. Immediately, a familiar scenery welcomed him. The capital, or rather, the poor side of the capital. Sera, being one of the most prominent cities in the world and a bastion for humans against monsters, had almost 50 million people living in it.
It was a massive hub of cultures where people were all aiming to achieve all the dreams they were promised would be achieved in this humongous city. Naturally, not everything is sunshine and rainbows, and just like how this city harbors the wealthiest and strongest people of the world, it also has a hidden world that no one hears about.
The slums... A crime-infested area, where nothing is disallowed. That was where the majority of people lived, completely forgotten by the world. All they could do was stare into the distance and see the bright lights of the rich part of the city, the skyscrapers that pierced the very sky above their heads, and the giant billboards floating everywhere.
Zen naturally looked up and saw it all from his position, and unlike everyone else, he knew everything about that side of the world. He knew how ugly, corrupted, and cruel it was... He had firsthand experience in tasting that pain himself.
’Every single person on that side is rotten to the core. They’re irredeemable, they have no morals or common sense.’ He thought to himself. ’As much as it disgusts me to walk into it all over again... I can finally pay back the bastards who did all of that... 10 fold.’
