Normal POV
My legs burned with heat as I came to a stop just outside the apartment.
"Huff…huff…" I wait until my breathing slowed back to normal before searching around my pockets and pulling out the keys for the apartment.
I fumbled a bit my hands still shaking from leftover adrenaline and shock of dying five times.
I placed the key in and twisted the door open which let out a small creak.
Stepping inside I could see how well kept the apartment was.
There was a single brown couch, a red carpet, and Tv with an old looking stand.
The dinning room had an eating table with only four chairs.
While kitchen was small with a fully functioning refrigerator and some plates stacked in the sink.
I stepped inside "Nate…?" I called out softly.
Nothing at first.
Then-
"…Rigel?"
A tiny voice, groggy and hesitant peeked out from the bedroom doorway. A small figure with dark curly hair rubbed his sleepy purple eyes with a fist, clutching his worn stuffed dinosaur in the other.
I froze.
God, why did seeing him hurt?
He looked nothing like the siblings from my first life, but my chest tightened anyway.
Memories I didn't want to remember slammed into the front of my mind. Of me sitting at the dinner table while my brothers and sisters laughed about their successes and ignored me completely… hearing my youngest sibling say, "why is he even here?"… my own little sister looking at me with irritation like I was an inconvenience in her perfect world.
And now Nate… Nate who relied on me… Nate who loved me.
What if he grew up to hate me too?
What if I failed him, the same way James failed every expectation ever thrown at him?
I swallowed hard.
"H-Hey, Nate…" I whispered.
He took two small steps forward, nose scrunching "you're wet."
"Yeah," I forced a laugh that sounded wrong even to me "just got caught in the rain."
His eyes dropped to my hands still faintly stained even after washing them in the alley. I curled my fingers quickly.
"Did… did someone hurt you?" he asked, voice suddenly trembling.
Shit I silently cursed.
I knelt down fast, ignoring the sting in my palm "nah buddy I'm okay. I promise."
His little lip wobbled "you weren't home… and you said you'd be home before the cartoons ended… and… and you weren't… and I got scared."
My heart twisted in a way that made it hard to breathe.
This kid cared.
This kid worried.
I reached out hesitantly.
Not too fast.
Not too close.
I wasn't sure if I even deserved to touch him but Nate moved first. He threw himself into my chest with all the force his tiny body could muster.
I stiffened.
Then slowly… very slowly… my arms wrapped around him.
Warm.
Small.
Alive.
Not dead on the pavement like I had been minutes ago.
Not disappointed.
Not resentful.
Just… Nate.
"Big bro" he sniffed against my soaked jacket. "please don't go away like Mom and Dad… okay?"
My throat tightened. Any words I had died before they reached my mouth. I felt heat sting behind my eyes the kind I hadn't felt in either life for years.
I gently pressed a hand to the back of his head.
"I won't," I said quietly "not ever I swear it."
Because for the first time…for the first time since waking up in this new life I now had something I wanted to protect.
Nate who had pulled back looked up at me with wide eyes "big bro…you're crying."
I wiped my face quickly "nope it's just from the rain. Still dripping."
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously "…Indoors?"
I managed a small, weak laugh "it's magic rain."
He giggled.
For a moment, just a moment the horrific weight of everything eased.
I stood up lifting Nate into my arms, "come on, buddy," I murmured "let's get you into bed."
Nate nodded sleepily and buried his face against me.
I walked into his room and gently tucked his now sleeping form into bed. Before I slipped back into the living room making sure not to wake him up.
Once I was sure he didn't wake up I collapsed on the couch while gripping my face into my palms.
My heart wasn't racing anymore… but my mind was.
The loops.
The stabbing.
The resets.
The way I killed those men.
The way something answered when I accidentally said those two accursed words.
Domain Expansion.
I lifted my hand it was still trembling, but the tremor was now starting to slow.
"…I need to know what this power can do," I whispered while pulling out the box that formerly contained the strange purple orb.
I could easily guess that whatever was inside had been transferred into my body and granted me my power.
But what exactly was it? I thought in annoyance.
A sudden warmth between my ribs rose up and traveled up all the way up to my head.
I clutched at my head as a sudden burst of information was downloaded into me again.
The orb was apparently something called a witch factor and the one I held represented PRIDE.
My power granted me the ability to essentially create a "domain" so to speak.
Inside that space, death was not final neither mine or anyone within it. Once I established a checkpoint in time everything inside the Domain would reset back to that point. Whenever I or the person holding the initiative died.
The loops would continue endlessly. Until I either stepped too far from the checkpoint, the Domain collapses, or until I died for real outside its protection.
The part of the power I used today out of sheer panic was called the 'Victim Aspect.'
When the Victim side is active I remember everything. My opponent/people in the domain on the other hand remembers nothing.
I die. Reset. Die. Reset.
Again. Again. Again.
I can die millions of times if trapped badly enough.
It was how I survived the alley.
How I knew where the knife would come from.
How I killed those men.
Victim let me keep dying until my fear finally broke and desperation hardened into a resolve to finally start doing something.
The other half of this power thought was the 'Aggressor Aspect.'
Instead of me being trapped in loops I trap someone else.
They'd be the ones to die, reset, die, and reset.
They feel every loop.
They remember.
They break.
Yet I wouldn't remember a thing they went through.
"I can't die inside it," I murmured "only they loop."
The only way it ends is if the me inside the loop decides to end the Domain.
Nothing else would work.
Killing me, running, and or suicide would all end up being a total failure.
Whichever bastard ended up trying to kill me would essentially loop until their spirit broke or they manage to force the loop-version of me to release them.
"This part only activates if…" I swallowed hard, "if my resolve breaks, I doubt the power, myself, or I willingly choose to do so."
"Jesus this is a lot of shit to process," I muttered before flicking the TV on.
The screen lit up playing a classic episode of Dragon Ball Z.
Now doesn't that bring back memories I thought with a nostalgic smile before reaching into my pockets.
I pulled everything out except for the hobos knives.
I quickly shoved any cash into my own wallet which now held at the equivalent of 70 American dollars but for Brit's.
Next I flipped open the flip phone much to my immense horror since I was used to the modern touch screen.
The date on the phone read 'September 27th, 2003.'
"22 years of information," I whispered "22 years of information from the future that I can use for my benefit."
Music, movies, tech trends, stock market rises, cryptocurrency, and even memes.
My mind raced.
2003 was basically prehistoric compared to 2025.
I could take advantage of anything and if I played my cards right… I could make enough money to take care of Nate.
Move us out of this shithole.
Give him a real life.
"There's also the matter of wondering what kind of world this might be. Given how I have powers now….maybe tomorrow I can…yawn…check the…l-library," exhaustion finally caught up to me and my eyes closed.
I fell asleep on the couch mouth a bit open, and the TV still played on Dragon Ball Z with the episode on when Raditz arrives on Earth.
-end of chapter one-
Your thoughts or opinions so far?
Maybe a power stone or two?
Also I don't know if I want to involve any other witch factors or something like the witches cult in the story.
For now I think I'll stick with what I have written/outlined so far.