***
GASP!!
He shot upright, chest heaving, eyes darting through the place he was in.
"Oh! I'm still alive, again." He looked at his body. He was covered in scars from top to bottom, but the fatal injuries he had suffered were gone.
He slowly rose from where he was sitting. It was exactly where he had fallen unconscious last time. He tried to walk but stumbled back to the ground.
"I guess my body hasn't adjusted quite well," he said to himself. He sat in a lotus position and waited.
"48 minutes 45 seconds—that's how long I lasted this time. Last time was 20 and a half minutes. I guess there was an improvement," he thought to himself. "Okay, let's see what I could have done better."
Closing his eyes, he jolted his mind, and he appeared in a white room. It wasn't a real place, just a mental compartment.
He looked around for a bit.
A few seconds later, he began reliving the chase. He was watching from the side what he had been doing.
"I should have taken two arrows from the ones that hit the rock. That way I could have lasted longer," he made mental notes of every blunder he had made as he watched the chase.
"I need to practice my gripping to make it more effective when I am climbing trees to avoid any mishaps from happening again." After reliving it, he opened his eyes slowly.
He saw a pair of eyes staring back at him.
"Ah!" He stood up quickly, putting distance between himself and the person in front of him.
They don't normally come alone and not this early. Well, this one must be someone who wants to try his luck. He put up his hands, making one into a fist and the other a claw, crouching slightly. He wasn't really dressed to impress. His clothes were covered in blood and torn apart, exposing most of his body.
Oh, it's a girl. Looking closely, he saw a teenage girl in a brown robe staring at him.
He didn't let his guard down, though.
"Hello, you hungry?" she asked, carrying a basket. She brought out a bun and gave it to him while smiling.
"I don't want your food. Haven't your parents warned you against talking to and giving food to strangers? Especially someone like me." He put down his fist and claw but remained alert.
Rumble!
Rumble!
"…"
His cheeks became a little pink in embarrassment.
"I guess it thinks differently," she pointed to his stomach with a giggle. "I'll taste it to show you it isn't poisoned." She took a bite from it. After licking her lips, she stretched the food forward for him to take.
Glancing at the food, his hunger became more intense. He looked her up and down, then quickly grabbed it and munched on it.
"My name is Hope. What's yours?" she asked him sweetly, tilting her head in curiosity.
"Just call me what everyone calls me. I don't have a real name. I don't need to, because everything is just the same. No difference whatsoever, from centuries ago to now," he said, still munching on the bun. Hope, I think I have heard that name before… Where did I hear it from? he pondered while eating.
"If you keep having negative thoughts about everything, you won't be able to look at the bright side—"
"THERE IS NO BRIGHT SIDE!!!" he shouted in anger, crumbs of food spilling out of his mouth. "You wouldn't understand."
She took a step back, surprised by the sudden outburst.
"Well… I can't really comprehend what has happened to you, but someone once told me… Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift—that is why it is called present—"
"Ugh!" He scoffed.
"Today is not a gift for me, kid. It is a reminder of everything I have to face through every f*cking night. Tomorrow isn't a mystery either, because I know it's the same thing tomorrow, and the next tomorrow, and the day after that. Yesterday is never history; it's just a reminder—a painful reminder of how my today will be. SO DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!" he snapped, annoyed at her words. Though they were meant to uplift him, they only brought more pain.
"How dare you shout at my sister!" a voice rang out. The voice boomed with authority.
Turning around, he saw a man. A man he had come to know. A man he had come to envy. A man he had come to dislike.
"Now I remember. I must have forgotten for a split second. Hope is your sister… Thomas, or should I call you Love."
A man in an elegant red robe, holding a red hand fan, came into view. He had long blond hair tied into a ponytail. He frowned and walked past him to meet the girl. "How many times have I told you not to sneak out? Let's go." The man took her hand and walked past him.
"It's been 40 years and you can't say hi. Yet I thought you were supposed to be the embodiment of love," he said sarcastically to the man walking away.
The man stopped. He took the basket in the girl's other hand and tossed it over to him. "Enjoy!" he said and continued walking away.
"Inno!"
"Innominatus! That's what I'll call you. Goodbye, and I'll see you later," the girl quickly turned around and said before running off to her brother.
"There certainly won't be a later, big sis. You need to learn to control yourself and avoid him. Relating with him may lead to dire consequences," the man said to the girl as she came back, his height towering over hers slightly.
"If humans want to go further, we need to learn to embrace our weakness. Only then can we truly evolve," she said, staring at the sky in deep contemplation.