The shadow was a middle-aged man with dirty clothes. It seemed like he had not taken a shower in a while. Sadly, he was too slow. He failed to save the boy, and lost his own life.
Angele just stood there and watched the whole thing. The guards arrived after a while and picked up the dead bodies. They asked the pedestrians to leave, so Angele started walking down the street.
“The sky is roaring… The sky is dancing… The sky is burning… The mask of a joker will consume everything. The long tail will bring everything to an end…”
Angele heard a homeless man saying random things when he walked past a street light.
Angele glanced at the man, but did not stop.
He walked around the city; it was getting dark outside. Angele was not interested in having dinner, and decided to regroup with his team.
The other members of the Black Bird Guild were already waiting for him by the exit of the city.
Angele walked to the city gate, and Hera explained the mission again. They then jumped on their horses and headed to the forest.
The mission was similar to the ruin exploration done by the wizard apprentices. They just needed to defeat the beasts and reach the destination that was marked on the map. If they found valuable herbs, they would collect them.
The destination was not far from the city. It only took them several minutes to reach a forest with red trees, and they found a hole in the ground.
“This is the place.” Hera walked to the hole and looked at it. “Rock, your turn!” she spoke in a serious tone. The hole was about one meter deep.
Rock nodded and raised the torch. He took a short wooden stick from his belt and ignited it. He then threw the burning stick into the hole and crouched, trying to see if the stick would hit anything.
It seemed like the stick did not hit anything.
“Three guilds already checked this mysterious hole, but none of them found any valuable information. That was the reason why they decided to increase the rate and hire us,” Hera spoke in a low voice as she stared at Rock.
Angele suddenly raised his head and looked at the night sky.
There were red meteors falling down the sky, landing on the ground.
*WOO*
The loud noise attracted everyone’s attention.
They were all looking at the meteor rain. Rock stood up and looked at the strange scene in the sky.
They realized that a red meteor was about to hit them.
“Run!” Hera shouted like crazy. She released a ray of black light, which hit the meteor, but it did nothing to it.
Angele just stood there and looked at Hera’s face. He suddenly felt that his heart was aching for no reason.
*BOOM*
The intense red light swallowed Hera and the other members. Angele was the only one that somehow survived.
“This is not my feeling…” Angele stood there and looked at the burning flames with his brow furrowed. There were four dead bodies on the ground, and he was staring at Hera’s body for some reason.
*Crack*
Suddenly, he heard crystals being formed.
A thin layer of purple crystal appeared under the flames, which slowly died out. The crystal layer started to expand to other areas.
*KA*
Angele felt like he heard some mechanical noise. It sounded like the noise made by a ticking clock, but it also sounded like a drop of water landing on the ground.
His sight blurred, and the area around him was brightened up.
Angele noticed that he was standing in the middle of the street again. There were pedestrians and carriages passing by. The golden sunlight illuminated the road and the buildings around.
“Is this…” Angele’s brow furrowed.
*PA*
A worker from a potion shop was pouring waste on the road in front of Angele, and the pedestrians quickly moved to the side.
The green waste landed on the gray road, which immediately became wet.
The worker glanced at Angele, but quickly returned to the shop.
“I’ve seen this.” Angele had a great memory, and he recognized the worker immediately. He was certain that the two workers were the same person.
“Hey, what are you doing?” A man with red hair patted Angele’s shoulder. “Why are you standing here? Go to the guild and report back!”
Angele looked at the man. It was Rock.
The man waved his hand in front of Angele’s eyes. “Are you still sleepy? You fell asleep right after we returned from the ruins. The leaders are waiting for us at the guild. Come on! Hurry up!” He pushed Angele.
Angele’s brow furrowed, and he started walking to the mercenary’s building.
“I was already ready before the leader said anything, and I saw the red light flashing! I heard someone calling my name from behind. I had no time to think, and knocked the bear down right away. Chris caught the chance, hitting the bear in the head…”
It was the same. He was saying the same thing.
Angele observed Rock carefully. He was speaking in the same tone, and his facial expressions were also the same.
‘Everything reset?’
He followed Rock to the building.
Everything was the same.
The tables looked like brown mushrooms.
The front desk, the receptionist, and the waiters. The wine and the food. It felt like nothing changed.
The members of the Black Bird Guild were sitting at a table. Hera was still leaning against the wall, playing with her dagger.
Angele and Rock walked to them. The conversation was also the same. They were just repeating the same thing.
Angele sat down by the table; he had a general idea in mind.
‘This must be the world in this ancestor’s memory… He was a member of this Black Bird Guild when he was weak…’ Angele thought as he observed the leader of the guild named Hera.
Hera had long black hair that was nice and smooth. Some of her black hair was around her chest, and she had a balanced body with long legs. She looked a bit lazy, but she was still attractive. For some reason, she did not look like a wild mercenary. There was something special about her.
Angele felt like he wanted to hug Hera when he was looking at her. He was certain that it was the ancestor’s thought. The ancestor loved Hera.
“What happened, Saladin? Why are you staring at me?” Hera noticed that Saladin was a bit different. He had never stared at her in an aggressive way like this. They worked together for years, and it was the first time that Saladin did something like this.
Angele narrowed his eyes slightly, but did not respond.
Everything else was the same. They finished the lunch and were dismissed.
Angele hesitated for a while and decided to leave the building.
*BAM*
He heard the familiar noise and screams.
The middle-aged man and the boy were blown away by the impact. There was blood spurting out of their bodies.
The pedestrians quickly surrounded them.
“They are done for…” A man with white hair stood up and shook his head. The pedestrians got noisy again.
Angele’s brow furrowed after seeing the familiar scene. He turned around and started walking down the street.
“The sky is roaring… The sky is dancing… The sky is burning… The mask of a joker will consume everything. The long tail will bring everything to an end…”
Angele heard a homeless man saying random things when he walked past a street light.
Angele stopped and stared at the homeless man.
“Who told you these things?” he questioned in a deep tone.
“Who? Ha…” The man did not respond. He wanted Angele to pay him.
Some red light flashed in Angele’s eyes. He checked the man’s memory using his ability.
‘From a wall of a random ruin?’ He scrunched his eyebrows again.
The team regrouped at night, and started heading to their destination. Everything was progressing like there was a script.
The important moment came again.
Angele raised his head and looked at the night sky.
The red meteors started soaring through the sky, landing on the ground.
*WOO*
The loud noise attracted everyone’s attention.
They were all looking at the meteor rain. Rock stood up and looked at the strange scene in the sky.
They realized that a red meteor was about to hit them.
“Run!” Hera shouted like crazy. She released a ray of black light, which hit the meteor, but it did nothing to it.
The meteor was about to land on the four.
Suddenly, red light flashed in the sky.
Angele snorted and raised his hand.
*BAM*
An invisible force stopped the meteor. It felt like the meteor was blocked by a large hand.
*BOOM*
The meteor exploded into pieces, flying into the forest.
The mercenaries were looking at Angele like staring at a ghost.
“Saladin…” Hera’s voice was hoarse; it felt like she was about to say something.
Angele felt a bit excited after he saw the surprised look on Hera’s face.
*PA*
The same noise echoed in his mind again.
His sight blurred, and he was standing in the middle of the street. The morning sunlight illuminated the buildings again.
“Damn it!” Angele’s expression turned serious. He realized that the noise indicated the end of the loop. He already mastered the secret of the time and dimension, but he had no idea what happened. From his perspective, the time was not modified at all.
“I almost made some progress. It seems like I need to find out how to trigger the ancestor’s emotions if I want to get a different result.” Angele noticed that something happened when he felt excited.
“If I can make the ancestor experience different emotions, I might be able to find the secret of this realm…” Angele narrowed his eyes, and quickly made a new plan.