'What do I do...what do I do...what do I do!'
He felt his mind crumble as he thought about what had just happened.
["I can't manifest. It seems we've truly chronologically gone back."]
Lune swallowed.
"Is something the matter, Lune?"
"No, doc. Actually, the problem is that I don't suffer from 'schizophrenia'; I have a literal god in my head, and I just went back in time from a world-ending event."
Lune immediately heard Aurei sigh in his mind.
"What world-ending event? You know, the story about a mentally ill patient trying to avoid the end of the world reminds me of a movie."
Lune clutched his fist under the table.
"No, I'm not joking. You'll ask me about the Veil of Astrea, right?"
The therapist immediately paused, and he stared at Lune in silence.
"You can't see past the Veil, but your words seem more credible now... What happened?"
'Is it really this simple? If I let others know, will they handle it?'
Lune felt hope, and a smile formed on his face.
"Let me start from the beginning."
He began to recount the entire last thirty-eight days he had experienced; he even spoke about Strevia and gave the therapist more profound insights into Aurei.
"And then, the sky turned red... It's basically history from there. With a blinding flash of light, we all died." Lune looked up from his hands and saw the therapist sitting in silence.
"Do you believe my story?"
His eyes began to water, and he smiled, his stare a bit uncanny. "...It's beautiful."
"...Beautiful?"
["...Lune."]
In the next moment, the therapist shot forward with an inhumane speed that Lune was hardly able to perceive. He pierced his hand right through Lune's forehead, tearing through his brain and killing him in an instant.
Thus, his second life had already come to a brief end.
***
'...'
"Your schizophrenia is getting worse?"
Lune's expression cracked, and his mind suddenly turned numb.
["So we've been revived again, and we have a direct hint to what's causing Armageddon. Judging that this human couldn't possibly be the cause, it's probably a fanatic cult working alongside Tahli... or what used to be Tahli."]
Lune couldn't even bring himself to process Aurei's words. Dying once in a blinding flash of light was shocking but somewhat nonsensical. Dying twice, within thirty minutes of his first death, and having a hand pierce him was something entirely different.
Especially when his murderer sat in front of him nonchalantly, for months, Lune had interacted with and trusted this man. For him to simply kill Lune without regret or hesitation was nothing less than terrifying.
'What type of world have I entered?' A thought finally appeared in his mind as he continued to soullessly stare at his therapist.
"Are you okay, Lune?"
"Sorry, I just have a terrible headache. Do you think it's possible you can just prescribe me something? I think I need to go home."
The therapist looked at him and smiled.
"If you need to go, then I can't stop you."
***
'This time, I'm not going to deal with anything supernatural... Including this voice in my fucking head.' Lune thought while walking right past the bathroom, avoiding the remnant he had met there in his last life.
He continued to walk and eventually passed by Strevia. This time, he didn't touch her or interact with her at all.
["Avoiding these interactions may cause you to not awaken your Spirituality tomorrow. Do you wish to die more without anymeaning?"]
'Fuck you, fuck Armageddon, and fuck my life…!'
["..."]
["It could be possible that not awakening your Spirituality could delay Armageddon, or even prevent it. The fact that we're stuck in a sort of time loop means that you're crucial to this entire process. Let's try it, avoid awakening your Spirituality for the next 38 days.]
'That's the plan.'
***
The rest of the day went by as it had previously, omitting Strevia's appearance. In the morning, Lune calmly woke up and immediately rushed toward the bathroom.
"Whoa, this might actually work."
Lune stared at himself in the mirror; his blonde hair had no darkened roots... and, Aurei was unable to physically manifest, reduced to a murmur in his mind as always.
["This could be a goodsign."]
Lune continued getting ready; he had not encountered his sister this time around. She had left for school without crossing paths with him. However, he seemed to notice something this time around.
His father, Morn Erhart, was watching the news.
'It's talking about the serial killings.' Lune suddenly furrowed his brows. 'These killings are strange to begin with, could it be...'
["Linked to Armageddon? That could bepossible."]
"Dad, don't you think these killings are strange? People gone missing, with no bodies ever found."
"Yes, I think you should begin picking up your sister and taking her to school. Something as horrific as this has never happened in the city." Morn sighed, "Just a sign the world's going to shit."
["That's one way to put it."]
"I'll make sure to get her in the afternoon." Lune turned his attention away from the news and left the house. He looked out toward the road, and there were only two people walking, and both of them were familiar.
His neighbors.
The remnants were gone, which made him wonder why he had even seen the boy in the restroom. He had not awoken his Spirituality or encountered Strevia, yet he had spoken to the remnant in the bathroom.
Was there something special about that remnant?
***
Thus, the day passed by boringly; he avoided anything out of the norm and went to class as normal.
'Do you think this will really change the end?'
["It's worth a try. I'm not sure about the correlation between Armageddon and me, or even how it's connected to you. Or why you have been given multiple chances at life, the only god capable of giving someone this ability is Tahli, yet Tahli is the one who seems to be causingArmageddon."]
'Who is Tahli?' Lune asked in his mind while navigating through campus; he really wanted to leave. Any interaction with the remnant he had seen in the bathroom, or Strevia, was very dangerous for him.
["What you would consider the Supreme God. Tahli is an existence born from the Veil of Astrea, who created the rest of the gods. Essentially, Tahli is the one true God, and the rest of us gods were simply created to govern the many authorities Tahli had granted us. Knowledge was my authority."]
'Knowledge? I think you did refer to yourself as the god of Knowledge before, but I simply ignored that part. What exactly does a god of Knowledge do?'
["Hmm... we gods have no true roles, we would all aimlessly drift through the cosmos. Of course, that was until the first human awakened to Spirituality on Hestia. But, if you're curious about the abilities of Knowledge, I was able to summon Lunis Tavia, a record of all things, recording the stories of mortals. I was able to give life and truly manifest the individuals in those stories."]
Lune chuckled, 'Doesn't that mean you could literally do anything?'
["Only to the extent of mortal thought. I had mentioned it before, but I was exiled and killed by the other gods. In my death, I faced all of them, including Tahli. It was a hopeless battle, but the entities from Lunis Tavia gave even Tahli a bit of struggle."]
"What could you have possibly done to make literally every other god turn on you?" Lune couldn't help but speak aloud.
["The birth of Spirituality on Hestia was due to me dropping relics imbued with my divine authority on the planet spanning millions of years. It was a personal project of mine that had gotten out of hand. The other gods were not happy about this, because humans obtaining Spirituality slowly breaks down the Veil of Astrea, which is probably what's causing Armageddon."]
'Where are these relics now? Aside from the necklace.'
["I believe I told you I dropped them during the span of millions of years. There is no way for me to possibly know where any of these Divine Relics are; there's also a good chance the other gods had reached out to mortals with Spirituality and had them destroy or hide them."]
'Interesting. If I'm truly in an infinite 38-day time loop, I might find the time to search for some of them.'
The two continued to chat in Lune's mind until Lune suddenly felt his phone vibrate.
"Dad?"
["Come home quickly."]
Lune felt his throat go dry for a moment as his mind began to think of many different possibilities.
"What about Cassidy?"
["Your sister never made it to school."]
"..."
Beep.
Lune lowered his phone away from his head and felt his mind go into shock.
"What could have caused this?! Aurei!"
["...The only variable I can think of is Strevia."]
"Fuck, what do you mean?! How could not encountering Strevia cause my sister to go missing on the second day...? It's only been two days!" Lune desperately tried his best not to raise his voice too much as he got into his car.
His emotions began to boil over, and his entire body began to tremble.
["She had mentioned she was watching you; it's very possible her presence had kept any predators away. Another variable is the therapist; however, I have my doubts that he's involved with it, considering the first 38 days, he had never acted strange."]
Lune felt his eyes go wet, and his head began to lower over the steering wheel.
"...I'm not letting my baby sister suffer over my selfishness."
He tightly blinked his eyes and floored his gas pedal.
["What are you doing...?"]
"Taking responsibility."
In just a few seconds, his car flew right into the side of a large residence hall on campus. He had no seatbelt on, and no airbags were able to help him. He flew out of his windshield and died on impact.
Thus, his third life came to a quick end. Through suicide, a method he had never believed in.
***
His head spun as the remaining mental whiplash hit him. His consciousness, or mind, seemed to be the only thing travelling through time with him. Such traumatic experiences could soon do permanent damage.
"Your schizophrenia is getting worse?"
Lune tightly blinked his eyes a few times.
"No, I think I'm fine." He abruptly stood up from his chair and left the room. Behind him, the therapist had a comically shocked expression.
["I hope you don't plan on relying on a method like that often. If you become comfortable with death, when you're truly out of this time loop, you may be a danger toyourself."]
"I don't plan to ever do that again." He spoke aloud as he approached a familiar restroom door.
"Back at square one."
A silent resolve built in him; the reality of his situation was now truly revealed. He had only thought about himself originally, and now he realized that a slightly deviant interaction could lead to his loved ones being harmed.
His arm outstretched forward, and the door slowly creaked open.
He had already set his goal for this life.
It was no longer something as grand as preventing Armageddon. It was to hunt down and take care of the serial killer himself.
***
38 DAYS TILL ARMAGEDDON