A Hero With/Out Time

Chapter 9: My Calm (Part 1)

Chapter 9: My Calm

The pain was gone which could only mean one thing. I had died. When I opened my eyes however, I wasn't where I thought I'd be. No really, it made no sense. I was in a pure white room that expanded past anything I could see. Calling it a room was wrong, it was more like a world. I stared down at my body to find myself bare and naked. I had to wonder if this was it. All my chances at life were gone and now this was the end of the line, the afterlife.

"Not quite," the voice answered my question. It was female and clear inside my head. The tone changed to a younger child, "Are you just going to stand there?"

"Ah...," I gathered my wits. "Where am I?"

The voice changed to an older women, "Good question. I'm honestly not sure what to call it."

"Then who are you?" I asked confused.

"Many things," once more the voice altered to another, again female.

"You're not making this easy," I frowned.

"No need to get mad," she laughed. With each sentence the sound of her chords differed. "I just thought you'd like to have a chat."

"Sure but what are we chatting about?" I folded my arms. Surprisingly being naked here didn't really cause me any embarrassment.

"For starters I thought I might give you a hand," the voice started to form and what looked like the outline of a women appeared in front of me. Whenever I focused on it however its body shifted preventing me from grasping what it really was. "Don't you have any questions about why you can't truly die?"

"So that's what this is about?" I narrowed my gaze at the body. "Go on explain."

"I can't tell you everything but think of it as a gift or if you're feeling pessimistic, a curse."

"A gift or a curse huh." I sighed, it really did feel like that. "Can I ask what the limits are or am I doomed to repeat my life over and over? In fact, just how did this happen to me?"

The body chuckled, "You've always had it. You just never realised. As for the repetition, think of it as a seven day reset. When you die you'll be sent back but only up to the last time you reset."

"In other words I can repeat a maximum of seven days... then that means...." I groaned.

"Well not exactly seven days to be honest. It's a bit iffy sometimes but yes you had the bad luck of being stuck in an awkward week. Really you could have slowed down and made it longer but that wouldn't have helped much, you'd just wake up on a different day." The body seemed to get quite a kick out of my suffering as it giggled.

"I see... so if I died a day after we faced the Monster I'd just wake up on the second day."

"Correct." The body moved closer, "Though there is a way to set the point of return, you'll have to figure out that one yourself."

I frowned annoyed but said nothing.

"You're not going to push me to tell you?" the body asked curiously.

"No," I shook my head, "You're obviously not going to tell me so we should just move on."

"And that's what I like about you," the body stepped closer and with a gentle poke touched my forehead before fluttering away.

I ignored the feeling of warmth spreading through my body, "Why are you telling me this now? Couldn't you have come sooner?"

"Hmmm," it paused in thought. "It's complicated but for one, until now we never had enough time."

"Time?" Just what was she on about? I sighed, "Never mind." There were more important things I had to clarify. "What happens now? Are you going to whisk me away back to the Queen so I can start this all again?"

"Nope," it laughed in a girly manner.

"But I died...."

"That's the thing," for a moment I could make out a face and it smiled sweetly, "you're not dead. Oops looks like this is all we're getting. Also try not to die anytime soon, don't want to face that Monster again right?"

"W-wait!" before I could stop her the world collapsed.