Aiden jolted awake with a sharp gasp, his body snapping upright, only to sm his head against something hard."Ow!" he groaned, clutching his forehead as pain bloomed across his skull. His vision swam, and for a moment, the world tilted. Heart pounding, he instinctively rubbed the sore spot, blinking rapidly to clear the fog clouding his senses.

  The room was dim, lit only by the soft morning light seeping through the sts of half-closed blinds. Sweat clung to his skin, soaking into his clothes, as he slowly took in his surroundings.

  He was slumped in a chair, a desk looming in front of him. Open textbooks y scattered across its surface, pages scrawled with dense equations, formus from physics and mathematics that stirred no recognition in his mind. He looked up.

  Posters of sleek mechas covered the walls, their gleaming metallic bodies frozen mid-action. Another poster featured futuristic cars with curves so smooth they looked like they were built to glide through time itself. On a shelf above the desk, rows of mecha figurines stood at attention, each posed with deliberate precision, like miniature warriors awaiting orders.

  The familiarity of the room felt like a cruel trick. It looked like his, but it didn’t feel like his.

  His breath caught as flickers of memory stuttered through his mind, disjointed and dim, like frames from a damaged film reel.

  And then it hit him, a cold, piercing crity.

  Aiden’s jaw clenched, his fists tightening as anger surged through him. He stood abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor, and bellowed at the top of his lungs, “I WILL F***ING ERADICATE YOU, DALTONS!”

  The sound of hurried footsteps thundered down the hallway. Before he could fully collect himself, the door burst open without so much as a knock.

  A girl stormed in, her voice sharp and brimming with annoyance. “Hey, dumb**s! Why the hell are you shouting so early in the morning? Can’t you keep it down for once?”

  She was petite, standing about half a foot shorter than him. Her jet-bck hair flowed like a river down her back, contrasting sharply against her milk-pale skin. Her striking blue eyes narrowed at him, her irritation palpable.

  Aiden froze, his breath caught in his throat. Those eyes…

  She kept scolding him, her words a blur as his mind spiralled into the past. Memories surfaced of a time long gone, of their final conversation, of her lifeless body, the haunting image burned into his soul.

  “Hey! Are you even listening to me?” she snapped, her irritation turning to confusion as she noticed his vacant stare.

  Before she could finish her sentence, Aiden moved. His arms wrapped around her tightly, pulling her into a trembling embrace.

  “Thank god,” he whispered, his voice breaking. Tears welled up in his eyes, spilling down his cheeks as he clung to her like a lifeline. “Thank god you’re safe.”

  She stiffened in his arms, startled by the sudden gesture. “Hey, what’s wrong with you?” she asked, her voice softening as she felt his hands tremble. “I’m here. Nothing’s happened to me. I’m safe.”

  Aiden didn’t respond. He just held her, letting the tears fall as relief and grief warred within him.

  Emily Cross, his sister. She was alive.

  Minutes passed before his body gave out, and he colpsed against her, unconscious.

  Emily’s heart raced as she struggled to hold him upright. Panic set in, and she shouted, “Mom! Mom, something’s wrong with Aiden!”

  ----

  Aiden blinked slowly, his vision swimming in a blur of light and shadow. The faint scent of vender mixed with antiseptic filled his nostrils, anchoring him to the present. As the haze gradually lifted, a face came into focus, familiar and serene. She was a beautiful woman, somewhere in her middle years, with long bck hair that framed her pale face like silk. Her blue eyes shimmered with quiet concern, their gaze locked onto his with a mixture of relief and worry.

  Ange Cross, his mother, leaned over him, her soft hands cupping his cheek. Her worried blue eyes, so much like Emily’s, searched his face for answers.

  “Aiden, are you okay?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “Mom…” His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. He stared at her, drinking in the sight of her gentle features. The lines of worry etched into her face only deepened his guilt.

  “You’re really here…” he murmured, sitting up abruptly. The motion made his head spin, but he didn’t care.

  Ange pced a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. “Of course I’m here,” she said, her tone firm but tender. “You scared Emily half to death. She said you colpsed out of nowhere.”

  “Emily…” Aiden’s gaze drifted to the doorway, where his sister stood with her arms crossed. Her expression was a mix of irritation and concern.

  “You’re such a drama queen, you know that?” she said, her voice ced with her usual sass. “What’s gotten into you today?”

  Aiden smiled faintly. The normalcy of their bickering, her fiery personality, it was all so painfully real.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly, his voice barely audible.

  Ange and Emily exchanged a gnce, their concern deepening.

  “Aiden, did you have a nightmare?” Ange asked gently.

  “I… I think I overexerted myself,” he lied, forcing a weak smile. “Maybe it’s just stress. I’ll be fine.”

  Ange didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t press further. She handed him a gss of water. “Drink this. You’ve been burning up.”

  -----

  Later that afternoon, Aiden found himself sitting at the dining table, staring at the simple lunch Ange had prepared. The sun’s warm rays filtered through the kitchen window, casting a golden glow over the room.

  Emily sat across from him, scrolling through her tablet. “You’re lucky Mom didn’t drag you to the hospital,” she teased.

  Ange shot her a warning look. “I was close to it. If you scare me like that again, Aiden, I won’t hesitate.”

  Aiden chuckled weakly, savouring the warmth of the moment. His gaze drifted to the calendar on the wall.

  October 17, 2542.

  His heart sank. It was nine years before everything fell apart.

  That evening, after helping Ange with the dishes, a task she initially protested but eventually relented to, Aiden retreated to his room.

  The desk in front of him was sleek and minimalist, holding only his monitor, keyboard, and mouse. As he powered up the computer, his thoughts churned. Pns began to form, fueled by the burning desire to rewrite his future.

  Then, a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

  [Hey, Host! Did you miss me? How’s life after regression? All sunshine and roses, or are we still processing the whole ‘I-was-dead-and-now-I’m-not’ thing?]

  Aiden froze, his fingers gripping the edge of his desk. His eyes darted around the room, searching for the source of the voice. Suddenly, a translucent blue screen appeared in front of him, confirming it wasn’t just his imagination.

  “Who... Who are you?” he asked cautiously, his voice tinged with suspicion.

  [Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already. I’m the Ascendrix System, your new, fabulous partner in crime! Remember? Cool voice, helped you regress, saved you from the permanent afterlife abyss? Ring any bells?]

  “Ascendrix System?” Aiden echoed, the name strange on his tongue. It didn’t stir anything, at first. But as the words left his mouth, a flicker of memory surfaced. A voice, simir, but colder, whispering in the final moments before his death.

  [Ding, ding, ding! You remember now, don’t you? That’s right, this voice was the one you heard when you took that heroic swan dive into the great beyond. I’m the reason you’re here, back in the nd of the living. Now, before we get all sentimental, I need you to shove something in your mouth, a sock, a cloth, your hand, whatever works.]

  Aiden blinked, taken aback. “Why would I do that?”

  [Oh, it’s nothing major. Just that I’m about to officially integrate with your existence, and it’ll hurt. A lot. Like ‘you’ll-wish-you-hadn’t-skipped-dinner’ kind of pain. Trust me, you’ll want to muffle the screams unless you’re ready for your sister to burst in here thinking you’re being mauled by rabid squirrels.]

  Aiden winced at the mental image. “That bad, huh?”

  [Oh, absolutely. I’m not here to sugar-coat it, buddy. Pain builds character or something. Anyway, your sister doesn’t strike me as the ‘Oh dear, let’s help poor Aiden’ type. More like, ‘Haha, let me record this and upload it for everyone to see.’ Am I right?]

  Aiden groaned, rubbing his temples. He couldn’t deny it. He remembered the time Emily had embarrassed him in front of his friends for accidentally messing with her stuff. She’d turned it into a comedy show, complete with exaggerated storytelling.

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “But wait, aren’t we already connected? Why do we need this integration?”

  [Great question! The current connection is like using duct tape to fix a spaceship. It works, kinda, but it’s not going to hold up if anything serious happens. Full integration, on the other hand, is like upgrading to a sleek, interstelr-grade neural link. Fancy, right?]

  Aiden sighed, reaching for a handkerchief on his desk. He shoved it into his mouth, biting down as the system chirped cheerfully.

  [Nice choice, Host! Stylish and effective. Now, brace yourself, because here we go!]

  A new translucent blue screen materialized before him.

  [Do you agree to integrate your existence with the Ascendrix System?][Yes / No]

  Aiden stared at the screen. He didn’t know the full extent of what this system was or what it wanted, but it had brought him back. If regression was real, it meant he could still protect his family and change their future.

  Without hesitation, he mumbled, “Yes.”

  [Attaboy! No turning back now. Hold on tight, Host. This is going to be a ride!]

  Before Aiden could respond, a jolt of searing energy shot through him. His body convulsed as if every nerve was set on fire.

  [Oh, forgot to mention, it might feel like a million tiny spiders doing an angry tango in your veins. My bad!]