The night was quiet.
I sat on the roof of our house with my back against the low concrete wall, looking over the neighborhood.
Most of the houses had already turned off their lights, leaving only a few illuminated windows scattered across the darkness.
Every now and then, the sound of a motorcycle drifted through the streets before gradually fading away.
It should have been peaceful.
Instead, I kept thinking about the fight with Marcus.
I had already gone over it several times in my head, but my HEMS made it impossible for me to simply let the memory fade.
Every movement remained clear.
I could remember the way Marcus shifted his weight, the angle of his shoulders before attacking, the position of his feet, and the changes in his posture that gave away his intentions.
Aetheris had made those details even easier to perceive.
My enhanced mental processing allowed me to recognize his movements almost as soon as they began.
I could see where an attack was coming from and understand what he was trying to accomplish.
Yet knowing what was happening hadn’t always been enough.
There had been moments when I recognized an attack but found myself in the wrong position to respond properly.
Instead of moving into a better angle, I had backed away.
Instead of using an efficient movement to redirect an attack, I had relied on my enhanced strength to force my way through it.
I had reacted to situations rather than controlling them.
The problem wasn’t my ability to perceive.
The problem was what I did with that information.
I looked down at my hands.
I had been thinking about this all wrong.
Technically, I wasn’t inexperienced with war.
In my first life, I had spent years working alongside the military after the outbreak of World War III.
I helped develop weapons, improve battlefield technology, and reverse-engineer artifacts recovered from the alien invaders.
As the war progressed and humanity encountered technologies that were far beyond our own, my background in physics and engineering became increasingly valuable.
I had worked in laboratories while battles were being fought outside.
I had helped turn recovered enemy technology into weapons that could be used against them.
I had contributed to machines that soldiers depended on to survive, and when humanity eventually began pushing back against the invaders, my work became part of the technology supporting those operations.
Eventually, I had even gone with our forces when humanity launched an invasion of the alien world.
I had seen battlefields.
I had worked alongside soldiers.
I had helped create the weapons they carried.
I had entered enemy territory.
But none of that made me a fighter.
My battlefield had usually been a laboratory, a workshop, a research facility, or a command center.
I solved problems with equations, designs, machines, and scientific knowledge.
Even when I was deployed alongside military forces, my role was primarily technical.
I wasn’t the man charging into combat with a rifle in his hands.
I was the man helping create the equipment that allowed those soldiers to survive.
I knew how to build a weapon.
I knew how to improve one.
I knew how to study unfamiliar technology and figure out how it worked.
What I didn’t know was how to properly fight someone with my own body.
That was the weakness Marcus had exposed.
I leaned my head against the wall and looked toward the sky.
The realization also reminded me of something more important.
My memories were becoming less reliable as a complete roadmap for the future.
Dante and Marcus had never been part of my first life.
Neither had Aetheris.
Neither had the choices I had made since returning.
Every change I introduced created another difference, and those differences could eventually lead to events I had never experienced before.
I couldn’t keep preparing only for the future I remembered.
I had to prepare for the future I didn’t.
My eyes dropped toward Aetheris.
The bracelet rested quietly around my wrist, its strange rune circuit barely visible under the moonlight.
“You can make me stronger,” I murmured, “but you can’t do the training for me.”
A small smile appeared on my face.
I knew what I needed to do.
I needed to learn martial arts.
The following morning, I noticed something unusual almost as soon as I arrived at school.
Dante was nowhere to be seen.
Normally, I would have expected him to be somewhere around the school grounds, even if he wasn’t directly approaching me.
After everything that had happened, I had unconsciously started keeping track of where he was whenever I entered a room or walked through the campus.
But there was no sign of him.
No motorcycle.
No familiar figure standing somewhere nearby.
Nothing.
At first, I assumed he had simply decided to stay away after our confrontation.
By lunchtime, however, I learned that something else had happened.
I was eating with Niel when I overheard two students talking at a nearby table.
“Did you hear what happened to Dante?”
“What happened?”
“Sigma Rho called him out.”
My spoon stopped halfway to my mouth.
Niel noticed immediately.
“What?”
I lowered the spoon and listened.
Apparently, Dante had been summoned by Sigma Rho sometime after our confrontation.
From what the students had heard, the meeting had ended badly for him.
“They said he got beaten.”
“By Sigma Rho?”
“Yeah.
Apparently they weren’t happy with something he did.”
The students continued talking, but I had already heard enough.
So that was where Dante had gone.
Sigma Rho had dealt with him themselves.
A part of me felt relieved.
Whatever immediate threat Dante represented seemed to have been taken care of without me having to get involved again.
But another part of me was uneasy.
It confirmed something I had already suspected.
Dante wasn’t the entire problem.
He was only one part of something larger.
If Sigma Rho could summon one of its own members and punish him for acting against their interests, then the organization had its own hierarchy and rules.
I had encountered Marcus, but I still knew very little about the people standing behind him.
That was something I would have to remember.
“You’re thinking about Dante again, aren’t you?” Niel asked.
I looked at him.
“Maybe.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”
“I’ll try to stop.”
“Good.”
He pointed his spoon toward my plate.
“You should think about something more important.”
“Like what?”
“Your food.”
I looked down and noticed that Niel had already eaten a portion of it.
I stared at him.
“That’s my food.”
He grinned.
“Exactly.
You should have thought faster.”
I laughed and took my plate back.
For the first time in several days, the tension surrounding Dante seemed to loosen.
Maybe the problem really was over.
At least for now.
That weekend, Rosalie and I decided to go to the mall.
There was nothing particularly special about the plan.
We weren’t celebrating anything, and I hadn’t prepared some elaborate itinerary.
We simply wanted to spend the day together.
After everything that had happened recently, that sounded perfect.
We watched a movie, shared a bucket of popcorn, wandered through several shops, and eventually stopped for dinner.
Rosalie laughed at some of the scenes so enthusiastically that I found myself laughing along with her, even when I didn’t think the joke was particularly funny. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
At one point, she noticed me looking at her instead of the screen.
“What?” she whispered.
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“I’m watching the movie.”
She pointed toward the screen.
“The movie is over there.”
I glanced at the screen.
“Right.”
She covered her mouth to hide her laughter.
I smiled.
Moments like this were strangely precious.
It was just the two of us spending an ordinary day together.
After dinner, we continued walking through the mall until we passed an electronics store.
I slowed down.
Rosalie noticed and followed my gaze.
“What are you looking at?”
“Phones.”
She looked through the glass display.
“Why?”
“Do you have one?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
I looked at her in surprise.
“Really?”
She laughed.
“Why are you surprised?”
“I don’t know.
I just assumed you had one.”
“They’re expensive.”
That answer immediately made sense.
I looked at the phones on display for a moment before an idea came to me.
“You should get one.”
Rosalie immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet.”
“I know what you’re going to say.”
“What?”
“You’re going to offer to buy me one.”
I smiled.
“Maybe.”
“Rafael.”
She gave me a look that made it clear she was already preparing to argue.
“It’s too expensive.”
“I can afford it.”
“That doesn’t mean you should spend your money on me.”
I understood her hesitation.
For her, a cellphone wasn’t something to buy casually.
It represented a considerable amount of money, especially when there were more practical things her family could spend that money on.
So instead of arguing about the price, I told her the real reason I wanted her to have one.
“I’m not offering because I think you need it.”
She looked at me curiously.
“Then why?”
I suddenly felt more nervous than I had expected.
“Because I want us to stay connected.”
Her expression softened.
“I want to be able to call you when you’re not here.
I want to know when you get home safely.
I want to send you something stupid when I think of it.
I just…” I scratched the back of my neck.
“I want to be able to talk to you whenever I want.”
For a moment, she said nothing.
Then she looked toward the phones again.
“Okay.”
I blinked.
“Okay?”
She nodded.
“But you promised you won’t keep buying me things just because you can.”
I smiled.
“I promise.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You better.”
We went inside.
After comparing several models, I decided on a Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro.
It wasn’t the most expensive phone available, but it was more than enough for calls, messages, and basic internet use.
I bought the same model for myself.
When we stepped outside the store, Rosalie held the box carefully against her chest.
She looked at it for a moment before turning toward me.
“Thank you.”
“You already said that.”
“I know.”
She smiled.
“But I wanted to say it again.”
I smiled back.
“You’re welcome.”
Then I pointed toward the box.
“Now you have no excuse not to answer my messages.”
She laughed.
“Maybe I’ll ignore you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you like me.”
Her face immediately turned slightly red.
“I regret accepting this already.”
I laughed.
That evening, I sat on my bed with my new phone in my hand.
The device itself wasn’t particularly impressive, especially compared to the technology I had worked with during my first life.
I had spent years around machines far more complicated than this.
Yet somehow, I found myself staring at the screen like it was something extraordinary.
Because it wasn’t really the phone that mattered.
It was who was on the other end.
I opened our messages and stared at the blank conversation.
I had absolutely no idea what to say.
I had spent years working with computers, designing machines, and solving complicated technical problems.
I could explain physics concepts that would probably make most people fall asleep within five minutes.
But apparently, none of that had prepared me for texting my girlfriend.
I finally typed:
Rafael: Did you get home safely?
The response came quickly.
Rosalie: Yes.
You?
Rafael: Yes.
I stared at the screen.
That was it.
I needed something else.
Rafael: Did you eat?
Her response appeared a few seconds later.
Rosalie: Yes.
I thought about what to say next.
Rafael: Good.
There was a pause.
Then my phone vibrated.
I laughed.
Rafael: Yes.
Rosalie: You’re texting weird.
She wasn’t wrong.
I stared at the screen, trying to think of something better.
Then an idea came to me.
Rafael: I think my phone is broken.
Her response came quickly.
Rosalie: Why?
I typed before I could overthink it.
Rafael: Every time I look at it, I want to see your name.
The moment I sent the message, I regretted it.
“What am I doing?”
A few seconds later, the phone began vibrating repeatedly.
Rosalie: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I covered my face with one hand.
Another message appeared.
Rosalie: Where did you learn that?
Rafael: Natural talent.
Rosalie: You’re so cheesy.
Rafael: You like cheese.
Rosalie: I don’t!
Rafael: Then why are you laughing?
There was a pause.
Rosalie: Because you’re ridiculous.
I smiled.
Rafael: I prefer romantic.
Rosalie: Still ridiculous.
I laughed quietly.
The conversation continued from there, jumping between the movie we’d watched, the food we’d eaten, school, and completely meaningless things that somehow became interesting simply because we were talking about them.
I found myself enjoying it more than I expected.
Not because the conversation was important.
Not because it helped me with my plans.
It was simply nice.
Eventually, I glanced at the time and realized it was getting late.
I typed one last message.
Rafael: I missed you already.
Lol.
Her response came almost immediately.
Rosalie: But we just had a date.
I smiled.
Rafael: I know.
Rosalie: Then why do you miss me?
I thought about it for a moment before typing.
Rafael: Because tomorrow is Saturday.
We won’t be able to see each other.
There was a short pause.
Then:
Rosalie: That’s okay.
Rafael: Why?
Rosalie: We have cellphones now.
We can always text each other.
I stared at the message.
For Rosalie, it was probably nothing more than a simple observation.
For me, it carried a weight she couldn’t possibly understand.
In my first life, there had been so many conversations I never had with her.
So many ordinary moments that I had lost without realizing their value until it was too late.
Now I had another chance.
I looked at the screen for a few seconds before replying.
Rafael: Good night, Rosalie.
Rosalie: Good night, Rafael.
I placed the phone beside me and lay back on the bed.
For a while, I simply stared at the ceiling with a smile on my face.
Then, slowly, my thoughts returned to the fight.
Marcus.
Aetheris.
My mistakes.
The smile disappeared.
I turned my wrist and looked at the bracelet.
The faint light from the window reflected off its metallic surface.
The fight had taught me something I couldn’t ignore.
I had been relying too heavily on Aetheris.
Not because it wasn’t powerful, but because I had allowed its abilities to compensate for something I was lacking.
My perception could show me an incoming attack with incredible clarity, but that didn’t mean my body would automatically be positioned correctly to respond.
If my feet were wrong, if my balance was poor, or if I had chosen the wrong angle, knowing exactly what my opponent was doing wouldn’t magically correct my position.
That was a skill I needed to develop myself.
Footwork.
Balance.
Distance.
Timing.
Technique.
Those couldn’t be downloaded into my head.
They had to be trained into my body.
I also couldn’t ignore the larger problem.
The future was changing.
The more I interfered with events, the more difficult it would become to rely completely on my memories of my first life.
Dante had already been someone I had never encountered before.
There would undoubtedly be other people, other events, and other problems that I had no memory of.
I couldn’t prepare only for what I remembered.
I had to prepare for what I didn’t.
I thought about the different martial arts I knew.
Boxing.
Muay Thai.
Karate.
Judo.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
There were plenty of possibilities, but one stood out almost immediately.
Kali.
Filipino martial arts.
The choice felt natural.
Kali emphasized movement, angles, footwork, timing, and the use of weapons, but its principles could also be applied to empty-hand combat.
More importantly, it was something connected to where I came from.
If I was going to learn how to fight, I wanted to learn something from my own country.
I sat up and looked toward the window.
The neighborhood was quiet.
Tomorrow was Saturday.
I didn’t have school, and there was nothing urgent demanding my attention.
That gave me time to start looking for an instructor.
I glanced down at Aetheris one last time.
The bracelet had already given me an advantage that no ordinary person possessed.
Now I needed to learn how to use that advantage properly.
“Time to learn Kali.”
I smiled faintly.
The future was no longer something I could simply remember.
It was something I had to prepare for.
And if I couldn’t guarantee what would happen next, then I would make sure I was ready for whatever came.
Apologies for the lack of updates over the past two days — my home internet was disconnected and only just got fixed.
I’ll do my best to upload more chapters tomorrow and throughout the weekend.
I hope you’ve been enjoying the story so far!
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Stay tuned, the upcoming chapters will be exciting!