Chapter 5 - Déjà Vu

Rent finds himself awakened inside the temple, breaths erratic and shallow even as the pain in his spine fades. Eventually, he manages to press his shaking hands on the floor and stand up.

Slowly, he gets his breathing in check and pushes up. He lifts his shirt and feels his lower back, only to find it healed. In fact, he’s back in his pyjamas. Did Valian drag him here? No, everything was grey and then... his panic sets back in, the mix of the traumatizing pain he felt and anxiety.

His heart beats hard, any harder and you could hear it. Body shaking, on the verge of collapse once again. The pain has subdued physically, yet still lingers in his mind, injecting itself into every crevice. The heart attack wasn’t this bad, was it? Just close your eyes, and the end was here. It doesn’t matter now, he’s alive, the moribund panic can wait just a bit. What does matter is the city, all those people, and Valian.

He clears his head with a shake and starts to run outside the temple.

“The city! All those corrupted! Move your legs!”

The moment he steps outside, it’s morning again with clear skies, but it doesn’t deter him from running down the road as fast as he can. Those legs work overtime until he gets to the main road leading into the city, taking but a moment to gather himself until running further.

Reaching the front gate, it’s... all normal? Everyone’s going on with their lives, no fiery ruins, no corrupted, no corpses. He falls deep into thought, staring blankly at the city in front of him. Only to be snapped out by

“You new here?!” The same voice, the same guy, the same question at the same gate.

“What?! No! I’m the hero, I need to...” Rent doesn’t take the moment to explain before running through the gate again, alerting the guards.

“Stop!!!” They declare, beginning their pursuit after him.

But Rent doesn’t; he just runs into the city, pushing and running down everyone in his way as he goes through the market district again. Crossing the road and nearly getting hit by a wagon again.

Eventually, he reaches the castle with countless guards in tow, pushing the doors open and running through the hall, to the left into the room where Valian and Sarada are arguing.

The air forces itself into his lungs as he says, “Y-you're... the corrupted... Valian, Sarada.” The two of them stare at him blankly before the guards drag him back.

“Your majesty. Captain. Excuse us, this fool has been disturbing the city without saying more than a mad ramble.”

Rent shakes off the guard and runs to Valian, taking him by the shoulders and screaming. “Valian! Those corrupted attacked the city! What happened?!”

Valian doesn’t nudge, nor does the expression on his face change; all he calmly asks is... “Who are you?”

His eyes widen, and he steps back, gaze lingering on Sarada, who has an estranged look on her. The guard once again takes him, this time he gets dragged without resistance, trying to piece this all together, when suddenly...

A sharp pain strikes his chest, and he falls to the floor. Just as before, he opens his eyes to a forced perspective as everything goes grey, and these few minutes play back, speeding up until they become a blur, and then he blinks.

Loop 3

He hits the ground with a thud, some pain lingering in his chest as he clutches it, then he opens his eyes to find that familiar crystal hanging overhead.

Before he can even sit up properly, her voice speaks. “Sorry, but I had to stop you from being executed somehow.” Instantly recognizable as Theia at this rate, standing with arms crossed against the wall.

Without skipping a beat, he demands, “What was that?!”

Theia pushes off the wall as she walks to him. “Surprising you haven’t figured it out... but terror clouds the mind.” Holding out her hand, she helps him up. “You dear hero have just used your divine treasure.”

Despite just being put on his feet, Rent immediately sits back down, face buried deep into his hands, almost resisting the urge to curl into a ball. She crouches in front of him, takes the hands away from his face, and places it in her hands. “The ashes of the phoenix, Rent. It prevents ‘permanent death.’ Each time you die, you return here, not just to the temple, but to the moment you were summoned. Everything gets reset, the day, the memories of those you know, and all the gear you had on y-...”

“Yeah, I’ve heard this plot a million times.” His quip cuts her off, his spirit slowly returning.

“Even being summoned to another world while doing so...?”

“Yup.” Rent stays quiet for a bit and then stands up, grasping his left arm. “Live. Die. Repeat. Save the love interest. Dying to save the world.”

“Mortals and their stories.”

“Details, please? Do I get checkpoints?”

“Let me break it down for you, Rent. Pros: All gear is lost upon death, but items stored within this room will be kept every time. Cons: As I said, upon death, you will be sent right back to the moment you were summoned. This means years could go by, die to a falling rock, welcome back right here. You still feel some pain even after returning, and WILL suffer some consequences from it. Everyone will forget who you are after every single loop. You saw it yourself; people are fearful of the Ashbearer due to superstitious prophecies. You might go insane. Aaand lastly, the major downside of the ashes is that it drastically affects the user’s luck in a... less than stellar way.”

She lost him somewhere around the 12th con. He doesn’t even respond! He just stands there, hitting his head against the wall constantly. Even when she puts a hand against him and the wall, he goes on.

“I’m playing a roguelike.” A weak voice comes from him. “For the love of...-, why am I playing a roguelike?” His headbanging stops, and he just presses it against the wall.

“Eeeeeehhh...” Thinking fast, she snaps her finger, causing a bed to appear in the corner of the temple, followed by a table, a chair, and then a radio on it. “It’s not so bad, see! You can listen to-” As she fiddles with it, by some miracle she gets it on and “Heat of the Moment” by Asia plays.

Rent slowly turns to look at the radio. “If that song plays every time I die, I’m gonna shoot myself.”

She turns off the radio and walks to him, taking him by the shoulder and staring into his eyes. “Rent... well... you can do this. You can be the one to defeat the King of Corruption.”

“Enough with the hero speeches. I didn’t say I’m giving up. Not if it means I can go back home. I’ll die a million times if I can be rich and get through my university.”

All she does is smirk and walk away. “Trust you will soon find a greater purpose than those.” Before teleporting away, she turns to look at him. “Good luck, and if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

“Yeah... luck.”

With that, he steps outside, witnessing the same view of the city, valley, and mountains again. But this time, instead of heading left, he walks to the very edge of the cliff, looking straight down.

“Let’s see if she was full of shit.”

Fighting his very human instincts and pacing himself, he jumps from the cliff-edge, screaming at the top of his lungs. Just as he comes into contact with the hard ground, time freezes. It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop.

As per usual, everything goes grey and backwards. This is gonna be fun.

Loop 4

His back strikes the floor with a harder thud than usual, and his back aches. When he opens his eyes and sees the crystal above him, he just smiles and nods. This is gonna take a while.

Chapter 5 - End