"Ethan! Breakfast is ready!"
A sharp pain throbbed behind Ethan Cross's temples. His vision blurred, shadows flickering at the edges. Someone was calling him — a voice that sounded familiar yet false.
A silhouette stretched toward him in the haze, fingers touching his before dissipating like smoke.
"Ethan, come out now."
This time she was closer. Sweetly. Smug.
Mom?
But there was something… Unpleasant in it.
Groggy rubbed Ethan's eyes and mumbled, "Leave it on the table. I'll eat later."
The door creaked open.
His mother stood there, her lips twisted into a too-wide, too-plastic smile. "Why won't you join me, darling?"
Ethan suppressed a laugh. "I'll be out soon..."
Then her skin melted to a putrid green.
Not sickly. Not pale.
Spinach-green.
Her jaw flapped open with a wet snap, foam bubbling between her teeth. The eyeballs bulged and hung from glistening tendons—
Sproing!
They leapt forward and dangled like grotesque pendulums.
Ethan's brain had short-circuited.
"Oh, Ethan…" Her hands — now scratchy and mottled— - jerked out. "You're just a little lamb."
Bones crunched. The darkness swallowed him.
GAME OVER?
Ethan shook himself and gasped. His neck— - completely unbroken — tingled under his fingers.
What the hell was that?
The bedroom. The same damn pajamas. Even the faint smell of bacon.
But he had died. He had felt it.
A chime echoed in his skull. Crimson lettering burned across his vision:
(WELCOME TO THE DOOMSDAY RESET)
» Objective: Survive weekly apocalypses in parallel worlds.
» Ability: None (so far)
» Awakening tokens: 0 (newcomers get ONE free gift! Oops.)
» First death: ✔️ ("Mom's Special Breakfast" has been deleted!)
Pro tip: Run faster next time.
Ethan's stomach sank.
The "game" had automatically used his token to rewind time. Now he was trapped — no more respawns.
Outside, the doorknob moved.
"Ethan~"
That thing wasn't his mother.
And it was hungry.