Shocked, the boy lay still.
Phantom pains barraged his throat, prompting his hands to clutch for his neck. He convulsed and gasped for breath, greedily taking all the air he could in.
*The pain. What horrible pain. Was it a dream? Why so vivid? The same warm dirt? No way, am I...?*
*Still alive?*
*Or did I die? Is this the afterlife? Am I in hell?*
Slowly, he carefully let his hands down. The phantom pains had stopped, but the memories of the injury made him wince. Josh felt the warm dirt around him, and then quickly felt his ribs. They also felt fine, and when his hands pulled away, there was no blood. In fact, all the blood on him had disappeared.
*It seems all my injuries are gone...but how? Why? And that hourglass...did it mean something? An hourglass, my wounds gone, back in the same position? It seems unlikely...but with everything that's been going on, is it not implausible that time travel has something to do with this?*
*Looking around me so much is starting to make sense if I begin to embrace the impossible. Suddenly leaving the lake, the Skinless Giant, the Night Hawk, a medieval town, the Ant Things, Time Travel...is it possible I'm no longer in my world? Such a thing can't exist, right?*
Such a thing was impossible on Earth... unless he wasn't on Earth. But such a notion was ridiculous, things like teleportation, monsters, and time travel should never exist. However, faced with the harsh reality of the matter, Josh forced himself to adapt. Running away from the truth wouldn't do him any good if it meant wasting the second chance given to him.
*It's ludicrous to expect I have infinite redos. Maybe I was only given a second chance, but what would really help me is the green hourglass. That stone...it melded with my left wrist I'm pretty sure. Checking that out will likely lead me to more satisfactory answers.*
True to his word, looking down at his arm was a glowing green symbol, an hourglass. Unlike last time where the hourglass was flipped, this one was full at the bottom.
Josh fiddled around with the strange symbol, tracing and attempting to turn it. No dice. Nothing about it changed. No matter what he did, no matter which way he turned or shook his hand, nothing happened.
*It doesn't seem to be manually activated. Does it only work when I'm in danger? If so, why? Would it not be more useful if I was given the choice? And can I say that was even 'in danger'? I was practically dead at that point!*
*Still... relying on it to save me is a fool's mindset. I'm not an expert, but I don't think that was a dream. So I'm going to take everything from my... previous attempt? And use it on this one.*
*Which means...I need to save that girl.*
Despite his earlier claims that he wasn't an altruist and he wouldn't put his own life in danger for another, he was given a second chance. That woman has seemed fine until he came, and maybe her little sister would still be alive this time. After all, he doubted every single scream from last time had been from the same girl.
What he would do when he found them though, he didn't know. But he knew he should do something. Right?
*No...take this time to gather your thoughts and recuperate. Charging head first into a dangerous situation is stupid, especially now that you know the dangers.*
The first part of the problems he needed to address was the Night Hawk. That bird had showed up at the worst possible moment, when Josh had been at his most exhausted.
*How do I deal with the Night Hawk? No...Night Hawks, plural. There seemed to be multiple in the sky last time, and given my luck over this period of time, it isn't ridiculous to say that I'll be jumped. What they're attracted to, I don't know, but standing around in the open should be a no-go this time around.*
The next part of the problem was the Skinless Giant. The main problem.
*I know the Skinless Giant is a main problem, and he'll likely be the death of the girl with or without my interference, which means if I want to save the girl, he's the only obstacle I have an almost 100% chance of encountering if I take too long.*
*With the knowledge of the Night Hawks and Ant Things, I don't know whether or not she was insinuating the Skinless Giant killed her sister now. She said 'they' so it could be the Night Hawks or Ant Things. No, another possibility might be that there's more than one of those things. And the worst case scenario is that there's more than these three species wandering around out here with me.*
The last and least important problem he had left to think about was the Ant monster. This one would likely be the easiest to deal with.
*Just stay out of that building, I'm guessing with all the fire and smoke, they either died or fled. If they even were in other buildings at all.*
The youth picked himself up and began walking towards the center of the town. Already, a new strategy was forming in his mind. While it might not be foolproof, it was certainly better than the one he had last time.
He pondered the possibility of turning tail and running, but his moral compass, consisting of Audrey and Ash, told him to at least try. If he was unable to save her and or it looked too dangerous, then it would be fine if he ran away. There was nothing wrong with accepting defeat. If a good person is unable to save everyone, that doesn't make them a bad person. But am I a good person?
*All right, so here's what I need to do. I need to stick near the burning buildings, which will hopefully be the way to avoid the Night Hawks. I also need to be on the lookout for the Skinless Giants and Ant Creatures. That one Ant was fairly easy to kill with a knife, but I don't have one, and more than one would likely be my demise. And I'm not even considering the possibility of fighting the Giant. Just get the girl and hopefully her sister, and then get out.*
The pressing notion of supplies entered his thought process, but when that moment came, it would come. Right now, he needed to steel up before his nerves gave out.
As if on cue, a screaming voice, with this one being male, popped up from the center of the town. This was a confirmation of Josh's earlier theory, and despite the insinuations of the sound, Josh couldn't help but feel a sense of joy.
*All right! So there are more people there! They must have some sort of offensive tactic! After all, the Skinless Giant was missing his arm, right? I just need to stop lollygagging like I did last time and get there at once!*
With that thought in mind, Josh cautiously began his approach to the center of the town, making sure to be faster than he had been last time.
Taking more time to observe his surroundings, he noticed that most buildings were tightly packed together, and almost 90% of what he could see was wooden structures. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the fire had probably taken only three points of origin to start a spread this enormous.
There were little alleyways between the houses and wooden structures, but only a few looked safe enough to enter without getting torched to death. Still, Josh forged on, saving his energy and walking a little faster than he normally would. Sprinting would be stupid and almost a death sentence if he happened to encounter a Night Hawk again.
Eventually, after a few close calls with falling beams and flaming plants from a few gardens that Josh had failed to notice, he arrived back at the town square. When he got there, he was the witness to an unbelievable sight.
His eyes widened in shock at the view he received.
There was a girl and a small group of mixed genders attacking a Skinless Giant. No, there were multiple of the Giants.
But what really caught his eye was a mix of three things.
One, what they were fighting with wasn't any sort of material or physical object, nor a weapon. It was elements, and more than just that as well. It was...
"Magic?"
*Are you really all that surprised given what you've encountered thus far?*
Ignoring himself, Josh focused on the second point of attention. A beautiful girl at the head of what appeared to be the attacking party. Or...maybe the defending party, given the state of the town.
She had stark white hair, short, in a sort of bob-cut, and her eyes were too far away to get an exact reading on the color. She had on what appeared to be a black outfit, but what stood out the most was the fact that she was the only one using multiple colors of magic.
And the third and final thing that caught the youth's attention, was the sight of the girl he had come here to save.