“Look, what we have here? You’ve given birth to a healthy boy, darling~” A handsome man in his thirties said with a happy smile as he held an infant in his arms.
“H-He looks just like you…” A gorgeous woman, even though she had just given birth, still radiated beauty. There was no hint of exhaustion as she tenderly touched the baby’s cheek.
Aether stood frozen, staring blankly at the surreal vision unfolding before his eyes. It was his first life, the life he had lived long ago…. He was seeing it all again… and again—or at least, that’s what he thought until…
The baby, exactly one year later, choked on a spoon while being fed and… fucking died!!
“….” Aether remained silent, his expression blank, as the vision abruptly shifted. The scene dissolved into darkness and was replaced by a new one—his second life. He found himself underwater, watching his past self again… It was happening again… and again—or so he believed until…
A 15-year-old boy with striking white hair, drowning, suddenly flinched as his eyes shot open. Panic took over his trembling body as he clawed at the water, his hands flailing desperately in an attempt to escape from whatever force was holding him down. And then… he couldn’t. His body grew still, and he… died!
And the seahorse devoured his lifeless body.
!~Ding~!
[Initiating Iteration No. 3…]
As expected, black, shadowy hands emerged and dragged Aether into a deep, swirling black portal. He felt himself being hurtled forward at an incomprehensible speed, the darkness enveloping him completely.
Unlike before, when the chaos left him disoriented and clueless, this time he was calm. He took a deep breath and asked, “So, what’s going on here exactly? What are these iterations? Log?” His tone was sharp yet controlled, as if piecing together a puzzle.
Aether had no prior understanding of the “iteration”…. This was his first encounter with those strange words—iterations and their associated numbers.
!~Ding~!
[Those are your iterations—your lives. Each time you died, you reset the timeline and started fresh.]
Aether raised an eyebrow, skepticism mixed with intrigue, “You mean… they’re mine?” he asked, pointing to himself for emphasis.
[Yes]
Aether blinked in disbelief.
Even though he had witnessed his own deaths, this was different,
‘I mean… I remember my last death. I remember reverting back to an earlier time and all that… but this? This is new to me.
It feels… disconnected,’ he thought.
After a moment of silence, he spoke again, “So, let me get this straight. We’re revisiting memories I somehow forgot? Why now? And why didn’t I know about this before? If I’ve died 27 times, shouldn’t I have been aware of my abilities and my past lives by now?” His words carried lots of questions.
[Negative! You are not revisiting your memories. This is an order from Iteration No. 27, who specifically wanted you to witness the others… the other iterations! As for your final question… apologies, but I cannot answer that.]
Aether blinked again as he processed the log’s words, “Iteration No. 27? You mean that bastard I saw before…” His expression twisted into one of disbelief and mild annoyance. “It’s me??” he asked, pointing at himself with a mix of incredulity and resignation.
[Affirmative.]
Aether blinked several times in rapid succession, his thoughts scrambling for coherence as the scene shifted yet again. He landed back at the beginning, the moment where everything started once more. This time, however, events unfolded differently.
The child didn’t die at birth, nor did he choke on a spoon. Instead, he lived until the age of 2 when…
The 2-year-old boy met a ridiculous fate. While riding a toy pedaling bike, he collided with a wall, toppled over, and hit the ground… He fucking died!!!
That’s so dumb…
“Babies are dumb,” he added, shaking his head as the vision shifted once more. This time, it was underwater. Aether sighed, already knowing what was coming. “I didn’t even learn to swim until I was 4,” he said, nodding knowingly as he watched his past self drown and get eaten by the seahorse once again.
!~Ding~!
[Initiating Iteration No. 4…]
Aether, his curiosity still piqued, asked, “If these aren’t memories, then… what exactly are they? I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
[You cannot see memories, Aether!]
“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”
[You are now… just slipping through time! Just like before!]
Aether’s eyes widened in pure shock, his voice trembling with disbelief. “You mean… I’m literally traveling back in time just to see all this pointless shit?”
[Negative! You are not traveling back… You are merely slipping thro—]
“Yeah, yeah… those are basically the same thing anyway,” Aether interrupted sharply, frowning as irritation began to creep into his tone. “Then when I visited Ether’s memories, those too were…?”
[Affirmative! You slipped through time and witnessed Ether’s life unfold. You never visited anyone’s memories!]
Hearing that, Aether opened his mouth but no words came out. He stood there in silence, momentarily stunne, while the next scene unfolded before him—a baby was born, only to die three years later in an even more absurdly lame manner.
But Aether’s mind was too preoccupied to fully absorb the ridiculousness of the situation.
‘Come to think of it… Didn’t the Mother Goddess say that because of my soul’s willingness, I caught someone’s curiosity? They decided to send my soul to Earth, and then I returned when the Slave Contract was made.
However, looking at this closely… there’s a clear and undeniable pattern. It’s not like the Slave Contract came into play after I lived 27 years on Earth. So, someone must actually be… picking me every single year?’ His eyes widened in sudden realization, as if pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place.
!~Ding~!
[Indeed… The Slave Contract is your sole returning point. However, due to your bloodline and with #####’s help, when you die in these five worlds, you reset the entire reality and start from the very beginning—Earth. There, you are reborn, starting completely from zero, to refine the process and ultimately pick the perfect one!]
Hearing that, Aether slightly parted his lips in stunned disbelief, ‘Perfect one?’.
“So… it’s like, when I died as an infant and was reborn here but died again, you reset the whole thing…. And instead of killing me instantly like before, you guys gave me a year to grow and Killed… and if I died again here, you reset it, giving me yet another year before killing me…. You’re basically testing me over and over, right?”
!~Ding~!
[Indeed!]
“The fuck is indeed?! That’s so messed up!” Aether shouted furiously, his voice echoing with rage and disbelief, “Who in their right mind would come up with something this deranged and insane?!”
!~Ding~!
[Initiating Iteration No. 5…]
This time, the baby seemed to develop an unusual knack for swimming early on. He worked tirelessly, as if some instinctive part of him knew something terrible was going to happen and yet he… drowned during training and died!
“FUCK!!!” Aether bellowed, slamming his face into his palm with a loud groan. His frustration was palpable as he stood there, watching the vision shift yet again. This time, it was the underwater scene, where the 15-year-old boy, drowning once more, suddenly flinched as if waking up in sheer panic. With a desperate burst of energy, he began swimming frantically.
“Thank goodness!” Aether let out a heavy, relieved sigh as he saw the boy swimming away with all his might. But the relief was short-lived. The boy wasn’t fast enough. Just as he approached the water’s surface…
‘Bobb…’ The seahorse devoured him in one swift motion.
“….” Aether stood motionless, staring blankly at the scene before him.
!~Ding~!
[Initiating Iteration No. 6…]
Aether thought it would be the same repetitive loop as before, but this time, something felt distinctly different.
“I can do it… I can defeat that monster!!”
Aether saw the child muttering to himself, his tiny, determined body working tirelessly as he trained with unrelenting focus and dedication.
“Wait a second… Don’t tell me… He remembers his previous lives?” Aether mumbled under his breath.
!~Ding~! Discover stories with My Virtual Library Empire
[Affirmative!]