Reading

Inside the room was dark and smelled of salve and medicine mixed with the stale cold air from the air conditioner. There was a bed on the far end of the room, and on the bed, Harry saw a figure lying on his side with his back facing the door. Unlike what Harry expected, there was no foul smell or odor in the room. Instead, it was just very musky.

Harry's curiosity drove him forward and he opened the door and walked into the room without making much noise. There was a rug covering the floor, so Harry didn't need to worry about the wood creaking. Harry's eyes narrowed in curiosity as he finally got a look at the man who was the father of this body.

He was thin and tall with dark hair that was graying at the edges, but what stood out the most to Harry were the multiple bandages covering most of his body. His back, neck, and right arm had been completely covered in bandages. And there were a few bandages crossing diagonally across his head like an eyepatch, which told Harry that whatever was wrong with him had gotten all the way to his eyes.

The body shifted slightly as Gerald took in a deep breath before sighing, and Harry saw some sort of black withering rot spread out from under Gerald's bandaged neck and towards his head before receding back again.

Harry didn't need to see any more as he turned and began to leave, but a rough voice spoke up before he could step out.

"Mom. Is that you?"

Harry stayed where he was and did not answer, and the man on the bed turned around and coughed while looking at who was there. The bandages covering half his face prevented him from seeing perfectly, but the other half of his face was exposed, and Harry couldn't take his eyes off the pale grey eyes that stared at him in surprise.

Harry realized that he was right about his deduction. He really traveled through time.

"Harry. What are you doing in here? I thought your grandma told you not to come in here anymore."

Harry tried to think of an answer that would satisfy Gerald's curiosity while also allowing him to leave as quickly as possible, but Gerald eventually sighed and smiled.

"I guess you're not so little anymore, are you? I was going to come down for dinner, but I'm just too tired, hope you understand. Come on, get out of here, kid. I won't tell grandma."

Harry nodded in thanks before he turned to leave. But he stopped and grabbed the food on the floor to put it on the table near Gerald's bed. Gerald muttered a quiet thank you with a smile, and Harry nodded again before finally leaving.

…

Harry made his way through the house from memory and started to pick out random textbooks and notes that he had stored away a long time ago after he finished his compulsory education. In this time, every child was mandated to go to school until they turned fourteen, after which they could choose any profession they wished to be a part of.

The previous owner hadn't settled on anything he wanted to do yet, but he and his friend had been sneaking out recently to join the Scavengers, who go into the ruins. They were still only acting as Carriers who only helped the Scavengers gather the scraps and trinkets that they found in the ruins, but to the previous owner of the body, it was an amazing job.

The previous Harry didn't have to work too much to find any of the scraps, and he was always protected from danger by the Scavengers who went to the ruins with him. He even got paid for just gathering trinkets! He loved the job.

Harry felt a frown smear across his face as this thought crossed his mind. The thought of being a lackey to someone else and enjoying it made his stomach churn.

Harry decided that since it was getting late, he would spend the entire night in the living room, and he grabbed the first of the textbooks—a large tome that was titled 'The Discovery'—and started to read.

…

The next morning, Harry woke up to the sound of the door opening and Victoria's voice came through as she called him to help her with some groceries that she bought. Harry raised his head from the tome he had fallen asleep on and groaned while rubbing a hand across his face. He looked around him and slowly began to remember where he was and what had happened to him.

'Right. I traveled through time and I'm in the body of one of my descendants.'

It was with the resolution of a wounded soldier that Harry got up from the seat and moved towards the entrance to help Victoria. As Harry moved the groceries to the kitchen, his mind went through what he had learned last night.

It had been a productive night as far as Harry was concerned. The textbook that he read wasn't only a history book that detailed everything that had happened during 'The Discovery', it was also a form of journal from one of the most proficient scientists from a millennium ago who documented the changes she noticed in humanity after the invaders appeared.

A thousand years ago, the first contact humanity had with foreign creatures was with an alien race known only as 'Yofou'. The Yofou were a group of hostile conquerors who went about the vast dimension enslaving and eradicating races as they saw fit.

The first contact between the humans and Yofou was when an alien ship appeared in the space above the American continent. The ship contained three Yofou and the book described them as tall thin creatures with translucent blue skin and pale white eyes. They had two hands and legs, just like humans, but they had no visible organs behind their translucent skin, and if not for the fact that they could touch physical objects, people would have thought that they were ghosts.

These creatures—the Yofou—were not shy about their intentions, and once they landed, they rained anarchy down on the people of earth.

The book didn't go into much detail about the fight that occurred or the sort of life toll it took, but just from what Harry was imagining, he could guess that hundreds of millions must've died in those fights.

The first thing that had been lost were all electronic devices due to a large-scale EMP that rippled across the entire planet.

The Yofou had unconventional abilities that allowed them to control the elements. They could use fire, water, earth, and winds like it was an extension of their body, making it impossible for any one human to face them in unarmed combat. And since their technology was also much more advanced than what humans were used to, there was nothing that the humans could do about that too.

Things took a turn for the better though after the Yofou had stayed and fought against the humans for about five years. After these five years, the humans began to undergo a change of their own. The scientist whose journals the textbook was made from said that the constant interaction with the Yofou led humanity to a deeper understanding of themselves and their souls. This deeper understanding then led to a phenomenon that the book referred to as 'The Discovery of Self'.