Aashish_Kookna

“If you could relive your life—not to chase fame or fortune, but to right your deepest regrets—would you dare face your own past?”

Yun Fei was an ordinary man in his thirties, living a life soaked in the bitter wine of missed opportunities and mistakes. A failed business, a broken family, friendships turned sour, and the loss of the only girl who truly loved him—his world was a long list of what-ifs and if-onlys. He wasn’t evil, but he had been weak. Not cruel, but often silent when he should have spoken. His was a life not ruined by one catastrophic event—but by a thousand small regrets that, over time, swallowed him whole.

And then he died.

Not in glory, not in battle, not even in some poetic tragedy.

Just… alone. Forgotten.

But death wasn’t the end

Born Again with My Future Regrets

Scene: Garden Courtyard – Present Moment

Yun Fei's voice cracked through the afternoon air.

Lin Xiya turned, bolting toward Yun Xi, who stood frozen—his eyes wide, breath caught in his throat.

Behind him, the Null Runner closed the distance in impossible time, leaping over a fence with inhuman grace. Its eyes were cold data. Its hands shimmered with code-formed blades.

> "TARGET LOCKED – TERMINATION IMMINENT."

In Yun Xi's eyes, the world fractured.

He remembered his real timeline—burning skies, towers falling, people screaming. He remembered seeing his parents die protecting him. He remembered being told:

> "Never use the final feather, unless death is certain."

> "I'm sorry, Mama. I break the vow…"

A pulse of ancient energy flared inside his chest.

A white feather appeared—glowing, spinning like a razor in mid-air.

It was time's blood—and it detonated.

A shockwave of swan-shaped light burst from Yun Xi, flinging the Null Runner back with enough force to crack the air itself.

> Warning: Forbidden Feather #003 Activated – "Stasis of the Mother"

Cost: 4 Days of Life. Memory Fragment Burn Rate: 3%

The Null Runner's systems began corrupting, lines of code spiraling out of control.

> "ERROR. ERROR. TARGET—INCALCULABLE. SYSTEM—"

It exploded mid-air in a burst of shredded pixels and broken timelines.

Yun Fei reached Yun Xi first, pulling him into his arms.

The boy collapsed—his body steaming, unconscious.

Lin Xiya slid to her knees beside them, hugging them both.

> "He… burned time," Yun Fei muttered. "That wasn't just power."

A screen appeared above Yun Xi's heart.

> LIFE-TIME REMAINING: 13 Years, 7 Months

Note: Future Rewrites May Adjust This Value

> New Trait Gained: 'Temporal Warden – Echo Fragmentation Tier I'

Allows emergency usage of broken timeline abilities.

Back at the System's Core HQ: A Council Awakens

In a void of swirling fractals, seven thrones shimmered into form.

The Council of the Threads—each one a deity-like administrator of time's flow—watched the event replay through countless dimensions.

"He used a forbidden feather at age four."

"He carries too many echoes. He shouldn't exist."

A voice from the oldest throne echoed:

> "Prepare to activate the Weavers. Yun Xi is no longer a passive echo. He's a variable."

Yun Fei and Lin Xiya's Internal Reactions

Yun Fei sat by the bed, cradling Yun Xi's hand. The boy hadn't woken in hours.

"I should've been faster," he muttered. "I should've been the one who—"

"No," Lin Xiya said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You saw him. He made the choice."

"From this moment on, we protect him not just as parents… but as guardians of a reality trying to erase itself."

For the first time, Lin Xiya didn't look like the soft, quiet girl who had always followed behind fate.

She looked like someone who'd burn the whole world to save one small boy.

His eyes fluttered open—and for a moment, they weren't his eyes.

He looked at his parents, then whispered something that froze the blood in their veins:

> "They're sending someone worse."

Chapter 17: Forbidden Feather Awakens