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

Sector Twelve used to be a vibrant sprawl of workshops, student dormitories, and underground markets—home to rebels, outcasts, and Echo-sensitive individuals who didn't quite fit the Academy's doctrine. Now, it was a ghost zone.

As Yun Xi neared the perimeter, the cityscape began to fray. Signs flickered without electricity. Doors stood wide open, creaking slowly in a wind that didn't exist. The eerie silence pressed on his ears like a physical weight.

Even the Echoes refused to follow.

Only the old soldier, hardened and silent, remained at his side. "Something has muted this place," he said, scanning the area. "Not suppression. Not decay. Something has stolen the sound."

In the distance, the sky above Sector Twelve warped—colors bleeding into each other like water on canvas. The tear in the air was barely visible, but Yun Xi saw it for what it was: a temporal fold. Something had opened it. Or worse—was still coming through.

He reached for his Echo Bank, fingers brushing against a faint memory stored within: Yue Lan's laugh. A fleeting sound that now served as his anchor.

A trail of soft glowing footprints appeared on the ground—memories left behind by Yue Lan in her desperate escape. They shimmered faintly, as if struggling to hold their form.

Through debris. Past fractured time-loops. Over roads where yesterday and today were fighting for control.

He found her inside a half-collapsed shelter, crouched and panting, one arm clutching her side.

She looked up, eyes wide. "You came?"

But before he could reach her, the air behind her broke.

A figure stepped through—its form flickering between dozens of possible identities. It wore fragments of faces—some male, some female, some neither. Its voice was a chorus of every scream Yun Xi had ever heard.

Yun Xi grabbed Yue Lan and dove, just as the being unleashed a pulse of anti-memory energy. The wall behind them disintegrated—not exploded—forgotten.

He rolled with her behind a counter, shielding her with his body.

"This one's not a Harvester," Yue Lan whispered, trembling.

"I know," Yun Xi muttered. "It's worse."

He stood, eyes glowing. "System—access Forbidden Protocols."

> [Warning: Protocols not yet unlocked.]

Yun Xi gritted his teeth. "Then we do it manually."

He closed his eyes and dove inward—into the unformed pool of Echoes, searching for a fragment powerful enough to hurt this thing.

His own voice—years from now—saying: "I should've let her die. Saving her doomed the timeline."

He grasped it. Twisted it. Turned regret into resolve.

When he opened his eyes again, time bent around him.

He sprinted forward, striking the entity with a fist coated in Reverse Memory Energy. It screamed—not in pain, but in confusion. No one had ever fought it with its own kind of weapon.

He didn't stop. Blows rained down—each one echoing with emotion, fragments of forgotten battles and future heartbreaks.

And when the thing finally collapsed into static, Yun Xi stood panting above it, a single phrase carved into his mind.

> "You can fight fate… but you won't escape it."

Yue Lan rushed to his side. "That… wasn't a Harvester, was it?"

He shook his head. "No. That was a Reclaimer."

She froze. "But those… they're from the final collapse."

"I know," he said quietly. "And they're already here."

Chapter 24: Sector Twelve’s Last Sound