Hunter of the Dark Lands

Darkness...

An endless void, stretching beyond comprehension. There was no up, no down, only the sensation of falling through an abyss with no end.

Ray had felt pain before. He had endured wounds that would have killed other men and pushed his body beyond its limits countless times. But this… this was different. This was not pain. It was absence. A silence so deep it drowned out thought.

Ray was floating. Or perhaps, he wasn't. His body felt weightless, yet his mind remained intact. He could still think, still feel. The last thing he remembered was that crimson-haired monster's voice, the overwhelming force crushing reality itself,

And then, nothing...

But,

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-Tick...

A sound.

Distant at first, like a whisper through the void. Then closer. Clearer. A rhythmic ticking, steady and unrelenting.

-Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock...

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-DOOOM!...

A single golden eye opened in the darkness.

A vision flooded his mind, blurry at first, then sharpening into something more. A vast clockwork mechanism, its gears turning in an intricate dance, each one shifting with an unseen force. Lines of golden energy coursed through its structure, pulsing in perfect harmony with the ticking sound.

And at its center,

A locket.

The same pendant he had worn around his neck for decades. The one he had clutched before his death. The one he had acquired in the Dungeon... where she died...

It hovered in the air, bathed in golden light, spinning slowly as if caught in a current only it could feel.

Then, it cracked.

A single, jagged fracture ran through the metal, and for the first time, the ticking faltered.

-Tick. To—?!!

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-KRREEEAAAKKKHH!!!...

Time fractured.

Golden fissures spread like lightning across the endless white, bleeding through space itself.

A thousand moments bled into one. His past, present, and future collapsed inward—memories unraveling and stitching themselves back together. Blood-soaked battles, victories, regrets, and failures flashed before him. The sensation was overwhelming, like being thrown into a raging river with no shore in sight.

Then—

Reversal...

His wounds, sealed shut. The years peeled away from his body, layer by layer. His scars faded, his body shrank, and his strength dissolved. His muscles, hardened from decades of war, softened. His hands, once calloused from endless battles, became small and untrained.

Decades of battles, bloodshed, and hardship unraveled like threads, peeling away until only the smallest fragment of himself remained...

A final pulse...

-VROOOOMMM!!...

The golden cracks exploded outward. The light consumed everything.

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.

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Then—

A rushing sensation, as if he were being hurled through an unseen tunnel at impossible speed...

The weight of a body. The warmth of sunlight against his skin. The distant hum of life...

A heartbeat.

Then another.

A voice.

"Ray! Wake up! You'll be late for school!"

-GASP!

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Ray's eyes snapped open.

He was lying on a simple bed, the ceiling above him old but familiar. It was not the damp, blood-soaked air of a battlefield, but the faint, comforting smell of dust and morning air.

His body felt... strange. Smaller. Lighter. Weak.

Slowly, he sat up, his breath shaky, his mind struggling to process what had just happened.

Then, he saw his hands.

Small. Soft. A child's hands.

'huh? What the fuck is going on?'

Then he carefully eyed his familiar surroundings, and his heart pounded as realization crashed over him.

He knew this room.

-?!!

His breathing quickened. He turned to the mirror beside his bed.

And,

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.

.

A young boy with dark brown hair stared back at him in shock.

Ray's mind raced. His pulse thundered in his ears.

"This is a dream." Ray blurted out in disbelief.

He moved his hands, clenched his fingers into fists, and felt the sharpness of his own nails pressing into his palms. He lifted the blanket and ran a hand over his legs. They were thinner, untouched by battle.

He stood abruptly. His legs wobbled, unaccustomed to sudden movement, but he steadied himself. The reflection in the mirror didn't change.

A boy. No scars. No calloused hands. No white hair stained with blood, just dark, unkempt strands falling over youthful features.

Then– 

A chill ran down his spine.

Slowly, he turned his gaze to the nightstand. And there it was. The pendant.

The same locket he had worn for decades, the one he had clung to before the end. But now, it was covered in cracks, no golden light, just a simple, damaged, metal pendant hanging from a thin chain.

His fingers trembled as he reached for it. The moment his skin brushed the cool metal, a flood of memories surged through him.

The battlefield. The Nine-Tailed World Demon. The red-haired man. The voice that had declared the fall of humanity. His own death. It really happened...

-KNOCK, KNOCK...

A sudden knock on the door made him flinch.

"Ray? Are you awake?"

It was a woman's voice—soft, aged, familiar.

His throat tightened.

'Grandma...'

His grip on the pendant tightened as something heavy and painful settled in his chest. In his past life, she had died before he could even awaken as a hunter. He had barely been a fourteen-year-old when the illness of old age took her.

But now… she was right outside that door.

Still ill, but Alive.

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He took a deep breath, forcing down the storm of emotions threatening to consume him. His old mentality and experience coming to use.

"…Yeah. I'm up."

A brief pause, then a warm chuckle. "Good. Come eat before it gets cold."

The slow footsteps faded down the hall. Ray exhaled, running a hand through his hair.

There was no doubt now. This wasn't some cruel illusion or dying dream. He had truly returned to the past.

He eyed the pendant, "What is this thing?"...

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***

After getting fresh, Ray stepped out of his room, each movement feeling both foreign, but familiar at the same time. The hallway was smaller than he remembered... no, he had just grown too used to vast battlefields and crumbling skyscrapers.

The scent of freshly cooked rice and bacon drifted from the kitchen. A scent had long forgotten.

-GULP...

He swallowed hard before stepping inside.

At the dining table sat an elderly woman with gentle eyes and silver-streaked hair tied into a neat bun. Her face was lined with age, but her expression held the warmth he had once thought lost forever.

His grandmother.

"Come, sit," she said, in a gentle and soothing voice, gesturing to the chair across from her. "You were moving around so much last night, I thought you were having a nightmare."

Ray hesitated for a fraction of a second before pulling out the chair and sitting down. The table was simple, two bowls of rice, two pieces of bacon, and a plate of pickled vegetables.

It was such an ordinary scene.

And yet, it felt unreal.

His grandmother eyed him with a knowing look. "You seem… different today."

Ray's fingers tightened slightly around his spoon.

'Of course, I do.'

He was an old man who had lived through years of hell, now trapped in the body of his younger self.

But he forced a small smile. "Just thinking about something."

She hummed, taking a sip of her tea. "You always did think too much for a boy your age."

Ray took a bite of rice, letting the familiar taste ground him. 

He paused. 

He had forgotten what home-cooked food tasted like. Forgotten the warmth of eating a quiet meal with family...

"What happened?"... She asked worried, seeing him pause.

"Nothing. Just remembered something." He replied, starting to eat again with a pleasant smile on his complexion.

But his Grandma secretly gave a long look at him, Ray being completely unaware. She can't put it into words, but she can definitely feel something different around him. 

After some time, Ray noticed her stare but chose to ignore it. He can imagine what she must've been thinking. He might not have been acting like his normal self would at all. 

After all, inside that young boy's appearance, he got the memories, experiences, and habits of his old self. So, he just focused on his meal.

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After some time, his grandmother suddenly spoke, her tone casual.

"Oh, by the way, Ray?"

He glanced up. "Hmm?"

She set her spoon down. "The news has been talking about it all morning. They say… something strange is happening in the city. People are seeing things, like lights, and shadows, that vanish when you get close. They say it might be a ghost. So be careful when you go to school, okay?"

Ray's heart stopped.

His mind went blank for a second before roaring back to life. How can he forget it?! He knew exactly what this was!

The first dungeon appearance!

The first sign of the world's descent into chaos. And it was happening soon!

So, he came back to the time when he was a fourteen-year-old boy. Depending on the fact that his grandmother is still alive and the early signs of the dungeons, it was obvious...

He came back one year before the first dungeon appears...

"...Fuck."

"Language!!"

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(image)

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