Shortly after falling asleep my view was filled with an unfamiliar scenery of a huge cherry blossom tree. Off in the distance, you can still see the fading outline of an orphanage, the sun was low in the sky stuck in a frame as if it only had seconds left before setting. What is this place? And why have I been brought here in my sleep? I decided to look around for clues in hopes to find anything related to as why I have been brought here.

The more I wander around the more I got the feeling of belonging as if I have been here before. Not only that but, the feeling of mana could be sensed again, although the feeling was weak I was surprised I could manipulate it seeing as how just minutes ago I was having trouble sensing or manipulating any mana at all. Soon after my excitement began to fade leading my attention elsewhere, in the distance I noticed a small figure lying under the cherry blossom tree, walking closer I saw a boy sprawled out fast asleep. His face looked just like mine but a few years older, his shaggy hair was short with his body being only slightly taller in height than me.

Following my initial examination, my eyes settled on his clothes. He had strange black, grey fatigues with a lavender accent. During the short time I spent with Ashley and the others, they went over some military information, as well as basic common sense. In no current military uniform does the color purple or any variation of purple exist in their color scheme.

I nudged his boot with my foot in hopes of waking him up. Two, or three nudges later there was still no response from the body below, slightly annoyed I raise my leg kicking angrily into his shoulder. Being knocked over the boy groaned a little bit in pain as he rubbed his shoulder looking in my direction. Once laying eyes on me the boy raised his lips in a welcoming smile before slowly standing up propping himself up on the cherry blossom tree.

“Ah Niko, finally you have come, I have been awaiting your arrival.”

Standing up from the ground the boy's face was revealed from underneath his shaggy hair. Revealing an eyepatch on his right eye while his left eye was purple.

“Who are you?”

“Great first question! But, have it be noted that the answer you desire is going to be more complicated than just a simple answer. Come sit with me underneath this beautiful tree, basking in the cool breeze as we talk and watch the sunset that never sets.”

Not being able to sense any mana being used actively nor any aggression I decide to walk over to the tree sitting on a root protruding from the base.

“Perfect! Now to begin with your question Niko, I am you. More specifically I am the Niko from three years into the future.”

Hearing the words that came out of his mouth left me a tad dumbfounded, I mean it would explain the fact that it feels like I am looking into a mirror that shows a few years into the future. Still, I never would have expected those words to come from his mouth. I put my mind to work in an attempt to wrap my head around the issue, granted it wasn't hard to do so seeing as how his answer was straightforward, but, even still it leads into a multitude of questions.

“What proof do you have? How do I know this isn't just my injured body playing tricks and in reality, I am just talking to a figment of my imagination? Maybe even Okin just fucking around with me.”

“Fair! I can see how this is an odd situation. Talking to a version of you from three years into the future. I better start defending my argument a tad bit here then eh? Welp, that will come as I explain my purpose of being here as well as how to begin, we will start with the state of your body. You are currently suffering from what is known as mana starvation, a normal person would just die after depleting all the mana within their body but of course, we are special now aren't we. Your body has gone into a state of “WHAT THE FUCK is happening” attempting to gobble up any mana that it can find until it feels the levels have gone back to normal. Being able to consume the mana of fallen foes managed to recharge your body enough to keep you alive after the depletion, it even kept you alive after your little Humpty Dumpty episode, fuck being unconscious for two weeks we would not be here at all. Although it is to early to be happy, this is an issue no one in this time frame has dealt with so you cannot bring it up with anyone or else it'll cause a stir. The last thing we need is ending up back in a lab this time with a bunch of crazies that wanna experiment on us, and this time they won't be killed from a lucky ambush.”

“Yeah that is probably the right choice, I was gonna bring it up with Erica but, I do not know how much I can trust these people, not only that, some of them seem to only be tolerating me being accepted into the village, the last thing I need to do is give away every detail of my currently weakened state.”

“Erica and Katie are trustworthy but, not as of now. They want to help you due to your current situation, when more of our situation comes to light it gets weird but, they are good people all in all. Harvey is the one you need to be wary of, I can't remember when you will be introduced to him but he is not our fan. I believe tomorrow Erica should be taking you along with the hunters of the village correct?”

“Yes”

“Good! Take advantage of that situation to absorb all the mana you can. Tomorrow should allow you to replenish your mana just enough to avoid being at risk of death giving you the chance to begin manipulating your mana again. Once you have reached that point you have to continue increasing your strength by tagging along on hunts as much as possible. ”

“Is there a reason for the immediate need to recover all our strength?”

“Yes! I can’t tell you everything or else I’ll fuck up the timeline, being in here is already screwing up who knows how much but, be wary of some of the council members.”

“Will do, How are you able to come to this time though? Do we have that ability in our current time?”

“Not yet you have not met the requirements needed to mutate your abilities. So currently you are unable to do what I can, soon you will meet the requirements allowing you to freely manipulate the timeline, but, be warned that this ability I am currently using is a mutation of our ability to implant ourselves in the subconscious of others gaining their memory. A Lot about that ability is unknown to the current you and the Okin of this time has completely misunderstood its capabilities as well as how it works.”

“Then how does it actually work? Also, when will Okin return I have not been able to communicate with him?”

“I can’t tell you that, giving too much information will destroy the timeline as I mentioned before I can only vaguely describe things with some exceptions to lesser important events. Okin will return after fixing the mana problem since he is a personality separated from ourselves using our mana to be able to actively communicate with us.”

“Makes sense. So what was the main reason you came here?”

“I came due to the urgent need to power ourselves earlier than my current self in approximately one-month the……”

Right as my older self-was about to speak about something important his body vanished as I woke up to the cracking of floorboards. Not able to sense the intruder without my mana I focused all my energy on my hearing while I prepare myself to counter-attack. The sound of creaking grew closer… and closer, when the sound reached the head of my bed the creaking ceased, guessing the position and distance based off of the previous sound I open my eyes launching my hand latching onto the wrist of the assailant stopping them from stabbing a dagger into my body. I twist my body kicking the assassin in the stomach launching myself out of the bed onto my feet as I ready myself once again for the next attack.