Chapter 130: A Dream III

If only that had been the end.

But it wasn’t.

After drifting through a slumber that seemed to stretch on for an eternity, Erick opened his eyes once more. Only this time, he was no longer the powerful SS-rank Esper he had once been. Instead, he had been reborn as a newborn baby in an entirely different world.

A planet known as Earth.

A world without Espers, Guides, monsters, or demons. It was much like the world he had known before Dungeons appeared and humanity began awakening supernatural abilities.

At first, Erick was overwhelmed with confusion. Then came the anger.

He had been robbed of his body, his life, and everything he had ever possessed. The being who had stolen his body had not even given him a chance to fight back! For a long time, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was some way to return and exact his revenge. He just wanted to kill that being. After that, even if he died, it wouldn’t matter.

But as the years passed, Erick gradually came to understand the nature of this new world. There were no supernatural powers here, no Gaya System, no skills to awaken, and certainly no way for an ordinary human to cross into another realm. He even realized that his original world seemed to exist in an entirely different dimension.

His anger had nowhere to go. Eventually, it faded, slowly losing its hold over him until it became little more than a distant resentment.

This life was vastly different from his previous one.

In his former life, Erick had endured a miserable childhood under the care of a father who seemed to know nothing but drinking and beating him. But this time, things were different. He had loving parents who doted on him endlessly. Even when he responded to their affection with nothing more than an indifferent stare, they never seemed discouraged. Instead, they continued to shower him with love, doing everything they could to make him happy.

He was an intelligent child, far more perceptive than most children his age.

After all, despite having the body of a child, Erick possessed the mind of a grown man.

His parents had no other children. In the end, all their attention revolved around him.

They loved him wholeheartedly.

And, in their own way, they gave him a peaceful childhood.

With time, Erick began to forget his old world. The memories of Espers, Guides, monsters, demons, and the people he had encountered in his previous life gradually grew distant. Even Nana and the others, with whom he had spent so many years struggling to survive, became little more than fading recollections.

Eventually, he stopped dwelling on the past and settled into his new life.

Things became monotonous once again.

He wasn’t particularly happy, but neither was he sad. He simply went through each day with the same detached indifference that had always characterized him, as though life were something to be observed rather than experienced.

He entered school, then college, and eventually university. Throughout it all, he remained at the top of his class, earning admiration from teachers and classmates alike. He was intelligent, composed, and seemingly perfect in every way.

His life continued along that predictable path, with little reason to believe anything would ever change. From time to time, he even found himself wondering whether he would eventually meet someone he could spend his life with. After all, quite a few people had confessed their feelings to him over the years, though he had never been particularly fond of interacting with others.

Until one day, while returning home to spend the weekend with his parents, who had been calling him a lot recently, he came across a familiar face.

Someone he had almost completely forgotten, even before his rebirth.

Lucien O’Connell!

Erick froze in his tracks, his golden eyes fixed on the young man.

The person before him was laughing and chatting with his friends, looking so carefree that he seemed like an entirely different person. He was nothing like the idiot Erick remembered, the one who had chased after him day and night, constantly pestering him for attention and finding every possible opportunity to express how much he loved him. Nor did he resemble the annoying Guide who had once made Erick feel disgusted by his very presence.

Still, Erick remembered him. Lucien had left quite an impression on him, after all.

He had no idea what had happened to Lucien after his previous world fell into the hands of the demons and Erick went into hiding with Nana and the others. He had never spared much thought for the man, but he assumed Lucien had probably perished along with countless others.

By the time Erick finally snapped out of his daze, the young man had already walked away.

Without thinking too much about it, Erick followed him, only to realize that he had made a mistake when he overheard the conversation between the young man and his friends.

The other person wasn’t called Lucien.

His name was Cien.

A similar name, yet somehow entirely different.

When Cien eventually noticed Erick staring at him, he didn’t seem to recognize him at all. Even though Erick’s appearance was exactly as it had been in his previous life, with his golden hair and eyes, Cien merely looked at him like he was a complete stranger.

His gaze lingered for a moment, but there was no hint of recognition in his expression. He even offered Erick a polite smile before looking away.

The heart that had begun pounding the moment Erick spotted that familiar face slowly sank.

For a brief moment, he had genuinely thought he had found someone from his previous life. But perhaps he had been mistaken. Maybe Lucien and Cien were simply two entirely different people who happened to share a similar appearance.

That was possible, wasn’t it?

And yet...

Those blue eyes and dark hair.

How could two people look so alike?

Erick’s thoughts began spiraling out of control. He found himself entertaining increasingly ridiculous possibilities.

What if Cien was Lucien? What if he was simply pretending not to recognize him?

Perhaps he should grab him by the collar and demand an explanation. He was taller and clearly stronger than Cien, who had a rather lean build, after all. If he beat him up a little, the other man would probably tell him everything.

But then...

Then what?

What was he supposed to do after making Cien admit that he was Lucien?

Erick’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

He had no idea.

The realization only made his mind buzz. After all, if even he didn’t know why he had been reborn in this world, how could that idiot Lucien possibly know? Nor would Lucien know how to return to their world. And even if he did... did Erick really want to go back?

Lost in his thoughts, Erick barely noticed the people moving around him. He remained fixed on the direction Cien had vanished, completely unaware of the café door swinging open behind him.

A tall man stepped outside, nearly matching Erick’s height. He paused when he found Erick standing directly in his way, then cleared his throat to get his attention.

Erick remained oblivious for another moment.

Finally, the man spoke from behind him.

His calm voice carried a faint hint of helplessness.

"Excuse me, could you move aside?"

Erick was jolted out of his thoughts and instinctively turned around, only to nearly collide with the person standing behind him. Their faces came dangerously close, and if the man hadn’t turned his head away at the last second, they might have actually kissed!

A vein throbbed on Erick’s forehead. His mind was already in turmoil after seeing Lucien again, and now some idiot had appeared out of nowhere to make things even worse.

He took a step back, ready to snap at the man, but the words caught in his throat as he finally got a proper look at the person standing before him.

Erick’s heart gave an unexpected jolt.

That face...

It was someone he should have forgotten. Someone he should have left buried in the distant past. Someone he had long thought he would never see again. He had even searched for him in his previous life, only to eventually conclude that he might have died. After all, he had first met him during childhood, and they had later been classmates for several years, with Erick deliberately making sure they ended up in the same class each time.

But then, without a trace, the person had disappeared from his life, never to be seen or heard from again.

And yet, there was no mistaking him.

Although lacking light, the familiar gray eyes and that unmistakable silver hair were enough to stir memories Erick hadn’t thought about in years.

For a moment, he could only stare.

It was only when the man began walking away, crossing the road in front of him, that Erick finally found his voice.

"Zephyr...?"

His trembling voice was barely louder than a whisper, almost like the faint buzz of a mosquito.

Erick felt as though his heart might stop when the man actually halted and turned to look back at him. Confusion flickered across his familiar features, but his voice remained as calm as ever.

"Hmm?"

That single sound sent a strange tremor through Erick.

But what happened next made his heart stop for an entirely different reason.

Right before his eyes, the man who had just turned to look at him was suddenly struck by a passing car. His body was thrown aside before crashing onto the road, where he lay motionless in a rapidly spreading pool of blood.

Everything around Erick descended into chaos.

A crowd quickly gathered. People shouted, someone called for an ambulance, and several others rushed forward to help. Amid the commotion, however, Erick could only stand there, his face deathly pale, staring at the bloodied body lying on the road.

His mind was buzzing, unable to process what had just happened. The only thought running through his mind was that the man had stopped because Erick had called out to him. It was all because of him...

His vision began to blur, gradually turning white until he could no longer see anything.

He didn’t even know when he lost consciousness.