Leave The Monster Alone

In the end, there was nothing he could do even with this information. It changed nothing for them, nor gave them an advantage. Time was of the essence and it was stiffening as well. They had only so much they could handle before they retaliate as well.

If the god was angry, so were his people.

It was not supposed to be like this. This destruction, this mayhem, was not supposed to happen. Not when they had decided to follow the plot and make an ally out of the resistance. They were supposed to win at the end, not the other side. But the scene in front of Mark spoke differently.

"Are you sure this is the place? It looked like it had been abandoned ages ago. Perhaps you were lied to?" someone asked, their voice hopeful but Mark felt anything but hopeful. This condition could not have turned out to be worse than this.

After he had subdued Zeno, it had finally been time to ask the resistance to help them out. Since Mark was such a famous member, most people agreed to help him out without Zeno's command. They had united under his banner, even if it was to help the other humans.

He had expected them to leave soon but there had been complications and Zeno had to knock out first. The journey had been quiet and peaceful so Mark had taken it as a good sign at least. It was easy enough to reach back to the home base and the rest of the party had not even needed that long to cross the distance.

But things had gone wrong somewhere because there held no signs of the base he had exited from. Liam, Luna and Alan, no one was picking up his message at all. Rika did not even seem to be registering on his system which he had decided to use in desperation.

Where had everyone gone?

"Look, there is someone there" Someone pointed out and Mark looked at the hazy shadow at the far corner. He knew that person and he finally felt relieved at the discovery. Finally, he could hopefully get some answers.

"Yun, you are here. What happened to this place?" the other looked tired, his form flickering in and out of existence a lot and Mark released that something must have been seriously wrong for the other to be in this condition.

"We were not prepared for their attack. We were excited but we forgot that the other played dirty. They rewrote the game data, a lot of it and now we have no chance at all" that had been a possibility? Mark had never known that something like that had been possible. What did it say for their side then? 

But more importantly -

"Where are the rest of the people in that base? Did only you survive?" Please let this nightmare not be true. Mark would not be able to survive with the guilt that h had caused this. He had been the indirect factor in all this and he knew it as well.

"Alex is alive and Luna survived it as well. As for everyone else, we have Alan's core but not his body. No one else survived though we think you might be able to contact Liam through the supercomputer and your system" Mark hoped this as well.

If anyone knew what was going on then it must be Liam. too bad Mark did not know how to make contact from this side but maybe visiting that computer might help them out. Hope was a terrible thing, always there to crush you but you could not seem to let it go either.

"Hey, what about us all?" someone from his group asked with a confused voice. Mark looked at the group who had come with him to help and he felt hopeless for them. He had brought them here and now he did not know how to break this news to them.

"You all can fight, right? We might need you then" it was a miracle that no one questioned Yun despite his young age but maybe it was because of Zeno and his similar age. God, there were so many kids who were in charge here, wasn't there.

Anyway, the Yun decided to bring the group to a broken building near the place where the original base had been. The building was a little run-down but it was still in working condition. The rest of Mark's group began to settle down which gave him enough time to consider the situation.

"Come with me now. It's time I brief you up about what is going on here" Yun led him deeper inside the facility, Kuro not far behind. He could feel Alex and a new power that felt like Nathan's but at the same time not.

He saw Luna first, his muscular body on display and his hands cradling a small core which must be Alan's. Alex was on the other side, his back to the party as he tried to rest. They all looked worn down which made Mark sympathetic to them.

It was not their fault that they were in this condition, but it was also their responsibility they had failed. They had been underprepared and they were handed the consequences with a heavy fist. No one liked this fact, least of all Mark.

But Luna seemed to be the one who was taking it the heaviest, having lost his family twice and on different occasions.

"He is back" Yun announced his return. Mark did feel a little annoyed but he beard for the relieved faces the other supported. They looked so glad to see him alive that it was heartwarming.

"We will get him back" Mark made his way to Luna first, his eyes moving to the core cradled in the other's hand. That had been Alan, the kid who had adored him and had loved his as well. As much as he had been the younger brother of Luna, he had been a younger brother to him as well.

"I failed him again. I don't know how much more of it can I take" the other sounded broken, his voice small and muffled. Mark wanted to pacify him but he did not know how to talk to him about this topic.

"Let's discuss everything in detail and make a plan first. We have the task force now" Yun sounded relieved at the fact that they had more people and Mark saw Alex breathe out easier as well. He had not realised how big of a burden it had been on them.

"But they are normal humans. Do you think we would be able to save them?" the only one who sounded against the idea was Luna. Mark, who did not even know what was going on, felt lost at the argument. Which side should he take and who was right.

"Do you not see? This is the only opportunity we have. We have the task force as well as the tools. Did you not say that the code worked because of the dragon's core last time? Then it should work this time as well" Yun argued back and Mark really felt lost. A little context would be nice if he could get it.

"Should you not ask Mark if this is alright first? It is him who would be the victim this time. You both do not get a say if he refuses" Alex finally drew attention to Mark who was grateful. Yun took a deep breath but he was beaten by Luna.

"I remember what made me travel back in time. It had been an accident and the situation had been pretty much identical to the current scenario. I touched the central command with a dragon's core and it activated the hidden command. It should still be there" the other commanded and it finally drew on Mark.

They could go back in time and fix it all. If they did then they still held a sliver of a chance.

But Mark hesitated to celebrate this news. What would it cost him and everyone else? If he did manage to travel back in time, then what? Would everyone be saved? Or would it complicate things even more?

In the end, he did not really get to question it at all. Yun made a lot more sense than anything he could come up with.

"This future holds nothing for us. Even if we honour all these sacrifices, the world already has already abandoned us. We can only go back and retry it all" he was right and it stung to realise it as well.

"Fine, I will help as well" Luna finally agreed, his eyes losing the shine they always help but he looked determined once again. Mark felt his fire burn brighter than ever at the convection. The rest two already looked ready to help him out he felt the weight of his decision crushing him.. It would require heavy sacrifices but they would finally get another chance to do it over.