Regressed Reincarnation: How to Escape a Fantasy World!!

40YRS AGO FOR AETHER'S TIMELINE

LAYLA'S POV:-

I looked at the empty road in front of me with slightly tired eyes since this month has been really tough for me.

Standing in front of the bus, I was waiting for my bestie. He is your calmest kid, sharpest nerd and the most mature one among kids of his age. Perhaps even more than some adults. I look at the bright sun above my head as I block the incoming sun rays with my hands to protect myself from the burn. Then I observed him walking slowly towards me while reading a thick book in which he was totally engrossed.

'Damn it. Look at him being nerdy even though we are going on a trip,' I think as I glare at him. The more I look at him, the more goosebumps I get over my body as I try my best to compose myself.

He then looks at me and then corrects his glasses with his other hand and waves at me as a smile forms on his face. 

'Damn his handsome face and that enchanting smile,' I think as I look at him. Even though I was trying my best to keep my thoughts in check, slight sweat also trickled down my face.

"Aether, you bastard!! Come here immediately," I shouted as I called him here. Hearing my voice, he shakes his head, then walks even slower than before as a slight grin forms on his face. 

Looking at him crawl, I then run towards him as fast as I can and kick him with my karate kick but he takes a step back and then parries my attack with another kick then proceeds for a punch right in front of my head but stops right before it touches my head.

"Weak," he speaks as he grins. Getting irritated at his response, I proceed with another punch, which he takes in his face. Then falls on the ground as his eyes never left my face.

I start beating him and he lets me beat him for the next 3 punches before I stop and speak,"How... are you still alive? Why did you forgive them...you bastard...why? Why?..." Tears start falling out of my eyes as I finally break down. This...kid...is he really a kid...How…

"How...how can you be like this...Aether...How? Awaaaa- awaaaa-" I start crying as loud as I can. My tears take over me... his pure smile, which he is showing to me, is breaking me even more. To think something like this is even possible…

To think... he would forgive them for destroying his best friend in front of him. To think they would ask him to kill his only friends' parents in front of him…. to think they would ask him to kill the very person he cared about the most. To think... they would try to break him to the point of insanity.

I don't understand. I don't know why he is smiling right now. Or how is he smiling? To think...to think…"Layla. I am okay," Aether speaks as he looks at me with the same gentle smile that he always had. I wonder what he is thinking behind that smile. I wonder... if there is anything I can do to make him feel better. 

'But... even father and mother failed. No matter what they tried... they could do nothing at all. It hurts to...not be able to help someone who has always helped you at your worst times...it hurts…'

"Let's go, Layla. The others are waiting for you on the bus," I hear Aether's voice as he stands back up slowly and gives me his hand to stand up. I take his hand and then stand up and reach the bus.

Choosing the corner seat, Aether sits near the window with a calm expression as he observes the scenery. I look at him as memories of what happened before comes into my brain.

---

One month ago, Aether and his best friend's family took off for a vacation to a certain place on a ship. Everything was fine for the first few days before the hijacking took place. If it wasn't bad... The ones who hijacked were a group of psychopaths. Everyone ran... some hid... some fought and died. Things happened that still sends a chill down my spine whenever I think about it...by then, Aether and the others were caught...and Aether was given a choice...a choice to save himself in exchange for killing everyone else brutally or else...for some reason the small conversation after that was inaudible. It was a foolish choice as they all knew that none of them would leave that place alive but then... Aether's best friend jumped at Aether and then asked,"Aether... kill all of us.'' Then he went closer to him and murmured something... that widened Aether's eyes before he looked at him for a few moments.

Nobody knew what he said at that moment, but then Aether nodded and he killed his best friend and his family with no hesitation, slowly and slowly, in the most brutal way possible. He cut their nerves, opened their bellies, he opened up their heads and then when everything was done, one of the psychopath finally spoke,"Thank you. I can die peacefully now. "That psychopath had the most relaxing face at the end, as if a burden had been removed from him. The psychopath then spoke something to Aether and Aether stood still there with his eyes wide open before picking up a gun and killing all the hijackers one by one before finally losing consciousness.

But the fact that creeped everyone out was…

'Everyone who was brutally killed... was smiling with a satisfied expression once their death came, and looked at Aether as if they were saying thank you to him.' 

This was something that sent chills down everyone's spine, and it also opened up a certain possibility.

Those things weren't as simple as they seemed.

The government then found the ship and also the still unconscious Aether. 

After a few days when Aether woke up, his eyes were dead, before he recalled everything slowly and slowly... for some reason, he did not remember any conversation between the psychopaths and him, but only that he killed everyone brutally.

Afterwards, Aether's cries were heard for the next few days then… one day he simply walked out with a smile on his face.