Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

Alec’s face suddenly aged a decade, his normally bright blue eyes were dark and without their customary light. Jacob had only seen his friend’s mask slip a few times before when they were alone and morale wouldn’t be affected, this was the second time in the same day. “I can’t,” he whispered.

“We have spoken on this much,” Doctor Jasieux added. “He cannot go. You hear his tales, his stories but you do not feel his pain. The weight bears heavy on his soul. If he goes, the process will kill him.”

Alec brightened a bit and nudged Jacob in the ribs. “Besides man, what do you think all my stories have been for? All that nightly sparring and telling you what I would’ve done differently? It was all to train you as my replacement.”

I seriously doubt that. “Are you saying you knew I would need to time travel and you were grooming me for that?”

“Okay, fine, you got me.” Alec raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture and stepped back. “I had no idea this was a thing until a bit ago, after Caleb left in search of the ember. So, no, not for this specifically but in general what I said still holds. People look up to me, Jacob but I’m not the leader they need. That’s you. The only reason you’re not stronger than me is because you quit the game early.

“Even still, how many other players have you seen running around? Not many! They’re dead. Many of them were stronger than you by a country mile. But who was it that figured out the connection between the in-game stat of Guilt and ancient battle-worn armors and weapons having the same effect? That was you.

“If we didn’t raid all those museums for these old medieval sets of armor and weapons, we would have died several times over. That’s all you, man. You were supposed to be my replacement.” Alec motioned to the pod. “Now you can be the hero I couldn’t. You know the paths I took, the mistakes I made, the mistakes you made. And you know what the Burgon Beast will do. You got this.”

Swallowing, Jacob looked at the Doc. “Doctor Jasieux, you want me to do this?” Ever since they picked her up back in Charleston three years ago the Doc had been cordial with him but never seemed to pay much attention to him.

“Call me Alice,” she said with a tilt to her head as she studied him. “Would you prefer we use Katherine? Maybe Victor? How many souls would you prefer we send before you feel worthy?”

Jacob padded the air between them. “I just don’t get why you would want me. I quit, remember? Hell, I nearly quit a dozen times before I got to the point it was too much.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing back the gruesome memories.

“I still remember the first time I died. Besides, if you’re sending me into the past – if it works – then you’re sending me back to when I was a nineteen-year-old kid. I was an idiot and not nearly as fit as I am now. What would my goal even be? Blow up the Altis HQ so Pyresouls never gets made?”

“No, we can only create a link between your self now and your past self once you have calibrated to the same generation of FIVR pods as this one.” She motioned to the pod behind her. “You will have to compete.”

“And win,” Alec added.

He couldn’t help but laugh. Jacob was just some idiot kid that signed up for a shot at a ridiculous prize he never stood any chance of winning. He didn’t ever have a shot at winning.

At a time when VRMMOs were old hat and everything was stagnating, Pyresouls Online was announced. It was supposed to be the next greatest thing from one of the largest VRMMO titans in the industry, Altis.

They stunned the world by not only promising to make the most brutal and difficult game possible but they also held a world-wide competition for their brand-new game.

Anybody could enter and all entrants vied for the same prize: The first person to beat Pyresouls Online would gain a 49% stake in the privately-owned company, instantly making the winner a multi-billionaire.

Of course, nineteen-year-old Jacob wanted his shot. Millions of people did.

Nobody ever understood the dire consequences of what would happen if they all lost. None of them could even fathom it.

With the chance to go back and fix it all, armed with what knowledge Alec had imparted to him and his own experiences, would he have a chance this time?

Flexing his fingers, Jacob looked at his hand and all the scars it bore. “What will happen to me?”

“You agree?” Alice asked, more than a little surprised. “Perhaps there is more to you than I thought. Come.” She motioned him over and placed her hand on his thick bicep. “You will lie down in this pod and you will go to sleep. When you wake up, it will be some time after your calibration tests when you first entered Pyresouls Online.”

“I’ll keep all my memories of what will happen?”

“You will.”

There was something she wasn’t telling him. This was too good to be true. “And if I do succeed and change the future… will it be this future? Am I going to split off an alternate timeline and never see you again?”

“No.” The Doc paused for a moment, then continued, “At least, I am not sure. I do not think so but this is uncharted territory. It is unlikely, I will say.”

“Then what aren’t you telling me?” Jacob asked. “There has to be some downside to this.”

“You will have memories of a time we do not,” she answered. “And the changes you have done, you will not know of past the time we pull you out.”

“Pull me out?”

“The human mind can only sustain such a strenuous connection for so long,”