James stood perfectly still inside the enormous hourgss that TIME had teleported him into. He took a deep breath and waited for further instructions from TIME.

  Just close your eyes. Trust the process—

  Cough

  James suddenly opened his eyes and tried to calm his breathing. He looked out towards TIME, seeking answers and help, but she bit her lip as she fought back tears. At that moment, James realized his savior couldn’t help him this time. Whatever was happening, James had to endure it.

  As the sand poured down and made contact with James, his mind was bombarded by countless memories. At first, the sudden waves of memories seemed to wane in James’s mind, but with each fsh of his family that entered his mind, he regained his strength. His family helped remind James of what he was fighting for.

  James ran a hand through his hair as he steadied his breath. He couldn’t wait to look at TIME and see the surprised look on her face. I admit I was shocked at the initial assault of memories pouring in—

  As James turned to look at TIME, she focused on the top portion of the hourgss and the rest of the sand, which seemed to have no end.

  The sight of her was all James needed to see to know he was just done with the easy part.

  So far, the sand that poured in has come down in a small, steady stream, which was manageable. But now it rained down with such force that James struggled to stand; he tried to use his hands to block the sand from entering, but had no effect.

  James tried to move out of the middle of the hourgss, make his way to the edge, and shield himself from the sand. The sand was already up to his knees and piling up faster than he could move.

  James struggled to lift his legs out of the sand as he trudged through it. Before he reached the edge of the hourgss, he began to sink. He pced his hands on the surface of the sand and pushed, trying to free himself from his situation.

  James began to hear the sand shift around, which was impossible because he was the only one in the hourgss.

  “James Von Berkshire, struggling like the pathetic worm you are.”

  James stopped right as he managed to make his way to the surface of the sand. “That voice, it can’t be.”

  A pair of hands made of sand reached out towards James and grabbed his legs.

  “Let go, damn it.”

  The hands began to crush James’s legs as the owner of the hands came out of the sand. James let out a scream as his legs were crushed, leaving behind a bloody mess. Fragments of bones and blood oozed out of his legs. Fortunately, James’s healing factor kicked in and began healing the wound.

  While James struggled back to his feet, he turned and saw a man made out of sand standing before him. The sand that made up the man suddenly vanished, leaving behind a young man dressed in a six-piece suit that didn’t fit him. His bck hair was pulled back into a short ponytail.

  James couldn’t believe his eyes; the young man who stood before him couldn’t be real. The st time he saw the young man with this appearance was decades ago. The young man was Connor Pierce, the scion who destroyed the Von Berkshire family and left poor James for dead.

  He can’t be real. I killed him 5 years ago, and he was much older than his current appearance.

  “Cat got your tongue, bastard.”

  James snapped, “Shut your mouth, boy.” He walked toward Connor.

  “Ah, the poor old man thinks he has a chance,” Connor smirked as he spoke. “Just drop the knife, old man, and tell me everything you know about the Von Berkshire ancient bloodline.”

  “What knife?” James stopped in his tracks, looked down, and noticed a few shocking things. The sand he stood on was gone, and a creaky wooden floor took its pce. James looked at his hand and saw a kitchen knife, but what shocked him the most was his body’s appearance. He was back to his malnourished old man form. James Von Berkshire realized at that moment that he was somehow back to that dreadful day when the bastard standing before him came and attacked him.

  While James was reexamining his situation, Connor attacked him. The scion grabbed James’s hand, crushing it, causing James to drop the knife.

  James tried to push the young man with his other hand, but Connor also grabbed that hand.

  “So the old man has some fight in him.” Connor kicked James in the chest, shooting him into the house and crashing into the kitchen counter.

  Cough

  James coughed up blood as his head hit the bottom shelves of the kitchen. As the scion made his way into the house, James reached into one of the cabinets and tore into a bag of flour.

  “Just tell me everything you know about your family’s secret, and I’ll make your death quick.”

  As Connor approached James, he kneeled at eye level with the defenseless old man.

  James let out a sigh, “Ok, I’ll talk.”

  “See, was that so hard—” Just as Connor spoke, James took that opportunity to throw the flour into his eyes.

  “You mother fucker—’” James didn’t let up and kicked Connor off his feet and jumped on him, and began to beat him in the face with his one non-crushed hand.

  Damn, I wish it was this easy all those years ago.

  “Get off me, you damn geezer!”

  “YOU BASTARD! You can’t kill me. I’m a scion.”

  James started to ugh hysterically, “ You dumb brat. You have no idea.”

  Connor tried to speak as James continued to beat on his head. “What are you talking about?”

  “I already killed you, Connor Pierce. It took ten years to track you down, but I finally killed you.”

  “That can’t be. I’m destined for greatness—”

  The entire room began to shake, and the walls crumbled into sand. James focused on Connor as the brat started filing around as the sand swarmed them.

  Once the sand settled, the pair found themselves in a cramped room with a barely cracked open door. James returned to his healed-up form, with the Von Berkshire bloodline running through his veins.

  He held the young scion in a chokehold as he opened the door.

  “Let go of me, you damn bastard!”

  As he opened the door, James saw a rge throne room filled with countless dead guards. Connor quickly recognized the guards as elite members of his sect.

  “What happened here—” Connor was interrupted as a man was flung into the throne room from out of the shadows.

  The man crashed into a pilr in front of the doorway, where Connor and James hid.

  Another man entered the room. Connor gulped as the man approached the injured man,” It can’t be. How are there two of you?” The young scion turned and faced James.

  “God, how did I ever lose to such an idiot? That isn’t a copy of me; somehow, we're looking at one of my memories.”

  “What memory?”

  James smiled, “Oh, you’ll love it. This is the day I tracked you down and killed you.”

  Connor turned back and looked at the scene unfolding before him.

  The older Connor Pierce raised his hand and squeezed it shut, but it did not affect James as he finally reached him.

  The younger Connor tried to force his way out of James’s chokehold.

  “Why didn’t my [bone manipution] work on you?”

  “I had help from my best friend, Alex Von Erickson.”

  “Wait, where did I hear that name before?” Connor shook his head, “It can’t be. You got help from that bitch. The girl can’t decide on what gender she wants to be half the time. How did she stop my powers—”

  James smacked Connor on the head. “Shut your ignorant mouth. They are the closest thing I have to a family left.”

  “Alex is a shapeshifter, and they are also a scion; with all that on their side, we devised a perfect pn to defeat you. Your great and powerful bone manipution has a fatal fw.”

  “Just spit it out already.”

  James enjoyed angering the brat responsible for killing his family. “ Your power requires the blood of your enemy to be ingested. Alex and I switched pces with each other throughout the battle, which made it easy for us to trick you.”

  “Let me guess, Alex used their powers to transform themselves into an exact copy of you. Their status as a scion helped fool me when I thought I ingested your blood.”

  Connor ughed, “And you call me a monster. You’re the bastard who sacrificed their so-called best friend for some petty revenge. You saw firsthand what kind of damage my powers can cause.”

  “You talk too much.” James grabbed Connor and shoved him closer out of the doorway. “ Alex’s power allows them to change into unimaginable forms. So every time you activate your powers, they change into one that can survive with fewer bones in its body.”

  Connor bit his lip and realized James had outsmarted him.

  The pair raised their heads as they heard a scream filled with pain engulf the silent throne room.

  In the throne room, James lifted the adult Connor off his feet by grabbing him by his hair. James untched a hatchet from his belt and lightly pressed the bde into Connor’s neck, causing him to bleed.

  James dropped Connor face-first on the ground and let him slowly bleed out. The blood that oozed out of Connor’s neck started forming a small puddle.

  James walked up to Connor and stepped on his head, pushing him into the puddle of blood. He kept his weight on Connor as the bastard started filing, as he drowned in his blood.

  It didn’t take long before the bastard stopped moving. James stomped his leg on Connor’s head, crushing it.

  Back at the doorway, the younger Connor colpsed on the floor and turned to dust.

  James closed his eyes and took in one long breath.

  As he opened his eyes, he found himself back inside the hourgss. James heard a pounding on the gss; he turned and saw it was TIME trying to get his attention.

  “You survived the trial, James.” TIME said as she held a hand up to the gss. “It seems I made the right call healing you up first and reactivating your powers.”

  “The weight of the sand would’ve crushed your weakened form. I can’t imagine how you would’ve handled Connor without your powers.

  James scratched his head. She was right about the sand, but I didn’t use my powers on Conner.

  He smiled at TIME and thanked her regardless.

  “Ok, with the trial out of the way. You just need to think of what moment you will return to in your past.”

  “So, I think of a moment in the past, and I suddenly return to it? Will two versions of myself exist in my new past?”

  “It seems like I forgot to expin how the whole process works. Only your mind will travel through time, filled with all the memories and knowledge you gained throughout your lifetime. You will wake up back into the body of your younger self.”

  “And once you have the moment you wish to return to in your mind, you just have to wait for the rest of the sand to fill up the hourgss. Just as the sand has completely encased you, the magic of the hourgss will send you on your way.”

  James closed his eyes and began to think of every possible moment of his life that would help him in his mission to save his family. One moment stuck out immediately: the night of his wedding to Druna Lance.

  His father used every st connection to set up the wedding with the Lance family.

  Druna was a woman from the same generation as James. She and the rest of her family were tall, muscur warriors whose ancestors were a small tribe of orc women who established a stronghold on Terra a few years after the eight ruling families were established.

  Druna and the rest of her tribe inherited an innate skill from their orc ancestors; they could conceal their green orc skin color. The SYSTEM granted the Orcs this skill to help them blend in with the native popution.

  Even though James was exiled from the Von Berkshire family, his father indirectly supported him for many years. However, when the situation within the family became dire, he had to cut off James's support and try to get the family under control. Before he left James alone for good, he called in one st favor to set up a meeting with the Lance family.

  James’s father believed the Lance family could protect his son from the schemes of the Von Berkshire household.

  Alexander Von Berkshire, the youngest of the mighty Von Berkshire elders, was famous and resourceful, but even with all that, he couldn’t arrange a direct wedding with the Lance family.

  The Lance family prides itself on having one of the most potent military forces despite its small size compared to the more prominent factions worldwide.

  Alexander would've been ughed out of the room for simply mentioning the idea of marrying one of the daughters of the Lance tribe to his SEMI-PLAYER son, James. The Lace tribe can only have daughters, a trait inherited by its founders. The elders of the tribe created a w that stated that a member of the Lance tribe could only marry a man worthy of joining the tribe. Marriage with a weak man would only diminish the bloodline of their orc ancestors.

  Before Alexandar and James were dismissed from the meeting hall, Druna Lance stood up and voiced her opinion, “I suggest a trial. If James Von Berkshire is half the man his father is, he should be worthy enough to be my partner.”

  Not disappointing Druna, James stood up and faced her. He had to look up to meet her eyes; Druna, like the rest of her tribe, stayed in their orc form while in the Lance family territory. James might've looked strange standing next to Druna. She was a foot taller and a full-fledged pyer, but he stood his ground, for this was his st hope, and he would not lose it without trying.

  “I accept your trial.”

  Druna snapped her fingers without skipping a beat, and the tribe's elders began preparing the trail.

  The tribe had many trials to test a man's worth, but all of them were designed for men who were PLAYERS. The elders were forced to modify one of the easier trails to suit a SEMI-PLAYER.

  James, equipped with a spear and a shield, was pushed into a rge pit home to a giant feral tiger. Usually, the test would have a PlAYER face off against a creature from a dungeon with no weapon, but that would be overkill for a SEMI-PLAYER.

  James completed the trail in nearly two hours. Although the time it took him to complete the test would have caused him to fail, Druna was impressed that James didn’t give up after his weapons were shattered and continued bare-handed.

  The wedding was held a few weeks ter, giving the elders time to prepare for all the ceremonial events required for a wedding involving an elite tribe member.

  James opened his eyes, remembering his meeting with Druna and their wedding.

  Ok, if I return to my wedding night, I can lie low for a while and use the Lance family to gather up my forces and help my family. Druna’s headstrong attitude led her to an early death, which caused me to be removed from the tribe because the marriage didn’t st more than five years.

  That stupid five-year rule caused me to miss out on the Lance tribe’s secret method of converting SEMI-PLAYERS into FULL PLAYERS. A technique the eight ruling family would kill for if they ever found out the Lance family could do it.

  With my knowledge of the future, I could save Druna before she embarks on her trip to the dungeon that caused her death.

  James looked at TIME, “ I have the perfect moment in my past to return to.”

  “James, I’ve looked into your past. I recommend you reconsider.”

  James began to panic. I have to go back to my wedding night to fix that event.

  The Lance family would set me up for success, but deep down, I know I must return to that night.

  The Lace family was full of traditions; one of them, in particur, made James shiver just thinking about it.

  That stupid consummation ceremony. Thankfully, I convinced Druna to use her finger instead of that rod. James rubbed his butt as he continued his thought; damn those elders who came up with the idea that women of the tribe show dominate their husbands on their wedding night.

  I get the idea behind the ceremony: make the husband feel the pain the woman is going through when they do the deed and lose their purity on the wedding night. But that rod was too big!

  Cough

  “ James, you can avoid the whole experience by simply returning to the moment I picked out for you.” TIME was back in her younger form, scratching the back of her head and avoiding eye contact with James.

  James turned red, Damn, I forgot she could read my mind.

  “So, what moment do you have in mind?”

  TIME returned to her adult form and spoke, “ You should return to your family’s coming-of-age ceremony. With your knowledge of the past, you should be able to prevent your family’s scheme and become a FULL PLAYER.”

  Snap

  James snapped his fingers. “ I guess I was so concerned about preventing the Lance family’s wedding ceremony that it clouded my mind.” I will miss Druna’s carefree attitude, but I'm gd I won't have to endure that night again.

  “Ok, send me back to my family’s coming-of-age ceremony.”

  “Close your eyes, think about that day, and let the sand consume you.”

  Just as James closed his eyes and waited for the magic of the hourgss to activate, he heard TIme say, “Good luck.”

  James's body began submerging inside the hourgss as the sand filled the top.

  A bright light fshed, and the hourgss was gone.

  …

  Thud

  James woke up after falling out of bed due to a coughing fit, dragging his bnket with him.

  “Damn it, that hurt.”

  He wiped his mouth as he opened his eyes and saw sand on his hand and on his entire bed, which was covered in sand.

  Knock

  James turned his head toward the door, and at that moment, he realized he was in his childhood room.

  “Young master, your father wishes to see you before breakfast.”

  James hadn’t heard that voice in centuries, but he knew it belonged to one of his father’s personal maids.

  “Ok. I’ll be right there.”

  The ritual worked. James smiled as he wiped away the tears.

  This time, I’m going to save everyone.