Some time later as the twins made their way through the halls after the meeting they were in discussions with one another.

“So it will reset to 08/28/3122 YDB this time correct?” Mariel asked.

“Yes. It would be better if it were a few extra weeks, but I think he’ll be fine either way. At least in theory.” Sariel said nodding her head, still not sounding very confident.

“I thought you said you were sure. Why are you still nervous? No one’s here.” Mariel asked.

“It’s just… what if he says no?”

“Sariel.”

“Yes Mariel?”

Mariel waved her hand and from the palm of her hand emerged a whirling cloud that cleared itself into the current battle occurring on Gaia. Time had passed and the battle had changed. While many innocents lay there dead, the demonic army was currently thrown into disarray.

There were new people fighting the army, Sariel recognized the uniforms and the faces, the WDO. Sariel and Mariel both didn’t know why the other deities disliked them so much. They were a group of people that had originally fought against the forces of evil. This group had existed for less than a century but was likely the only reason why the modern human world hasn’t gone into chaos.

“You see him?” Mariel asked.

“Yes.” Sariel said watching the one they wanted to pick, Archer Griffin, jumping atop the largest monster and attacking it. His black, foreboding, expressionless helmet and large cowl flowed as he brought a sword down onto the beast.

At the same time, one of Archer’s allies was struck midair by a blast and began to hurtle downwards before Archer abandoned his attack and caught the following person before they hit the ground. His large frame enveloped the other person as they landed as another man flew down next to them in concern.

“You’ve studied his reports correct?” Mariel asked.

“Yes.”

“Has he ever not heeded the call for help before? Your predictions even estimate that even after the calamity he and the others would be able to survive and defeat the great evils. That’s with the world ending, you think he won’t do better when prepared?” Mariel said calmly.

“No… but he might be busy and look at him. He’s scary.” Sariel mumbled looking at the massive hulking-looking man dressed in black.

“We’ve never seen him without the costume. Who knows? He might be very handsome.” Mariel said with a grin.

“That might be worse.”

“Also, what if I’m wrong? I mean he only lived past the age of five in the last two timelines. What if it’s a trap?” Sariel said voicing her other concern. He had only come under their radar on the eighth loop, in which he made a big first impression by destroying the leviathan of The Third Sea.

“Who knows? The others manipulated the timeline plenty of times. They might have accidentally created something great. Besides, we’ve only been able to see good things about him.” Mariel reminded her.

“It could be an elaborate trap. We couldn’t delve deep into his backstory due to the restrictions placed.”

“Then why did you spend all this time picking him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.”

“You aren’t Sariel. You’re the smartest goddess I know. If you believe in him then I do too.” Mariel said giving her sister a reaffirming shoulder squeeze.

Attention to all gods and goddesses the reset will begin in ten minutes. Please prepare yourselves for the reset. An announcement called out.

 The twins looked at each other after hearing the announcement. With a silent look, they both understood that there would be no turning back with this.

“Ready?” Mariel asked.

“Yes. Let’s go get our champion.” Sariel nodded as they left. 

***

08/28/3122 YDB – August 28^th, 3122 - Midnight

The blizzard was chaotic; massive clouds of snow washed over the mountaintops. The light from the moon could barely illuminate anything through the cloudy, snowy sky. Yet the man, Huntsman Strauss, still ran through the mountains.

            It was hard, the snow piled up so high that with each step he took his entire leg would sink in deep into the fresh snow. His nose was numb from the chilling torrents of wind hitting his face as he ran. Fingers were barely able to move as frostbite ate at them.

Yet still he ran. He had no other choice. Not if he wanted to escape. He was exhausted, he hadn’t slept in days and hadn’t eaten in nearly forty-eight hours. He wanted to give up. But his drive for freedom drove him forward. The hope of escape, but that was running as low as his energy levels at this point.

It was supposed to be a simple hunting trip. Tag a few birds and head back to his seaside villa and enjoy himself with a nice drink and the company of some beautiful women. He was too scared to drink right now, and women were one of the last things on his mind currently.

Exhausted, he craned his neck back to see if he was still being followed. Through the clouds of snow, he could barely see beyond an arm's length of him. He adjusted his high-tech-powered goggles, trying to get a better view.

No one was on the path following him. That didn’t alleviate his worries at all. Whipping his head up to and scanning the mountain cliffs, an instinct he had to have developed the past few days he saw him.

The figure that had chased him all the way up into the mountains. He had destroyed Strauss’s supplies and camp, hounded him through day and night, snow or no snow. The only things he had left on him were what he had when the figure began to stalk him. Strauss was unable to sleep, stopping to eat anything more than a few bites of his cold rations and munch on snow for sustenance. He was at his wits end.

With a mixture of fear and frostbite, the man struggled to unsling his rifle. Another gust of wind sent more snow flying into his face, blinding him momentarily. When he could see again, the rifle was in his arms, humming as its fuel cells were charging to life, but the figure had vanished from where he last stood.

Spinning around wildly he waved his rifle around wildly. Then he saw a flash of movement and fired. A single shot from this highly modified hunting rifle blew a small crater where it struck. But he hit nothing. Grunting in frustration he tried to adjust his goggles.

Then there he was. The monster that had been chasing him for the past five days. He stood there mere feet away.

Roaring in anger Strauss pointed his rifle at the figure and fired, a mist of snow consumed the area. A second later the figure walked straight out of the fog and smoke and marched towards him.

He tried to fire again, only for the distance to be closed unbelievably fast between him and his opponent. In an instant, he felt the rifle being pulled from his grip with no effort at all. Next thing he felt despite the numbing cold was a pain in his midsection as the figure struck him with a fist as he keeled over.

“Tired?” The figure asked through his covered face.

“S-stay back!” He cried out weakly trying to crawl away.

He didn’t get far before he felt his leg get grabbed with what felt like an iron claw had clamped on to it.

“Now you run? Pathetic.” The stranger said as he dragged him backwards, and Strauss screamed out in fear.