The Academy's Time Looper - Chapter 7: A Leap of Faith

It began with an accident, or maybe a miracle is a better term. Three souls dying by different strokes. One died in glory and blood; One died, betrayed but glad it was over; One died poor and alone. Then on the child’s fifth birthday, the three sleeping souls awakened. Three souls, one body, two desires, and containing all the powers each had in their last life. Were they destined for greatness? No. But when the past comes to haunt them, their home taken away, they have to make a decision… May it be as simple as a majority vote.“Let’s squash them!”“...can we just run away?“Were you never taught to aim for the eyes?”

In 2030, humanity faced its first true collapse…not by war, but by the sudden invasion of Nightcrawlers, creatures emerging from darkness itself with the desire to devour sunlight at all cost for their evolution.But, they could not absorb it directly since it was as deadly to them as to a shadow under the noonday sun. They could only absorb the sunlight from lifeforms or through signing a nocturnal contract to possess their bodies, providing them with direct sunlight immunity.Within twelve hours, over four billion people perished as Earth was split between eternal night and day.Just as extinction loomed, Holy Light Pillars descended from the heavens, purging one thousand cities from Nightcrawlers and offering humanity sanctuary under their divine light.A century later, in the Heliodor Region, an innocent child found his world turned upside down after two mysterious nightcrawlers invaded his home, slaughtered his parents, and ripped his eyes out of their sockets, leaving him permanently connected to the Shadow Dimension, the home ground of Nightcrawlers.Was it just a random feeding session for them, a planned assassination, or it goes deeper than this?Follow Levi’s journey as he weaves between darkness and light, chasing the truth hidden in both.

You’d think seeing the future would give me a head start on surviving the apocalypse. I had it all planned—until everything I knew shattered when my husband sacrificed himself to save me and our son. Now it’s just me, my three-year-old son Leo, and my cursed gift of foresight that only seems to kick in when it’s nearly too late.I’m doing my best to keep us safe, to find food, to make some kind of plan—“Mommy?”I glance down, trying to ignore the tug on my pant leg as I focus on our supplies. “Not now, Leo. Mommy’s thinking.”“Mommy!”I sigh and finally look down. My three-year-old is standing there, clutching… I blink. “Leo, where did you get a knife?”He shrugs, grinning like it’s the most natural thing in the world.My heart stutters. “No, really. Where did you find that?”I try not to laugh. I mean, he’s three. Maybe he just—found it somewhere? But the next day, it’s a water bottle. Then, a tiny flashlight, somehow with batteries still inside.I don’t even know what else; he’s pulling things out one by one with the pleased grin of a kid who’s just figured out his favorite game.Well, we may just survive this mess after all.Now, if only the universe could have spared me from him. I don’t even know his name, but I know his type: tall, broad, and annoyingly handsome, with an air of calm control that’s out of place in this chaos. Ex-military, if I had to guess, with a voice that’s just as infuriating as his smirk. The man has a habit of showing up at the worst—or best—possible times, with a gun at the ready and secrets buried as deep as those bright green eyes.I mean, he’s probably useful, but I’m trying to keep my eyes on the prize here: survival.For Leo and me.Because, foresight or no foresight, nothing is guaranteed in this new world—except the fact that people like him are trouble.

“Just once, I want to make it through the first stage of screening…”