Zarek awoke as he felt Priya stir in his arms. He would have sensed even a blade of grass moving in the distance, let alone this.
He opened his eyes with a smile, only to find a palm smashing into his nose.
His reaction wasn't slow as he caught her wrist. But by then, there was no strength in her arm at all. Clearly, she hadn't actually wanted to hit him.
Zarek chuckled. "What was that? Domestic abuse? Ai…" Zarek sighed. "… Who do I even report this to with the world falling apart?"
"You literally stabbed me!"
"For a good cause," Zarek said with a wide grin. "How are you feeling?"
Priya realized the problem instantly as she hurriedly raised a hand to her chest. But to her surprise, there was no wound there at all.
"What…? How long have I been out?! Oh my god, you smell terrible! No, I smell terrible! No, we both smell terrible!"
Zarek wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. It had only been a day; it was hardly that bad. At worst, they had a bit of feminine and masculine musk to them.
Funny enough, this was her reaction at the start of each one of his Rebirths. She liked cleansing herself twice a day, one shower in the morning and a long bath at night. It was baked into her constant routine.
It drove her crazy when she couldn't. But it spoke for itself that despite her words, she didn't try to run from his embrace.
"What the hell is going on, Zarek?"
Priya didn't give Zarek a chance to speak again as she immediately pressed him on this topic. She had had enough of running around like a headless chicken.
"The apocalypse."
"Zarek Ashford, don't be a smart ass."
Zarek chuckled, and his gaze shifted over to the side.
It was only now that Priya realized there was a third person with them. It seemed that he was going to have to train her awareness, this certainly wasn't good enough.
"Oh! Hello," Priya spoke out with a tone that was one part embarrassed and another part motherly. It was as though the moment she saw this freshman, she wanted to coddle him.
However, she instantly froze when she saw the bloody hammer in Tameron's hands.
For the first time, the weight of everything seemed to really set in for Priya.
Everyone else had been forced to face the harsh reality directly, but Zarek had been her shield from the very start. She had yet to be forced to combat the truth.
But this alone seemed to have snapped her out of it.
She immediately lowered her voice, and that motherly instinct of hers was stamped out ruthlessly. From an adorable freshman, all Priya could seem to see was a threat to her life.
No matter how adorable the kid, the only person she trusted here was Zarek.
Zarek nodded inwardly. If there was one thing that Priya was very good at… well, she was good at a great many things, but adaptation was probably her greatest strength.
Temeron, though, wasn't bad himself. Seemingly realizing that he was the third wheel here, he lowered his head and hurriedly made some distance between them. Although it scared the hell out of him, he didn't stop until he was already around the corner.
This honestly impressed Zarek even more than usual.
However, despite Temeron's efforts, it was unnecessary.
Did he plan on letting Temeron know these things? Absolutely not. But he had another way to secretly communicate with Priya.
Beneath everyone's status page, there was a notes section. Usually, that was where the system spent its time slandering him, but Zarek could make changes to it.
This notes section was invaluable, especially after death. There were certain Talent Skills that could allow one to read a person's status page after death, and this was one of the ways law and order was maintained in the far-off future when governments managed to re-establish themselves.
How could you get away with murder if the person in question wrote down the perpetrator before their death?
Of course, this wasn't perfect. There were people paid off to die just to frame others, and there were many instances of assassins killing in the dark before the victim could even see who did it.
However, that was a matter even further in the future than the method itself.
Zarek didn't explain much and just showed Priya his status.
_This is the Godsfall Apocalypse. I, your extraordinarily handsome boyfriend, have returned from the future to pinch that juicy ass once more._
Priya's eyes were wide as she read the first part before glaring at Zarek for the latter.
"Be serious!" she hissed.
Zarek laughed and wrote another memo.
_I was very much serious about the future part. Well, it isn't exactly like that, but it's tricky. There are certain things I can tell you, certain things I'm worried to tell you, and certain things I can't tell you._
Priya's gaze softened. She couldn't help but wonder what Zarek was afraid to tell her. He wasn't a man who displayed that sort of emotion often… what could make him apprehensive?
She opened her mouth to speak, but instead decided that she should probably use the method that Zarek had. Luckily, it didn't take her much effort to figure it out.
Priya: _What can you tell me now?_
Zarek: _Quite a few things, but I will keep it to a minimum. Here are the main key points.
_1) I know a great deal about what may happen, but this is the fourth time I've been through this ride, so knowing the future doesn't make me infallible. The future changes, it warps all around us, and most importantly, I am not the only one who has "returned."
_2) Other returners like myself have a lot of facts about them distorted. So my memories of situations, events, and other matters that relate to them aren't perfect, and I have no 100% certainty in knowing which events these are and aren't, so I have to try not to rely on my future knowledge when I can.
_3) Did I mention I missed that juicy ass?_
Priya rolled her eyes when she got to the last line.
What she didn't know was that Zarek had left out quite a lot on purpose… he called himself a returner, not a rebirther… he didn't mention how important this Godsfall Tear was to him or how he had to die to return like this…
And he also didn't mention her deaths either.