Chapter 1 A New Beginning

When I woke up, I realized that I was back. And I don’t just mean that I am alive. I am back in the past!

I felt like I’d been staring at the mirror for a while now. 

No injuries. 

No signs of being poisoned. 

My fingers were complete. It’s like a dream. 

The only thing that is out of place with my youthful features are my eyes. They are red from crying. The moment I woke up, I immediately rushed downstairs, where I greeted my mother and father. They’re alive and well, and so is my brother.

They found it odd that I ran over to them and cried for no reason. Honestly, I was glad that they didn’t ask more questions than I wanted them to.

Looking at my hands, I tried manifesting a few of the siphoned skills from the demons that I acquired over the years once again. 

Nothing. Great. I guess that the demon prince wasn’t kidding when he said that he'd take away all of my accumulated abilities over the years.

And there were a lot of them! Good ones at that.

I sighed as I stared at my palm. I guess I will have to start harvesting soon. But that will be difficult considering the fact that I need a weapon to kill a demon to harvest their talent.

Right now, I am a blank slate. 

Again. 

Unless I manage to kill a demon with a special ability.

In this world, every person has an ability called a talent. One can think of it as a sort of magical ability. My brother, Logan Winters, can run really fast. My mother, Emilia Winters, can pass through walls, while my dad, Ducal Winters, can turn his skin into steel. On the other hand, I have the talent of a siphoner - new talent and possibly the most powerful one there is. 

In the past, we all thought that I didn’t have a talent because I never had the opportunity to kill a demon myself until the apocalypse came. Whenever I kill a demon, I will gain any specific ability they have. It doesn’t matter how many there are; I will still gain them as long as I am the one who kills them by breaking a gem.

A gem. Every demon has it on its body parts. They only have one, and it is the source of their power. To kill one, you have to break their gem.

If I had known about my talent in the past, then I would have trained harder and accumulated enough skills to help with the war.

“What exactly was I doing at this time?” I ask myself out loud and glance all around me to see all the art and paintings in my room. Before, I suffered from depression. It really wasn’t easy going through that phase. I don’t exactly remember when it happened, but I started doing art, and that became my driving passion. I went to art school instead of the hunter's academy. My previous job was becoming an animator for a company, so I didn’t have much time to watch all the news since I was busy editing and drawing. 

I sat on my desk as I tried to remember the original timeline. If I am going to attempt to change the future, I need to do this right. That's why every major event that happens is important.

There will be another admission to the academy in the coming month. Before that time comes, I need to demonstrate a particular skill that I possess. I don't think it's a good idea to let everyone know that I'm a siphon. I don't want to be assigned to a higher-ranking squad if I want to have complete control over my training and gather enough skills for the future. If I want to do this right, I need to stay on the sidelines and do my part. My way.

As far as I remember, the number of demons appearing increased when the academy was shut down. It was also the breaking point of the entire hunter’s association. With no new hunters, there were fewer people to replace the ones we had lost.

“I guess I really need to stay in school if I want to protect it. Not to mention that I have to look for demons to kill.” I tried to think. I need to kill purges along the way. And people must not know about my real talent. 

My head started to hurt as I tried to recall events from my past life. The first day of being reborn, and I was starting to experience a dilemma that didn’t involve getting chased by demons.

It was nice. Kind of refreshing even.

My family always believed that I was born as a natural huntress, with or without my talent manifesting. I guess they were right. After all, when the apocalypse started, my drawing pen became my first weapon as I tried to escape our company building, which was infiltrated with demons. I lost a finger or two around that time, but I survived.

And when I killed my first demon, that’s when I learned of my dormant talent and its true nature. 

In my old time, during the apocalypse, I had three major skills that I used as my main. But now that they were gone, I had to get them back. They would help me keep this world from crumbling again.

I got up from my desk and started to head downstairs, where my mother and father would usually hang out in the kitchen to take a break from their morning jog. 

“Mom? Dad?” I called out to them and almost bit my tongue at how nostalgic it was. 

First, I will go back to train to become a huntress. If I want to keep my knowledge and experience from my past life, I have to constantly train, or else I might just forget about everything and let history repeat itself. That, and I want to have a weapon. Any type of weapon as long as I can kill a demon.

My mother has a towel over her shoulder as she wipes away the sweat from her face. Her black hair was cut really short because she didn’t want it to get in the way when she’s fighting. Most of the huntresses do.

“Zarah?” She sounds surprised when she sees me. I couldn’t blame her. In the past, I would sleep till noon. But in my past life, I guess my soul still has the habit of waking up early to hunt. “What’s wrong? Are you going out today?”

“Huh? Um...No?” I walk into the kitchen and sit on one of the stools facing her. I watch as she gets herself a glass of water before I gain the courage to ask her. “Mom? Can I go back to training again?”

My mother freezes as she glances at me. I dive over the table and catch the glass just before it falls from her grasp. I let out a sigh of relief. 

At least my reflexes were still in better shape. 

I stood up and handed her the glass once again.

“Zarah, I wasn’t hearing things, right?” She asks. “You really want to go back to the academy?”

“Who wants to go back to the academy?” My father appears in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hands.

“Dear, Zarah, says she wants to go back to train.” Says my mother.

Now, it is my father’s turn to drop his mug. I dive back to the ground once again to catch it. My hands burned as a few drops of coffee fell on my hands. I hiss as I hand the mug back to him.

“Can you people stop trying to break mugs just because I said that I wanted to return to the academy?!” I huff, and I wipe the droplets of coffee on my pajamas.

There was a gasp as I heard a tumbler fall to the ground. We all turned around when we heard a loud metallic clang. Logan was standing there in his training uniform, staring at us. Well, more like he was gapping at me. He blinks and points a finger at me. “You want to go back to the academy?!” He repeats the question that everyone has been asking. He ran towards me. His hand immediately went to my forehead to test my temperature. “Are you feeling alright? Are you sure nothing’s wrong with you?”

I slapped his hands away as I looked at my family.

My family; such a nostalgic and pleasant feeling. Although I was thankful that they were back, I still couldn’t shake the bit of annoyance that I was feeling. 

But seriously. I couldn’t blame them, to be honest. Being in a family full of talented hunters and huntresses and being born without a talent, who wouldn’t feel miserable? I did. 

I clear my throat as I turn to face them. I should have calculated this scene well enough. I should keep this in mind in case I do something rash again in the future. 

“I...I thought about it. I just can’t seem to get hunting out of my head. I feel like it’s my calling. You know, with or without a talent.” I flash them all a smile, hoping that they will at least buy that bit of excuse from me. I even batted my eyelashes at them.

My parents and my brother exchanged glances. A ghost of a smile appears on their faces before they face me. I swallowed the bile that was rising from my throat. There was no doubt in their eyes—just pure happiness and the look that tells me they are proud.

My mother came to my side and pulled me into an embrace. “Of course you can. There is nothing in this world that you couldn’t do.”

“Hah! Those kids better watch out because a prodigy will soon make its comeback.” My father boasts, making me blush. If I were the old me, I would deny that claim.

“Really? That easy?” I raise an eyebrow. “I thought there would be a bit of a talk here about its dangers since I do not have a talent.”

“With or without a talent, you are still an excellent huntress. We were only waiting for you to realize that, dear.” My mother says this to me, making me freeze in place.

They were never ashamed of me? They just wanted me to take on being a huntress on my own that’s why they never asked me to join before? And here I thought that…

Before I knew it, my eyes started to become blurry as tears blocked my vision. I knew my family loved me, but I never thought they would be proud to have a daughter without a talent.

My mother pulled me closer to her as I began to sob.

“I knew she’d pull through,” Logan says to our father with a bright smile on his face. Seeing my family right now has ignited an intense flame within me. A flame that would protect this family. 

I will be stronger. I will get back the powers that were once mine. And I will stop the oncoming apocalypse.

And to do that, I made a pact with one of the princes of Hell.