Second Chance For Revenge

Gerald's lungs felt like they were filled with dry ice.

For seven days, he had walked bare footed, tracked the frost-walkers, escaping death only by the luckiest means multiple.

He shivered violently, his hands were black with frostbite, and a jagged wound on his thigh had frozen shut, the pain rigged through his body in unbearable waves but he didn't care.

He clutched the small, glowing vial of Glacial Serum to his chest, like his life depended on it.

And all the world, it was the only thing that he cared about.

A few days back, Tina had told him her body couldn't handle the Freezing Apocalypse anymore.

She had cried, barely sleeping at night, saying she wouldn't survive the next cold nap without the just realized resistant serum to help her body adapt to the falling temperature she might not survive.

And instead of watching her drown in the pain, he had gone for it without a second thought, just to make sure the one that he cared most for in the world was comfortable.

"Just a little further," he whispered to himself, his breath a thick white mist. "She’ll be safe now, she would never be cold again.” The words read like a recital.

When he finally reached the Hillstop estate, the service gate was locked.

He limped to the main entrance, his heavy and frozen boots dragging on the polished floors.

He expected silence, but instead, the house was vibrating with music.

He pushed open the heavy oak doors with the last bit of strenght that he could muster, looking like a shivering, frozen-ghost in a warm paradise, an evidence of the work that he had put in for the Hills.

The smell of roasted lamb and expensive champagne drowned him from every sides.

In the center of the hall, Tina stood in a tight silk dress.

Her hand was resting on a subtle, unmistakable curve of her stomach and Henry, her best friend, stood behind her, his large hand resting protectively around her waist like he owed her.

Gerald's heart skipped.

"A toast!" James Hills bellowed, raising a crystal glass to the joyous crowd. "To the newest heir of the Hills and Thornes legacy! One month along and already the pride of the family!"

Gerald froze, the words shooting a low blow down his guts as he stumbled backwards in his steps and his heart churned.

The vial in his hand felt suddenly heavy. One month. He had been married to her for three years, and for the last month, he had been sleeping on a cot in the warehouse so he wouldn't "disturb her rest."

While she was hooking around with the man that she had always claimed that they were ‘just friends.’

"Tina?" Gerald's voice was a cracked ruin, the pain filtering through every bit of his body but he refused to believe it.

‘This had to be a cold joke, a surprise to welcome him for a job weldone. That could be the only truth, nothing else.’ He tried to believe as his world crumbled right before his very eyes.

The music didn't stop, but the laughter did.

The guests turned, their faces twisting in disgust at the sight of the mud and frost caked, shivering man standing on the expensive rug.

"Gerald?" Tina didn't run to him. She didn't ask about his frostbitten hands. Instead she leaned further into Henry. "You're back. And you're a mess. Why did you stay outside? Don't you realize ruining the carpets." She scolded instead, like she always do.

“Please tell me this is a joke.” His eyes were deep into her eyes but then, the only response he got was a cold smirk.

“You mean my child with Henry? The best gift? Nothing could be more real.” She rubbed her hands on her stomach for emphasis, shattering the last bit of Gerald's heart.

He tried to speak, his mouth moved, but his words crumbled along side his world.

"One month?" Gerald stepped forward, his eyes fixed on her stomach. "I was gone for a week, Tina I was out there... I almost died getting this for you." He held up the vial, his voice breaking with each words.

Henry laughed, a rich, mocking sound.

"He actually went and got it. You were right, Tina; the dog really does fetch if you cry hard enough."

"You think I ever loved you, Gerald?" Tina sneered, her voice dripping with disdain.

"You were a placeholder. A pack mule. I needed someone to do the dirty work while Henry and I were planning our future. Did you really think a factory worker like you could father a Hawthorne heir? Or I would truly be yours?

The audacity to even bare such delusions in your mind.”

“So all that time, you claimed to love me, they were all fake?”

“Do I really have to repeat myself? I mean being poor should be enough already shouldn't it?” She snorted under her breathe.

“Get the tea man, you never deserved her right from the beginning!” Henry drew forward drawing a passionate kiss from her lips.

The family cheered, smiles filling their faces in waves.

Memories rushed into Gerald's mind, his sacrifice and anger piled into his eyes.

The room erupted in snickers. Jane turned away, sipping her wine. "He looks like a homeless person. James, get him out of here."

Anger, hot and violent, finally surged through Gerald’s frozen veins. He didn't think. He lunged. With a roar of pure agony, he threw himself at Henry, his frostbitten fist aimed at the man’s smug face.

But he was weak. He was exhausted from days without food.

Before he could land the blow, Tina stepped forward. With a strength born of pure malice, she shoved him. Her palms slammed into his chest, and Gerald, off-balance and drained, stumbled backward toward the open cargo bay door they used for deliveries.

He fell into the snow, the biting wind instantly stripping the warmth from his body. Tina stepped to the edge of the platform, looking down at him. She reached out and snatched the vial from his shaking hand as he fell.

"At least you were useful while you lasted," she muttered.

She stepped back and grabbed the heavy lever. Henry, James, and Jane joined her at the ledge, smirks plastered on their faces.

Behind Gerald, the low, guttural vibration of a dimensional beast’s growl made the ground tremble. The beast had been following his scent of blood for miles.

They watched with clinical detachment as the crystalline-clawed beast emerged from the shadows, encircling the man who had spent three years serving them.

Tina didn't even blink as the creature lunged. The heavy steel door hissed shut, sealing him in the dark.

Gerald expected the end. Instead, a searing warmth spread from the center of his chest, hotter than the beast's claws. Visions exploded behind his eyes—towering cities built under alien constellations, warriors drawing liquid gold power from cosmic forces, and a massive stone calendar that spun until the dates blurred into a single point.

The bloodline remembers.

The First Civilization's final gift: a consciousness snapping backward through time when killed by dimensional forces.

Gerald gasped, his lungs burning as they pulled in air. He bolted upright, his hand flying to his chest. No blood. No frostbite.

He looked around. This wasn't the snowy wasteland. It was his converted storage room—the cramped, dusty space he’d used as an office.

His heart pounded as he held tightly to his chest. There was no hole, no wound and everything felt strangely warm.

‘Could it be?’ He whispered in his mind quickly grabbing his phone.

He gasped as the realization quickly hits him, he had being reborn to one month before the Apocalypse.

He felt a warm sigil pulsing over his heart—his Primordial Essence core had awakened. The chronic fatigue that had plagued him for years was gone.

And most importantly, he remembered everything, everything that the Hills family did to him without even blinking twice and a hint of guilt on their faces.

All the eyes of profaced love, they were all lies. His hands squeezed tightly.

‘This is my second chance and this time, I'm going to make this right Tina.’ It seemed like he was staring right into the mockery on her face in his past life as he said these words.

Without wasting any more time, he quickly opened his laptop and checked his savings: $240,000.’ Dollars and close to it was written, an anniversary necklace.

"Anniversary necklace?" Gerald muttered, a dark, jagged laugh escaping his throat. "Not this time."

In the future, money was going to become a very useless commodity, the only thing that was going to matter was the amount and volume of supplies one had emassed and nothing more.

But now, it was still valuable and even a god that most people worshipped.

With his knowledge, he knew everything that was going to work and every investment that was going to work, lottery numbers, investment and everything that any man wasn't supposed to know and he was going to use every single one of them to his advantage.

He was going to see the end of the apocalypse and nobody was going to stop him or be a burden.

Gerald's gaze shifted through the monitor of his screen as he clicked on Newtop stock exchange market, using all the money that he had to buy stocks.

The exchange market had an online community and soon, comments of the purchase filled the room.

“Whos this fool that just spent over 50 thousand dollars on Newtop? Is he out of his mind?”

Newtop though a once booming business had being facing a lot of crises in the past few months, from lawsuit to lost of investment and their stocks were dropping by 200%.

It was a surprise to see that while everyone were raising to sell their stock, Gerald was buying stocks from them.

“Definitely another newbie wanting to make quick buck from stock markets without actually knowing anything too bad he's going to face the hard truth pretty soon!” Someone commented with a snicket right at the end.

Others followed suit, insults and his account soon blowed up with mocking statements but a cruel smile played on his lips.

What they didn't know was that the company just made a ground breaking discovery and for the next two weeks, they were going to become the most sort after company in the world, especially when the apocalypse hits. And before them, he planned on being their biggest shareholder.

A wave of satisfaction washed up over Gerald in waves but it didn't last long.

His phone buzzed on the desk with a message from Tina.

“The family needs to see you tonight so we could have a little chat. I will send you the address, we can't have you ruining our expensive carpets.” She started even though half of the money that was used to purchase it came from him.

In his past life, he wouldn't have noticed the comments but this time, he noticed every single bit of it and his hands squeezed tightly at the tone.

But soon it dissolved into a cruel resolve settling on his face.

Desmond stared at the message, a dark flame raging through his eyes, so cold that the temperature in the room dropped.

“Okay.” He typed.

It was time to play the Vinex's dirty game and beat her at it.