The Supreme War God Has Returned!

Chapter 006 – The Vivid Memories

*****

On the plane, seated by the window, Zach stared at the vast stretch of darkness outside, but his eyes weren’t focused on anything.

If anything, they were fixed instead on the unfortunate night ten years ago… a memory that surfaced every single time he was alone and even more vividly each time he briefed it just as he had in the tent earlier.

Once again, Zach could see the scene of his father shielding him, his brother, and their mother, from the raging fire with nothing but his own body, his arms wide.

Although a decade had passed, the way the inferno wrapped around his father's body, consuming him, was still very clear in his mind.

Then there was his father's agonizing scream that still echoes fresh in Zach’s head, refusing to fade no matter how many years passed.

….

Then there was his mother.

Zach could still see the horrified look on her face, but even then, she still forced herself to act, dragging him and his brother through the flame.

As though it just happened, the image of her frantic movements as she blindly searched for an exit through smoke and fire appeared in Zach's mind.

In that process, a burning chandelier had torn loose from the ceiling, falling straight toward him.

It should have crushed him right there… but it hadn’t.

At the last possible second, his younger brother had yelled his name before shoving him out of the way, slamming his body into the ground.

His brother had taken the death meant for him.

A decade had already passed, yet not a day went by without the flame, screams, and loss replaying in his mind.

His mother’s ending had also been so horrific.

After his father and brother had been engulfed in the flame, his mother had forced herself to remain standing for him.

Zach had never seen her so broken before… and at the same time, he had never realized just how strong she was.

Since all the entrances had been sealed from the outside, his mother had dragged him toward the kitchen… their last hope.

But unfortunately… they never reached it.

A gas had exploded in the last minute, the blast tearing through the kitchen.

Yet in a desperate, final attempt to save his life, his mother had shoved him away with everything she had left.

And the result… she had been swallowed by the fire.

Zach could still see every second of it.

Even as his mother burned, she still managed to lock the kitchen door behind her, sealing it shut with her own body so that the intensified flames wouldn’t reach him… still protecting him even while dying.

Zach remembered all of it… a day he knew he would never truly recover from, no matter how much time passed or how strong he became.

Those memories would never fade. Instead, they would always remain fresh and surface every time he was alone… a torture he would have to live with for the rest of his life.