Save Me Before I Fall (rewriting owo)

And

I'm back.

I clutch at my chest, scrambling away from the trash pile.

But it isn't there anymore.

Hm.

The yellow, ghostly outline of Phoenix was standing where it had been. Looks like another glitch...

"Glitch?" Then I shook my head. "Didn't I... die?"

He sighed and moved a hand slightly. A yellow spark floated over where I was laying. Save point.

I looked at him blankly.

It fills you with Determination.

Strength flows into my body at those words.

I blink at him.

He sighs again, then walks over and touches my head.

Pictures flood my mind.

Broken thoughts.

Yellow
Cracked
Bright
Then dark
Crumbling
Dead
But
Not
Yet
Not
Until
I
Give
Him
JUSTICE

The voice changes...

This next experiment is...
Very.
Very.
Interesting.

Then pictures of writing.

Entry number XX
The nature of the subject's soul is... intriguing.
It is cracked and crumbling, and pieces occasionally fall from it and seem to vanish.
However, the subject seems to be able to sense - or see - these fragments.
Likewise, in the case of major injury or malnutrition, the subject seems to... stop moving... for a moment, and then the air flickers. After the flicker, both the subject and I and, (I assume) all other monsters are back in a place where we had been in a previous time. The subject seems to revert to the last location of a fallen fragment, and also seems entirely healthy, no matter its condition before the jump. The condition of monsters, however, seems to revert to that which they were in at the time they had reverted back to.
I believe it is the subject's soul, and its power, that bends time and space to keep its mortal form safe.
I will test further upon this ability at a future time.
In the meantime, I'm keeping the subject in good condition, as to not instigate a jump and lose any progress on work.

Note: Occasionally, things seem to have changed after a jump. Little things mostly, like a phone number. Still, it is interesting. It cannot be that we are jumping back in time, then; it must be a jump to that time, but perhaps a different universe? Food for thought.

You're filled with Determination.

My eyes flare open and I jolt away, but Phoenix has already moved.

His soul hovers before him.

It seems smaller than before.

"So... when I die, I come back to the 'save point'?"

I would bring you back, yes.

I looked at the now empty space where the trash pile had been. "And that?"

Didn't carry over for whatever reason. Happens sometimes.

Now. About earlier.

I stiffen.

I don't know what happened earlier.

I had gotten so used to being numb, not seeing the monsters, only seeing through them. I acted without thinking, slaying without emotion.

But... those two...

Do you want to know the truth?

Phoenix's soul got a little darker.

I made you numb. I made sure you would Fight, because I wanted vengeance against these creatures.

I adjusted your view of the world, at the surface, hoping that you would fall and act the way I wanted.

He falls silent for a moment.

I knew about Alex and Peyton...

And I made you feel...

...the hope you had for him.

In hope it would push you off the edge.

It worked better than I expected.

You entered the underground with hate in your mind and blood on your hands.

You were already prepared to continue.

Because...

You had committed an Act of Violence.

And it only gets worse from there.