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| The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North |
Harry August wasn’t born, not truly. He woke, gasping, in a grimy train station bathroom in 1919. He lived an unremarkable life, dying in a hospital bed in 1989. But instead of oblivion, he woke again, a baby in the same bathroom, the memories of his past life flooding back.
Panic turned to curiosity. Harry learned he was an Ouroboran, a Kalachakra – someone destined to relive their life repeatedly. Soon, the Cronus Club, a secretive society of fellow Ouroborans, found him. They offered guidance and a chilling truth: with each life, the world inched closer to a catastrophic end.
Lives blurred. Harry became a scholar, a physicist, using his accumulated knowledge to excel. He befriended Vincent Rankis, a brilliant student who, Harry soon realized, was another Ouroboran. Together, they delved into physics and philosophy, searching for a way to break the cycle.
One life, the Cronus Club revealed a horrifying prophecy: a cataclysmic event, the “Unravelling,” would tear reality apart. The cause? The Ouroboran condition itself. Their repeated lives created inconsistencies, tears in the fabric of time.
Harry and Vincent dedicated their next lives to finding a solution. They explored alternate realities, brushed shoulders with mythical beings, and even attempted suicide, only to awaken back in 1919. Despair gnawed at them.
Then, in his fifteenth life, Harry met Anya. Unlike other Ouroborans, her memories were fragmented, glimpses of potential futures. She held the key. Anya could manipulate the timestream, nudging events towards a specific outcome.
Working with Anya, Harry realized their only hope was to shepherd humanity towards a specific future – one where Ouroborans wouldn’t exist. It was a drastic solution, erasing their own kind to save the world.
The next life was different. Harry wasn’t reborn. He woke in a hospital bed, an old man, the memories of his fifteen lives vivid. The world felt different, a subtle shift. He never met Vincent. The Cronus Club was a forgotten footnote in history.
Anya appeared at his bedside, older too. They had succeeded. Humanity thrived on a new path, free from the Ouroboran curse. A bittersweet victory, but a victory nonetheless. Harry closed his eyes, this time for good, a single tear tracing a path down his wrinkled cheek. The world continued, oblivious to the fifteen lives that had saved it.
