章 2: The Beginning

Mother Earth, like a child that finally snapped, began tearing apart as she was now truly by herself; saddened by the soul of her last remaining creature drifting off into the afterlife, she was no longer able to keep her composure and hold her mass together.

The grounds began to tear apart, starting from the tectonic plates, and eventually everywhere else.

Although she had long lost her vitality years ago, Earth always kept her beautiful spherical shape intact as if to show that she was still in the fight.

That was no longer a reality as a crack rapidly split down the middle from both poles, breaking the Earth into two roughly equal halves.

Then as these two halves drifted apart, the ground began to crumble, defying the law of physics and leaving behind space rocks whose sole purpose was to roam the vast emptiness of space, forever unrecognizable from the planet it once came from.

Heartbroken from the loss of her most talented child, the Sun grew weaker at a visible rate. The solar flares that once looked like they could reach the edge of the universe could barely extend beyond a few miles.

And just like that — all that was left of the star that was decorated in jewels known as the eight planets of the Solar System was a silent death.

It was a sight to witness.

There was no supernova to admire because of its size, no neutron star being born, and no black hole. It was meant to turn into a white dwarf but instead, it just completely dissipated like a flame being extinguished.

It was certainly an anomaly from the universal truth of stars.

Observant as always, God continued to watch as the universe he created changed.

Space in the Milky Way was quieter than it'd ever been before.

Perhaps humans didn't realize it because they were so small compared to the universe that their existence felt insignificant but they were far noisier than they were aware of.

"My child, today will not be the end. This was merely the beginning. I'll see you again in a few," God said.

A sudden giant clock the size of a star betrayed the silence in space as the three hands representing the hour, minute, and second began to move backward like a scene from a horror film.

Although slow, the hands eventually made it twenty years back to the past.

For a moment, nothing out of the ordinary took place as if the significance of the strange occurrence in the Milky Way was naught. However, just as the clock betrayed the silence in space, eventually so did the rest of space.

Whichever natural flow of direction the universe was moving in, whatever destination it was heading towards — all of that began to reverse. Clockwise turned counterclockwise. Forward became backward. Left became right. Up became down.

With each second that passed by, the movement in space sped up until finally, the movement became one big blur that felt like a movie being sped up.

"WOOOOSH!"

A sudden halt to all movement in the universe came about.

"BOOM!"

Like a firework show fit for God himself, everything that existed on the fabric of space and time began to explode; from as insignificant as a block of ice to entire planets, stars, galaxies, and clusters — and eventually, the entire universe exploded.

"WEEE-OOOP!"

As if all that was just someone messing around on the computer, they hit the undo button, and the universe, in a timeframe so short that it had an infinite number of zeros after the decimal, returned to normal.

All explosions ceased to exist, planets were brought back to life, and black holes were given back their roles of consuming everything around them.

The universe had returned to before — well, not exactly.

As I was walking toward the light and was prepared to join my friends and family in the world of the afterlife that existed just past the end of the tunnel, the two people I was holding hands with stopped walking.

Confused about the sudden halt, everyone else made their way over to me.

Still smiling, having not seen them all in years, I wanted to ask them, "What's wrong?", but they had already placed their hands on my back, chest, head, and arms.

They all said to me, "It's not your time yet Fox."

Not my time? What?

"See you, Orion. Today isn't the end."

Th-that's the same thing that God said.

"Don't forget about me Fox, okay? My sister too! Don't forget either of us."

What are you talking about? I'm going to join you two. Why would I forget you?

"Come on. Say goodbye to Daddy."

Honey?

"Goodbye Daddy!"

Baby?

"Farewell honey. I'll see you in a bit."

"W-wait... what?" I muttered.

I turned to my left, everyone on that side had vanished. I turned to the right, same scenario. I turned around — and again, no one was there.

Everyone was gone.

No... no... NO! NO NO NO! Come back... come back...

Looking at the light in the tunnel, it began to vanish.

"Wha—"

Before I could complete my sentence, I suddenly jolted.

I flew out of the bed.

My blanket wrapped around my foot, causing me to trip and tumble onto the cold hard floor face-first.

"Thud!"

...Ow.

Slamming onto the cold-hard wooden floor, my forehead had a tiny bump that was starting to grow right in the middle.

I should've felt pain at that moment but I didn't.

What's going on?

A chilly breeze uncomfortably crept into the room as not only was the window opened but the air conditioner was also turned on.

Where am I? What is this?

I should've felt cold at the moment but I didn't.

Through the crack between the window curtains, like a stalker, the moonlight was peeking into the room; it was the only light illuminating my surroundings.

Although it was dark outside and the Sun had long disappeared, I didn't feel a hint of drowsiness.

Like a blue whale swallowing an entire school of krill with one swift motion, confusion engulfed me. My mind began racing faster than my heart rate which was already beginning to reach an unhealthy tempo.

"What did you do to me? What did you do, God?" I asked.

Are you going to ignore me again?

After years spent running around a dead planet, and countless hours of endlessly searching for a glimpse of hope, of life — I had finally come to terms with everything and was ready to move on.

After the burden of living with an impossible goal in mind as well as carrying the weight of hope from billions of people, I was finally prepared to let my mind and body rest after so long.

The other side of the tunnel was just in front of me and I was going to be reunited with my loved ones in the afterlife.

That was the plan less than a minute ago.

"What did you do?" I asked again in a panic.

Reunion had slipped through my fingers.

Abruptly, without giving me any warning, my loved ones who were meant to escort me to where they resided — had bid me farewell before vanishing from my sight like a Saharan mirage that fades into mist once you touch it with your hands.

Having consumed my life force six years ago in a battle that wiped out the entire continent of Australia from the face of Earth, I should've been dead long ago but to honor the wishes and hope of humanity — through sheer willpower, I kept myself alive.

And this is how they repay me? By kicking me out of the afterlife just as I'm about to cross the tunnel for some well-deserved rest?

I don't know whether to cry... or to hysterically laugh. It's not the end yet they said. What does that mean? What else do you guys possibly want from me? What else do you want from me, God?

Standing up from the floor, I dusted off my pants and squinted my eyes, trying to adjust them to the darkness.

Having been used to vision that was able to see through all that was dark, foggy, and even lies — having to adjust to this insignificant amount of darkness let me know that I was no longer in my body, which caused me to let out a soft, "Hmm?"

As I spun around cautiously, I blinked a few times in disbelief.

"What's this? Isn't this... isn't this my bedroom?" I asked out loud with a slight gasp.

It felt familiar to me down to the scent of the air freshener hung up on the wall that sprayed a mist of white tea & lily scent every few hours or so.

Above me was the same old plain white ceiling with tiny bumps on its surface that I used to stare at for hours while contemplating something on my bed.

It can't be.

Looking carefully as if my surroundings would disappear if I spun too quickly, I began noticing pieces of memories from my youth appearing in front of me.

Pushing up against the wall in the middle of the room was the uncomfortable bed that used to haunt me every school morning with back pains.

On one side of the bed was my nightstand where I kept all my important belongings and on the other side was my desk which had a shelf on top that was filled up with books I read over the years.

I'd use that desk to study but also to play video games and browse the internet as my computer was set up there.

"This can't be," I repeated to myself softly.

One of the things in the room that caught my eye was the poster taped onto the door.

"Woah..." I gasped.

When was the last time I had that poster up?

Walking up to it, I touched it to see if it was real.

It is real.

The poster was of my favorite band; they weren't very popular and I only knew of their existence because I saw an advertisement for their concert at the bottom of a paper that was hung up on a utility pole with a rusty old nail.

"Didn't I throw this away... my sophomore year at college?" I asked myself, trying to recall my memories that'd been stored in the back of the catalog, dusty with spiderwebs on them.

Closing my eyes at this revelation, I let my body slide down against the door until I was eventually sitting.

In circles, my thoughts began pacing around inside my skull.

For five minutes that felt like a full fifty, I sat there figuring out the fatiguing puzzle pieces that frolicked in my fiery mind.

Finally — I opened my right eye first, then my left eye half a second later, a habit I had as a kid, and one that I never grew out of.

I concluded that for whatever reason, as the once final remaining creature of Earth, the last animal to roam the scorched lands, the singular evidence of mankind that still stood tall — through powers and forces I was unable to comprehend the nature of at the moment, "I've returned to the past."

Using the decoration on the walls and my door as a reference, I was more specifically back in my first year at college.

"College," I groaned.

Had it been anybody else who just traveled back decades in time way back to their days in high school, without a doubt they would've freaked out regardless if they were a regular citizen or if they were a scientist with an IQ of a thousand — all of them would've freaked out at the impossible becoming possible and start frothing from the mouth, eventually fainting on the spot.

Although I shared their sentiment of being flabbergasted by the improbable hypothetical scientific theory becoming a reality, an achievement that'd put even Einstein and Newton to shame — my mind wasn't particularly blown out of the park.

"I've fought an army of zombified dragons while poisoned by the very same snake that's wiped out a city. I've slain millions... no, billions of zombies. I entered a room by myself against two bandit groups and was the only one to leave the room."

I began to smirk.

"This is indeed interesting and breathtaking but compared to coming face to face with zombies, creatures from my nightmares, and especially superhumans... this is child's play."

My mind was a little hectic, my heart was a little fast, and my soul was shaken up but one by one, I began calming them down, eventually finding tranquility between the three.

I spent the greater half of my life in a world where miracles straight from the hand of God and nightmares straight from the mind of Edgar Allan Poe were as common as grains of sand on a beach.

Traveling back in time probably wasn't even on the top 100 list of strangest things I'd experienced and encountered.

"God, please just answer me. You've brought me back to the past. Why?" I asked.

"Because my child, it's not the end," he whispered back. If he were to speak any louder, buildings would collapse.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"I can't tell you. But just know that this is now truly the beginning."

The beginning... what is he talking about?

"Why now? After all that time. Why come back to me now?"

"I couldn't intervene with your destiny."

"Does that mean that coming back to the past is my destiny?" I asked.

"Yes, my child."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I can't tell you that. Just do whatever you deem fitting. Whatever choice you make, will be the right one."

I was angry at that. All that suffering I've been through for his sake and he couldn't even give me a single advice.

Ticked off, I asked, "Anything?"

"Anything. I must let you know though, my child, I had to do some cleanup to ensure that everything goes the way that fate desires it to," he whispered.

"Wh-what does that mean?" I asked.

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid that the world you're in, no one in that notebook of yours... exist anymore."

"...What?"

He didn't respond.

"Wh-what did you just say? A-are you saying that th-they're dead?"

"Not dead. They were never born."