《Beyond The Sky》 1.1 First Encounter April 20th 2020 1:48 Her nemesis stared at her as if she mocked Maven, ¡°You should¡¯ve followed your parent¡¯s path, what are you going to do with your degree huh?¡± Stop it. My fate is my own choice. ¡°I want to chase my passion, what¡¯s wrong with that? Are you jealous that yours forced you?¡± ¡°Oh, I forgot. You¡¯re not their children. Your REAL parents never want you.¡± Maven wanted to cry, but she held it, she didn¡¯t want to be laughing stock in her university. "I''d rather have a stranger to love and nurture me. You¡¯ve been raised by fake love. Outta my way.¡± The pretty beast gripped Maven''s hand like a talon, "where are you heading, trash child?" A tall woman with white hair slapped Maven''s nemesis, "first rule of the university: do not bully. Where''s your department? And your student number, please." Maven¡¯s nemesis yanked Maven away. When she about to escape, the woman gripped the nemesis. "I''m Maven''s advisor, and she is my child. I could bring this case to the law faculty if you were not willing to say who you are, in 3¡­" ¡°Andini Candrawinata, Economy, 1156060134. Please forgive me!¡± she pleaded. ¡°Apology accepted.¡± The woman released her. Andini ran like a person who saw a ghost. She almost screamed. "Thank you¡­ who are you actually?" Maven asked. The woman lowered her back, she pat Maven¡¯s head, ¡°I am your ¡­ My name is Thabit. Actually, I¡¯m a passerby here, waiting for my child. I can¡¯t stand to see any kind of savage act; it hurts my heart because my child has to endure those every time." Child? Probably hers has a disability. Maven thought that she was luckier than them. ¡°Oh, maybe I could be the friend.¡± ¡°Sure, can I have your number?¡± Maven typed her number on Thabit¡¯s phone, ¡°done.¡± Thabit gave something, ¡°Here¡¯s my card, and you could call me anytime if you need a service.¡± Maven looked at the card, she was a fashion designer. No wonder, her clothes were flashy and her appearance was stunning. Then, Maven remembered that she has to go to class, ¡° Mrs Thabit? I have to go, for now, thank you for your kindness." ¡°See you.¡± She smiled. .. She puffed and huffed, her feet were shaking, running on stairs made her exhausted. But it was better than being late in the class. Once she has locked outside with several lazy gangs, and she missed her test. Her grade went tumbling down, she has to re-take the class, with the same professor. The professors in her department were only twelve, and thus some have to teach several classes. For the student, there was no other choice, like it or not they have to take it. Maven arrived, there was a paper attached on the door. ¡°No class today, Assignment on page 86-99, due: Tomorrow at 12 p.m. on my desk.¡± Maven slouched herself on the door, she kicked the air, frustrated. ¡°Nice, she should¡¯ve told us via email,¡± Victor pouted while fixing his thick glasses. The boy snapped the paper with his phone. He shared it on the classmate group. ¡°Wanna go home?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± .. The old motorcycle trotting slowly, Maven enjoyed the scenery along the way. Though she always passed this street, this time she noticed some details. The shady trees which she didn¡¯t know the name bore small yellow flowers. The wind blew the flowers, such scene like in drama stories. They turned to the food stalls area, it was less crowded than the road to the city. Victor kept talking, but Maven could only say yes no don¡¯t know. The wind stuffed her ears. Well, anything to make her friend pleased, she didn¡¯t mind to lie. Traffic was usual, crowded; people went to nearby street food stall or restaurant, stop to eat. Victor suddenly sped up his motorcycle when he passed that street. ¡°I feel like someone following us.¡± His voice was audible this time. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°City car, red, small.¡± Maven looked behind; there were two cars that were similar. ¡°Which?¡± Victor sped up, the traffic light 50 meters in front counted down from 20. "Hold on to me!" Maven gripped Victor''s shoulder, "God I wish this motor could move in a speed of light!"You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. It was impossible, though, but there was a surge of wind that carried them faster. 17¡­ 16¡­ One red car sped them up, the window opened. To Maven''s nightmare, it was her nemesis. She recorded from the driver seat while laughing like a maniac. She said something like lawyer or blackmailing but her voice was stuffed by the wind. Victor was mad knowing this, his motorcycle was at the peak speed, it couldn''t go faster than the car. The car kept following beside them. 5¡­ 4¡­ A loud truck horn could be heard from the right side of T junction. Screeching sound and burnt latex followed. A big truck crashed fast to the center of T junction. Several vehicles stopped before the impact. ¡°VICTOR STOP!¡± *Crash!* The red car smashed by the truck, it struck the building nearby. The truck was so hard to stop, it slowly losing its power to move when it struck the building. Both the truck driver and Andini somehow have a slim possibility of life sign. Maven lose her power, she fell on her knees, uncontrollably sobbing. Her body shook hard, she couldn¡¯t face this situation. People were scattered, some slowed down to see the victim. There was a faint cry, of a woman, still alive at this point. They began to panic; a few of them stop to help. But it was difficult to pick her up Victor immediately dialled for an ambulance. He briefly explained the situation. The police now surrounded the place, some to pick the victim, some to control the traffic. Victor and Maven decided to swerve back, taking another way. Maven was shocked; she could do nothing, even to call an ambulance. She was a coward or a sinful person for not being able to help someone that has hurt her. She tried to dial her mother, calling for help. But when she dialled it, Maven closed it, didn''t want to bother her mother. ¡°I should¡¯ve told her it was dangerous to drive with phone¡­¡± Victor stopped Maven¡¯s train of thought. "So do I¡­ but you called for an ambulance, I just¡­" Maven muffled her mouth when she cried; she let out some squeaky voice. ¡°Don¡¯t blame yourself. You¡¯re better than those watchers.¡± ¡°I killed her.¡± "No, you''re not. She''s still alive. She was just badly injured, caused by her fault." Maven sobbed, ¡°I killed her!¡± she hit Victor¡¯s back Victor slowed down and then spat, ¡°Stop it! I do wish I could tell her, there are some things that you couldn¡¯t control in your life.¡± Maven shut herself. She closed her eyes, buried her face on Victor¡¯s back. Her tears dried up when the wind blew from below her face. She raised her head, not long after that, Maven has arrived at her house. ¡°Thanks,¡± She said. Victor waved his hand, and then went away. Maven saw someone beneath the holes of the gate, a guest? His clothes reassemble catholic priest. The person looked young, probably a new priest on the church. Usually, they liked to visit one house to another just to socialize. Both of Maven''s parents were out at these hours, working. Maven opened the gate, ¡°Good afternoon, father.¡± The person smiled, ¡°I¡¯m not a priest, don¡¯t call me that.¡± Maven stepped back, but the gate somehow closed by itself. ¡°Who are you?¡± He snapped his fingers, suddenly, the air surround her was cold, but no wind blew. Maven could feel her heartbeat went slower. Her body temperature dropped drastically. "I''m Chronos, the time ruler from another dimension. A criminal escaped to your dimension, and she wanted to set an apocalypse on your world. Tell me, when you saw a young and ripe woman with white hair?" It¡¯s impossible for someone to move through dimensions, Maven thought, ¡°What¡¯s your business here? You have to ask the police if you want to search for someone.¡± Chronos sniggered, ¡°police? Are you trying to run from your responsibility or are you afraid to tell the truth?¡± he moved closer, pushed Maven to the gate, ¡°tell me, did you see this person?¡± Chronos spun his fingers, a circle mirror floated on the tip of his finger. The mirror showed Thabit¡¯s appearance, with an orange broken halo circled on her temple. ¡°I ¡­ I saw someone similar ¡­ Mrs Thabit?" He took a wooden stick on the garden, and it changed into a scythe. He pointed the blade to Maven, ¡°How interesting, she didn¡¯t tell her real name to a boy, but you. When?¡± ¡°I forgot it, ugh ¡­ Why are you after her? She¡¯s innocent.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bluff me, earthling. Well, maybe I should take you on a tour, point where you saw her. And I will make you go home, safely." At that point, Chronos tied her hand on a shackle, the shackle connected to a big watch. Maven moved against the shackle, the metal made her skin itch. Chronos pulled the shackle. Lead Maven to a mysterious dark portal in front of her. It was a hellish point of her life. Beyond the portal, she could see the event of this day rolled backwards. It was fast, but Maven could still notice some part of it, including the accident. Chronos stopped when the accident happened, he looked at the surrounding, quickly inspecting each pedestrian. Chronos flashed from one person to another, he was frustrated. ¡°That Andini girl should be alive. She should have been stopped by the police. It was strange that a truck hit her; the road was not too slippery. Thabit must be here, somewhere.¡± Chronos swung his scythe in one circular, the event rolled again, but this time was worse. Maven and Victor almost got hit by the truck, they somehow escaped. ¡°She¡¯s not on the truck.¡± Chronos reset the time again, played another scenario. Maven and Victor skidded; they got hit, but slightly. Victor¡¯s motorcycle crashed. They took care by the passerby. Victor fainted, a few moments later, he awoke. Maven just stood in the same place. Seeing the same event, like a symptom of PTSD, but instead of recalling in memory, she lived inside it. If Chronos moved his scythe once again, she could stumble to the worst scenario ever. ¡°Stop!¡± ¡°Not until I found where she was when she annihilated one innocent life in this world!¡± Chronos swung his scythe harder. The timeline screwed up. There was one event overlap the other; it was so confusing that Maven couldn¡¯t be able to describe what happened. All she could notice was one golden chain tied one event to another. "Show yourself, wicked witch!" Chronos screamed. Maven shut her eyes; she ducked and reached for the pockets. She was looking for the card, she dumped all stuff on her pocket, money too. She was panicked that she couldn''t think straight. The card now on her right hand, she screamed, ¡°Take this Chronos!¡± The card flew away from her hand; it reached Chronos left palm, ¡°Heh, you should¡¯ve done earlier. I almost exchange your life for her. You didn''t deserve to live, because you bluff me. But, I don''t want to bargain to God in this dimension." ¡°What?¡± Maven was puzzled. ¡°Never mind, I¡¯ll take you back in time.¡± Maven still shook at this point. She recollected her memories, and ran to her room, crying. She was in a point where she could believe in no one to tell this story. ¡°No one will, even a psychiatrist. Except I create something from my point of view so that people will believe in it.¡± Maven rustled on her old box, she found an old diary. She picked it and looked at her old manuscript. It was a Narnia fan fiction that she made when she was in high school. Crazy old times, Maven dumped the idea because she thought it was stupid. Some parts of the diary being ripped. It was a traumatic time, Andini ripped some of the pages that she found that the main character was Maven crush. Maven dropped her diary, she held her head. A strong memory is a curse; she wished to burn the diary. ¡°Screw it, I¡¯ll write it on a laptop,¡± she dumped the diary. 1.2 Dont Rely on Fate April 1st 2022 9:40 ¡°Don¡¯t rely on fate; you must work hard for something that you always wanted.¡± The Professor with square moustache sternly said to Ansel. Bullshit. I worked hard for this, but you never, never, ever appreciate it. Ansel smiled, but bitterly, deep inside the rage has been piled up. The rage caused by rejection several times in his life, he was sick of it. He tried his best to pass the university sooner, so he could get the hell out of that place, and work. The rage was at his highest peak, but Ansel only let out a sigh. ¡°Which kind of idea that will please you and no one has covered it?¡± he asked. ¡°Excuse me? You¡¯re well educated, this kind of topic was too broad to cover and it just bland, I can¡¯t let this pass unless you have found your point.¡± It has been a battle for Ansel alone, for him to pass the thesis. His family actually was not at risk of poverty or downfall, but the words from their families, it made Ansel uncomfortable. His father always told him to work harder since then, and he has no mercy. Ansel didn¡¯t want to go to his hometown; it would be a session of face slapping. ¡°¡­so meet me on April 20th, I hope you found your point. Remember, your own fate is in your hand. I don¡¯t want to hear any words about its all fate that throw you into this.¡± when the professor said that, it seemed that the small birds that perched near the tree escaped from the bad omen. Ansel went out of the chamber of death and despair. His chest was tightened because he piled up his anger for a long time. He walked down the stairs, stomping his feet. His face was red hot. The papers in his hand crumpled. Ansel impulsiveness almost made him threw the paper on the garbage can. Ansel took a deep breath; he held his head, frustrated. This time, he felt like everything was screwed up; the papers in his right hand were crumpled. One more time, he said that several months ago. He can''t continue to face this reality. Don¡¯t rely on fate. ¡°I just want to be free. Please, be gentler to me, fate. I¡¯m tired¡± "I already do that, all of this was under my plan." Someone walked beside Ansel and said that. Ansel turned his head, the voice owner was a young woman with white hair in a bun, her hair covered her ears. With the attire of a businesswoman, she looked sharp. She walked as fast as Ansel¡¯s rhythm. Ansel walked faster; probably she was only muttered to herself or on a phone with her earphone. But the woman kept following him. ¡°Ansel Cakra, I have something to tell you.¡± He went down to the crossroad. Tried his best to look calm, he didn¡¯t want her to interact with him. Just passerby passed the street; they might have the same issue. Ansel walked faster ¡°Hey¡ª¡° She pointed from across the street. Ansel felt a chill when the voice could reach his ears; no one was staring at the woman, just him. The others might not see her. A ghost in business woman attire? Ansel thought. Strangely her voice could be more audible compared to the roar of vehicles on the crowded street. The woman skipped her feet, even though she wore high heels. Ansel was frozen for a while, the woman was clearly after him, and she kept her gaze sharp. Luckily, the traffic lights went green, Ansel running, crossed the street and turned to the crowded area. His figure blended among the pedestrians. Ansel looked back; it seemed that she was not after him. ¡°Could you spare a minute?¡± the woman suddenly stood in front of him. ¡°Get away from me!¡± Several pedestrians looked at Ansel as if he was crazy. On their view, Ansel was shouting at the empty space. Ansel was ashamed, he took down his hoodie, and run as fast as he could. He turned left, walked through a small aisle. It was a crowded housing area; no cars could pass this street at this point. Ansel took a shortcut between houses, a tiny street that could be entered two persons at a time. Ansel kept looking behind him. The woman might be lost, especially in this area. At the end of the shortcut, Ansel went through an abandoned garden. He jumped off the broken fence, landed on a spacious road. Such troublesome, I hate to pass that place! It triggers my phobia. Claustrophobia, fear of closed space, Ansel has that fear since he was childhood. He was locked on the toilet because he didn¡¯t obey his father¡¯s words. He looked back, and then looked around, the woman was gone. Ansel walked for five minutes, and he arrived at his boarding house. He locked up in his room, and threw away all the papers, it floated and scattered in his room. The room was a mess, cables, devices, leftover food that has moulds because Ansel forgot to throw it out. Cobwebs above the ceiling, dust crumpled on the bigger cobwebs. The stench could make anyone throw up.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. How many days since I cleaned these things up? No wonder I was so depressed, huh, even a caveman has a cleaner cave. But I''m too tired for that. Later. Ansel threw himself to the bed; he stared at the ceiling, with cobweb as free decoration. The stench of his room made him sick; he decided to clean it up. He found something that he wished to burn years ago; it was a paper with his scores written on it. The paper was supposed to be sent to his parents, but Ansel faked the address, and the mail was sent to his shared-rent house. It was two years ago when he failed hard on a subject. He has to lie that he was fine. He didn¡¯t want his father enraged. And so, he repeated the class. His family asked about the mail, Ansel couldn¡¯t speak a word. A day before Chrismas Eve to New Year, his father didn¡¯t speak a word to him. From that time, Ansel never came back; he wanted to go home when he finished everything. He kept everything inside his head; no one was able or wanted to understand him, even his closest friends, except Brian. A flash of thought on his mind told him to end his life. But he has a fear that he would fail at that too. Ansel sat on the corner, on his bed, he curled like a baby. Not a single tear came out; he was mad, so mad that his tears might be evaporated. His croaky voice escaped, ¡°Could fate be mocking at me right now? I tried my best, I tried. Does free will still exists?¡± There was no answer. Of course, it was a pointless question after all. Ansel forced himself to sleep, letting go all of the frustration in his head. As if all of those were just a dream. Blank space appeared before Ansel''s sight. Everything washed white; ten walls with a gap between each wall, the walls formed a circle. Something was on the centre, a black hole, it was blacker than pitch black, maybe because the whole place washed white paler than snow. The hole has ripples moving constantly. A woman with white long hair to her ankle floated above the hole. Her left feet touched the hole. It was the woman that was looking for Ansel. A translucent cloth draped and folded nicely as her dress. Shimmery, with holographic rainbow, when reflected by light, the dress was almost transparent. The drapery of the cloth framed her slim legs. The body of a supermodel, miss universe would be ashamed to compare herself with the woman. A dark purple rose was tied on each ankle. ¡°I¡¯m not mocking you, nor tested. For you is my best apostle.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Ansel fell on his butt, he skidded to the back. But he felt like he hasn¡¯t moved an inch. It¡¯s not like something holds him in one place. The walls expanded, the hole widened. The woman got bigger. ¡°I am fate. I am Chaos. I am¡ª¡° The last word was cut, Ansel read her lips. From what he saw, she has a name with ¡°A¡± and ¡°Bi¡± sound, ended with a P or T. ¡°I must be dreaming.¡± ¡°You are,¡± she replied. ¡°You are the ruler of dream and hope, you own a dream dimension. This is where you used to work.¡± ¡°Yeah, and I have to wake up in three¡­ two¡­¡± Ansel pinched his arms hard, ¡°One!¡± He pinched again, harder, ¡°One!¡± released the pinch, he rubbed his arms with the red mark. "NO WAY!" Chaos giggled, she covered her teeth with her hands. "Why are you so afraid of me, my dear apostle?" ¡°I am not your apostle, I never met you before!¡± ¡°Your body seemed to deny what your soul has acknowledged, even the deepest fear. Maybe that¡¯s why you choose the narrow aisle instead of the road that you travelled.¡± Ansel¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°what kind of nonsense is this? Get me out of here.¡± ¡°Behave!¡± She shouted, she lost her patience, and then she held her head. ¡°My my, some of his traits remained.¡± In Ansel''s mind, he thought it was a lucid dream or astral projection or limbo. Ansel racked up the logic on his mind. Sooner when he opened his eyes, he would forget this. Just like usual. Chaos tilted her head and crossed her arms, ¡°maybe this is not the right time to tell you the truth. You seemed to be confused with life. I will come again someday, in a perfect moment.¡± She clicked her fingers, and everything was back to a blank space. The ring of a bell saved him from the bad dream, his phone already rang for several times, and he kept hanging them up. Ansel was shocked, puzzled, the bizarre dream remained so clear in his mind. The phone ranged again, he stuffed it with a pillow. Probably his parents¡¯ asked ¡°how the day is?¡± stuff. He still didn¡¯t have the strength to tell them the truth. His door was opened forcefully, "Are you still alive there?" Brian, Ansel¡¯s only friend in the shared-rent house, has an appearance close to CJ in Grand Theft Auto, but he has a top knot hair and he shaved clean. He often wears undershirt and shorts inside the shared-rent house. This time, he wore a black collared shirt, he just straight back from his office. He brought two takeover foods. It was still steamy and hot, the package has small droplets of steam. "No, I''m not seeking isekai, just sleeping.¡± Ansel, still curled on his bed, groaned. Seeking isekai was a code between them if one of them has a suicidal feeling. It was offensive for some, but they didn''t want to be ashamed for having weakness such suicidal thought. ¡°I called you!¡± Ansel woke up, he reached for his phone. Brian has called him for thirty times, he was dead worried. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± ¡°Listen ¡­¡± Brian put the food beside Ansel, ¡°if you were weary, talk to me.¡± "It''s the same lame stuff, thesis. You can''t understand me, you''re a vale¡ª" Valedictorian, Ansel couldn¡¯t continue it. Brian told him it was ¡®nothing¡¯. ¡°That thing? I¡¯m still your friend.¡± ¡°Thanks for being one.¡± Ansel opened the package, fried rice with extra garlic, his favourite. ¡°It¡¯s not my special day, why do you bring me this stuff?" ¡°Eat when you want to, no special day, just eat!¡± Brian closed the door. Ansel looked at the clock on the phone, 10.00 P.M. He slept like a log, for 12 hours straight. Quickly, he drank a bottle of water; his lips were cracking, almost bleeding. His throat was also in pain, his head began to dizzy. A mild dehydration attack, Ansel drank a whole bottle of water. He was at his full conscious mode, yet that dream doesn¡¯t seem to fade away. Ansel now understood how hard it is to be an author that was being bugged by their nonsense ideas or weird dream for a long time. "Where''s paper?" Ansel rummaged through his cleaned room. He fetched a crumpled paper and put his pen on a paper. "Where should I start?" Trying to find a way to describe the situation, Ansel racked up his brain. For a few minutes, Ansel put his pen. He crossed out the words that were lame to him, pouted; he was not able to form words to describe bizarre things. He couldn''t draw either; his masterpiece was a stickman with a perfect circle head. Ansel bit his pen; he only managed to write the date today, and the description of the woman in the real world. 1.3 Twist in Time April 20th 2022. 7:00 ¡°One¡¯s failure is another way to succeed.¡± It was a short message from Ansel''s mother, followed by other motivation quotes from famous figures, including from the fictional world. ¡°Don¡¯t believe in quotes written white in a black background with a famous figure that you found on the internet," Ansel replied with another picture. ¡°I¡¯m trying to motivate you, so you could be more energetic through life.¡± ¡°Nice try, but I¡¯m getting old and I should have been working for now. Even little sister has graduated last year.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not trying to compare you with her.¡± ¡°Yeah not you, but some people, and don¡¯t forget about society. This moment they may laugh at me, a 24-year-old student almost-NEET. What do you expect from me? I''m tired of moving to another university just because I can''t fit into it. And I never forget the day that dad smashed my hard-disk worth of the hobbies that I saved.¡± Ansel¡¯s hand shook, whether to send the risky message or not. He bit his dry lip until it was slightly bleeding. To his conscious, he erased it. Sending those things would result in no more money pocket for a month. ¡°Thank you,¡± sent. Ansel threw his phone to the wall. ¡°Shut up!¡± his neighbour shouted. Ansel smirked, ¡°man, you don¡¯t understand my pain.¡± 9:55 ¡°The professor gave me one more chance to change my thesis topic; yeah it must be my lucky day,¡± Ansel texted Brian on the way to campus. "WKWKWKW that damn Hitler. I really want to tear his moustache,¡± Brian replied "If that Hitler decided to give up, I¡¯ll treat you.¡± ¡°DO IT! Write something that made him seeking isekai!¡± Ansel puffed his breath, he held his boisterous laughter. Set his face into straight again. Ansel paced himself up, he was almost late. He calculated that he needs four minutes to reach his department. He shoved people who blocked his way, doesn¡¯t matter, they were all his juniors. Some just shouted, but Ansel was too ignorant to care about them. He went up to the stairs, floor one, two more. Skipped one and two stairs, sometimes jumped up, his heart pumping faster. He was impatient, he wished that time moved slower. Floor two. 9:59 Ansel sped up, it was his maximum speed. His left foot almost slipped from the stairs, he backed up, his right foot reached higher. Sweats running from his forehead to his neck, he rushed away like the wind on full speed. Floor three. Finally. 10:00 He arrived on the third floor, where all of his bad dreams resided. The lecturer''s hallway, to his right, was a balcony, left was the rooms where He didn''t see a man with a strange costume and weapon blocked the aisle to the lecturer''s office. The man was tall, on his right hand a scythe, and left a big watch. ¡°What the hell a cosplayer does in this place?¡± Ansel ducked from the weapon, ¡°coming through.¡± The man swung his scythe to Ansel¡¯s feet, Ansel swerved up, and his papers flew across the aisle. ¡°What the f¡ª¡°Ansel spat. Strangely, he and his papers were floating. Ansel couldn''t move an inch; the man dragged his scythe along, the man''s big watch stood on the place. The scythe and the watch were tied with a golden chain. The man wore a big blue robe, similar to a pastor on the church, as Ansel recalled in mind. Is it the end? Angel of death? My life was a joke after all.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The man aimed his scythe to Ansel''s neck, it was freezing old. Like a kiss of death. Ansel held his breath, his chest felt excruciating pain. I should¡¯ve called my family, tell them sorry to disappoint them all these years. ¡°Tell me, when was the last time you see her?¡± the man asked, his voice was chill. ¡°Who, her?¡± I thought he would ask ¡°Who¡¯s your God?¡± The man put his scythe closer to Ansel¡¯s neck, he could read Ansel¡¯s mind. ¡°Don¡¯t you ever joke to god? I¡¯m looking for a woman; she has white hair, very long hair. She has a chilly voice, something that pierces your ears. Tell me, and I¡¯ll spare your time.¡± The woman of his dreams, literary, not figuratively, he recalled the memory again. He tried to speak up with his trembling lips. ¡°I¡­ I saw her¡­¡± ¡°Very well,¡± the man clicked his finger, Ansel¡¯s butt fell first to the floor, and it was a hard landing. Ansel rubbed it, hoping that his bones didn¡¯t break. The papers flew to his lap elegantly, it was unfair. ¡°But I won¡¯t let you escape until you found it. Take your time,¡± Ansel¡¯s feet were tied with a golden shackle. He peered at the big watch that the man hide behind his robe, the clock was not moving at all. The man flipped the watch; he stared at Ansel with a stern look, pissed off. Quickly, Ansel focused on his papers. ¡°I found it.¡± Ansel raised the log paper from his thesis project. Behind it was a short diary that he wrote after the bizarre dream. ¡°Read it to me.¡± ¡°April 1st 2022. A woman with white long hair, pointed at me at the street near the post office when I walked home. She was tall, wore high heels, and she can run fast. I escaped through the small road.¡± ¡°19 days ago¡­She never came back?¡± Ansel shook his head. He just lied. Actually, he preferred to hide the truth that he couldn''t tell. He also wanted that man to read his mind about his dream. ¡°Good. Actually, she was an evil being that escaped from my dimension to your dimension. Beware of her; she might use you as a tool to make an apocalypse. Since I am a merciful god from another dimension, I will grant you an escape, to never meet her ever. You may choose: future or past?¡± he spoke fast like a rapper that about to smash his album on Billboard. Ansel partly comprehend what he said, then pointed at the man, his hand still shook, ¡°I have a question, who are you?¡± ¡°From all nicknames¡­most people called me Chronos, the ruler of time.¡± Greek mythology, Ansel was familiar with that name. He wasn''t a fan of mythology, but he heard it sometimes on movies. He didn''t know that the Greek deities actually existed in another dimension. Ansel overwhelmed with the truth. ¡°Oh.¡± Nodding his head, Ansel pointed at his feet, ¡°please release me first, your eminence.¡± ¡°Shake your feet,¡± Ansel did as he said, the shackles turned into dust. ¡°Now, you may choose to go to the future or past? I have time to spend.¡± ¡°Past, please. To be precise¡ª¡° ¡°I could read your wishes and intentions easily like a book,¡± Chronos added, ¡°I¡¯ll take you to the time where your fate changed completely.¡± Ansel awed, ¡°nice, where exactly it could be?¡± Chronos didn¡¯t answer, he turned his back, and his two small pigtails flowed. He chanted some words and slashed the air with his scythe. Big portal with golden colours swirling in front of them, the swirl has some events that happened in Ansel¡¯s life. ¡°When this portal changed into blue, you must enter.¡± ¡°Where it would take me?¡± ¡°Just trust me; it will be a pleasant time of your life.¡± The swirl gradually changed its hue, it was green, and then it was dark blue. Chronos pushed Ansel, ¡°Go! And Godspeed!¡± Ansel fell down through the portal. The end of the portal was a speck of white dot, far from his sight. When he got deeper, gravity gradually got stronger. A rush of air, heartbeat fastened, Ansel felt a surge of adrenaline goes to his head. The end of the portal got bigger and bigger. And Ansel crushed hard the white layer of the portal. It was dark. .. Loud hard bass blasted on a room; Ansel¡¯s alarm. He jerked his body out from the bed, reached for his phone. What he saw on the phone made him puzzled. Monday, 20 April 2020 7:33 But he was sceptical. Brian could sneak into his room and changed the time just to prank him. Ansel searched for the latest news on the internet. April 19th 2020, 9.35 P.M, The president¡¯s revision made netizen goes mad, here¡¯s why. Click baits popped up on the screen, Ansel swiped them off. Some click baits have no credibility, some of the dates were made up. Ansel searched for local news. April 20th 2020, 5.30 P.M, A fire struck garment factory, no one was injured. Ansel swiped up the news, he found the newest. April 20th 2020, 7:35 P.M, Fire struck house nearby. ¡°How in the world¡ª Brian probably doing his thesis right now,¡± Ansel rose up. He ran to Brian''s room and knocked loudly. "Ey bro? How''s the thesis?" ¡°GOD GAVE MERCY! I HAVEN¡¯T SLEEP FOR THREE EFFING DAYS! SHUT UP!¡± ¡°Sorry¡ª¡° ¡°DO YOUR OWN THESIS TOO! LAZY ASS!¡± "Thesis?" Ansel raised his eyebrows, "but I haven''t pass methodology class yet." Brian opened his door with a slam, ¡°dude, please don¡¯t get me with that nonsense joke. Oh, if you ask me ¡®am I dreaming bro¡¯, here,¡± he punched Ansel''s arms, "you''re awake!" ¡°Ahaha thanks.¡± ¡°You better be fast, Mr Ivan will back to Germany next month, if you¡¯re late, that bushy professor will check yours instead,¡± Brian locked his door. Ansel clicked his finger, he opened his laptop. Only to found his first draft of thesis marked ¡®accepted¡¯ at the end of the document. Luckily, the professor was not ¡®Hitler¡¯ this time; his professor was a foreigner, Ivan Sigmund Abene. He never met Ivan Sigmund before, probably another possibility of his life. ¡°¡­fate changed, completely,¡± the words slipped from Ansel¡¯s mouth. ¡°How could this happen? Other things must have changed.¡± Ansel opened the university website portal; he searched for his scores from the past semester. It was unexpected, almost every class that he took, marked perfect. Some of them were professor Hitler¡¯s classes. Shook his head, and then pinched his arms. ¡°It¡¯s not a dream.¡± Still, Ansel didn¡¯t have any idea how the event turned up. And why he has to be placed at this moment. Ansel faded his train of thought; he opened the email, checking the schedule of his thesis. The schedule was so tight, in three days a revision has been done, Ansel widened his eyes, Brian was right. After all, it was a pleasant thing for him. This time, his dream was not deferred. 1.4 Meeting Point August 7th 2020, Friday 12:40 One month before the graduation, Ansel spent the rest of his time by having a new hobby, reading web novels. He was fond of reading, only non-fiction, but then he found out a fiction online that somehow answers some of his questions that he had months ago. Ansel now had to binge read stuff that correlated with his life. They waited on a train station, Ansel, with his new hobby, scrolled his phone, reading. He didn¡¯t care about the surrounding. A crowd that brought luggage and big bags shoved out from the arrival door. Some meet their family or their friends; some were rummaging their phone ordered a taxi. The hum of a diesel machine filled the atmosphere of the place. ¡°It¡¯s quite strange that you changed a lot, after the crazy dream. Years ago, I offered you to go to the comic market, but you refused. And now?¡± ¡°So, that place is where a bunch of nerds socialize and have their fun?¡± ¡°No! It¡¯s hard to explain it to a normie like you!¡± Brian scratched his head. ¡°It¡¯s not just nerd fest, some creators, artist; they made something to be sold there.¡± ¡°And the reason that I should care is?¡± ¡°Raven, your crush went there, as a contributor?¡± Ansel¡¯s face flushed red. ¡°It¡¯s Maven. I know I know that I was asked to accompany her, that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Whoa whoa~ you know, you could ¡®propose¡¯ her when she was in the crowd.¡± "NO! If she rejects me, my life would be a joke again! She''s a writer; probably another writer has an eye for her, write A+ poetry. Me? My thesis was trash. I wonder why Mr. Sigmund just nods and accept it." Brian laughed, he patted Ansel¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°small talks would be fine. Besides, your crazy dream meeting a deity that could twist a time was a good point to make her ¡­ interested?¡± It was a coincidence when Ansel found out about her. When he blurted out his crazy dream online, she gave him a link to a story. It was one of the top-notch web novels. Chronos was an antagonist, much to his surprise, he followed the story. The girl was so enthusiastic about her writings; day and night she kept talking about it. Ansel offered help to be her beta reader. He was quite pissed off knowing that Chronos was an antagonist, and so he asked for the story to change. The reader liked what he advised, and then the story''s rank rocketed into the first rank. The relationship got closer; Ansel had a chance to get her real contact for the sake of knowing her. She was a cutie pie, shoulder length jet black hair, big eyes, small lip and nose. Ansel sometimes imagined her wearing a Lolita dress. There goes his fantasy. She asked him to accompany her to an annual comic market in Jakarta. This was her first experience and the best moment for her to contribute to the event. Ansel said yes. ¡°Well, if I keep telling her about it, and when she finished, the relationship will be boring.¡± Ansel pouted, ¡°Best to know about her other side by this, even though this comic market stuff was not my thing.¡± Brian disappointed, ¡°thought you were enthusiastic for it.¡± ¡°I¡ª¡° ¡°Ansel Cakara? Where¡¯s that guy?¡± a man called him from distance. Ansel searched for it, he looked at the entrance. A small girl with small luggage and brown sling bag searched for someone. Beside her, her father in a brown jacket brought a bag of food. Ansel tiptoed. It was her, Maven. Ansel waved at her. Maven ran to him, she was swallowed by the crowd, perks of being tiny. Lucky, her father takes her to them. "She''s so small, like your sister," said Brian ¡°Ah! Sorry, traffic was hell, let¡¯s get for the tickets. Bye pa,¡± Maven kissed her father¡¯s hand. ¡°Take care!¡± Their cargo was the last one, it was spacious. Lucky it was not peak season. A few people filled it. The tail of the train was one cargo away. The diesel hum, creaking sound of wooden ramps, and a soothing wind were their companions in the travel. Maven decided to sit alone on the right side, near the window. She put on her earphone. ¡°You missed the chance~¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± A young couple entered the cargo. The man was tall and skinny, he has tan complexion, his hair was neatly combed. The girl has a curvy body, which could make a sane male eyed on her. A fair lady more than a girl, the girl startled Maven. ¡°Ey Meg! I don¡¯t know you¡¯re going too!¡± ¡°Course I have to go there! Fan sign session!¡± Brian leans to Ansel, "Oh boy, famous cosplayer, Puffy-chan. I''m too shy to greet her." "Don''t be a creep," Ansel whispered. "I should''ve gone with you." Maven said. ¡°Uh, I ¡­ stayed at my boyfriend¡¯s house.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Brian eyes widened, ¡°man, I wonder what will they¡ª¡° "Shhh!" Ansel hit Brian¡¯s head ¡°Those two? Your companion?¡± Meg asked. ¡°Yup,¡± Maven walked to them, she pointed to Ansel, ¡°the red jacket, Ansel. The big guy, Brian.¡± ¡°Ansel? Oh~¡± There was a murmur, mostly girl¡¯s talk, sometimes giggling. The girl''s talk was about love, sometimes Maven blushed and shook her head. Ansel looked at her, Gosh, he blushed again. Ansel looked away at the window, ignored them. From behind them, Meg¡¯s boyfriend stood beside Brian, ¡°Hello there.¡± Brian jerked, ¡°You creep me!¡± He smiled, ¡°that¡¯s my ability, sneaking. My name¡¯s Lintang.¡± ¡°Ansel.¡± ¡°Brian.¡± "I heard that. Anyway, first time going to the comic market?" ¡°I¡¯m not, been there twice, he is,¡± Brian pointed at Ansel. "Mine''s first time, lucky I got my baby brought," Lintang opened his jacket, a camera dangling. "I''m a part-time photographer.¡± "Nice, I want to learn about photography but I don''t know where to start," Ansel said. ¡°Well, I could explain a lot of it. But start from something simple, something that you like to capture.¡± ¡°Yeah, you could take a snap of my motorcycle!¡± Brian suggested. Ansel spat, ¡°freakin showoff.¡± ¡°Interested in Itasha?¡± Lintang asked. "Used to," Brian scratched his head, "but my father got mad, he said don''t put Barbie sticker on your motorcycle. It''s not Barbie, it''s my waifu, Asuka Langley Soryuu! Anta baka!" "More like belong to trash," Ansel sneered. "One more and I kicked you from this train!" Lintang wheezed, "My parents also mad when I tried to photo some cosplayers, thinking that I collected some girl photos for dirty stuff, but now," he tipped his head to Meg. "I want to make them understand I don¡¯t have that kind of fetish.¡± ¡°Good luck, parents are hard to deal with especially with ¡®love¡¯ stuff.¡± Ansel retorted. ¡°Well about Mega they already buy it. But they still didn¡¯t accept the reality that I just do photography for pocket money." ¡°Lucky you, my parents forbid me from any hobbies since my dad smashed my stuff¡­¡± Ansel recollected the piece of his memories, some of them happened on the other side of his life, a side where he would pass if things were not fixed. ¡°I forgot when.¡± ¡°I never heard about that.¡± Brian twitched his eyebrows, ¡°or have I forgotten?¡± Ansel bit his lip, he was lost at words, and he couldn¡¯t brush them off by telling that the event once happened in another timeline. He has to lie. ¡°Somewhere in junior high, I just remembered that.¡± ¡°Oh man, that was harsh,¡± Lintang closed the jacket and put his camera inside. Brian bought the lie. ¡°At least now you could do anything freely.¡± ¡°Dear passengers, we''re about to stop for fifteen minutes in the nearby station. If you wished to depart, please prepare in fifteen minutes. Thank you." ¡°Finally, stop to smoke,¡± Lintang uttered. ¡°Smoking? Again? Not under my watch,¡± Meg curled her arms to his neck. Lintang coughed, "Yes, fair maiden." .. One person entered the cargo. The sound of their footstep made Ansel frightened, a sharp tap of a high heel. He was still traumatic about that event. Took a deep breath, reset the mind, Ansel thought it was a different person. And it is. The woman wore black latex long coat, her hair was golden white but covered by the coat. A pair of sunglass with golden frame adorned her oval face. Ansel shifted his position slowly, Brian noticed, they looked at the woman. ¡°Whoever wore a high heels boots on a train? I don¡¯t understand fashion.¡± Brian raised his eyebrow. Ansel focused on the feet, high heel boots, with dark purple rose as a decoration, so flashy. She could steal pickpocket attention. "She might miss her plane and opt for the train? Maybe her relatives passed away so soon so she has to be like that?" Maven speculated. ¡°As expected from a writer,¡± Brian added. ¡°What do you think Ansel?¡± Ansel awkwardly sat on his position, ¡°uh what?¡± ¡°You ever saw her on your dream?¡± Maven asked. Ansel sat beside Maven, leaned on her and whispered. ¡°Yes, Chronos enemy.¡± You promised that I would never see her again, damn you Chronos. Maven took a deep breath, ¡°maybe your brain rigged up some childhood trauma.¡± How am I going to say that it was not childhood trauma? It will happen or would happen? I couldn¡¯t say it was my past, but it was. ¡°Psychology stuff,¡± Ansel stared at empty space. ¡°I can¡¯t remember the past vividly, so, yeah maybe.¡± Dammit, Chronos please help me. I don¡¯t know how people in another dimension pray for your help. ¡°Dear passenger, we¡¯re about to leave the station, please sit on your seat.¡± Should I leave the train? I don¡¯t want to be her slave. Loud long whistle from train alarmed him. Meg and Lintang entered the cargo. But what about my friends? The train slightly moved. How do I explain to them? Ansel¡¯s heart beating fast, faster than the train itself. Cold sweat ran through his body. His vision blurred. "You okay?" Maven touched Ansel''s cheek. White, Ansel stared at the lamp. He almost lost his consciousness. Blue speckles, then green, filled his eyes. His eyes stuffed up. Darkness. .. ¡°Are you okay?¡± it was a warm voice. A soft hand reached for him. ¡°Tea, as you please.¡± Ansel opened his eyes, still white. He raised his upper body; slowly he could hear the hum of diesel. His sight gradually better, all of his friends, including the stewardess surrounded him. ¡°I¡ª¡° Ansel took the tea from the stewardess, ¡°thank you.¡± He sipped the tea, and then put it on a small table beside. "Road Sick, glad you got better." Ansel slightly nodded. The stewardess left them. Maven patted Ansel¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You should¡¯ve taken some fresh air with Lintang,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t have asthma. It¡¯s just strange.¡± "You haven''t eaten from the morning? Here''s food," Lintang gave him warm soup. "Thanks¡­" Ansel opened the lid of the soup. Warm chicken soup with dumplings has woken Ansel''s appetite. ¡°So, you fainted for no reason?¡± Maven asked. "It¡¯s actually¡­" Ansel peeked; the woman was not there, not her luggage too. "Panic attack?" "Panic attack?" Maven raised her eyebrows, "my parents are doctors, and mostly the fainted patients are the ones who have severe motion sickness, blood loss, and no oxygen went to their brain." Ansel took a deep breath, "Can I have time, with you alone?" ¡°Sure.¡± Both of them went to restaurant cargo. It was spacious, the scent of warmed microwave food filled the air. Stewardess went back and forth from one cargo to another to bring the food. Ansel and Maven sat on a bench on the corner of cargo, looking side by side. ¡°You know that woman? Black coat?¡± "She moved to another cargo, her seat was actually behind Mega. What''s wrong with her?" ¡°I don¡¯t feel a good vibe. And I was scared. Do you know Chronos? The stuff that I told you? Everything was real.¡± "You came back from the future by his help so that you won''t see the apocalypse bringer? And you were so frustrated that he won¡¯t help you?¡± ¡°Yes! She could probably start an apocalypse on this train!¡± Ansel leaned to Maven, he whispered with rage. ¡°Listen. She is a good person. You must have lost your mind.¡± ¡°But you said you believe in me!¡± Maven stared sharply at Ansel, "I know. I had that. I met both of them. It was real, but please, don''t be afraid of it. We don''t know exactly when apocalypse going to be. Chronos could be lying.¡± ¡°You met him?¡± ¡°I had. The story that I made was real, I met them, both. That¡¯s why I kept talking to you, for reference and for therapy. It¡¯s hard when no one believed in you.¡± ¡°So, the beginning of the story was actually real?¡± ¡°Yes. But after that, some parts are altered; I don¡¯t want him to hunt me down.¡± ¡°Tell me what actually happened next.¡± 1.5 Departure ¡°He took me back four days after the orientation day, which was¡­ 2019 middle of August. It was not the best time of my life, I can say. To repeat a process was suck, especially when something has changed. I have no one to tell about this, not even my parents; they could call me crazy, meeting a god dressed in a priest or fashion designer attire. I bet my mom dragged me back to church, to cleanse the evil spirits from my body.¡± ¡°They kinda strict to religion are they?¡± ¡°Do not ... say bad things about my parents.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Ansel looked at the table. Then he stared Maven again, ¡°so that was the first time you made a story?¡± ¡°I already write when I was junior high, I kept all my stories in a diary. Most of it was love stories or teen lit. I use it as an escape from reality because I was bullied and picked up to unnecessary fight." Maven lowered her voice at the end, she was ashamed. Ansel opened apart from Maven''s life that she never told to anyone on the internet. He was glad that he could be someone that could understand other''s pain. "At least you have a chance to escape." ¡°I hope I never meet Chronos, he was evil, for me.¡± ¡°He was a jerk, but maybe it was his motive to protect our world from evil.¡± Ansel retorted. Maven stressed her eyebrows, "but he tortures me, so he is still a jerk regardless of his motives." Ansel released a short breath, panic and frustration mixed, ¡°if she appeared here, that guy must be somewhere.¡± ¡°And I''m afraid if he throws us again, or tortures us, or killed us, not only us but the whole train," Maven supported her head with her hands, "I was afraid if he throws me to my childhood. I was¡­ it was traumatic, I don¡¯t want to repeat it once again.¡± Ansel patted Maven¡¯s shoulder, "Well, I just hope that he will throw us to the pleasant point in our life, maybe to the future. No torture at all.¡± "At all? Throwing ourselves into the future counts as torture, because we don¡¯t have the knowledge yet, we acquire it through experiences, fault, and conflict. It was all controlled by fate if someone manipulates it; no one knows what the future will be.¡± Ansel nodded slowly; somehow he was still pissed of what the professor would say if he hadn¡¯t passed the thesis in the future. ¡°It will be an imperfect future.¡± There was silence between them, only the sound of chatting stewardess, other passengers, and diesel machine. They were anxious about something that no one else knows. Maven''s mind filled with the scene of the accident, but it didn''t happen when she returned in another timeline. She never met her nemesis anymore; her nemesis went to another university, but still in the same town. Still, the scenario played in her mind. Meanwhile, Ansel kept thinking, professor ¡®Hitler¡¯ classes could be passed perfectly. It was out of his character to give a perfect score. Also, he never heard of Professor Ivan Sigmund, only Brian knew him. Ansel arm crossed, he leaned closer to Maven, ¡°Could it be that Chronos also appeared to them?¡± ¡°Them?¡± "The ones those were so despicable to us." Ansel''s sight sharpened. He tried to concentrate. "It seemed that everything was fine, but the change was too strange." ¡°Probably, I would be glad if Chronos scares Andini.¡± Maven slightly nodded. ¡°Or, was it Thabit?¡± ¡°Man, I missed the opportunity to see that professor being chased by a wild woman." Ansel giggled. "Yeah, it could be another speculation. Brian might have seen her but maybe he wasn¡¯t able to tell it. I want to discuss it together¡ª¡°The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Maven scratched her head, ¡°I should prepare for my presentation tomorrow. I wished I have more time.¡± They went back to their cargo. On the way back, the train moved oddly, it shook as if it was turning direction. Ansel stopped for a while, he stood between two cargos, the two cargos felt like about to separate. Brian stood up, anxiety could be seen from his face. It was something that made the ground moved. ¡°Earthquake?¡± Brian asked. Lintang ducked below the chair, he held Mega, covered her head with his arms. ¡°Stay low!¡± Brian followed. Ansel and Maven couldn¡¯t move from their position. Maven held the chair strongly, she felt uneasy. ¡°Someone should stop the train now.¡± Maven said in a low voice, her fear arisen. The ground stopped shaking, low and short earthquake. Probably somewhere else, the buildings were destroyed by the bigger quake, or the sea moved like a bowl of water being shaken abruptly. Brian stood up again. Silently feeling the cargo moved, it was normal for now. Brian was an overly cautious person when it comes to something emergency. "Ansel, Maven, please move, stay low. Another earthquake sometimes occurs in a few minutes." "I hope we''re safe." Mega worried, she still stayed low below the chair. Even though it was so filthy, cobwebs chewed gum. Safety over vanity. Maven shook her head fast, she refused Brian¡¯s offer, ¡°better for us to stood beside the door, or the joint.¡± ¡°You fool! If the train rolled down, what would you do? You¡¯ll be smashed than safe!¡± Brian told her harshly. ¡°No¡ª¡° Another earthquake, this time it was stronger. Ansel jumped towards Maven. His body was above her, they lay down on the floor, low. Ansel closed his eyes, he didn''t want to think beyond this. He just wanted to be saved. ¡°Dear passengers, we¡¯re about to pass the long tunnel. Please watch your luggage¡ª¡° the automatic voice audio was cut. *Bzzt* ¡°Dear passengers, this is a word from the captain, stay calm on your seat. We have an earthquake going on. May God always protect us¡ª¡°the captain¡¯s message cut by a long buzz. The ground shook hard. A whole train filled with cries, sorrow, prayers, echoing through the walls of cargo hoping that it walked faster, to escape from being crushed by the tunnel. It was dark; the lights were turned off, the hum of diesel now changed into a roar. The train was forced to move faster than the speed of light. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The measurement of time was still, but at this moment, it made people think that time moved slower. A sound of the roaring wind, the cargo that Ansel rode was the last to pass the tunnel. Ansel hoped that he will be saved, not knowing what or who saved him and his friends. Another soaring sound, and then faded slowly. There was no sign of a quake, the floor doesn¡¯t move at all. Ansel opened his eyes; the floor was no longer filthy. It was blinding white. Maven was beside him, she lay on the floor. Brian, Lintang, and Mega lay on the floor, but further from them. When they rose up, there was one big question being asked by three persons at the same time. ¡°Where are we?¡± Ansel dared not to speak this to anyone. He visited this place before, in his dream. A dream that felt too real and bizarre that made him think that he was not dreaming. He was taken to this place. A place that everything was washed white, except, there was the black pool that placed on the centre of the room. The walls that circled the pool on his dream now had gone. ¡°Is this the place that you told me?¡± Maven whispered. ¡°Hem, yes.¡± ¡°Ansel! Wake up!¡± Brian shook him. ¡°It¡¯s a dream bro, don¡¯t be worried.¡± ¡°A dream? What kind of nonsense is that?¡± Mega furiously demanded an answer. ¡°Just. Stay calm, maybe we are all sleeping.¡± ¡°Sleeping eternally?¡± Lintang made a hypothesis. ¡°There was a quake and this appeared. We¡¯re dead.¡± ¡°Guys,¡± Maven cut, ¡°maybe we¡¯re in a coma.¡± "Well I believe in you rather than your friend''s nonsense," Mega agreed, "besides, we could see nothing at all here. What scared me was how long does the time passed in the real world if we are in a coma?" ¡°You¡¯ll know that soon when you¡¯re awake.¡± Maven stated. "Someone wake me up!" Mega screamed, "if you could hear me! Please, anyone!" she cried while she was screaming. "Please¡­" Lintang didn''t comfort Mega this time. He too needed comfort for himself, being dead was a deal rather than in a coma. Taking care of a comatose patient would cost a hand, leg, or kidney. Lintang fell on his knees. Brian lose all of his strength from his body, he decided to lie down beside Ansel, waiting for something that could save his life. All of the despair made weight on Ansel''s shoulder. He wasn''t able to tell them where exactly are they, he still didn''t understand much about this place. ¡°You are the ruler of dream and hope, you own a dream dimension. This is where you used to work.¡± He remembered the words. ¡°I wish I could take you out of this place, the sooner the better.¡± He tried to prove what Thabit said was right. "No, someone has to wake us up," Lintang said hopelessly. ¡°Then I wish someone wake us up, sooner the better.¡± A big crack on the white ground, exactly below Ansel¡¯s heart, Ansel couldn¡¯t move his body, he let himself fall aimlessly. The crack spread wider to Maven and Brian position, they too let themselves fall. Mega was scared, she ran away from the crack, Lintang was behind her, but he didn''t manage to run away, his step failed him and he fell. The crack now below Mega''s foot, she stepped on a fracture and fell. Far below them was a black hole, with nine walls surrounding. The black hole swallowed them into nothing. 2.1 Arrival They fell on a portal, the swirl of colors on the portal made them dizzy, it was overwhelming. Myriads of stars appeared after they passed the portal, they were floating in space for a while, and then the stars rushed to them. They closed their eyes because the illuminating light blinded them. They were all confused, where are we right now? Where are we heading to? When will this end? Questions keep flowing on their mind. Some of them began to think that they headed to the afterlife, a one way trip to the unknown realm. Even though religions tried to portray the afterlife, none could compare to the situation that they had for now. ¡°You are the ruler of dream and hope.¡± Ansel began thinking that if he made a certain wish; something that he wished for would be granted. It was like a cheat code for life, being a ruler of dream and hope would make the person greater than the genie that could only grant three wishes with several conditions. Ansel wondered what parameters that limit his power. There was darkness, and then there were lights, the lights were similar to the ones in machines. A faint hum of diesel filled the room. A stench of oil and damp air made someone suffocate when entering the place. Suddenly, light below them dimmed, it lit one by one, showing a path in front of them. The floor glows a friendly yellowish hue. Ansel stood up; his friends were laid down on the floor, either unconscious or sleeping. Ansel tiptoed on the empty space between his friends. He wanted to explore the surroundings. When he stepped on the nearest path, lasers aimed at him. Ansel raised his hands above, he kneeled, he did that on by reflect. ¡°We meet again.¡± A silhouette of a tall woman appeared from the furthest path, she wore a dress that slightly similar in his dream. Thabit walked elegantly, approaching Ansel and his friends. ¡°And no doubt, it was you after all I¡¯ve been searching in many dimensions, ruler of wishes.¡± ¡°What do you want from me? Why do you have to take my friends too? If it¡¯s our business alone, then just take me!¡± Several robots showed themselves from their hideout, clicking sound when their feet stepped. The robots were slim, like toothpicks crafted into a humanoid; their head was covered by a visor, from the visor there were the machines inside. Their pitch black body made them easier to camouflage in the darkness. One robot held Ansel down to his knees, another one pressed the rifle nozzle on Ansel''s chest, restrained him from doing any harmful action. "I need them too; they are other god apostles, even though they never saw one of us, except Maven. I think that they are capable to help our duty." ¡°To bring an apocalypse to my world?¡± Ansel gritted on his teeth. His head was hot, if it¡¯s in a cartoon, his head already has steam. Thabit solemnly smiled, ¡°Chronos told you that? Do you ever, ever fell on his tricks? How dare he lie about the codex of primal god? He screwed the timeline.¡± ¡°No! He helped me to mend my past!¡± ¡°But at the same time, you have accumulated the bad luck for the future; someday you have to face a harder rejection from the last time. He didn¡¯t really understand the concept of fate, and his action mocked me.¡± Ansel screamed, "I want to go home! I want to continue my life! I can''t be stuck in here forever for your hideous duty." ¡°It¡¯s not a hideous duty! You all will help us to mend some things that we couldn¡¯t mend alone.¡± ¡°NO! I want to go! Now! Release me!¡± "Oh, my troublesome apostle, I do have a love-hate relationship with you. Now sleep," Thabit threw a needle straight to Ansel''s forehead.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He felt an excoriating pain in his head, he couldn''t think clearly, his dizziness made him frustrated, it was the most painful headache he ever had in his life. Ansel pry his eyes open, sparks of blue and green grains filled his vision, his ears stuffed, and he fainted again. A few minutes later, he felt his body being moved by an unknown force. He heard murmurs; the language that they speak was alien to him. Ansel tried to open his eyes, but his eyelid seemed to be forced closed by a force, the force was not harsh, it was calm and strong. "¡­language comprehensions complete," A soft voice, robot-like, spoke near his ears. ¡°¡­careful, he is a hero¡ª¡° The last word was unheard; Ansel guessed it was a name of a person. He wished to see right now, he tried to pry again. Not a good idea, the force was still there. Ansel took a deep breath. He let out one vent. I wish I were home. He regretted the choice that he has to avoid his family for more than two years, and now he was in a place that no one would be able to save him. Humanity could only reach Mars, for now, to reach a place in another dimension; it would take several generations to compile the knowledge and practiced to travel through dimensions. It was a hopeless situation. I wish I could survive here, whatever it takes. His eyelid sensed a strong light from above, Ansel pried his eyes open, a lamp, unfamiliar ceiling. Alcohol and antiseptics tickled his nose. His body now could feel completely, he lay on a soft bed, a thin sheet covered to his upper torso. No IV, no heartbeat pace checker. Curtain divided each section; the curtain blew by wind, on his right side, Brian was sleeping peacefully. His head has a bandage circled on his forehead. Ansel rose from the bed. Feeling happier because everything that just happened was only a dream, he thought. His dirty red parka jacket, plain black t-shirt and his blue jeans were replaced with green medical dress. He stepped on a cold floor bare footed, the floor was crystalline white, as cold as ice. Walked towards the curtain slowly, and then Ansel flipped the curtain, hoping the doctor or the nurse happily see him awake from a coma. But his happy thoughts were broken completely when he opened the curtain in front of him. A sight of unfamiliar hospital, they were trapped in a big glass box. Ansel shook Brian, ¡°wake up.¡± Brian stayed still, he lulled to his dreams, sheepishly said to Ansel, ¡°yeah, yeah, get away, I want to sleep.¡± Ansel ran to the left of his bed, Lintang was sleeping, but his eye movement seemed uneasy. Anxiety could be seen in his face. Lintang rolled away from Ansel, he swatted Ansel¡¯s hand in reflect. Ansel stepped back, ¡°If you could hear me, wake up.¡± Lintang grunted, he piled his pillow to cover his ear. There was no one else on the glass box room. Ansel couldn¡¯t see outside the glass, it was blurry, he knew that they were a subject for an experiment. Ansel cupped his hands on the glass; he put his head between his hands, trying to see outside, still none. The glass transparency was so low that Ansel thought it was a mirror at first. This kind of glass was better than any interrogation room that he saw in movies. Tapping sound came from afar, someone was coming and that person wore high heels. Thabit. Ansel take steps back, he waited in anticipation. The glass box has an invisible door on the right corner, Thabit pushed it lightly, and she entered the room with several people behind her, nurses, doctors, also robots. She has a menacing aura that made the whole room felt frightening as in thriller movies. Ansel didn¡¯t know what to do; he pretended to sleep away. He heard the curtains flipped, a cold rubbery hand held him, and followed by a sharp pain on his arm. After the injection, Ansel¡¯s head felt heavy. He lulled to sleep by the medicine. .. Wake up. You¡¯re safe now. Deep male voice, somewhere in his forties, awakened Ansel from his slumber. Ansel opened his eyes, looking for the man, the man was not there. There was only furniture that was shiny, something that was straight from science fiction movies that he has seen. He lay on a bed with several circuits below, the mattress warmed Ansel. A big hexagonal window in front of him showed the sky of the mysterious planet. It was a cold morning, the white thin clouds wafted on a violet sky. The sun, or star in this case, arisen from the right side. Ansel marked it the east. On the east side, on the corner of the room, Ansel noticed a small door, probably a bathroom. He rose up from the bed, a full body mirror on his right showed his appearance. Several widgets floated on the corner of the mirror. The mirror was like a big smartphone. His clothes were changed again into a white robe, with several circuits like ornaments on the chest, the lines were the opening, and the round ones were the buttons. Ansel felt a skin tight inner. He opened the robe. A white and grey plug-suit inner covered his neck to toe. It felt like a second skin, Ansel rubbed his body, searching for the opening. On the back, there was a button to let air into the plug-suit, and then it opened itself from the back. He was naked, and the door was knocked. ¡°Come in.¡± ¡°NO don¡¯t come in!¡± 2.2 Arrival A fair maiden brought in a tray of food. She opened the door without hearing the warning from Ansel. Ansel took his coat to cover some of his body. There was an awkward silence. The maiden was shocked. She covered her eyes with her left hand, and slid the tray to Ansel, ¡°take the food.¡± She closed the door. ¡°Excuse me¡­ could you tell me how to wear this strange costume?¡± ¡°How dare you ask a girl to do this?!¡± ¡°I, uh, just bring me back my old clothes then!¡± Ansel requested, ¡°This thing is alien for me!¡± ¡°It¡¯s impossible.¡± Ansel raised his eyebrows, how come such a small request rejected, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain it, I don¡¯t know much about what¡¯s written in the scriptures of the gods, but as far as I know, once you go through the tunnel of life, you¡¯ll bring nothing.¡± Ansel groaned, ¡°Why this does have to happen? So I probably dead or transported to other life, or ¡­¡± Ansel infuriated, ¡°You don¡¯t help much, okay I¡¯ll wear¡­¡± ¡°Okay I¡¯ll help you to wear it, if it¡¯s an order from Her Eminence beloved Apostle,¡± The maiden sighed. ¡°No no no! Just guide me from the outside.¡± Ansel put on his coat and buttoned up. The maiden blushed; she tied her straight white long hair into a pony tail. She took off the coat; the plug-suit coated her body tight. Even though she was an ¡®alien¡¯, she has a similar feature to human body; the difference was her skin, pale violet. When she blushed, the blush was blue-violet. She showed her back to Ansel, a shiny black button with white ring around it. ¡°As you can see, there are some lines, which the opening for the plug-suit. Try to touch it.¡± Ansel sweated, he thought day one on mysterious planet and an alien tried to seduce him through tutorial. What scared him was, whether if there was a trap, or parasite on the alien¡¯s back that was ready to devour him. Ansel took a step back, he pushed the button slowly. *Psssh* The plug-suit opened from each section. The maiden¡¯s back was sleek, no trap, no parasite. All safe. She turned around there was a button below her chest. ¡°You see, there are sections that separate each set of the suit. You put it one by one, and stretch them out to the back. And then, push this button.¡± The maiden pushed the button below her chest and turn back again, the section closed. ¡°The air was pushed out from the suit if you push the front button.¡± Ansel nodded, ¡°So that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Please be prepared soon, you will have an appointment with the other member,¡± The maiden left the room and closed the door. ¡°I¡­ I want to ask, where am I exactly?¡± The maiden answered, ¡°Cephyx, the capital of Plon planet.¡± Ansel put on his plug-suit according to the instruction that he had received. He also contemplated where he was right now. It seems that he would never reach home, even planning for an escape was futile, and he didn¡¯t know the way back to his place. The only thing was to surrender to Thabit¡¯s will, which was suck. Ansel ate the food on the platter, well done tenderloin steak with asparagus and mashed potato. He never had such a luxury to eat those; the juicy steak has a special taste that he can¡¯t describe. At least, the food brightened his mood. He opened the cover from the glass, the scent of fine wine. This will be the life of being an apostle to demon goddess? Ansel thought, he tasted the wine with his lips, it was the pleasant thing that he ever drank too. Good thing I¡¯ll be spoiled here. Ansel wiped the food from his mouth, closed the platter, and then slid the tray outside. ¡°No, please let me do it,¡± The maiden offered. A tall man walked between Ansel and the maiden. ¡°Please, Ansel, follow me.¡± The man has an aura of a general; he wore a red coat with several badges on his left chest. He was 2 meters or more, taller than Brian. His expression was void of life, his eyes has a deep blue color that somehow matched his expression. The tap of his boots was similar to Thabit¡¯s.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The hallways on Cephyx district was wide, tall, filled with white LED lights on the wall. Similar to the science fiction movies that Ansel saw, but this one has bigger scale. There were several doors that connect one place to another. This hallway filled with people, when Ansel and the man passed, everyone gave a salute. Strangely, no robot followed the man, to Ansel¡¯s knowing, a general must be guarded everywhere he goes so that no one would harm them. Maybe the systems in this world were totally different. On the end of the hallways, there was a thick metal door. Turns out, it was a lift. The man pressed his thumb on the scanner near the door of the lift. The thick door gradually opened one by one, there were three layers. Ansel was a claustrophobic; a lift was a hell to him. He took a deep breath before entering, and then closed his eyes. The lift was closed, Ansel gulped, he felt his body moved up above. The man tried to make Ansel relaxed; he patted Ansel shoulder and said, ¡°My name is Ashura Pte Melioratus. I am the great general of Cephyx district. Here, I will provide you and your friends a place to stay and to train your powers. As you can see, Her Eminence Thabit Melioratus has summoned the people that she need for her great goal, she will explain it later to you.¡± There was a silence. ¡°Are you from a planet named Earth?¡± Ansel opened his eyes, ¡°Yes,¡± he sighed. ¡°Quite a rough travel was it?¡± Ashura asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Ansel felt a lump on his heart fell down, ¡°Can I ask you a question, Sir?¡± ¡°Anything,¡± Ashura leaned to Ansel. ¡°Is there any technology regarding dimension travelling that I can learn about?¡± Ashura shook his head in confusion, ¡°It is a technology that we never discovered before. Only the Great Deities has the secret intact. We can¡¯t be too demanding to ask for that knowledge.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Greed was the first sign of apocalypse, if we are too demanding for something that was not granted for us. There will be destruction. Greed was the beast that devours our life.¡± He kept the question about dimension travelling when the time was right. ¡°I hope you will get used to your new life.¡± Ashura patted Ansel shoulder¡¯s again. ¡°And, please conquer your fear to lift; it¡¯s the main transportation here.¡± No way. Ansel sweat ran cold through his forehead. The lift has reached the place where Ashura granted, it opened. In front of them was a huge hall. They are on the top of the world, the hall wall and ceiling were made of glass with colors, it arranged like a mosaic. The floor was made of plain white glass. The hall illuminated lights from the star of planet Plon. Cascading lights, the whole place was like a gleaming ballroom. Several desks and chairs arranged in circle, like the formation that Ansel see before. Thabit¡¯s throne was adjacent with the lift. She sat elegantly; her aura emitted a spark of the prime leader. The chairs filled with several people, including Maven, Lintang, and Mega. Only four chairs were empty. Two for Ansel and Ashura, two for Brian and his ¡®helper¡¯ ¡°Please walk first, Ansel.¡± Ashura offered. Ansel walked to the round table, he was anxious, his friends also seemed to be afraid and confused of the situation. Ansel hid it with a flat face. He dragged the chair, and sit beside Maven ¡®helper¡¯. ¡°And thus, we will start the meeting,¡± Ashura said it before he sat on his chair. ¡°Have you heard about Brian Paays situation?¡± Thabit asked. Ashura bowed to Thabit, ¡°Your Eminence, Brian Paays has an issue regarding to his mental health, it is best for us to leave him until he recovered from his state of mind. Let me handle the rest to explain him after he recovered.¡± ¡°Poor he is, Saorthoil apostle. Have you summoned the doctors?¡± ¡°I already have, Your Eminence.¡± ¡°Excellent. Then, I shall start,¡± Thabit rose from her throne. She clapped her hands, ¡°Welcome to my realm, Ateleioti Pisina, you may call it nine endless realms.¡± Ansel¡¯s mind shifted on his vision, now it was clear; there were nine dimensions that acted as nine walls surrounding a black pool. The pool might be an underworld for the people that resided in this realm. ¡°¡­ I apologize that I brought you here with no consent. For we are in a state of emergency, I need you all to bring the balance to this world. My Dearest Brother, Void, The Creator and Leader of this realm was chased by other deities that wanted to devour Void power. The name is Zeus Lamiarga and Chronos Mitra. For some of you have met Chronos, Zeus most loyal apostle.¡± Ansel stiffened; the guy who made his life turns right, was the antagonist after all. ¡°I cannot defeat Zeus Lamiargia, because My Dearest Brother, Void has made a rule ¡®not to harm each other.¡¯ Unfortunately, Zeus found out how to break the rule, using his treacherous way. And I tried my best to survive from his evil plans. But I cannot do this all the time; he has to be annihilated, before he started a revolution for our realms. ¡± The helpers all disgusted. Ansel realized that Ashura said greediness was a bad thing. Now it was clear to him. Ansel¡¯s mind conflicted when Thabit mentioned revolution; there must be something that has to be changed. ¡°I have to take you to this world, to be my apostle, because you are not tied to any rule in this world. All of you had one talent to discover, and that talent will be used to help me bring the balance to this world. I didn¡¯t mean to destroy yours, for your world has different Leader. I made a bargain to Him that I will bring you home after the quest.¡± The helper cheered, it was a true expression. Ansel and others were silent; they looked down on the table. Maven smiled a bit, and then her smile changed into a bitter expression. ¡°What has made sorrow on you, Maven Kalila?¡± Thabit asked. Maven blurted, ¡°Without hurting Your Eminence utmost respect, I¡¯m not ready for the responsibility. To bring a balance, to made world peace, whatever on the terms, I am not ready. I just want to go home without those quests. Pardon my rudeness.¡± She bowed afterward. Ansel and the others looked at Maven, she was blunt and brave to speak something like that to the prime leader. It was a pure bravery. Ansel opened his mouth, ¡°I, Ansel Cakara, with my most apologies, wanted to ask about what we should do to both of the deities? We also have our business back in our world, thank you.¡± ¡°I need your help to ambush them. With your powers combined, those two will find an end to their life.¡± Killing deities? It was impossible! We¡¯re all human beings here! Ansel silently grunt his throat. Thabit stared sharp at Ansel, ¡°that was an insult for me, Ansel Cakara. I had granted you all powers for you to discover.¡± Ansel forgot that she could read minds, he bowed down to apologize. ¡°Pardon me, Your Eminence, how much power that you had given to us?¡± Mega broke the ice. ¡°One, only, and it is enough for you.¡± 2.3 Hard Pill to Swallow That fact was a hard pill to swallow for them. One power, to conquer someone god-like, it was almost impossible for them to get out from this place alive. Ansel thought about a strategy, but his head was a mess, he couldn¡¯t figure out how to defeat or kill someone. They need training, and it would be a long way to go. Not only years, they need centuries, or beyond. Ansel put both of his hand on his mouth, he stared at Thabit. ¡°Would you please explain to my dear apostles about their ability?¡± Maven¡¯s helper stood up, he looks comical, round tummy, small build, like humpty dumpty. His long pointy ears twitched. ¡°I am Nikanor pte Hannu, the head of Cephyx library. I want to explain you about the ability that has been granted to you. Apparently, you are now close to a deity, physically.¡± Deity? Shocked, Ansel eyes widened, he put his hands on the table, leaned closer. ¡°Once you are a deity, you will experience some changes to your body; some parts of your body will malfunction. Your body has produced an unlimited amount of telomere.¡± Maven cuts, ¡°Excuse me? Telomere? If those are in abnormal amount it will trigger cancer¡­¡± ¡°As you know, some law in this realm was different from yours. You better discover the others soon as you slowly learn about this realm.¡± Nikanor opened the thick book on his arm, ¡°The risk to put make a deity out of a commoner was too high, before you, there are also several subjects that we have tested on. They all failed since they are from our world. It was magical when you all made it here, safe and sound. Though there are some side effect after the ability was implanted. Brian Paays has difficulties to adjust his mental state after the implement of the power.¡± ¡°How come this is possible?¡± Ansel asked. ¡°As far as I can see, the human beings in your realm are called the children of God or the servant of God is this correct?¡± Nikanor reverted back the question. ¡°Yes,¡± said Maven, ¡°it is a term taken from certain religions.¡± Nikanor flipped the pages of the book, ¡°Exactly. And thus I began to collect some information of it. The rest were Her Eminence Thabit Melioratus business to have a bargain with Him. No wonder you are special.¡± Ansel was skeptical when Nikanor said that. Whether Thabit actually did that or she just randomly picked them up and made them as a lab rat. Nikanor closed the book, ¡°So, I¡¯ll start to introduce the one power system, from Elizabeth Maven Kalila, you have the ability to preserve memory by understanding things. Be careful, memories are something precious for us. Mega Adrianna Perwitasari, the ability of trickster, you could transform to any that you desired, any living things or maybe beyond that. Feel free, use your creativity! Lintang Byantara, you will control air and weather. Last but not least, Ansel Cakara, free will. Dream manipulation and ¡­ I cannot describe much about your power, dreams are something complicated to understand. You will discover it through your helper, or find it yourself. You will have some training with your helper; I wish you all aid some help for us.¡± Free will? Ansel questioned his power; so far, his power was already ¡®spoiled¡¯ by Thabit. Yet he didn¡¯t understand what and how to use it. ¡°Any question?¡± Nikanor looked at the new apostles eyes. ¡°Do we have an alter name?¡± Mega shyly asked, ¡°I mean, I can¡¯t go around with that¡ª¡° ¡°You gained it through people¡¯s trust, state yourself first, help them, and you will have your new identity.¡± Ashura proudly shoved himself, ¡°As I gained my new identity as Her Eminence apostle.¡± ¡°Or, you could search the reference from the library about cosmogony of this realms, there are a lot of options,¡± Nikanor added. Mega¡¯s mouth shaped an O¡¯s. ¡°I have another question,¡± Lintang stood up and raised his hand, ¡°Regarding to the quest, what if we are not ready to face them?¡± Thabit stepped down from the throne, she walked to Lintang, ¡°you are filled with doubt, my dear apostle; try to clear the gloomy cloud on your head. And you shall see the light. You are always ready for everything.¡± Lintang gulped, cold sweat running through. He nodded slowly with eyes closed, murmuring ¡°yes, Her Eminence.¡± Thabit smiled, ¡°good.¡± She strolled back to her throne, stood on the right side. ¡°You may leave now.¡± All stood and bowed to Thabit. One by one, they leave the hall. ¡°That¡¯s crazy, one? One was never enough. And my ability was ridiculous,¡± Mega ranted along the way. ¡°One is enough, it¡¯s better than nothing at all.¡± Lintang retorted.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Ansel walked across them, ¡°Also, if we complains a lot, we don¡¯t know that Thabit would do for us. Please remain calm, maybe we need a time to think about it.¡± Mega ran away, her helper chased her. Lintang only looked when she leave, his helper patted his back, ¡°it¡¯s hard to deal with girls.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Lintang nodded, ¡°Anyway show us the training field, please.¡± Ansel looked back; Maven was missing on the crowd with her helper. Ashura leaned to Ansel, ¡°I believe that everyone was at the state of confusion. Maybe bit training for your ability will help you to relieve the stress?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Ansel answered, ¡°show us the way.¡± Ansel¡¯s mind was filled with uncertainties, like a black cloud covering the sky. He couldn¡¯t pay attention to where he heading, he just followed Ashura along the way. The district that they inhibited was a gigantic building. There were almost no open places; this place was covered in glass dome. They finally arrived in front of white circular door. Ashura and Lintang¡¯s helper put their hands on the scanner. When Ansel passed it, there was a screen that halted him. Ansel put his hand on the scanner; he could pass the screen after that. The training room was 30 x 30 meters; its height reached the outer dome, around 100 meters. It was a plain white room, its tile cracked; some of the walls have been plastered. ¡°Once it was used to test weapons. Since there was no war, it has been empty for years,¡± Ashura explained. ¡°So¡­ how do we start?¡± Ansel put his hand on his hips, ¡°and your name?¡± ¡°Yana pte Hannu.¡± ¡°I noticed that some uses pte on their names, what are actually those?¡± ¡°It means ¡®blessed by¡¯ and then followed by the name of the deity that you followed. Pte for male, Sti for female. You don¡¯t need those, since you are the¡ª¡° ¡°Enough for the explanation,¡± Ashura put a stance, ¡°now let¡¯s start the business. I¡¯ll teach you how to ignite the power within you. In this world, there are limitations. Your body still has to adapt to those point, and then you are free to break them after you know the basics.¡± Ansel suddenly remembered such kind of power from a game. ¡°Mana point?¡± ¡°Actually we have another name for those, but, to make you understand, I¡¯ll call it mana point then?¡± Yana asked. ¡°Yes,¡± said Ansel, ¡°explain to us.¡± ¡°Basically, our body has a power granted by the universe, at first, we have a small storage of power inside us. Through some training, the storage grew bigger; some has trained for years to make their storage for power, bigger. In some rare cases, some people have big storage equal to an adult when they were children.¡± ¡°Talent granted from the gods?¡± Lintang sneered, ¡°at least in our realm everyone has the same.¡± ¡°The ones who were born rich have more privilege,¡± Ansel countered. ¡°Oh right, I forgot that.¡± ¡°Rich?¡± Yana nodded, ¡°so the rich people trained themselves by bless or privilege from the gods¡ª¡° Ansel and Lintang looked at each other, Lintang cut, ¡°hold it, you don¡¯t have to take our words to explain something, just explain it plainly.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that there are some words that haven¡¯t been implanted in your memory system. As you know that our world has many different laws. So let me finish explaining first, any question?¡± ¡°Omit the rich and privilege word, it¡¯s just sickening,¡± Ansel requested. ¡°As you wish, Ansel. The rare case usually called the apostles of the deities, and when they discover their power, they being named after the gods that has granted the ability to them. While the others, just called blessed, thus the name. Usually these apostles being trained until they reached their limit, because their storage is bigger than anyone else, they have to restrain themselves, not to go beyond their limit. But since you are not the apostle, you are the one who granted the power, it is free for you to go beyond. I could say, beyond the sky.¡± ¡°Wait, if we are the deities, who gives us the power?¡± Lintang asked. Yana said with a serious expression, ¡°The Great Void, Phanes, and The First of Great Deities. It is the main source of your energy, the sun, and Her Eminence Thabit Melioratus was the catalyst of that power, so that you could absorb it well, although some of you might receive the catalyst from The Great Keeper, Navii Deneb Magnus.¡± The revolution was an apocalypse for this realm, no wonder they are displeased, Ansel thought. ¡°How do we receive the power? I¡¯m afraid they won¡¯t give us enough,¡± Lintang rubbed his chin. ¡°What we¡¯re trying to do is just to introduce you the basic method on how we make our storage bigger. The rest is for you to discover,¡± Yana walked to the middle of the room, ¡°and don¡¯t ever doubt! Follow the light! Come here Lintang!¡± Lintang skipped to Yana¡¯s position. Yana choose the one where the ¡®sun¡¯ shade cascading on him, the weather was cold, he bathed on the sunlight to make his body warm. Ashura walked away from Yana, closer to the edge of the room, where the floor hasn¡¯t cracked and the walls still plain. Ansel followed, sometimes he slipped on the rocky road, and some of the paths were broken. Lintang and Ansel position were back to back, and so does Yana and Ashura. No one faces each other. Ashura readied a stance, ¡°Now, close your eyes, and take a deep breath according to my steps.¡± Ashura tapped his boots. Tap! Take Tap! Take slowly Tap! Ansel¡¯s lung couldn¡¯t contain anymore. ¡°Hold it, one, two, three, four,¡± Ashura commanded, ¡°release it slowly, same as when you take your breath.¡± Puff. Puff. Puff. ¡°Now repeat until you feel your body warmer, close your eyes.¡± Ansel repeated the process several times, slowly his body got warmer, from the head to the tip of his toe. The warmth flow on his body, from top to bottom, and then from bottom floated to the top. His chest was the warmest part. ¡°How do you feel?¡± Ashura asked. ¡°My chest is warmer,¡± Ansel described, ¡°My heartbeat went steady.¡± ¡°That¡¯s where you feel your storage filled with the power from the deities; you have done a good job.¡± Gradually, Ansel felt a change on his body, his head felt lighter. The tension in his mind released to the thin air, Ansel felt at peace, cuddled with the energy that he received. ¡°Bizarre, yet comforting it is.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the mana flow on your body. Now close your eyes slowly, tell me what you see.¡± Ansel followed Ashura¡¯s instructions, from the corner of his eyes; there was something that he noticed, ¡°A mist, grey, floated around,¡± but the mist has gone when Ansel opened his eyes completely, ¡°it¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°For first timer, its good, actually your body began to channel the power that you collected. It¡¯s overwhelming through your body, I could see it.¡± Ansel tipped his head, ¡°ah what it is look like?¡± ¡°Coiling purple smoke emanating from your heart, its wave flow from your heart to your head,¡± Ashura paused, he touched Ansel¡¯s forehead on the center, near the eye brows, ¡°here is where the coiling smoke of mana ended.¡± Ansel felt that spot burn as hot as the sun, ¡°stop,¡± he cries. Ashura still touched it, ¡°it wasn¡¯t supposed to hurt when I touch the others,¡± he took his hand back, it was flaming red hot, ¡°Ansel open your eyes now!¡± Quickly, Ansel opened his eyes. He fell on his knees, losing his powers in an instant, his head was spinning hard. His vision was all blurry with blue and green sparks, the edge of his vision was still pitch black. His forehead felt like being shot with Thabit¡¯s needle for the second time. Ansel blinked his eyes several times, regained his vision slowly. ¡°I can¡¯t do this,¡± Ansel murmured under his breath, ¡°I want to run away, get someone else for the candidate, please.¡± 2.4 First Practice Ashura was lost at words, he helped Ansel to stand up, ¡°Practice makes perfect. Do it again, slowly, until you could see the edge of dimensions. We have a hope in you.¡± Didn¡¯t want to disappoint them, Ansel forced himself to concentrate again. Though it¡¯s hurt for him, he can¡¯t face a situation where he disappointed other people. Knowing that his ability is somehow useful, Ansel recalled the events from the dream that he had first time. Concentrated at his best, the vision still failed. Head lowered, Ansel clenched his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll do it again, but please don¡¯t touch me.¡± Ansel readied his stance; took a deep breath, followed Ashura¡¯s tap tap tap. His body from warm now raised its temperature, sweats running fast from his body. Ansel didn¡¯t know how to stop his body from doing so; it was autonomous, against his will. Unconsciously, Ansel released the breath slower than Ashura¡¯s tap. The place where his forehead burns still hurt him. Ansel cried he couldn¡¯t stand the heat. It was overwhelming. Ansel fell on his knees; he stumbled down to the floor. For some moment he felt the heat released slowly from his body. Ashura didn¡¯t help him at all, Ansel wanted to ask a help but he was embarrassed. His body still burning inside, he felt a swarm of heat running around his torso. He rolled on the cold ground to release the remaining heat. At last, Ansel laid flat on the ground, he face to the sky, with a croaky voice he said, ¡°Give me a rest, please. I¡¯m far from home. I¡¯m tired. I need a rest.¡± Ashura sighed, he lowered his head, and disappointment could be seen from his face. Ansel didn¡¯t want to face him, he was tired yet his other self wanted to sharpen his new ability. Ansel¡¯s body temperature lowered to normal, the sweats were gone thanks to the extra absorbent plug-suit. Wind blew from the place where Lintang trained. Ansel¡¯s senses have come to normal. There was silence between Ashura and Ansel. Ashura didn¡¯t help Ansel to stand up, Ansel regained his strength himself. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡ª¡° ¡°No need,¡± Ashura cut, ¡°you could rest now, be back here at 10 sharp tomorrow.¡± ¡°Do you have the map of this place?¡± Ansel asked. ¡°I¡¯ll summon a robot to guide you,¡± Ashura called from a device that was similar to a smartphone, ¡°do you want the real thing to comfort you?¡± Ansel shook his head; he didn¡¯t want to strip an alien naked again, ¡°I¡¯m not fond of those, just a robot.¡± Not long, a slim robot without a weapon stood near the door. It tapped the door screen, the robot pass the screen without difficulties, the screen on the robot¡¯s chest glowed green with the word ¡°accepted.¡± The robot stood in front of them, Ashura pointed to the robot, ¡°Just command with your words, if you said map, it will show you map, direction too. It could also make a contact to your friends; I¡¯ll make sure that everyone has one robot so that you could contact each other.¡± ¡°So it has voice recognition or something else?¡± Ansel asked. ¡°This robot only has retinal sense to identify who you are, voices are too easy to change, make sure you made an eye contact. Now try, ¡®home¡¯.¡± Ansel gulped, hearing the word home has triggered him, repressed his feelings he said to the robot straight to its retina, ¡°home.¡± The robot responded it showed a direction to where Ansel¡¯s room was a short ten minutes trip. Ansel walked first, the robot skipped its feet, walked faster than Ansel. He saw Lintang that stood still, trained, Lintang puffed his breath several times, and smokes went out from his mouth, like a dragon that puffed its breath. It was a trail of short smokes, but Lintang seemed to handle it well, he was a smoker before. Ansel awed, but then looking at his friend to train without difficulties made Ansel slightly jealous. He questioned himself, his ability, whether it would be useful for the quest or not. A slight of existential crisis got him. Lintang slightly looked at Ansel, ¡°see ya tomorrow.¡± ¡°Yea.¡± .. ¡°Home,¡± Ansel said it several times. The robot kept refreshing after he said the word, it thought that Ansel commanded. Ansel kept thinking about his home, far above the sky. He shook his head, tried to be more aware to his surroundings.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The hallways of Cephyx filled with people, they wore lab coats, some has robot companions beside them one to three, depends on the rank. The people were too busy that they didn¡¯t make an eye contact one to other. It was bizarre for him to see this view. Back in his place, the people still care for each other, though Ansel has some problem with it before, now he realized that there was a peculiar feeling in his heart. Ansel didn¡¯t see any children running off the hallways or the streets of Cephyx. Only adults roaming this place, it was probably a frontier or a barrack to test weapons, to prepare for a war. The scene of Cephyx was surreal; there were only doors, no windows, only glass dome roof above that opened for air circulation. Crisp clear air, no pollution, Ansel wondered whether were the vehicles placed, it was null, not even small cars that carries things. ¡°Cephyx map,¡± Ansel requested. The robot showed a hologram on his back. A small white dot walking on a structure of building, Cephyx formed like a big bowl, with dome as the lid. Ansel touched the sleek back of the robot, he found that his room was on the third floor, and they were heading to the lift. .. Ansel laid his body on the bed, and he asked the robot to guard the door, he didn¡¯t want anyone to disturb him, even his friend. He just wanted to release all the stress that he had today. His body heat began to coiling down to his heart, Ansel felt unease, he throw away his coat. The coiling heat no spread evenly to his body, Ansel took a deep breath, and he tried to release the heat. When he closed his eyes, the heat was gone, Ansel¡¯s body feel a chill to his bone. He felt something touched his forehead, smooth finger that pressed his forehead slowly. The touch went harder; Ansel couldn¡¯t move his body, paralyzed. And then he felt his forehead has been pricked with a needle. ¡°Stop.¡± Ansel pleaded. It went deeper; Ansel felt the pain spread through his forehead. He didn¡¯t felt any blood trickled down. The sting now reached the middle of his head, stuck in his brain. Ansel could do nothing, not even screamed. A white spot appeared in his view, the spot grows bigger. Ansel taken into a place that he was familiar with, white room with nine walls, but this time, seven of them has cracked, almost crumble down. Ansel take a look to the walls, it illuminated his feature, and it was him with the clothes that he had in earth, red varsity jacket, black t-shirt, and black jeans. Ansel touched the wall with number IX on top; the smooth white granite was stone cold. Is this gate will lead me back to earth? Ansel wondered. He pushed the granite, the heavy granite stood proudly, not moving slightly. There must be a mechanism to open this! Ansel walked to the side of the granite, he only found the back of the granite. The back of the granite was contrast, dark sky with speckles of stars on it. Ansel reached his hand closer to the surface. ¡°Stop there,¡± someone alarmed him. Ansel looked around, no one. He stepped back from the wall, knowing that it might have something dangerous, a curse maybe. He looked around, searched for the sound, ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t see me yet because of certain circumstances.¡± Ansel¡¯s heart beat faster, he was afraid if the voice was another god. He walked backwards, back to the place where he stood before. ¡°Are you the guardian of this place?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Please take me back to home. I don¡¯t want to stuck in this place.¡± ¡°Indeed, you don¡¯t belong here, but someone has taken you a trip to my place. It isn¡¯t under your consent is it?¡± ¡°Finally, someone who has a sense of mind,¡± Ansel then said desperately,¡± Yes I was taken to this place, by force, I tried to escape from her but I can¡¯t!¡± ¡°Thabit Melioratus, is it her?¡± ¡°Yes. Yes. She uttered some nonsense to me about fate, about the war that the deities had in this realm, about my identity for being the servant of God. I don¡¯t understand what is actually happened. I¡¯m too tired to think¡­¡± Ansel was on his knees. ¡°Continue, child,¡± said the voice. ¡°This something that I never ever wished for, I want a normal life. She said that I have a power, it was nonsense¡­ Free will? Dreams? Is it just ironic when I have those two yet I can¡¯t even grant wishes? What¡¯s the point of this? Is going home too much to ask?¡± Ansel voice echoed several times, each echo sounds desperate. After Ansel¡¯s echo faded, the voice answered, ¡°I understand. Thabit Melioratus was too much, this war is our business only, and no outsider has to be sacrificed for this, especially the ones that is being guarded by the Leader of your realm. I doubt that she learned something from her past experiences.¡± ¡°Are you Chronos? Or are you one of his apostles?¡± There was a silence, and then followed by a sigh, ¡°I am a sole god not an apostle, I used to be one of his old companions, maybe I could take you back with your friends, but you all have to be powerful enough.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Mana. It requires a lot of it to transport between realms, if you lacked in this there are two probabilities, you will transported to somewhere else, or you will die,¡± the voice warned. ¡°Uncontrollable mana power could lead to death, because mana is the power granted from the gods to the chosen ones only.¡± ¡°Ah, yes, it mana training was so painful. I can¡¯t stand the power; it made my body burns inside.¡± ¡°When you get used to it, your body won¡¯t feel any pain when channeling mana into power, with a condition if you were the chosen ones. Since I don¡¯t see any potential from you and your friends to be the extraordinary chosen ones¡­ I didn¡¯t suggest strenuous training. Train as you could, you didn¡¯t want to die, did you?¡± Ansel answered, ¡°no, I want to survive. I¡¯ll tell my friends about it too.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°When can I see you again?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when you are ready. See you.¡± The voice snapped his fingers. Ansel blinked, suddenly he was transported somewhere else. He stood again, on a white room, this time the white was similar to an interior of a house not pale white like it used to be. Ansel looked around, there were no edges, and he ran to nowhere. He found nothing, not even the walls surrounding a pool. It was a plain paper, nothing was in here. Ansel frantically run, ¡°Hey! Where am I? Anyone?¡± Ansel stomped on his feet, hoping that it would break and take him back to reality. The ground was as hard as concrete. Ansel looked around, the room has no horizon, it seemed that there was no end or edges. ¡°Dear guardian god of this white room, whatever you called it! Take me back!¡±