LOCATION: AGARA — STREETS

The main shopping streets are bustling with a dense, chaotic crowd. Horns blare repeatedly as drivers occasionally halt their hovering cars directly in the middle of traffic, turning the entire district incredibly noisy.

A few citizens are aggressively fighting with one another, loudly arguing about the rising prices of food, while a security drone hovers overhead, mechanically complaining about the increasingly unstable situation. Down the block, a few officers can be seen sprinting toward the commotion.

Nearby, a dark alleyway is packed with people holding drinks and chatting idly. On the corner of the street, a massive clock slowly shifts to 8:00 PM with a heavy, mechanical click.

Echa stands right in the thick of it all, her lips slightly parted in sheer awe. Nobody looks at her. She is the only one here who is fundamentally different from the rest of the crowd, yet not a single soul bothers to return her gaze. Her green eyes flutter and blink against the glaring neon lights, the rushing crowds, and the utterly beautiful chaos unfolding right in front of her.

Walking just a few paces ahead, Nila slowly turns around to look back at Echa, who has frozen in place.

“Mother would be mad if I am late... and it’s already getting late,” Nila adds with the softest, most innocent smile. “Come on, we are almost there.”

Echa stares at her for a brief second. Giving a small, quiet nod, she forces her boots to move and starts to walk.

In the dark, the hand of the clock moves forward one more mechanical step. Behind them, the heavy metal door shuts close, the latch hitting the frame with a sharp click.

Echa quickly turns around to scan the room, but everything is pitch-black and blurry. Then, she spots a faint, hazy light shimmering in the distance. Her eyes strain, trying to visualize what is happening in the shadows. From somewhere far off, a very low, melodic sound begins to echo, vibrating like an old music player running in the deep dark.

“When it’s all over...” Oshna's voice suddenly echoes through the void.

Biting her lower lip, Echa takes a step forward. Her movements are heavy with hesitation.

“Nila...?” Echa's voice is low and uncertain, perfectly matching her hesitant steps. Her eyes dart left and right through the dark as a cold sweat drips down the side of her face.

“Come on! Why are you waiting there, Echa?” Nila’s voice calls out from the bright light right in front of her eyes. But the sound feels strangely distorted, as if it is traveling from a massive, impossible distance. The audio pitches and warps unnaturally at the very end when she pronounces the name, “Echa.”

“It all resets. And they don't even know they are lost,” Oshna’s voice murmurs, fading into static at the end of the sentence.

Echa takes another cautious step, reaching out toward the shimmering light. But the very second her vision finally adjusts and focuses correctly; she looks straight down at her feet.

A sudden, crushing realization hits her. She is standing directly on the brink of a massive crater—a deep, hollow, terrifying abyss stretching infinitely into nothingness.

Her heavy clothes flutter violently against a strange, unknown wind rising from the pit, her front hair whipping across her face. Her eyes widen in absolute horror, taking in the impossible sight before her.

“What the...”

She quickly stumbles backward, her back slamming hard against the metal entrance door. She gasps for breath. Looking down to check her footing, she sees that the immediate floor of the house entryway is still intact, but the rest of the home is entirely gone, swallowed by the void.

“This... is Nila’s house?”

The horrifying realization freezes her entire face. Her breath hitches, completely stopping in her throat. The only sound left in the universe is the relentless, echoing tick-tick-tick of the city clock.

The world fades violently to black...The next moment, Echa finds herself stumbling outside, thrown back onto the public street. Clutching the metal frame with both hands, she leans heavily against the door, gasping desperately for air. Her head is down, her mind racing as she tries to process the nightmare.

All around her, the street remains completely unbothered. The buzzing crowd and the noisy urban chaos continue to swirl past her as if nothing happened. Echa turns around, staring blankly at the front of the ordinary metal door, standing there in absolute disbelief.

 The faint, echoing sound of a distant idol singing drifts through the air...Echa walks aimlessly through the middle of the bustling street, her face completely expressionless, yet her eyes carry a deep, horrified look. She pushes straight ahead. The crowds around her blur into a smear of movement; she doesn't care about them anymore. Automated vehicles speed past without a single care.

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep, heavy breath. Now, there is only her and the melody of the song...

“It all fades by,

I am your closest lie?

I thought we could survive,

When I woke up in pain,

I see the light left in the vein

.….

The will is coming from within,

….….”

On the street corner, the clock slowly ticks, hitting exactly 11:40:12 PM.

Suddenly, the world fractures. The citizens begin to emit a faint, digital glow as their entire reality starts moving in reverse. People begin walking backward, cars shift into reverse gear, and the very language they speak warps into an incomprehensible, backward dialect. The entire timeline is folding in on itself.

But Echa doesn't stop. She just walks straight past the rewinding simulation, looking directly ahead into the glitching void.