Location: Agara streets

Shops on the main street shimmered, bustling with both quiet life and a churning crowd. Horns blared through the air as drivers repeatedly halted their vehicles, causing the traffic to become intensely chaotic.

A few citizens were aggressively fighting one another, arguing over the rising price of food. Meanwhile, security drones hovered above the throng, warning against the escalating situation. Officers sprinted toward the commotion, pushing and moving through the dense crowd.

Nearby, the alleyway was dark and packed with people drinking and chatting idly. On the street corner, a massive clock ticked slowly, nearing eleven.

Echa stood right in the thick of it all; she stared at the scene in stunned awe for several more minutes. “Is this what it feels like to be with humans?” she wondered.

Echa’s focus shattered when she felt a small pull on her sleeve from the side. It was Nila. With that same bright smile, she held a small flower and lifted it up to Echa. “Big sis, I brought this flower for you.”

“A flower?” Echa murmured and looked at Nila; a faint smile crept across her face as she spoke. “Is it for me? Nila,” her tone was gentle. She slowly leaned in to take the flower, but the petals immediately began to shrink inwards. Echa’s gloved hand halted, and surprise flashed across her face.

“What? How?” she asked with a curious expression, which made Nila laugh. Her cheerfulness caused some passing crowd members to stop before continuing on their way.

Nila looked up at Echa, wiping a small tear that formed from the laugh.

“Everyone says these flowers are just hiding, but my grandma told me a secret. She said they can read your mind! They know if you’re going to hurt them or be nice.” While Nila spoke, Echa stood still and listened curiously.

“Grandma says Mother Nature made them that way because she’s sad about what humans are doing to the world,” Nila finished the sentence, pausing to catch her breath, waiting for Echa to reply.

Echa stayed quiet for a moment before adding slowly to herself, “Humans made nature sad?” She looked puzzled, then tried to say more, but Nila quickly took Echa’s hand and pulled her toward her house.

“Slow down a bit, Nila,” Echa said, allowing Nila to pull her through the throng.

“Mother would be mad if I’m late… and it’s getting dark already. But she would be happy if I show her you and this flower!” Nila said that with a cheerful expression before turning to walk toward her house.

After a few minutes, they stood in front of a simple metal house connected to other apartments at the back.

“This is my house. Let’s go inside,” Nila said softly, stopping by the door and working on the console to open it.

Echa took a deep breath, staring at the door for a few seconds. “Why am I so nervous? It’s just where Nila lives.”

The door slowly hissed open as they both stepped inside; the interior space was completely dark. Echa felt Nila’s hand slip away, but the darkness was too profound to move a single step forward.

“Nila, wait,” Echa said. Standing still, she couldn’t see anything. “Why is it so dark?” she murmured.

After a few seconds, somewhere within, the hands of the clocks began to move forward, ticking. The sound of the door’s latch hitting the frame behind her echoed, offering a sliver of shelter from the cold.

“Nila! Where are you?” Echa spoke, but there was no reply, as if Nila’s presence had disappeared into the shadows.

After a while, Echa heard a very low, melodic sound from an old music player. Along with it, she heard a voice: “You should rest, close your eyes…” It was Oshna’s voice.

“Oshna? Is this truly Oshna’s voice I am hearing? Why is she here?” Echa murmured, taking a few poised steps inward. “Oshna! Are you there? It’s me, Echa.”

“Big sis, come inside. My Mom is waiting to see you!” Nila’s voice responded from within, gentle and welcoming.

“Nila? Wait, I’m coming.” Echa started moving deeper into the darkness toward the voices, rushing despite her inability to see.

The only sound was her boots hitting the polished metal floor, but the sound quickly faltered when Oshna’s voice murmured within, “It will all reset. Hmmmm… And they wouldn’t even know they are lost, but you wouldn’t… so take some rest.”

“Wait, why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Echa murmured, slowly taking a step back before halting. “But Nila is inside this place. I can’t leave like this, can I?”

Suddenly, a massive gust of wind shoved her from behind, causing her to stumble forward and revealing a massive crater in front. In a flicker, it was a deep, hollow abyss that stretched endlessly like space. She saw that her feet were mere steps away from falling into it.

Echa gasped in horror, pulling herself back instantly as she slammed against the metallic door behind her. “What? How? Is this Nila’s house?” she murmured in shock. Her eyes stayed wide.

After a few minutes, she stood outside, staring back at the door, wondering whether Nila would finally emerge. But time passed, and Nila did not.

“Nila~” she said in a soft tone. The streets outside were filled with the same unbothered chatter. Echa slowly started walking down the street, heading back. “Maybe she should come back tomorrow after the reset,” she murmured along the way.

A billboard displayed a female idol singing, the melody heard through the streets. In that moment, it felt like the world held only her, the song, and the clock racing toward the reset timer.

The lyrics, sung slowly on the piano, resonated:

“It all fades by, Am I 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…”

The song slowly faded into the background as Echa moved further away from the billboard.

The clock finally reached 11:40:12 PM. As soon as the time struck, everything froze and moved backward; people walked in reverse, and the conveyor belt spun backward as the reversing speed increased. The words they spoke became a backward dialect.

Echa continued to move forward despite the entire world rewinding around her. The neon lights hit her form.