Chapter Text
Dark... Cold... Silent...
Rapid, heavy breaths mingle with the rustling of leaves shaken by some force deep within the forest.
A thin man gasps sharply, then suddenly jolts upright. He doesn’t know how long he’s been asleep, or where exactly he fell from...
All he knows is... everything around him feels strangely wrong.
His heart pounds loudly painful, heavy as if his bones are being crushed.
“Huff... huff... damn it...” he rasps through cracked lips.
His breath falters. His eyes scan the surroundings. The thick shadows of towering trees block the moonlight filtering from above. Its pale glow feels like a lifeless star’s faint shine...
The ground is cold and damp with moisture. He wipes his face, finding it caked with dust and dirt.
“What... happened...?” he murmurs to no one.
His left hand presses the ground while his right clenches tightly over his aching chest, sensing some mechanism inside. A soft clicking noise comes from the joint beneath the sleeve of his long cloak.
His white lab coat is stained with dirt, torn at the edges as if dragged through something with immense force. His black pants are muddy, and his shoes nearly torn.
He bends down to look at himself, takes a deep breath, the pain tightening his chest. Slowly, he reaches for his belt and pulls out a small device about the size of his palm. Its screen is curved glass, wrapped with copper wire coils.
He presses a button.
> Beep... beep... beep...
[System loading...]
[ERROR: Current time cannot be determined]
[Time anomaly level: exceeds standard limits]
“What?” He frowns, blinking rapidly, eyes fixed on the screen.
> [Processing...]
[Detected backward time values...]
> [Year 2196 → 2080 → 2040 → 2010 → ...]
Numbers roll back quickly like a glitched clock, speeding faster the longer he watches.
> [ALERT: Time system stability = 7% → 4% → 2%...]
“Wait—”
He hurriedly tries to shut it down, but the system is unresponsive.
A high-pitched screech pierces from the device before everything goes black...
> [System shutdown — SAFE MODE activated]
Silence... only his breathing and the chirping of crickets remain.
He stays still for a moment. His deep blue eyes, almost black, widen in disbelief; his lips part slightly.
“...No way...”
A faint gray shadow flickers on the now dark screen. His face is smeared with mud and sweat, eyes trembling as if on the brink of madness.
“That... that’s–”
He freezes for a long moment. His mind processes slowly like a stuck machine, then a sudden thought hits hard...
‘…A time machine...’
He realizes immediately, but he never intended to use it. He didn’t even open it himself.
“...It activated on its own...?”
Voices echo in his head, overlapping dozens of phrases—whispers, screams within his mind. A twisted smile slowly creeps across his face.
“Ha... ha... hahaha... damn it...”
He laughs with tears in his eyes, raising both metallic hands to clutch his forehead.
The dry crunch of leaves rubbing together tells him this is not just a nightmare.
He swallows slowly; his throat is dry as gravel.
His body feels heavy as lead, yet his hands move instinctively and precisely.
He removes another small gadget from his belt—its shape unclear.
> Tick... tick... tick...
[Environment: Normal atmosphere]
[Radiation: Low]
[Biological signals: Mixed (small animals)]
He scans the data before looking up again.
“...No drones... no nuclear radiation... no metal lifeforms...”
He furrows his brow deeply.
“...This is... before that incident?”
His voice lowers, almost a whisper, as if muttering unintentionally.
He staggers slightly, raising a hand to his temple—no signal from the connection system.
His hands start trembling, unknowingly clenching together.
He slowly stands, cautious with every step. His lab coat billows in the wind; torn hems flutter like ghostly scraps.
Crunch... crunch... crunch...
Leaves crunch underfoot with each step, affirming this is real—not a simulation, not a dream, nor a lab experiment...
This is the real world
...In a time when no one knows him
...Before history is truly written in blood
He clutches his temples, pain stabbing fiercely as his nervous system overloads from accumulated stress.
“I’m really in the past...”
“So what now... how do I... how do I get back?”
A dry chuckle escapes, accompanied by a faint, sickly smile.
“...I’ve destroyed myself, haven’t I...?”
A small shadow flickers in the bushes behind him.
He freezes. His right hand slips beneath his cloak, unlocking a weapon. A faint blue light glimmers from its tip.
A short weapon, just small enough to hide under his cloak, now aimed at the source of the sound in the bushes.
His gaze sharpens, muscles tense, every nerve on high alert.
> [Processing...]
[Biological signals: Incomplete detection]
[Unidentified signal]
[Analyzing metallic structure...]
‘Why is it processing so slowly... and what is this metal?’
‘My system’s never been this laggy... Is it interference from time travel?’
His heartbeat races. His finger touches the trigger.
A soft sound—
Crack...
He nearly loses his mind, almost pulling the trigger immediately.
But suddenly, something emerges from the bushes.
A small metallic figure, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.
It moves slowly, like a mammal. Its exterior resembles a mix between a toy and a tiny machine.
But its eyes—or what he believes are eyes—are large, glowing golden-yellow softly.
It stares at him.
No growl, no threat—just... curiosity?
He feels his hand holding the weapon twitch slightly.
Unconsciously, his finger relaxes from the trigger and the weapon lowers.
> [Analyzing... No data found in main database]
[Unable to classify this lifeform]
[Found data in separate files: Subconscious match with file 09]
And the only word that escapes his lips is
“...Huh?”