Chapter 1: Zero

Tick...

Tock...

Tick...

Tock...

The clock struck seven in the evening when Aris Zimmer woke up with a stiff neck and his cheek pressed against a pile of messy research papers. Ink stains were faintly visible on his skin. The lab lights were still on brightly, reflecting off the large whiteboard covered in random formulas, crossed arrows, and colliding circles, as if written by someone racing against time... or fear.

His phone vibrated wildly beside his hand.

Bzzz... Bzzz... Bzzz...

Without really realizing it, Aris reached out and picked it up.

"Are you crazy, making me wait so long at this restaurant?!"

A woman's voice exploded from the other end of the phone.

She was Anna Heidegger, Aris Zimmer's girlfriend.

Aris smiled weakly as he massaged his temples. His head throbbed as if it had been hit from the inside. His eyes were heavy, his vision still blurry. His black hair stood up in all directions as if it had just been battered by a small storm in a dream.

Aris remembered the promise he had made.

Tonight was supposed to be an important night. The ring in his jacket pocket. Tonight was supposed to be the night he proposed to Anna Heidegger.

"Anna... what time is it?" his voice was hoarse.

"It's eight o'clock!" Anna snapped. The clinking of spoons, people talking, and soft piano music could be heard faintly behind her. "You promised to be here at seven! I've been sitting here alone for an hour like an idiot!"

Aris sat up too quickly, causing his chair to creak loudly. He was breathing heavily. His eyes stared at the clock on the laboratory wall.

The long hand was on twelve.

The short hand was on seven.

07.00

His blood seemed to drain away.

"It's impossible..." he muttered.

"What's impossible?!" Anna grew even more annoyed. "You're working overtime again, aren't you? Always research! Am I your girlfriend or an unpaid research assistant?!"

Aris didn't answer. His mind began to race. He had fallen asleep... for how long? He remembered seeing the clock at past six. Just for a moment. Just closing his eyes.

An hour gone?

His eyes slowly shifted to the whiteboard.

The quantum time relativity formula. Overlapping circle diagrams. Temporal fluctuation graphs.

And in the middle of the board, written in large letters with a red marker that was almost dry:

DO NOT ACTIVATE AGAIN. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS.

But... he didn't remember writing that.

"Anna..." his voice softened, tense. "What time did you arrive at the restaurant?"

"Huh? Seven o'clock, as promised!"

"And... didn't you feel anything strange? The lights? The clock on the wall? The people there?"

"Aris, enough! If you don't come in five minutes, I'm going home."

Suddenly, the voice on the other end turned static.

Krrrssshhhh...

"Anna? Anna?!"

Click.

The phone went dead.

The laboratory suddenly felt too quiet.

Tick... Tock...

Tick...

...Tock...

The clock slowed down. It was unusual. As if it had run out of breath.

Aris swallowed hard and turned to the large window on the side of the room.

Suddenly, the night sky looked different.

The stars were moving.

Not falling. Not twinkling.

They were SPINNING.

Slowly forming a giant vortex, like water flowing into an invisible hole in the sky. The starlight stretched, curved, drawn towards a single dark point in the center.

And inside that vortex...

a shape appeared.

The silhouette of a giant eye.

Formed from swirling cosmic light. Its eyelids slowly opened. Within its pupil, a glowing clock hand appeared… pointing straight down.

Toward…

This city.

The wall clock stopped ticking.

The glass face was cracked.

CRASH!

Aris jumped back. His chest suddenly felt cold. His breathing was short and shallow. His heart pounded against his ribs as if it wanted to escape his body.

"No... no... no..."

The whisper escaped him unconsciously.

His eyes shifted to the right side of the table.

The machine was still there.

A metal ball the size of a motorcycle helmet floated a few centimeters above its base. Metal rings surrounded it, slowly rotating with symbols of time that had never been seen in any physics book. Its core pulsed dimly... like a heart.

The Quantum Time Machine.

An experiment that was supposed to only open a micro-slit into a few seconds of the future.

No… whatever this is.

The indicator light was blue.

ACTIVE.

Yet he was sure he had turned it off.

Suddenly

His phone rang again.

The screen lit up on its own.

There was no name, Anna.

INCOMING CALL — NO NAME

Aris's hands trembled as he picked it up.

"Hello…?"

There was silence for a few seconds.

Then came the sound of heavy breathing.

And then...

"If you answered this call... it's already too late."

The voice sounded like someone older and more tired.

"What… who is this?!"

"In one hour, something will begin to happen."

The world felt tilted.

"Listen carefully. Don't touch that machine again. And whatever happens...."

BOOM!

A loud explosion from the phone.

"What happened?!"

"The creature has seen you," he whispered.

"Who?!"

The sky outside the window flickered.

Like a broken screen.

In a split second: night turned to day. Day turned to dusk. Dusk turned back to night. Repeating rapidly as if someone were scrolling through time with trembling fingers.

People on the street below the building moved jerkily. Like a buffering video. Cars stopped in the middle of the road. Birds in the air froze... as if frozen.

"That creature is..." the voice on the phone was cut off by static. "And that creature just saw you."

Aris backed up until his back hit the table.

"I only opened the window for a few seconds..."

"You opened the door. And something outside is staring in."

The laboratory lights flickered wildly.

The time machine hummed louder and louder.

Its metal ring now spun on its own. The air around it curved, rippling like hot asphalt.

"Listen to me carefully," the voice coughed loudly. "In five minutes, the timelines will collide."

"What?!"

"And this world will never be the same again."

Aris's heart seemed to stop.

"What do you mean…?"