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—“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.

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—“

“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— 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—“

“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.