As Rahul and Jae Hyun took a step back and crouched behind a dumpster, they exchanged nods. Jae Hyun took out his smartphone and started capturing the weird phenomena. Suddenly, a long, shadowy arm extended from the black mirror produced by the circular glass fragments. The mirror revealed three shadowy arms with pointed fingertips that were pitch black and threatening.
Rahul's eyes widened with horror. Without hesitation, he stood up and pushed the dumpster toward the circular glass mirror. The heavy container slammed into the shadowy arms, but they deflected it easily. The shadowy limbs reached out and grabbed Rahul's leg, pulling him towards the mirror.
"Jae, help!" Rahul yelled, his voice full of panic.
Rahul desperately grabbed onto a pipe hanging from the wall, attempting to resist the shadowy arms' powerful pull. The pipe creaked under the strain as Rahul clung to it with all his strength. Jae Hyun, who was still recording, paused for a moment before rushing forward to help. "Hang on Old Man! "I am coming!"
The shadowy arms tugged harder, but with Jae Hyun's help, they were able to keep Rahul from being dragged into the mirror. The scene was a terrifying struggle, with the dark mirror flickering ominously as if it were alive. "We need to break free!" Rahul gasped, his hold on the pipe slipping. Jae Hyun searched frantically for something to use. "Hold on, I've got an idea!" He saw a metal rod nearby and grabbed it, swinging desperately at the shadowy arms.
The impact caused the arms to waver momentarily, allowing Rahul to break free. The shadowy limbs drew back into the mirror, as if to retreat. Rahul and Jae Hyun stumbled backward, panting heavily, away from the mirror, which was now silent and still. They exchanged looks of disbelief and terror, realizing they had narrowly avoided a fate they couldn't fathom.
As Rahul and Jae Hyun caught their breath, the dark mirror changed color, turning into a blinding white light. They barely had time to react when an enchanting dark green and white hand with pointed fingers appeared from the light. It grabbed both of their legs in a vice-like grip and drew them toward the mirror. "No!" Rahul screamed, attempting to kick free. "What's happening?" Jae Hyun yelled as panic overtook him. The grip was unbreakable, and despite their desperate attempts, the hand's pull was too powerful. They were dragged toward the glowing mirror, their bodies slid across the floor. Rahul's ID card slipped from his pocket and fell to the alleyway floor, leaving only a trace of their presence.
The glass shards surrounding the mirror began to shatter, producing a sharp, tinkling sound. The alleyway was filled with a dazzling display of light and shadow, creating a surreal and terrifying scene. With a final pull, the hand yanked Rahul and Jae Hyun into the mirror's bright white void. The light consumed them, and they vanished in an instant. The alleyway fell silent, and the shattered glass shards remained on the ground as if nothing had happened. Rahul's ID card lay there, a small, insignificant object in the midst of an extraordinary event, a silent testament to the mysterious and unfathomable forces at work.
Date: 2nd day of the end of storm season *
*Year: 876 of the New Era*
*Location: Planet of Ciggerate, Silent Plains
Time:2:00pm
Rahul awoke in a grassy field, soft blades tickling his face. He sat up and looked around, taking in the vast, unfamiliar landscape. The air was cool, and the sky was dotted with unfamiliar constellations. It was dark outside, but an eerie glow illuminated the landscape. "Where am I?" he mumbled, still groggy from his strange journey. He looked up and felt his breath catch in his throat. Above him, Earth hung in the sky, with the lights of South Korea and other cities twinkling like stars. He could see the familiar shapes of continents and the glow of cities. It was both stunning and mind-bending. He was on another planet, gazing upward at his home.
"This can't be real," he said softly, rubbing his eyes. Panic washed over him as he searched the area for Jae Hyun. "Jae! Jae Hyun!" he exclaimed, his voice echoing through the silence.
There were no responses. He looked everywhere, desperate to find his friend. "Jae, where are you?" He yelled again, his voice filled with fear.
There was only silence and the gentle rustle of grass in the breeze. Rahul's heart raced in his chest. He felt a combination of awe and terror. He was alone on this strange new world, with Earth as a distant beacon in the sky.
He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "I have to find Jae," he told himself, his determination growing. "And figure out what the hell is going on." Rahul took a rock and scratched an X into the ground where he had woken up, marking the location in case he needed to return.
He then took out his phone, trembling slightly, and dialed Jae Hyun's number.
He held his breath, hoping for a miracle, but the call was not successful. The signal could not be reached. "Damn it," he muttered, his frustration building.
Realizing he was truly alone, Rahul pocketed his phone and began to wander, his eyes scanning the horizon for signs of his friend. The landscape consisted of rolling hills and distant mountains, with strange bioluminescent plants casting a faint glow in the darkness. The ground was covered in soft, moss-like grass that felt almost soothing under his feet. "Jae!" he called out intermittently, his voice becoming hoarse.
"Jae Hyun!" He walked for what seemed like hours, the sense of loneliness weighing heavily on him.
He occasionally thought he saw movement in the distance, only to discover that it was a trick of the light or his imagination. The eerie silence was only broken by the sound. His footsteps and the occasional rustle of the wind through the grass.
"Stay calm, Rahul," he said to himself. "Just continue moving. You will find him. He pressed on, determined not to give up, the surreal beauty of this alien world standing in stark contrast to his growing anxiety. As he continued to search, he began to feel uneasy. This was unlike any place he'd ever been, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, Jae Hyun awoke confused and lost. The environment around him was very different from where Rahul had ended up. Jae Hyun found himself in a dense forest, with trees towering above him and luminescent leaves casting an ethereal glow. Strange, colored luminous velvet flowers dotted the forest floor, and the air was thick with the scent of unfamiliar, fragrant blooms.
His phone, still in recording mode, lay beside him, capturing the strange surroundings. He picked it up and turned off the recording, staring at the screen in disbelief. The previous footage was from an alleyway, and now he was in an otherworldly forest Also his battery were at 78%. "What the hell happened?" Jae Hyun muttered to himself, attempting to piece together the events that had brought him here. He looked up to see The Sun shining above him,in the west he see the Earth, its continents, and cities in the sky. The sight was both breathtaking and terrifying. "Okay, Jae, think," he said, attempting to control his racing thoughts. "I am not on Earth anymore. This is another planet. "But, how?"
He stood up and brushed away the moss and leaves that clung to his clothes. He felt a pang of anxiety when he realized he was separated from Rahul. They had been together only moments before, and now he was alone in a strange forest. "Rahul! "Can you hear me?" Jae Hyun shouted, hoping his friend was nearby. However, the only response was the rustling of leaves and the distant calls of unknown creatures. He took a deep breath before deciding to explore his surroundings. He needed to find a way out of the forest, or at least some evidence of civilization. As he walked, he kept his phone close, occasionally checking for a signal or attempting to call Rahul.
"Be calm, Jae. "Just keep moving," he muttered to himself, his voice full of determination and fear. "You can figure it out. "Just keep moving." The forest appeared to stretch indefinitely in all directions, with bioluminescent plants casting a soft glow that illuminated his path. As he walked, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched, and the shadows among the trees moved in unsettling ways.
"Rahul, where are you?" He whispered, barely audible in the silence of the forest. He kept moving forward, hoping against hope that he'd find his friend and some answers to their bizarre situation.
In the dimly lit alleyway, the shadows cast by the towering buildings above created an eerie, almost oppressive atmosphere. The faint hum of distant city life barely penetrated the thick silence that enveloped the narrow passage. Amidst the litter and the discarded remnants of forgotten lives, a small, inconspicuous item lay next to a rusted dumpster—a police identity card.
The card's surface reflected the sparse light in flickering patterns, its edges worn and slightly frayed. The name "Rahul" was printed in bold letters, alongside a photo that had faded slightly over time. However, it wasn't the photo that drew attention now; it was the numbers on the card that began to behave strangely.
A soft, almost imperceptible hum emanated from the card as the birth date, originally printed as "1947, August 17th," started to glitch. The numbers wavered, flickering between clarity and distortion. Then, as if being rewritten by an unseen hand, the date shifted and settled on "2024, July 12th." The transition was seamless, as though the new date had always been there.
But the changes didn't stop there. The phone number printed beneath the birth date also began to morph. The digits rearranged themselves in a rapid sequence, the ink seemingly alive with a will of its own. Finally, the phone number settled, but with an added feature: a countdown timer. The timer ticked down relentlessly, showing the remaining time until July 12th, 2024.
5,505 days, 181 months, 132,120 hours, 7,927,200 minutes. As minutes, and hours slipped away, each tick a reminder of some impending event tied to that date.
The alleyway remained silent, the card now glowing faintly with its updated information. The faint hum ceased, leaving behind an air of anticipation. The card, once a simple piece of identification.