Ethan Vance woke up to sunlight.
For a few seconds he simply stared at the ceiling, breathing slowly, listening to the quiet hum of the villa's air conditioning. The room smelled faintly of coffee and warm bread drifting in from the kitchen.
Everything felt normal.
Too normal.
Because the last thing he remembered was fire. The sky had been red. The oceans had begun to boil. Governments had collapsed into panic while enormous evacuation ships rose from the surface of the Earth. And he had been left behind.
Left behind to watch the planet drift closer and closer to the sun.
Ethan sat up suddenly, heart racing. He looked around the room. The familiar bedroom. The white curtains. The digital clock on the nightstand.
The date displayed on the screen made his breath stop.
April 3rd.
One month before it happened.
One month before the Earth broke free from its orbit.
In his past life, no one had known at first. Astronomers would discover it weeks later, after the planet had already begun drifting. By then, the countdown had started. Sixty-five days.
Ethan pressed his hands against his face. He had come back. Not to the day the world ended, but to the one moment where everything could still change.
"Dad?"
A small voice came from the doorway.
Ethan looked up. Leona stood there in pink pajamas, her hair messy from sleep, holding a half-opened packet of candy.
His daughter. Alive.
Ethan felt something crack inside his chest.
"Morning, sweetheart," he said softly. Leona walked in and climbed onto the bed.
"I had a dream," she said proudly.
"Oh?" Ethan asked.
"I dreamed I was in a giant candy store," she said. "And I ate everything."
Ethan chuckled quietly. "That sounds dangerous."
"But I saved some for you," she said, holding out the candy packet.
Ethan accepted it like it was the most valuable thing in the world. "Thank you."
Footsteps approached the doorway. Chloe Sterling appeared, leaning against the frame with a small smile.
"You're spoiling her already," she said.
Ethan turned to look at her. His wife. In his previous life, she had refused to abandon him when the evacuation ships arrived. Adrian Sterling had given her a choice: leave Ethan behind and live, or stay with her husband and die. She had chosen him without hesitation.
The memory burned inside Ethan's mind.
Chloe frowned slightly. "You're staring again," she said.
"Sorry," Ethan replied. "I was just thinking."
"About work?" she asked.
"About… the future."
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "That sounds serious for breakfast."
Ethan stepped onto the balcony. The city stretched across the horizon, bright and peaceful beneath the morning sun. Cars moved along the roads. People hurried to offices. The world looked exactly the same as it always had.
But Ethan knew the truth. The Earth itself would soon begin drifting toward the sun. And when that happened, civilization would collapse.
But this time… he had one month to prepare. And Ethan Vance would not fail his family again.