Prologue – The Vanishing

  It happened in an instant.

  One moment, the classroom was filled with the usual morning chaos—students chatting, the hum of the ceiling fan, the teacher flipping through notes. The next, an eerie silence swallowed everything.

  Then, darkness.

  The protagonist opened his eyes, his breath catching in his throat. He wasn’t in the classroom anymore.

  The sky stretched endlessly, a strange mix of deep blue and golden light. The air smelled different—ancient, untouched. Instead of desks and whiteboards, they stood on dry, cracked earth, surrounded by vast open fields.

  A gentle breeze carried the distant sound of waves. But there was no ocean in sight.

  “What… what just happened?” someone whispered.

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  There was a pause before panic erupted.

  “Where are we?!”

  “What the hell is this place?!”

  “Is this a dream?”

  The protagonist scanned the faces around him—his classmates, the teacher, all 62 of them. But the school, the city, their world—gone.

  He clenched his fists, forcing his mind to focus. This wasn’t a dream. It felt too real. The ground was solid beneath his feet, the wind was cool against his skin, and his heart pounded so hard it hurt.

  A few students pulled out their phones, but there was no signal. No GPS. No connection to anything.

  Then, something even more disturbing happened.

  One by one, they started arriving.

  At first, it seemed like déjà vu—students appearing in small groups, the same confusion, the same panic. But as the seconds ticked by, the truth became clear.

  They weren’t arriving together.

  They were appearing exactly ten minutes apart.

  Like the portal had staggered their entry.

  The protagonist felt a deep chill creep into his spine. Whatever brought them here… had a pattern.

  Hours passed before the last student arrived. By then, the sun was already setting, casting a golden glow over the unknown land. No one had any answers. No food. No shelter. Nothing but the clothes on their backs.

  That was when they heard the first sign of life.

  A distant mooing.

  The students turned toward the sound. Just over the hill, a herd of cows grazed peacefully. And standing beside them, watching with wary eyes, was a man.

  A farmer.

  Hope surged in the group. If there were people here, maybe they could get help—find out where they were, how to get back.

  The protagonist stepped forward, raising a cautious hand. “Hey! Can you help us?”

  The farmer’s expression remained unreadable. Then, after a long pause, he spoke.

  But the words meant nothing.

  The language was completely unfamiliar.

  A heavy silence followed.

  And just like that, reality

  sank in.

  They weren’t just lost.

  They had gone back in time.