The 7th timeline.
Ryan couldn't stop thinking about that number.
Seven times.
That meant the world had ended six times already.
Six times everyone disappeared.
Six times everything reset.
Six times people lived, laughed, cried, and then were erased like they never existed.
And only a few people remembered.
Ryan sat in class, staring at the clock on the wall, but his mind was somewhere else.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Every second felt heavier now.
Because now he knew what the timers really meant.
They were not counting down to individual deaths.
They were counting down to Day 0 — the day the world resets.
Ryan slowly looked around the classroom.
Timers above every head.
24 days.
19 days.
11 days.
6 days.
22 days.
Then he looked at Skye.
24:03:12
Then he looked at Demo.
Nothing.
No timer.
Then he looked at Shaan.
Ryan froze.
Above Shaan's head…
There was a timer.
Ryan had seen it before, but he never really focused on it.
Now he did.
24:03:12
Exactly the same as Skye's.
Ryan's heart started beating faster.
Same day.
Same time.
Ryan slowly stood up.
"I need to go to the bathroom," he said to the teacher, but he didn't wait for permission. He just walked out.
A minute later, Shaan came out too.
They stood in the empty corridor.
"What happened?" Shaan asked.
Ryan looked at him.
"You and Skye," Ryan said. "Your timers are exactly the same."
Shaan frowned. "What does that mean?"
Ryan swallowed.
"I think…" Ryan said slowly, "you're both fixed deaths."
Shaan was quiet for a few seconds.
Then he said, "Well… that's not good."
Ryan expected him to panic.
But Shaan just leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.
"Okay," Shaan said. "So I'm going to disappear. Skye is going to disappear. The world is going to reset. Anything else on today's bad news list?"
Ryan didn't smile.
"This isn't a joke," Ryan said.
"I know," Shaan replied calmly. "That's why I'm not joking."
Ryan looked at him, confused.
Shaan continued, "If my timer and Skye's timer are the same, that means our disappearances are connected to Day 0. Which means we're not random victims. We're part of the main event."
Ryan felt a chill.
"Part of the main event…" he repeated.
Shaan nodded. "Yeah. Which means saving random people won't solve the main problem. We need to understand why the world resets."
Ryan leaned against the wall too.
"…Demo might know," he said.
That evening, the four of them met again in Silent Garden.
Ryan told them about Shaan and Skye having the same timer.
Demo wasn't surprised.
"Yes," she said. "In the previous timeline, they disappeared on Day 0."
Shaan pointed at himself. "Do I disappear before the reset or because of the reset?"
Demo thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. It happens very close to the reset. Almost at the same time."
Skye looked down. "So we're like… key points in the timeline."
Demo nodded. "Yes. I think so."
Ryan asked, "In the last timeline, what caused the world to reset?"
Demo was quiet.
Then she said something unexpected.
"I don't know."
All three of them looked at her.
"You don't know?" Ryan repeated.
Demo shook her head. "No one knows. People tried to find out. Governments, scientists, researchers… but as the timers got lower, society started collapsing."
Ryan frowned. "Collapsing how?"
Demo answered:
"People stopped going to work.
Students stopped going to school.
Some people tried to leave the country.
Some people started crimes.
Some people just stayed home and waited.
Some people tried to find ways to survive the reset."
Shaan raised an eyebrow. "Survive the reset? Is that even possible?"
Demo looked at him.
"In the last timeline," she said, "there was a group called The Countdown Club."
Ryan felt like he had heard that name somewhere before.
"They were people who could see the timers," Demo said. "Or people who remembered previous timelines."
Ryan immediately thought of Skye.
"And what did they do?" he asked.
Demo's expression became serious.
"They believed that if you find the origin of the timers, you can stop the reset."
Ryan's heart started beating faster.
"The origin…" he said. "Like where the power comes from?"
Demo nodded.
"Yes," she said. "They believed the timers are not natural. Someone or something created them."
Shaan crossed his arms. "So basically, we're looking for the person who created the countdown to the end of the world."
Demo looked at him.
"Yes," she said.
Skye spoke very quietly.
"…What if it's not a person?"
They all looked at her.
"What if," Skye continued, "the timers exist because the world is trying to fix something?"
Silence filled the park.
Ryan frowned. "Fix what?"
Skye looked at him.
"…A mistake," she said.
Ryan felt a chill run down his spine.
"A mistake?" Shaan repeated.
Skye nodded slowly.
"Yes," she said. "What if someone who wasn't supposed to exist… exists?"
Ryan immediately thought of Demo.
The girl with no timer.
The girl who was "not supposed to exist in this timeline."
Ryan slowly looked at Demo.
Demo didn't say anything.
But her silence was the answer.
And in that moment, Ryan realized something.
If Demo was the mistake…
Then the countdown…
Might be counting down to her disappearance.
And if she disappeared…
Maybe the world would reset back to normal.