I
"WAKE UP!"

"COSMOS, ARE YOU OKAY?"

Her eyes flutter open, but all she sees are blurred faces. Reality takes a moment to settle, but her friends surround her, their voices overlapping in concern.

She starts breathing heavily, but the cord around her neck tightens, blocking her air. A crowd of boys barges in to see her.

A single tear escapes down her cheek. And then—she runs.

She bursts into the restroom, slams the door shut, and collapses in the corner, hugging her knees.

She doesn’t know where she came from. She doesn’t recognize these people.

She doesn’t belong here.

Taking a deep breath, Cosmos stands up, grabs her glasses, and fixes her short but beautiful peach-colored hair. She makes her way to her locker.

Just then—SLAM!

Michael shoves the locker door shut.

He may look ethereal, but he’s a bully. He’s been tormenting Cosmos for all her so-called “attacks.”

"What is it now, Michael? Will you please just leave me alone?" Cosmos snaps.

She expects a smirk. A sneer. A cruel remark.

But instead, Michael just stares at her.

He’s trying to read her eyes—but he can’t.

Without warning, he grabs her wrist.

Cosmos doesn’t resist. She senses no threat.

Michael leads her into the storage room and shuts the door behind them. It’s dark, with only a faint Tyndall light filtering through a barely visible window. The air is thick with dust.

Michael has something to say. He needs to.

"All those attacks you've been having… are they real?" he finally asks.

Cosmos glares at him. "Of course, they’re real! Why would I fake them and make myself look like a fool?"

Michael doesn’t react.

"Cosmos, I need you to know… they’ve been happening to me too. And now, it’s you. What do you see?"

Cosmos hesitates, then admits, "I see blood. Explosions. Sometimes places that don’t even exist."

She’s scared—but she says it anyway.

Michael looks at her intently. "Okay… what’s the one place you always see? Is it the—"

"TEMPLE."

They say it together.

Cosmos freezes.

How does he know?

She’s had countless theories to explain these visions—parallel universes, aliens, the Big Bang.

But she always thought she was the only one.


II

The one person she hates—she has come to realize—is the only one who can help her uncover the mystery of her mind games. He knows what she’s going through. But Cosmos refuses to believe him.

Her visions haunt her every day.

Michael’s eyes give up. He can’t read her anymore. He clears his throat, grabs two chairs, and sits down. Cosmos hesitates but eventually follows him.

"I know you hate me, and trust me, I don’t like you either. But to get rid of these visions, we both have to team up," Michael finally says.

Cosmos hesitates. "But what are these visions?" she finally asks.

Michael grabs his bag, unzips it, and starts searching for something. Cosmos watches him carefully, analyzing his every move. He lets out a sigh of relief when he finds what he’s looking for.

Cosmos sees a circular, compass-like object—but it’s not a compass. It looks ancient, with intricate engravings. She can tell it was originally golden but has now turned copper-colored with time. Michael places it in her hand. It’s heavier than she expected.

Finally, he breaks the suspense.

"Hundreds of years ago, there was a temple where people worshipped Morpheus inside Ezekiel’s temple. At the same time, there were those who worshipped Cronos. Both groups were conservatives. The Morpheus and Cronos followers did not tolerate each other and divided the areas around Ezekiel’s temple. Many wars were fought over rights, water, forests, and cattle. But one war in particular changed the course of history."

"And what was that?" Cosmos asks.

Michael meets her gaze. "The War of Love."

He continues, "Damian was a poor peasant from the Morpheus faction. Earning his daily bread was hard. He had four brothers and two sisters. He was religious and despised the Cronos—until he met Athena. She belonged to a Cronos family, one that frequently organized attacks on the Morpheus. But destiny had its own plans. Damian and Athena fell in love. The world was against them. They knew they were doomed. But before they died, they created something powerful—very powerful. With the force of both their beliefs, they forged an object capable of altering history… and reviving them. They knew it was dangerous—very dangerous. That’s why only one was ever made."

He takes a deep breath before continuing. "Later, they were betrayed and killed by their own people, buried beneath the temple. The temple you’ve been seeing in your visions."

Cosmos is speechless.

So much information, so much realization—too much to process all at once. It’s overwhelming.

Silence lingers between them.

Finally, Cosmos breaks it. "What was the object they created?"

Michael looks her dead in the eye and says,

"The object in your hand. THE TIME TURNER."

III

"The Time Turner was created so that the chosen ones could travel through time and attempt to change history. Only one Time Turner has ever existed, as there are still many followers of Morpheus and Cronos who want to use it for the wrong purpose. But in very old manuscripts, it is also written that using the Time Turner even once increases its danger," Michael explained.

Cosmos had infinite questions. "So… we are the chosen ones?" she asked.

"Yes, we are," Michael replied.

"But what’s the explanation for those visions? And how did they create the Time Turner?" Cosmos questioned.

Michael began again, "You see, Cosmos, Morpheus is the Greek god of dreams and visions, and Cronos is the god of time. That explains our visions and the Time Turner."

Cosmos had finally accepted the situation. Not all of her questions were answered, but she left them for the future and let Michael continue. She asked him what they had to do to get rid of their difficulties.

"We have to travel through time and try to save them. Damian and Athena must end up together so that the curse of these visions will end," Michael stated.

"But if we turn back time, won’t the world be affected?" Cosmos asked.

"Yes, it will be affected once we’re done. Time will change around us, for us. But if we make a mistake and reverse time again, things may turn out differently. The world will never stop—it will keep moving," Michael explained.

"B-but—" Cosmos tried to speak, but Michael interrupted. "No more questions now. We need to make a change. NOW."

Michael and Cosmos—once die-hard enemies—now had to team up to change history.

Yes.

They needed to travel through time, set things right, and make it back.

They only had one chance.




IV

Michael holds Cosmos's hand. She flinches at his action. He looks at her with an awkward glance. He opens the compass-like time turner and rotates the hands of the clock endlessly. They both feel pulled by the gravitational force of a black hole and disappear from the storage room.

Michael opens his eyes and sees Cosmos fallen next to him. He tries to wake her up and helps her stand. They find themselves in an arid area, an arid lane. Around them are ancient Oikos (Ancient Greek houses were called "Oikos"). It is summer, but there are no people here. The long, narrow lane merges with the temple's vast courtyard. Cosmos and Michael can see Ezekiel's temple, the one they have been seeing in their visions. It is huge, but they can only see the round head of the temple. It is a golden temple with brownish engravings. Michael and Cosmos walk toward it.

When they reach the temple, they study it more closely. It is mesmerizing. Cosmos looks up at the massive structure, its tall gates decorated with carvings of cherubim and palm trees. The structure is perfectly symmetrical, with stairs leading from the outer court, where sacrifices are made, to the inner court, where the altar stands.

Michael and Cosmos are about to enter the temple when two men bang their weapons to grab their attention. Their expressions say no games to be played.

"What are you two doing here? What do you want? Who are you?"

"Uh-uh… we are Morpheus’s followers, and we’re here to pray?" Michael replies nervously.

The guards look doubtful. The second man says, "Look at their clothing. They don’t seem to be from anywhere around here. They might be aliens. Or some other religious committee trying to attack us."

"No, no! We mean no harm, I promise!" Cosmos argues.

The men take a step forward to arrest them, but before they can, Michael grabs Cosmos’s hand and runs. The men follow them. With no place to hide, they reach a chowk (crossroad). The guards are closing in.

With adrenaline at its peak, Cosmos drags Michael into the nearest vihara. They hide behind its pillared verandah. Sweating aggressively and breathing fast, Cosmos peeks to check if the guards have left.


They had.

V
They take a moment to restore and reconnect with the adrenaline and their breaths. They were interrupted by a voice behind them, which was ascetic and calm but still managed to make them flinch. They looked backward and saw a monk draped in red fabric.

"The ones you're looking for are at the farm. I know where you both are from. You don't need to know how or why."

Saying this, he went inside the vihara. Michael and Cosmos looked at each other. They had nothing to say, but a lot to do.

They reached the farm. The farm appliances were on the ground. The sun was setting, and the wind was brushing through the tall grass. No sign of fog. The sun was setting in the west, and the moon had arrived in the east. The sight of two lovers in each other's arms with swan white over them. Michael and Cosmos looked at each other. This time, no eyes of hatred or eyes of reading each other; it was something else—a feeling they weren’t aware of, a feeling they were trying to avoid.

Their attention swayed to the right side, and they could see the town people in big groups trying to end the divine love of Damian and Athena. Michael and Cosmos had to think quickly. Michael tried to turn time again to give them more hours to think of a solution, but Cosmos snatched it and threw it.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Michael screamed at her. Throwing away the Time Turner was the last thing they were supposed to do.

“I get it now, Michael. You said that even using the Time Turner once is a threat. And we did. You see, now in the present, Damian and Athena have already created a Time Turner, and we have one as well. That means that there are now two Time Turners,” Cosmos enlightened Michael. He let out a big gasp.

“So the more times we use the Time Turner, the number of Time Turners increases?” asked Michael to conclude. Cosmos agreed with a yes.

They were stuck in time. They had to come up with a solution, but it was too late. Damian and Athena had been taken away.

“There’s only one solution to this, Michael,” Cosmos started.

“And what is it?” Michael asked, to which Cosmos sighed.

“WE HAVE TO REPLACE THEM... WITH US.”
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They turned the clock, but lost their way,
Trapped in a time that forced them to stay.
No future left, no past to claim,
Just fading whispers in time’s cruel game.