The screen went black. Then, a single line of text appeared: Loading... Welcome back to Day 1.

As he hovered his finger over the 'Y' key, the date on his computer clock began to spin backward at a dizzying speed. 1999… 1985… 1942… He realized wasn't a file he was supposed to fix. It was the backup for the world itself, and someone—or something—had just handed him the keys to the "Reset" button.

He looked at the sky one last time. A massive "Error 404" was beginning to materialize across the moon. He pressed .

“Observation 53593. Subject: Earth. status: Disconnected. Attempting to restart simulation…”

The lights in his apartment flickered. His phone buzzed with a notification: Emergency Alert—Satellite Malfunction. Outside, the night sky didn't look right. The stars weren't twinkling; they were blinking in a rhythmic, mechanical pattern.