"No, I don't have eyes on my back," Daniel said, his tone calm as he remained seated.
Sylvia stiffened where she stood, her thoughts racing despite herself.
Can he read minds?
The question had barely formed before Daniel spoke again, his gaze shifting slightly toward her hiding spot.
"No, I can't, so stop overthinking and come sit down," he said, as if addressing something obvious.
That was enough to push her out.
She stepped into the hall, her movements slower now, her eyes fixed on him with clear suspicion as she tried to understand what exactly he was capable of.
"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"
Daniel gave a small shrug, not bothering to make it seem mysterious.
"You're just loud," he replied. "Not your steps… your thoughts make it obvious what you're thinking."
Sylvia paused, caught between confusion and disbelief, unsure whether that explanation made any sense or just made things worse.
After a moment, she moved again and took a seat, though her posture stayed tense and her attention didn't leave him.
There were too many things about him that didn't add up, and what bothered her more was how casually he treated all of it, as if none of it required explanation at all.
"I know you have a lot of doubts," Daniel said, leaning back slightly. "About what you saw… that monster, me moving through the air, everything. So let me start with something simple."
He paused for a moment, then added,
"I'm from another world."
Sylvia blinked.
"Another world?" she repeated, trying to make sense of it. "So… you're an alien?"
That was the closest explanation she had. In her understanding, "another world" meant another planet somewhere in space, something distant but still within the same universe.
Daniel shook his head slightly.
"Not exactly," he said. "When I say another world, I don't mean another planet. I mean another Earth."
Sylvia tilted her head, her confusion deepening.
Another Earth?
There was only one.
At least, that's what she had always believed.
"How can there be another Earth?" she asked, her tone uncertain now.
Daniel exhaled and stood up.
A whiteboard appeared behind him, along with a marker in his hand, and he adjusted a pair of glasses that hadn't been there a second ago.
Sylvia stared at him.
"Where did you even get those?" she asked, unable to ignore the sudden shift.
"Irrelevant," Daniel replied. "Focus."
He turned to the board and drew a point.
"Think of this as the starting point," he said. "What people call the origin of everything."
From that point, he began drawing lines outward.
"The universe expands," he continued. "That's basic theory. But expansion doesn't just mean space getting bigger. It also means possibilities splitting."
More lines appeared, branching outward.
"Every major decision, every event, every divergence creates a split. Over time, those splits become entirely separate realities."
"That's how you get multiple Earths," he said. "Same origin, different outcomes."
Sylvia watched the diagram, trying to follow.
"So… all of them started the same?" she asked.
"More or less," Daniel said. "Humans evolved, civilizations formed, history began… but then things changed. Different choices, different events, different results."
He drew two lines far apart from each other.
"One Earth might develop advanced technology," he continued. "Another might develop something else entirely."
"And some," he added, "end up with things like what you saw yesterday."
Sylvia's grip tightened slightly.
The memory was still fresh.
"So you're saying…" she began slowly, "there are multiple versions of Earth, each with its own history?"
"Exactly."
"And I'm from one of them."
"Like the world I come from," Daniel said, raising his hand slightly, "people don't carry time on their bodies. They live normally, and when they grow old… they die."
As he spoke, the glowing numbers on his arm began to fade, the digits flickering once before disappearing completely, leaving his skin blank as if the clock had never existed.
Sylvia froze where she stood, her eyes fixed on his hand.
"Huh…?" she murmured, stepping closer without thinking. She reached out and grabbed his wrist, turning it slightly as she searched for any trace of the numbers that had been there moments ago.
There was nothing.
Her mind struggled to keep up with what she was seeing.
"How is that even possible…?" she asked, her voice quieter now, caught between disbelief and curiosity. "How do people even live without that?"
Daniel watched her reaction for a moment before answering.
"That was fake," he said casually. "I just hid it. Humans on my Earth don't have clocks like this."
Sylvia looked up at him again, her expression shifting as she tried to process that.
It didn't make things simpler.
If anything, it made everything more interesting.
"Wow…" she said softly, her grip loosening as her thoughts began to race. For the first time in a long while, something felt different. It wasn't controlled, it wasn't predictable, and it didn't follow the rigid structure she had grown up with.
She let go of his hand slowly, then asked without hesitation.
"Then… can I come there?"
For her, this world had everything—wealth, security, endless time—but none of it felt meaningful anymore. Living the same life over and over, with no change and no risk, had started to feel like a cage.
Daniel paused, as if considering it.
Outwardly, he looked thoughtful.
Internally, he had expected this from the beginning.
"Ummm… okay," he said.
Sylvia's expression brightened slightly, but another question followed immediately.
"And… are humans in your world as strong as you?" she asked.
Daniel shook his head.
"No," he said, his tone steady. "I'm not human."
"I'm a god," he continued, "the one responsible for death."
Sylvia, who had just let go of his arm moments ago, slowly looked up at him, her expression shifting into pure confusion as she tried to process what he had just said.
"…Huh?"
*****
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