Mario didn’t have time to ask what had happened.
The crack stretching across the endless white horizon widened by another inch.
It wasn’t dramatic.
No explosion.
No deafening noise.
Just a thin black line where there shouldn’t have been one.
The R.O.B.’s playful smile disappeared.
For the first time since they’d met, he looked…
puzzled.
“Hm.”
Mario followed his gaze.
“Is something wrong?”
The young man didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he raised one hand.
The crack stopped expanding.
It didn’t heal.
It simply froze, as though time itself had been paused around it.
“…Interesting.”
Mario remained where he was.
There wasn’t much else he could do.
If an omnipotent being looked surprised, he doubted there was anything a recently deceased office worker could contribute.
The R.O.B.
took a single step toward the crack.
The distance between them should have been hundreds of meters.
Instead, he arrived instantly.
No flash.
No distortion.
One step.
That was all.
Mario blinked.
“…Right.”
He wasn’t even going to question it anymore.
The young man placed a finger against the crack.
The endless white rippled outward like water.
For several seconds…
Nothing happened.
Then his eyebrows rose.
“Oh.”
A second later…
“Oh!”
By the third…
He actually laughed.
“Hahahaha!”
Mario sighed.
“I assume that’s either very good or very bad.”
The R.O.B.
turned around, still laughing.
“I honestly haven’t decided.”
He walked back just as effortlessly as before, appearing in front of Mario with the same impossible step.
His golden eyes sparkled with amusement.
“I made a mistake.”
Mario stared at him.
“…Again?”
“Oh, not the kind that kills you.”
“I’ve already used my quota for today.”
Mario wasn’t entirely convinced there was such a quota.
“So what happened?”
The R.O.B.
folded his arms.
“When I erased you…”
“You weren’t merely killed.”
Mario frowned.
“…There’s a difference?”
“A rather significant one.”
He began pacing slowly.
“Normally, when mortals die, reality records it.”
“It updates.”
“One life ends.”
“The timeline continues.”
Mario listened carefully.
“But your case wasn’t normal.”
The R.O.B.
pointed toward Mario.
“I didn’t kill you through natural causality.”
“I accidentally erased your existence from the timeline itself.”
Mario frowned.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“I know.”
The R.O.B.
smiled apologetically.
“It’s difficult to explain using mortal concepts.”
He stopped pacing.
“Think of reality as an enormous book.”
Mario nodded.
“Every person has their own chapter.”
“When your natural death arrives…”
He mimed turning a page.
“…your chapter ends.”
Mario followed.
“And mine?”
The R.O.B.’s grin slowly returned.
“I accidentally tore your chapter out before the story reached the ending.”
Mario considered the analogy.
“So…”
“My chapter no longer belongs in the book.”
“Exactly.”
The answer came with almost childlike excitement.
“I fixed the missing chapter.”
“But…”
He raised one finger.
“It isn’t attached to the book anymore.”
Silence.
Mario looked at him.
“…Is that a problem?”
The R.O.B.
tilted his head.
“…Maybe?”
“You don’t know?”
“I’ve never done this before.”
Mario closed his eyes for a brief moment.
Somehow…
That wasn’t reassuring.
The R.O.B.
continued anyway.
“You’re no longer bound to your original causality.”
“My…
causality.”
“Mhm.”
“Your destiny.”
“The flow of your timeline.”
“The countless invisible threads connecting your existence to your universe.”
He smiled.
“They’re gone.”
Mario looked down at his own hands.
They looked completely normal.
He flexed his fingers.
Nothing felt different.
“So…”
“What does that mean?”
The R.O.B.
shrugged.
“I’m not entirely sure.”
Mario slowly looked back up.
“You.”
“Don’t.”
“Know.”
The young man pointed at himself.
“I’m a Random Omnipotent Being.”
“Not an Omniscient Being.”
“…There’s a difference?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
Mario let out a tired sigh.
Of course there was.
The R.O.B.
laughed.
“Relax.”
“I highly doubt you’ll suddenly explode.”
“I wasn’t particularly worried about exploding.”
“No?”
“I was hoping for something slightly less vague.”
“Fair.”
The young man rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Let’s call you…”
He paused.
“…a glitch.”
Mario blinked.
“A glitch.”
“Mhm.”
“Reality recognizes that you exist.”
“But it no longer recognizes where you’re supposed to exist.”
He pointed toward the frozen crack in the distance.
“That’s what caused the disturbance.”
Mario thought about it.
“So fate…”
“…doesn’t own me anymore?”
The R.O.B.’s eyes lit up.
“Oh.”
“I like that wording.”
He snapped his fingers.
“Exactly.”
Mario stood quietly.
The implications were impossible to grasp.
His destiny.
His future.
Everything that should have happened…
No longer applied.
He wasn’t sure whether that was terrifying or liberating.
Perhaps both.
The R.O.B.
suddenly clapped once.
“Well.”
“I’m certainly not fixing it.”
Mario looked up.
“…You’re not?”
“No.”
“Why?”
The young man’s grin returned in full.
“Because it’s fascinating.”
Mario had expected that answer.
“If I repair your connection…”
“You become ordinary again.”
“And where’s the fun in that?”
Mario shook his head.
“I don’t think you and I define ‘fun’ the same way.”
“We definitely don’t.”
The R.O.B.
laughed.
“But I think you’ll thank me someday.”
Mario wasn’t convinced.
Still…
There wasn’t much he could do about it.
The decision had already been made.
The R.O.B.
looked upward.
“Hm.”
“I’ve delayed your departure long enough.”
Mario instinctively straightened.
“So…”
“This is it.”
The young man nodded.
“It is.”
Mario hesitated.
Then extended his hand.
The R.O.B.
looked at it curiously.
“A handshake?”
“You did apologize.”
“You compensated me.”
“I think it’s an appropriate way to end the conversation.”
For the first time…
The R.O.B.’s usual playful expression softened.
He accepted the handshake.
His grip felt surprisingly warm.
“I genuinely hope your next life is an interesting one.”
Mario smiled faintly.
“I have a feeling you’ll be watching.”
“Oh.”
“I absolutely will.”
They released their hands.
The endless white began dissolving around them.
Tiny fragments of light drifted upward like snow.
The R.O.B.
lifted one finger.
“Ready?”
Mario took one final look around the impossible place.
There was nothing left to say.
He nodded.
“I’m ready.”
The R.O.B.
smiled.
“Good.”
He snapped his fingers.
The world disappeared.
Mario felt himself falling.
Not downward.
Not upward.
Direction no longer meant anything.
Colors he couldn’t describe flashed past him, folding into one another before vanishing.
Countless voices whispered all at once.
Then…
Silence.
A cool breeze brushed against his face.
The distant sound of engines.
Someone laughing.
A dog barking somewhere nearby.
Mario’s eyes opened.
Sunlight.
Real sunlight.
He inhaled sharply.
The scent of gasoline, damp concrete, and freshly cooked fish balls drifted through the air.
His heartbeat quickened.
He knew that smell.
He knew those sounds.
Slowly…
Almost afraid to move…
He turned in place.
Concrete buildings.
Overhead electrical wires.
A faded sari-sari store.
A passing jeepney painted in bright reds and blues.
His lips parted.
“…No.”
A motorcycle sped past, its horn startling a group of students crossing the street.
Students.
They wore uniforms.
White polo shirts.
Dark slacks.
Black leather shoes.
Mario’s breathing became uneven.
“This…”
He whispered to himself.
“…This is Earth.”
His Earth.
Before he could make sense of it, something else caught his attention.
Across the street stood a newspaper vendor arranging the morning’s papers.
One headline was partially visible.
He couldn’t read the article.
Only the date.
His eyes froze.
Twenty years earlier.
His mind went blank.
“No…”
That wasn’t possible.
It couldn’t be.
His gaze drifted away from the newspaper.
Then—
He heard it.
A laugh.
Familiar.
Painfully familiar.
Mario turned toward the sound.
Three young men walked along the opposite sidewalk, talking about something that had all of them laughing.
One of them…
Had a backpack hanging from one shoulder.
Messy black hair.
A lean build.
Barely out of high school.
The young man looked up for just a moment.
Mario’s world stopped.
He knew that face.
He had shaved that face.
Seen it in mirrors.
Lived with it for eighteen years.
Across the street…
Walking through a life that should have already happened…
Was eighteen-year-old Mario Mortiz.
And neither of them had any idea…
That two versions of the same man now existed in the same world.
End of Chapter 5