"What is this place? Where am I?" I asked, my voice trembling with desperation.
Then, panic surged through me. "Ashley—where is Ashley?"
Uralic's crimson eyes softened slightly. "Don't worry, she is safe," he assured me.
Oddly enough, I believed him. Something about his presence made it hard to doubt his words.
Still, I needed answers. "Tell me what this place is," I demanded.
Uralic tilted his head. "Ashley didn't tell you?"
I frowned. "She mentioned the name Ashlyn, but I have no idea what it means."
A small chuckle escaped him before his expression turned serious. "Ashlyn is another planet. You have traveled approximately 600 million kilometers away from Earth."
I stared at him, my breath catching in my throat. "Another... planet?"
"Yes," he confirmed. "And this land is a thousand times better than Earth."
My mind struggled to process his words. "How? How is that even possible? Just a moment ago, I was in my living room—"
Uralic's gaze held an amused glint. "Everything is possible with power and technology, Evelyn."
A shiver ran down my spine as he took a step closer.
"You activated the portal, didn't you?"
My eyes fell on the ring on my finger as Uralic's words echoed in my mind.
"This ring… What is it?" I murmured, gripping it tightly. I tried to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge.
"That," Uralic said, watching me intently, "is the key to opening the portal between our two planets."
I looked at him, completely dumbfounded. "Why me?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "Why am I here?"
Uralic's expression remained unreadable as he spoke. "Because I promised you a chance to erase the regrets you had on your at low end of your life."
My breath hitched. "What?"
"There are things you have forgotten, Evelyn. I owed you a life—and i repayed it back to you by sending you fifteen years into your past."
His words sent a jolt through my entire body. "Fifteen years?" I repeated, trying to grasp his meaning.
Was he talking about my rebirth? But… that wasn't possible. I had been reborn five years ago, not fifteen.
My thoughts spiraled into chaos. "I… I don't understand. I was reborn five years back, not fifteen." My voice was laced with confusion. "And what do you mean you sent me back fifteen years?"
I stood frozen, my mind unable to process what Uralic was telling me.
"You didn't die in that mutant attack back then," he said, his voice steady but laced with something I couldn't quite grasp. "You were injured… and saved by someone who became your partner for the next ten years of the life you've forgotten."
I felt a strange chill run down my spine. "What are you saying?"
Uralic looked straight into my eyes. "Aaron Walker—the man who saved you. Ashley's father. And something more… But that is his right to tell you, not me."
I sucked in a sharp breath. Aaron…? My thoughts raced, pieces of a puzzle I didn't even know existed shifting inside my mind.
"I came to Earth after a mistake made by one of our spaceships," Uralic continued. "I was there to amend what was left behind. But human greed has no limit. When they saw how advanced our technology was, they tried to capture all the representatives who were sent to Earth."
I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
"But I met you," he said, his gaze unwavering. "And you helped me return to Ashlyn. I took you and Aaron with me… but five years here in Ashlyn, you always seemed to regret leaving everything behind. That regret led you into deep depression."
I felt my heart squeeze at his words, as if something hidden deep inside me was reacting to them.
"When I proposed a solution—offering you the chance to travel back in time, to see your parents again and erase that regret—you agreed."
I swallowed, my throat dry. "But if I agreed… why don't I remember?"
Uralic's expression darkened. "I don't know how, but when you traveled back in time, you forgot nearly ten years of your life. Perhaps it was the backlash of trying to reverse history. And now, here we are, meeting again… as strangers."
I clenched my fists, my head pounding. Ten years… Gone.
Who was I before all this? Who was Aaron to me?
And why did I forget?
I shook my head, my mind struggling to keep up with the overwhelming information. "No… this can't be true. How?" My voice was barely above a whisper.
I turned to Uralic, searching for any sign that this was some elaborate lie, but his expression was firm.
"Ashley… If what you're saying is true, then she—"
"She is your daughter, Evelyn," he finished my sentence without hesitation.
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. My breath caught in my throat. "No… No, that doesn't make sense."
I pressed a trembling hand to my forehead. "If what you're saying is true… then why would I leave them? Why would I go back in time and abandon my own daughter?"
Uralic watched me closely, his voice calm but unwavering. "I know it's a lot to take in, but it's the truth. You didn't abandon Ashley and Aaron, Evelyn. Let me explain everything properly."
"You didn't leave them willingly." Uralic's tone was serious. "When we agreed to send you back through the time machine, the plan was simple—you would observe your parents and loved ones silently and then return. It was supposed to be temporary."
I swallowed hard. "Then what went wrong?"
Uralic exhaled, his golden eyes dark with something unreadable. "Something… strange happened. When we teleported you, we lost all contact with you. The time machine was found in the wastelands of Ashlyn, completely abandoned. We assumed the machine failed and that you never made it back."
I felt a shiver run down my spine. "But I did go back."
"Yes," he nodded. "But not the way we intended. We searched everywhere for you, but you had completely disappeared. So, I took a gamble—I sent Ashley through time, without Aaron's knowledge, hoping she would be able to find you and bring you back."
My breath hitched. "You… sent Ashley to find me?"
"And it worked." Uralic's voice softened. "But not in the way I expected. Your soul and consciousness traveled back in time, but your body did not. Instead of merely observing the past, you… became your past self. You traveled back fifteen years in time and merged with your younger body."
I felt my legs go weak. "So that's why I only remember my life from before then… I lost everything else."