The Fool's Time

"What time is it?! Why aren't you up yet?!" "Nag, nag, nag. All you ever do first thing in the morning is yell at me to get up. Can't a guy just sleep in a little longer?" Out of pure reflex, I raised my left arm to check the time—which would determine just how much longer I could go back to sleep. The second I saw my quartz watch was gone, I was wide awake. How could my luck be this bad? Failing a class the other day and having to take a make-up exam was bad enough, and now my watch just vanishes in my sleep? Come on. I swear I had it on when I went to bed last night. Did the strap snap? I just replaced it a few months ago... Whatever, let's just find the watch first... Just my luck every single day... Must be karma for doing way too many Tarot readings for people lately—spilling cosmic secrets and getting punished for it. Digging under the pillow only turned up my noise-canceling earbuds, and rummaging through the sheets only got me my phone. Like, excuse me, where the hell did a whole-a*s watch go?! I'm out of ideas. Guess I have no choice but to be a productive human being today—fold the blanket and sweep the floor while I'm at it. It's a huge watch; it couldn't have just grown wings and flown away. My phone screen lit up. It's only 7:30 f*****g AM?! Why wake me up this early? Ugh, screw it, going back to sleep... "Still not up? Aren't we going New Year visiting today?" New Year visiting? Is he going senile? "Old man, do you even hear yourself right now? Tomorrow is only Little New Year—still a whole week before New Year's Eve—and you're talking about New Year visits today? That's one hell of an early New Year." "Did college fry your brain or did you just sleep yourself stupid? Just stay home then, I'll go by myself in a bit. Same old story every year—staying up all night and sleeping in all morning." Lmao, as if saying that is gonna make me get out of bed. Yeah right. Back to sleep. "Is Luoluo still not up? Look at the time." "That's just how young people are. My little nephew didn't come over this year either—probably still in bed too." I wake up naturally just to listen to this? Same exact script every year, they don't even bother switching it up. Wait a minute—people are actually here for early New Year visits? Let's see what f*****g time it is, ruining my beauty sleep. The phone screen lit up: 10:30. But right there on the date line, it clearly read: Lunar New Year's Day! ? Is my timeline out of sync with everyone else's? Did I just lose seven days of my life compared to them? And since it's New Year's Day, does this mean I'm not even allowed to sweep the floor today to look for my watch—for fear of sweeping away the family's good luck? Let me sync the time. Wait, no? How can the time be off? Yesterday was still a full week before New Year's Day, and today it supposedly jumped straight to it? Do you think I'm stupid or something? Settings. Sync. Network time. Lunar New Year's Day, 10:35. Man, this isn't funny... Did my time just vanish? What did I do? Did I time-travel? I threw on some clothes and bolted straight for the living room. "Mom~ What have I been doing lately? Why can't I remember a single thing?!" I shook my mom's shoulders, gasping and trying to catch my breath while asking. "Haven't you been muttering about your game scores lately? Barely saw a shadow of you during the day except at mealtime. You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Okay, a mom rolling her eyes at her son isn't exactly breaking news, but~ isn't this a bit out of the ordinary? With my hair sticking straight up like a bird's nest, face unwashed, teeth unbrushed, and dark circles under my eyes, I darted right back into my room under the judgmental stares of my relatives. Time had vanished! Either I've lost my mind, I've crossed into another timeline, or I'm still dreaming! I booted up my PC while pinching my thigh hard. The sharp pain told me I wasn't asleep, though I didn't feel all that awake either... Posted on a paranormal forum: My time disappeared. Just skipped seven whole days in the blink of an eye. My family says I spent the last seven days gaming, but I have zero memory of it. Oh, and by the way, my watch is gone! Missing time, missing watch, missing memories—why does all of this feel so surreal? I'd rather believe I burned myself out and passed out than believe all these paranormal things are happening at once. For the rest of the morning before lunch, I tore my room apart while waiting for replies on the forum, but there wasn't a single trace of the watch. My search came up as blank as my mind during my major's final exam! f**k! Until a DM on the forum broke my fruitless streak. Right there was an image: "Is this the watch you lost?" I clicked it open—the shape was an exact match, down to the exact same scuffs on the sapphire crystal. There was a little nick right next to the date window. No mistake, this was the one! Just as I went back to the chat window to reply, a watch popped out of thin air right onto my left wrist. An exact replica of mine—except the date showed the 7th of this month, the hour, minute, and second hands all pointed dead at 12, and the image of The Fool had appeared on the strap. ? I stood up and looked around. Nothing seemed off. My room was still my room, messy as ever. Aside from this watch on my wrist and my missing time, there was nothing in this place I couldn't wrap my head around. Guess my college-level IQ is still more than enough for this? Yeah, right! [A traveler in motley stands atop the cliff's edge, gazing up at the sky's light. A wooden staff holds his pack, a white rose cradled in his palm; a white dog runs at his feet, barking warnings with every step. An abyss yawns before him, yet his steps are light, unafraid of the vast unknown ahead. The world laughs at his folly, unaware that he is the very beginning of all journeys—pure of heart, marching toward the unknown without looking back.] [Find a way to survive within seven days] [Players in Instance: 1] [Instance Difficulty: ∞] [Clear Condition: Complete the objective within the time limit] ??? Right as I hit Enter, the forum page popped up a "No Internet Connection" error at the exact same time. My internet went out? [Good luck, kid!] My internet is clearly out, so why can I still get messages? Why did my watch disappear and reappear? What does The Fool pattern on the strap mean, and why is this forum only working one-way? My brain, deeply accustomed to single-threaded processing, was clearly struggling to keep up with the current situation. Maybe I should just go back to sleep? Honestly, I give up. Might as well go out and ask the old man. Cutting off my internet is basically cutting off my lifeline—being able to receive messages without sending any back, God knows what kind of bug this is. I stood up, dusted off the corners of my shirt, smoothed down my frizzy bedhead a bit, and pushed open the bedroom door. Everything had changed! Outside the door, the familiar marble tiles and glass partition were gone, replaced by a lush, dense forest. Precipices faintly visible in the distance warned of deadly danger at every step. Leaning against my bedroom doorway was a wooden staff, with a medium-sized bundle tied crookedly to it. Not far away lay a white dog, quiet yet radiating a creepy aura. If you stared closely at it, it faintly cast the shadow of a three-headed black hound. Deep in the woods, a red bird feather seemed to be sticking out of a rock. Some kind of liquid was trickling down the stone—clear from afar, but as I slowly paced toward it, a faint patch of crimson came into view. A light floral and grassy scent lingered in the air, yet if you sniffed closely, an undertone of blood came with it. All of this was way too bizarre, though the sharp pain in my thigh earlier told me this wasn't a dream. What on earth did I do to end up in this bizarre, batshit crazy melodrama that defies all logic? Everything here has this duality of beauty and destruction—and besides, showing up in a place like this out of nowhere, is this beautiful scenery even really "beautiful"?