One Year

Hello

You have gained consciousness. Black and white seep slowly through your closed eyelids. You have the strength to look around, and you do. You're in a room, no, a universe. You're in the middle of the universe, but it's not as starry as you initially thought it would be. A spiral, a huge black and white spinning spiral has taken its place, and you, are the centre of it. Is this a dream? Are you in a coma? Are you even still alive?

"Of course you are." A deep raspy voice echoed through the disorientating abyss.

You jump from the unexpected loud boom of a human voice calling out from every corner.

"Wha-huh?" You stutter. Only mumbling the words. You're confused, and we get it. Everyone is. Don't just think you were the only one to stumble into this place. In fact, you didn't accidentally fall through a dimension; we found you.

"Ah yes. This was the one you were talking about. They seem perfect." A different male voice replied. He had a higher-pitched voice than the first. More childish too. Although they both kept the same, slow-spoken, deliberate, serious words. You look around frantically. Looking for any sign of where these men might be...until you hear it. The ticking. It was there from the beginning, you were just too oblivious to notice. It seems much louder and greater now though. Enough for you to keep thinking about it. That's what we wanted. Something that you'll never forget. Something you will never erase from your mind.

A flicker of dust catches the corner of your eye though. You immediately avert your eyes to the space, where there, something is emerging from the spiral itself. A man, dressed in a luxurious, all-white suit steps out towards you from the whirling vortex. You don't move.

"Hello." The man greeted. With a warm, yet slightly inhumane grin. Just then, another emerged. A man, in an all-black suit this time, steps out and stands next to White. He too, smiles sincerely.

"What is happening..." You question yourself.

"There is no need to be afraid. We are not here to harm you in any way." Black suit guy explains. "I am Unus."

"And I, Annus." They introduced themselves. They're posture was perfect; upright and straight. While their hands placed in front of their bodies. One in a pointing structure and the other, holding his fist.

"You must be Y/N. We've heard a lot about you." Annus grinned wider, although he seemed genuinely friendly.

"Why am I here? How do you know me?" You mustered up the courage to speak some words out loud. But, they seem to ignore your questions, and proceed to explain what is going on.

"We live our lives taking each second for granted." Unus began.

"But what would you do if you knew how much time you had left?" Annus continued.

"Unus Annus..."

"One year..."

Unus: This universe, much like you, has a limited amount of time.

Annus: And everyday we march ever closer to this world's inevitable doom.

You watch in shock and horror, listening to the words and taking everything in, in disbelief. Is this actually happening?

Unus: That means we will be doing an activity every single day until the clock strikes zero.

Annus: And then... it's game over.

You stare intently as a timer begins counting down the seconds of the days. It appears behind the men who point at it, then snap back into their original poses. They're like robots or something. There's something not quite fully human about them, and you notice.

Unus: Make no mistake. This doesn't mean that we'll just stop appearing.

Annus: When time runs out, we will be erasing this dimension and every single moment we have made in it.

Unus: And you'll never be able to experience them again.

Annus: Because much like death, you can't take it with you.

Unus: And all we'll have is the memories that we make along the way. So the clock starts now.

The ticking has seeped into your brain once again.

Annus: But the choice is yours.

Unus: Will you join us?

Annus: Or will you miss out on your one chance to be apart of Unus Annus?

Unus: Because time is already running out.

Annus: The train, is already moving.

Unus: So follow us now, because death... is coming. There are no second chances.

Annus: And if you miss out, all you'll be left with is regret.

Unus: Memento Mori.

Unus & Annus: Unus Annus.

Silence deafens the room. You're getting dizzy now. The clock is reverberating, the men enticing you to be apart of their project.

"Will you join us?" You hear over and over again. You look around. Your vision is blurring. Your body is weak. You fall down, accompanied by a faint chanting looming over your faded vision. 'Unus Annus'. Then, you don't hear anything at all, and the clock stops.