ANANDA

Loren, a scientist and a researcher from the world of Ernea! A rebirthed world brought back to life after complete destruction. Loren has been seeing weird dreams as if dreams of his past life every single night. Sometimes they were vague snippets and sometimes entire events or days that he would see. One thing that was consistent, however, was the endless rush and panic.

Loren awoke, after a yet another 1 of his unsettling dreams. This time, he was a middle-aged man working for a space agency on a ship to travel stars. He rubbed his eyes as consciousness took over and grunted. He tended to his morning routine, dressed up, and headed outside. It was spring in Ernea and Loren was heading to work as per usual. 

In the early mornings, the streets were quiet and rather empty. Most people commuted to work by subway, very few walked and above-ground transportation was all but obsolete in their world. As he walked down the empty street to his lab he couldn’t help but ponder over the dream -’why the panic? Why a spaceship?’ These questions never stopped bothering him. However, no matter how many therapists he’d see, they all said the same thing – ‘job-induced stress results in wild dreams’. 

Loren made it to his lab, scanned his ID tag which he had loosely hanging from a lanyard around his neck. The glass wall split open before him as the card reader turned green. Loren went in. His office was located in the ‘time and space research center’ which was the 7th basement floor. He made it to the elevator, he was still lost in thoughts of his dreams, ignoring all around him. 

As the elevator dinged and the door opened, Loren stepped inside and was greeted by a few colleagues and researchers from other departments. A bold, overweight guy in a labcoat looked at him with a smug face and whispered to his colleague beside him, loud enough for Loren to hear – “hey, did you hear the guys at the time and space research are gonna be shut down? It’s the end of the decade and they showed no results. Waste of resources…” 

The other guy laughed softly as Loren turned his head to glance at the two gossiping – “Mmhmm! We should get their funds, our genetic crop engineering is much more valuable.” Loren was used to gossip and remarks from other departments, it was true after all, time and space research has not shown any progress in nearly a decade now. The door dinged and most people left the elevator, leaving Loren in the company of a young-looking girl, a teenager by the looks of it.

As the elevator hummed back into action, descending further down, Loren’s curiosity got the best of him. He cleared his throat – “ahem. So, are you a new…. Uhh intern??” The girl ignored him, he noticed earbuds in her ears and sighed – “right right, of course” he said quietly to himself as he turned to face the door again. The elevator dinged once more and the door slid open.

Their lab was on the bottom floor, however, as Loren watched the elevator door close behind him, he noticed that the girl stood motionless, not exiting the elevator, as if frozen in time, she did not as much as blink. Loren squinted at her, the doors closed. He shook his head – ‘she must’ve just gotten lost’ he thought to himself as he turned and bumped into their chief – “Oh crap! Sorry chief Shiro! You uhh, you alright?” he looked at the chief of lab who looked rather worked – 

“ye! Yea of course yea all good!” Shiro said, walking hurriedly away, heading towards the conference room. Loren made it to his station and fired up his computer when he was approached by his colleague Sam. She leaned on the low cubicle walk and eyed him for a moment – “So? More weird dreams? Bad coffee? Black cat crossed the road? What’s up with you?” Loren, carefully entering his password replied without looking at her – “Well, dreams yes, as always. But something else feels off today, don’t you think?”

Sam turned her head a little and squinted – “Hmmmmmm, yeah i guess the lights seem kinda dimmer today don’t they?” she chuckled playfully – “What is it?”. Loren turned towards her and sighed – “there was a girl in the elevator, a teenager, but she… she didn’t move, like not even blink! And, why is the chief all worked up?” Sam pondered for a moment – “Ah well the chief thing is obvious, our prototype will be delivered shortly!”

Loren’s jaw dropped for a moment – “Wait, THE prototype??” Sam sighed – “Loren, you sure you don’t need a break? You’ve been so out of it lately. Yes, THE prototype of the time disruptor we’ve all been working on for the past 9 years!” Loren slumped up and stumbled back a moment, feeling dizzy, overwhelmed – “this… How did I forget?” Sam sighed – “Look Loren, after the testing phase, take a vacation, you hear me?” Loren nodded – “yea yea” but his mind was elsewhere, he no longer paid attention to Sam.

Loren stapled a pile of papers on his desk and set it on top of a folder labeled ‘time disruptor test sequence’. He leaned back in his chair and sighed, staring at the clock on the wall as it slowly ticked, reading 11:47. ‘Funny, in a year of advanced technology and creation of time-disrupting prototypes, we still love a good old mechanical cheap wall clock’.  

Each passing second further pushed Loren into his daydream, and before long he found himself drifting off. A moment passed, Loren is jerked back to the world of consciousness and chaos, he is in a factory, beside him a black cat, soundly asleep. He grunted, getting up from the floor as a bit of blood dripped from his eyebrow. He grabbed onto the wall to help hold himself straight and with the other hand swiped at his eyebrow – blood stained his hand.

Loren pulled his sleeve down to cover his hand and pressed his sleeve covered hand over the wound on his eyebrow, a small cut by the looks of things – “I guess, I passed out?” he said, looking around with confusion. The cat’s gaze now fixated on Loren as the cat stretched itself awake. Loren looked around the factory, it was a massive factory with rail tracks lining the floor, massive engines sitting on 2 train carts, being worked on by no less than 2 dozen people. 

Loren looked to his right – he was standing on an overhanging catwalk, above him another level of the catwalk, with a broken railing. He stumbled towards the stairs leading down – “where in the hell am I and how did I end up here?” he mumbled to himself as he walked, leaning against the factory wall to his right, now, clearly too anxious to rely on the railings of the catwalk. 

As he made his way downstairs, a man in a light blue flight suit came up to him – “Loren, damn it, where you been? The management is going insane looking for you! Are you hurt?” He noticed the blood-stained sleeve of Loren’s light yellow flight suit. Loren grunted gesturing for him to slow down – “ughh! I’m fine, I’m fine! What the hell is going on?” The man in blue looked at him and pointed at the office in the back of the factory floor.

As power tools kicked in making it quite impossible to hear anything, the man grabbed him by the shoulder tugging him to come along shouting loud as he could – “LET’S GO! THE MANAGERS WANT YOUR REPORT!” Disoriented and confused Loren had no choice but to follow. The black cat, following closely in his steps did not, for a second, take its gaze off of Loren, making him feel quite uneasy. 

As the 2 were about to head in, Loren caught a glimpse of the sign above the door ‘Director’. They went through the door into the director’s office and as the door closed behind them, they could hear again. The man grabbed a first aid kit from a drawer of a simple wooden desk in the corner of the room and pulled out alcohol wipes and bandaids – “Accidents at a factory are never pleasant, I’ll get you the injury paperwork in a moment” he said hesitantly.

Loren shook his head – “It’s whatever, a small wound, rather, where am I?” The man raised his eyebrow – “uhh, you must’ve hit your head pretty hard. You’re here to personally see the ITE production, are you not, inspector?” He pulled Loren’s hand away and applied an alcohol wipe on the eyebrow cut. In the moment, sharp pain and what the man said made Loren remember his dreams. 

Loren remembered his dreams, the rush, panic and chaos. The factories, and the term ‘ITE’ – Interstellar Travel Engines. He winced in pain as his head started hurting from the rush of information he was suddenly receiving. “Uhhh ” Grunted Loren as the man removed the wipe and looked at the wound – “No problems! Will heal in a few days, but will need to check your brain with the medics, can’t have a lead inspector with a concussion!” 

Loren shook his head – “no, it’s alright! It must’ve been a shock from the fall, I remember everything now”. This was a lie, he thought to himself, but he needed time to analyze his situation. The cat leaped into his lap and glared deep into Loren’s eyes as the director applied bandage to his injury – “Alright inspector, that’s all taken care of. I’ll get a hold of the upper management who were seeking for you, wait here”. Loren nodded, looking at the cat, his cat apparently. 

But oddly enough, he did not remember having a cat in his dreams. As the director left, he slouched back in the chair – “dream, this has to be just another 1 of my wild dreams. I was at my lab, waiting for the…” He gasped – “No, wait… Impossible, it can’t be!” He jumped from his chair. The cat clung on for its dear life, scratching him, puncturing his skin with its sharp claws as it meowed in fright. The pain from the scratches made Loren calm down momentarily  

“ah! Sorry sorry kitty!” He said as he gently picked it up and sat it on the table. Focusing on the memories of his dreams, as he watched the cat, glare into his eyes once more – “No, something isn’t right, I never had a cat in my dreams. YOU Should NOT exist” he said, booping the cat on the nose gently. The cat took a step back and sat down, but still, not taking its eyes off of Loren for even a split second. 

A moment later the director returned, accompanied by 3 men in expensive-looking suits. Each was overweight and neatly tended hair. – “mmmh, Mister Povey, what..” he huffed, breathless from having to walk a few dozen meters. Most likely, by the looks of it, these men were not used to moving more than a few dozen steps a day. ‘Clearly, upper management’ noted Loren as he glanced back at the cat before focusing his gaze on the managers. 

The shortest of the managers continued as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief – “what took you so long to find us? Have you no respect for our time mister Povey?” Loren sighed – “Of course I do, but you see, in an unfortunate incident I fell off a catwalk and passed out for a short while. I assure you, the ITE report will be completed by the end of the week.”

The manager huffed  – “yes yes! Very good!” The 1 behind him glanced out the office’s window – “will the work be completed on time?” Factory director walked in front of the one who just spoke, a slightly younger and quite a bit taller man – “Uhh, sir well, we work in 3 shifts nonstop 24/7 but the men are falling ill and need a break!” The manager hushed him- “excuses! We have no time to spare!” After a rather long and meaningless debate, managers all left, insisting the report is written with haste. 

Loren left the factory for the day and returned home, the cat still followed him closely behind. As if observing his every step, his every move. Loren, to his surprise, knew his way home despite having never seen it in his dreams. It was a humble trailer house, merely 15 minutes walking away from the factory. It would appear many factory workers lived in this trailer home park, Loren noted as he noticed many men wearing variously colored jumpsuits entering or leaving their homes. 

At home Loren’s cat sat almost perfectly still, watching him as he sat down on the sofa, further thinking about his situation. The cat was the oddest thing about this. Loren in all of his years never saw a cat in his dreams, the cat was not supposed to be here, it was abnormality. The cat jumped on Loren’s lap and placed its front paws on his chest, in his mind a voice rang and echoed – ‘You are not dreaming’. 

And in the moment, Loren jumped up from his chair, awakening from sleep at his desk in his lab.  Loren looked around nervously and then at his colleagues, few of whom stopped what they were doing, watching a researcher disoriented in his cube – “Ah! Sorry there was a uhh… a spider” Loren exclaimed as he caught his breath and people around him returned to their tasks. He glanced at the clock and it read ‘11:48’. Disoriented by the lucid dream, Loren sat back down and tried to concentrate on the task at hand.  He remembered the prototype was coming and his team was to run the test sequences on it. 

Loren printed out some more paperwork and uploaded some files onto a credit card looking device which he pulled out of his workstation, grabbed the folder and all his printed out files and headed to the testing chambers. As he walked the narrow corridor, he kept phasing out between seeing the clean, empty white walls of the lab, and grey, partly stained, concrete walls of the factory from his presumed dream. 

Sam waved her hand before his face as Loren mindlessly walked the path to the testing chambers – “Explorer to Ernea! Explorer to Ernea!!! Loren come in” Loren blinked a few times as his vision focused, before him, the narrow white corridor of his lab. He looked at Sam – “Yes? Something wrong?” Same sighed – “Yeah, with you! You’re so outta whack today Loren! Focus!!! We need you as the lead engineer of the test sequence” 

He smiled at her wearily – “I’m fine, just, guess I didn’t sleep enough, coffee will fix it. How much time have we got?” Sam shrugged – “I don’t know, between 30 minutes and 3 hours, you know the guys in the engineering, they’re always so damn slow with delivering prototypes! Anyways, get to the test chamber, I’ll bring you extra strong coffee and a muffin!” she said in a semi-commanding tone. Loren nodded- “yea, thanks Sam! Owe ya one” She chuckled – “you owe me far more than one”

Loren made it to the testing chamber, the door he faced was steel and thick, no windows. A bright red sign “authorized personnel only, top secret” He scanned his badge on the scanner and a small door slid open on the side of the wall, a retina scanner. Upon completion of the necessary security scans, the door swung open inwards. Loren faced a large room with a circular catwalk. In the middle a glass dome behind a thick faraday cage and an energy shield that let out a soft hum. 

The moment Loren was through the door, his team of engineers and researchers had already mostly gathered in the testing chamber, manning various monitors and computers, making their final preparations and checks. Loren made his way to the central station, set his documents on the side, and plugged in his portable storage device, taking a deep breath as he double-checked the readiness of the workstation. All seemed in order

Shortly after, Sam sat a cup of extra black coffee and a muffin on top of his documents, which Loren ignored. Thanking her for her care he enjoyed the muffin and coffee while awaiting the delivery of the prototype. Bored, Loren checked the basic, cheap clock on the wall – ‘12:54’ and in that moment the door swung open. Through it 3 men in black armored suits walked, following them was an engineer, carrying a briefcase. Security stopped at the door as the engineer made his way inside.

“Finally” Exclaimed Loren as he finished his coffee, and as he watched the engineer walk towards the deposition chamber, he noticed a black cat following in his shadows. The cats gaze, fixated on Loren, not even blinking. Loren swallowed hard but noticed how nobody else reacted to the cat. He chose not to mention it as today was the most important day of the decade for his department, calling it off because the lead test sequence engineer is hallucinating cats would be quite the stain on his reputation.

The device was deposited and the engineer left the testing chambers. “Alright team, let’s get to work!” announced Sam as she began the prototype deposition. The device, which was in the shape of a simple black box with glowing lines. It grabbed a robotic arm. The energy shield was disabled and the device was carefully brought inside the glass dome and sat on a pedestal that had an indentation to fit it, like a key, it slotted in perfectly. 

Moment the energy field was brought back online, the device activation sequence was initiated, and not a moment later the black box broke up into several small pieces that levitated a few cm away from each other, arcing between themselves. Another hour passed as the rest of the team verified the integrity and readiness of both the prototype and the testing chamber. 

The black cat leaped up onto the chair which stood beside Loren, watching him attentively. Sam’s hand landed on Loren’s shoulder, massaging it gently – “Nervous? So are we… It’s time. Fire up the sequence” Loren nodded as he dug up a paper from inside his folder and input a variety of numbers and formulas into the software on the workstation. He swallowed audibly as he hit the ‘Begin’ button. His gaze fixated not on the readings, monitor or the device inside the glass dome, instead, his gaze was fixated on the clock, the cheap, basic plastic clock on the wall as he watched the seconds tick by. 

“SUCCESS!” Exclaimed Sam beside him. As he looked away from the clock for a moment, he found himself facing Sam, back at his cubicle. She leaned on the low cubicle wall and eyed him for a moment – “So? More weird dreams? Bad coffee? Black cat crossed the road? What’s up with you?” Loren replied in shock as he jerked back a little – “w..what the hell???? Why are we here? What about the test?” He exclaimed, completely disoriented. Sam tilted her head and put her head on his forehead – “Loren, are you alright? You’re completely out of it lately. The test isn’t for another few hours.”

Loren jumped up from his chair looking around in confusion, the clock read 10:50. Loren shook his head – “no… no this can’t be!” Sam looked at him with her eyebrow raised – “Uhh… Loren? You good? You seem a little” Loren looked at her- “A little worked up? A little insane? Yes! I.. this.. ughhH!” He winced in pain as sharp pain pierced his head – “i.. Just need a moment” Said Loren as Sam stared at him concerned – “sit down, i’ll get you a coffee” 

Loren did as she suggested, and as he watched the clock, he noticed black cat walking towards him on the short cubicle walls, staring at him. As the cat got closer Loren sat the coffee cup in front of Loren, which made him snap his attention away from the mysterious cat – “Oh! Thanks” She looked in the direction which had Loren’s interest- “what’s there?” Loren took a sip of the coffee – “Huh? Where? Oh uhh, i was just staring into nothing, don’t worry about it”

Sam squatted beside him – “Loren, we can call off the test today, go home and get some rest” But he just shook his head- “no! I need to confirm something! I’m fine! I just need to rest a moment” She looked at him concerned, but trusting – “alright, just, don’t push yourself too hard you hear me?” He nodded – “yea, thanks for the coffee!” 

The moment Sam left, Loren found himself face to face with the cat that intently stared at him. – “what are you?” The cat sat on the table, not averting its gaze for even a moment, it’s piercing gaze concentrated on Loren, but it remained silent. Loren went to pat the cat, thinking it’s a hallucination, but there it was, soft, warm fur that he could feel. Its warm breath on his skin. “What did you mean it’s not a dream?” The cat still remained silent.

Loren shook his head as he made the final preparations and found himself drifting asleep once more. He glanced at the cat and then back at the clock – 11:47. ‘Funny, in a year of advanced technology and creation of time-disrupting prototypes, we still love a good old mechanical cheap wall clock’. He chuckled lightly as he drifted asleep. 

He awoke in the factory, bleeding from his eyebrow. The cat beside him once more, but events did not change. Same factory, same managers, same director, and same conversations, had Loren certain in his theory that the time disruptor worked, all too well. Loren sat on his sofa the same evening, cat on the table watching him intently – “Alright so… this is NOT a dream. I’m stuck in a loop, right?” He glanced at the cat which still remained silent.  

He drifted asleep and awoke at his desk. Convinced that he is indeed in a time loop, he followed the same events as he remembered them until the time to launch the test sequence. The cat stared at him intently as he decided to run the sequence once more, but changed the formula this time a little. Per his assumption the input formula threw him into a specific part of the previous day so he wanted to test his theory.

Loren awakened at his desk, the cat still sitting there, watching him. He glanced at the clock and it read ‘11:48’. “Hah! So this is the part after the factory jump! I knew it! I KNEW IT!” Exclaimed Loren as a few of his colleagues in nearby cubicles reminded him less than kindly that he was not alone in the lab. Loren pulled out the formula sheets and started analyzing them, writing down variations and possible alternatives for further testing. 

In the next what seemed like days of restless time looping, Loren has come to figure out that the dreams he had been seeing were not dreams but his past life. He found formulas allowing him to jump into specific memorable points in time in his present or past life, however, he feared the experiment for more than a day of his present life due to having to relieve it all until the point when he would get to launch the test sequences of the time disruptor. 

However, he found that changing the later half of the formula allowed him to go to specific times in his past life when he would fall asleep in the present day at 11:47. Using that he repeated this over and over another dozen times, relieving his past life and learning of the events that happened. 

The present history of Ernea does not mention anything at all. As if the world restarted from 0 at some point. Through this time jumping, Loren learned that in the past, the rush, commotion, and chaos he grew so accustomed to in his dreams were due to the inevitable explosion of the star in their solar system. Attempts were made to build interstellar arks which would take remnants of the civilization to distant worlds and assure the survival of the human species as a whole. 

With learning that and growing ever more weary and exhausted, he dared not try to change the course of events, and instead just focused on gaining knowledge and learning the truth for himself. In his past life he was an inspector for the space ship’s engines which were not made in time and the ship never launched. The star exploded and caused the destruction of the world and that is when his past life was cut off. “But then why… and how am I here?” he questioned as he awoke from his last journey. 

The cat licked its paw sitting on the table beside him, and grinned at him, yes, it grinned. Loren thought he completely lost his mind from over-exhaustion but the cat spoke in the voice he had heard before, during his first journey. – “Human, you’ve uncovered the truth that was to be forgotten.” The voice echoed in his mind – “I came here to observe when I noticed a disruption, but you showed no ill intent” the cat’s gaze locked with his own, and the voice sent chills down his spine. 

“I chose to allow your journeys, I sensed potential in you, young man” the voice echoed through his mind once more, sending his thoughts into complete disarray. – “I am Ananda, god of this world. Your world faced destruction, but your species showed potential. I decided to give your species another chance” The echoing voice felt as if it reached the deepest corners of his subconsciousness. Loren trembled slightly

He spoke quietly- “b..but… science denies the very idea of the existence of a supreme being”. The cat took a step closer to him, and its voice filled his mind once more – “You need not talk human, think and I will hear you”. It jumped on his lap and laid down – “deny my existence as much as you wish, you learned the truth of your previous life yourself, did you not?”. Loren’s mind raced – ‘it’s…it’s impossible! Surely I’m just going insane’. 

The voice laughed in a deep rumble in the depths of his mind, rupturing all and any doubtful thoughts he had, at their root. “Your world faced destruction, your species were given a second chance in the world I created for them. Every human was reincarnated. Some, like you, would see their past lives in their dreams but such is the side effect of sudden death and soul trauma” the voice spoke quietly to him. “And now, human, wish you to preserve your knowledge and thoughts? Or seek you to remove them?”

Loren trembled in his chair but not from fear, but excitement instead – ‘I… as a researcher…truth! I wish to know and remember the truth’. The voice agreed with him – “Very well, so be it” The formulas on the paper before him changed – “But the disruption of time I can not permit, the test will fail and you will not attempt again, nobody ever will”. Loren, sweating nervously nodded – ‘yes, i.. Understand’ 

The cat yawned in his lap – “You’re free to write a book about your discoveries, I do not mind, many will read it, I assure you of that. A good career is it not?” Loren burst out into laughter – ‘for a god, you sure are pretty casual’. The cat turned to look at him once more – “and for a human, you sure are pretty fascinating”. And with that, the cat vanished from existence.

The test that day failed as Ananda commanded. Loren lived on to become a renowned author with a large fanbase, mostly of people who shared his experiences in one way or another, that is, seeing their past lives. Spontaneous visions or dreams. The growing interest and acceptance of those visions led to further exploration and investigation with ever-growing amounts of governments and institutions rewriting history books based on Loren’s book and the discoveries he made.