Chapter 1: Dylan's Dream (unedited, raw text)

Through Dylan's eyes, the city was black and white. The trees were all dead. Buildings were covered in snow. His phone said 6:02am, and yet the sky was pitch black. Minutes ago, the wolf, Fenrir, swallowed the sun and ushered in the start of Ragnarok, the final battle of the gods, and the end of the world.

Dylan found two odd things about this (although he should have considered a third thing): one, that Ragnarok was actually happening before his very eyes; and two,that everyone outside - people walking around the city - seemed not to care. (Three, all of this was happening in an archipelago in Southeast Asia that has no connection to Norse Gods.) While almost every eye on the train were glued to their phones, Dylan watched the mythical battle happening right outside his bedroom window.

Thor, the god of thunder, Odin's favorite son, fought with Jormungandr, the world serpent, in the river below. Thor was not what Dylan expected him to look like: a red-haired, big-bellied barbarian who wielded a crude-looking hammer which must have been Mjollnir. With the hammer, Thor struck Jormungandr's white head, forming a dent in the middle of the giant snake's eyes. In response, the serpent retreated in the lake. Thor's scanned different parts of the lake, anticipating where the snake might emerge. His eyes darted left, right, up, and down, but forgot to look somewhere vital: behind him. Before he could react to the sound of water splashing, Jormungandr folded Thor's torso with its strong jaws, instantly killing the god. As the snake bit into Mjollnir, the hammer sent out a thunderous blast, which made the serpent's head explode. In this way, Thor and Jormungandr fell at the same time.

In another part of the city, atop the tallest tower, Odin's spear was stuck in the wolf's mouth. Dylan saw the frustrated All-Father shouting insults at Fenrir the wolf for swallowing the sun, and now attempting to swallow his beloved spear. Seeing as the spear wouldn't budge, Odin let go of his weapon and threw unarmed blows at Fenrir, hoping to weaken him. Fenrir was unfazed. He kicked the All-Father, whose strength was depleted in his old age, and Odin fell off the building unconscious. The gluttonous Fenrir, hoping to fill his belly more, lunged after the almost lifeless Odin to try and swallow him. Odin hit the ground with a loud thud. The wolf, which still had a spear stuck in his throat, tried to reach Odin on the ground with his mouth. The base of the spear landed on Odin's chest, driving itself further into the wolf's esophagus, finall impaling Fenrir through the stomach and killing it. In this way, Odin and Fenrir fell at the same time. Through Fenrir's pierced belly, a bit of sunlight leaked out.

Numerous corpses of gods and beasts littered the snow-covered city. Dylan could not name many of them. In the middle of the park, the last two gods remained. One was a being that seemed to shapeshift with every step he took. At one point, he looked like a horse; at another, he looked like a frost giant with blue skin. Eventually, he settled with a form that seemed to be his true one: a slim man with raven black hair, wielding a dart-like blade. This must have been Loki, wielding the enigmatic Laevateinn.

He circled the park grounds opposite Heimdall, the gatekeeper. Dylan wondered if it was Heimdall who brought all the gods here through the Bifrost. In his left hand was Gjallarhorn, and in his right was a blade slightly longer than Loki's. The two remaining gods pointed their blades at one another while walking slowly. This dance of death went on for what seemed like minutes, though in reality, it was only a few seconds before one of them made the first move.

Loki took the form of a raven and dashed towards Heimdall, before assuming human form and piercing his sword towards his target. Heimdall quickly deflected Loki's blade with his and stepped back. The force of Heimdall's blade knocked Laevateinn out of Loki's hands, leaving him stunned and vulnerable. Loki once again shapshifted into something small and nimble to retrieve his blade. Loki was too agile for Heimdall. Heimdall was too strong for Loki. Their battle went on for hours.

Dylan watched with anticipation, trying to figure out how both of them could die at the same time. Would they stab each other's hearts at the same time? Would Loki shapeshift into an elephant that would crush Heimdall, who would then open the Bifrost to somehow slice the elephant in half? Dylan recalled on the gruesome scenarios he watched in shows and read in comic books. He could imagine no end to this stalemate.

Dylan got bored watching the two gods fight, so he decided to lie down on his bed again and enjoy a restful Thursday morning. And that's when it hit him.

Thursday was a weekday.

He instantly got up and checked his clock again. It was 6:58am, only two hours and two minutes before work. In a city like this, that wasnt enough time. And with the giant corpses lying around, traffic was bound to be heavy. He had no time for a shower. He would rather be 15 minutes late and stinky than fresh but an hour late. He put on his work clothes and flattened his hair frantically with wet hands... But after realizing how gross he felt, he decided to hit the showers and be late.

After a shower that, as usual, took longer than he needed, Dylan finally headed out of his apartment. His body tensed up as the elevator stopped on 17 more floors as it travelled from the 32nd floor to Ground. He wondered if Loki or Heimdall won the duel. He wondered if people finally noticed.

His curiosity was soon appeased. By the time he walked across to the park from his building, Loki and Heimdall were taking a break from fighting. Both were sprawled on the floor, and crowds of annoyed citizens dressed in work clothes stepped over the giant-sized gods. To the people of the city, it seems that Ragnarok was just another nuisance to the work day. Dylan hoped that the government had at least declared this a non-work holiday. But hope doesn't pay the bills, and so Dylan continued sprinting towards the train station.

It was 8:16am by the time he got there. He would have missed the previous train if the station strictly followed their own schedule. But in reality, the 8:15am train was just about to arrive. If there were miraculously no delays, and if he could squeeze his way into this train, he could make it to work on the dot. There were around two hundred other people in the station waiting for the next train, which Dylan hoped would be empty.

To Dylan's surprise, it was. All the cars were suspiciously empty, and everyone was able to ride without having to be packed like sardines. Dylan sighed with relief. He thought of sitting, but realized that his prospective seatmates might catch a whiff of his morning scent. He chose to stand instead. He was about to put his earphones on to listen to music, before a familiar voice reached his ears.

"They're at it again," said a voice beside him. The voice belonged to a woman in office clothes, shorter than him but looked more... adult. Compared to Dylan's skinny, boyish frame that made him look like a kid in a suit, this woman's physique and beauty matched her age. Her dark blue blazer covered the blouse that wrapped tightly around her waist. Her skirt contoured her legs, and cut off at just the right length. Dylan, in the most respectful, couldn't take his eyes off her.

Dylan instinctively knew the beautiful woman's name. Sophie.

"Yeah," he finally managed to utter, looking out at sunless, desolate city, where the last two gods stood up again stood up to continue their slumber. Blades clashed once again, with no clear winner in sight. There was a lot to say about the scenery, but the metaphorical cat caught Dylan's tongue.

"Maybe after lunchtime, one of them will win. My bet is on Loki," the woman named Sophie casually remarked. Dylan still found it odd that no one saw how insane this scenery was. He found it odd that he himself took this all in so calmly, and that he was more nervous about being late to work. What he did not find odd, however, was that Sophie was the first one to point out that Ragnarok was happening. It was characteristic of Sophie to find things interesting when everyone else didn't seem to care. "Who do you think will win?"

Dylan thought about it for a second, remembering what little he learned about Norse mythology.

"I think they both lose, eventually," he said. Sophie had nothing to reply. Dylan continued. "I'm just not sure how."

There was silence again for a few minutes.

"Hey," said Sophie after a while. "Meet me at the station after lunch. I heard that they'll suspend work later today."

"Why didn't they do that this morning, when this all started?"

"You know how it is here."

"You're right. Yes, let's meet at the station after lunch."

"Does 2pm sound good?" Sophie asked.

"Yes. I'll see you at 2pm." Dylan looked out the train window to catch a glimpse of Heimdall attempting to summon the Bifrost before Loki turned into a horse and knocked Heimdall's horn from his hands. Dylan realized that he had missed a very important detail. "Oh, which station will we-"

But Sophie was gone. Did the train stop without Dylan noticing? He couldn't remember. But just like that, the woman was nowhere to be seen.

Then, the scene changed.

Dylan suddenly found himself at the office's front door. He looked out the glass window beside him, and saw what he usually saw: the sun in the sky, thousands of cars on the road, people walking everywhere, and hundreds of buildings that look exactly like the one he was in now.

For a moment, he stood bewildered. He vaguely remembered a cataclysmic event that happened that morning, but he wasn't sure. Did he take the train going to the office? Standing in front of the office door was the earliest memor he had so far. Then there was a faint idea of a woman... A picture of a beautiful, familiar woman flashed in Dylan's mind. What was her name? He couldn't remember.

He looked at the clock. Ten AM. He cursed under his breath when he realized that he was exactly an hour late. He took a breath and prepared an apology before entering the office door.

"Hi," Dylan said, without looking up. "Sorry I'm late."

His Australian manager, Raylen, greeted him with the usual, "Aw hey, Dyl." Only this time, his cheerful tone seemed just that - cheerful, without a hint of passive-aggressiveness. "That's all right. I just got here myself just ten minutes ago. The line at the train today was crazy, wasn't it?"

Dylan looked up puzzled as Raylen reassured him with a pat on the arm. As usual, Dylan's boss was eerily friendly today, but for a different reason this time. This time, Raylen's friendliness seemed genuine. He still hated his boss' nickname for him, but everything else about Raylen's demeanor exuded authentic warmth. Raylen smile at Dylan as he kept his hand on his employee's shoulders.

"Off to work then, hey?" Dylan said in an uncomfortable accent he unconsciously used when talking to his boss. "Thanks for understanding, Sir Raylen."

"Hey, now what did we talk about, Dyl? Drop all that 'sir' nonsense, and it's just Ray. We're practically the same age." Ray was 53, old enough to be Dylan's dad if he had him at 24.

"Right. Thanks Ray. Sorry again about being late. Won't happen again."

"You'll still get paid, mate. Don't sweat." Ray pointed a slightly awkward finger gun at Dylan, made an equally awkward clicking sound matched with a wink, then walked backwards for a few steps before heading to his spacious office.

Dylan awkwardly smiled at his boss and gave a thumbs up. When Raylen was finally out of sight, Dylan shook his head as if to jolt himself awake. He sat down in front of his desk, set up his work laptop, then got to work on his tasks for the day. At 12nn, he had lunch with his workmates, where they talked about the upcoming holiday and what they had planned for the long weekend. At 1pm, they ignored each others' presence again and went back to work. At 2pm, Dylan felt like he had somewhere to be, but couldn't quite place his finger on it. He ignored the feeling and went back to typing on a computer, half working and half pretending to be busy. All throughout the day, Dylan kept thinking about a beautiful woman in a dark blue blazer. These thoughts came in flashes, quickly overridden by his tasks for the day. At exactly 4:34pm, all his tasks were done. Let the clockwatching begin, he thought to himself.

Something about today felt strangely light and peaceful. Was it the sunny day? Was it Raylen's demeanor? Was it the woman on the train? There was a woman on the train. What was her name? Dylan swam in a sea of thoughts, looking unawaredly blank the whole time. Then, he looked at the clock.

5:59PM. The wait to 6:00PM was the longest 60 seconds of Dylan's life. He counted down at random points of the second hand. Forty. Thirty-one. Twenty-nine. Twenty-five. Sixteen. Fifteen. Fourteen. Thirteen. Did Tim leave with the new girl? Huh. Odd. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

Zero.

Dylan ran as fast as he could to the office door. It was the start of the long weekend, and he couldn't wait to spend three long days at home. He would figure out what to do along the way. As he rushed to the building elevator, he sensed that something was a bit odd. The clock beside the elevator read 5:55pm.

That's weird, thought Dylan. Is this clock broken? What if the office clock is broken, and this one is right?

Then, something weirder happened. The clock moved backwards, at a gradually rising speed. It now read 5:45pm, then 5:30pm, then 5:00pm, then 4:00pm, then 3:00pm, then 2:00pm, then 1:00pm. As the clock rewinded, Dylan's whole surrounding rewinded, like a VHS recording going backwards after twisting the knob. Then, Dylan realized that HE was moving backwards: back into the office door, back into his desk, back to doing all the tasks he had just finished earlier that day. He found himself talking to Raylen again, but this time their conversation was backwards.

"ega emas eht yllacitcarp er'eW. yaR tsuj s'ti-"

He saw the sunny skies outside the office window, which instantly turned dark as he found himself in a train beside a beautiful woman. Seconds later, he found himself going up his building's elevator, back to his room, and watching resurrection of once lifeless gods. Thor's body broke freem from Jormungandr the world serpent, and they were pulled apart from each other. Odin pulled his spear from Fenrir, who then spit out the sun. Heimdall opened the Bifrost and all the gods entered with him in reverse back to Asgard. All this happened in a blur, and made Dylan's head hurt.

Then Dylan woke up.

An olive green bag hit his face. He looked up to see a man wearing his bag in front of him, scrolling his phone, and unaware that he woke Dylan up. Dylan rubbed the sand from his eyes and looked right to see a lady with a baby. Their eyes met, and Dylan instantly stood up to offer his seat to the lady. Instead, the man with the olive green bag took the seat, still on his phone. Dylan looked to the lady, as if too apologize for Olive Greenbag. The lady looked back as if to say, "It's not your fault." They exchanged a smile.

Dylan looked at Greenbag's phone. 9AM. His eyes widened and started panicking. He talked to the lady with the baby.

"Excuse me," he said. "Which station are we at?"

The woman's answer sent Dylan rushing to the exit. He had missed his stop by one station, and now would take forever to get back. It was clear to him now that it had all been a dream: Ragnarok, Sophie, his boss, getting to the office, time rewinding...

Sophie.

If Dylan had all the time in the world, he would reminisce on the love of his life and reflect on why she still shows up in his dreams to this day. But Dylan did not have that luxury. Romanticizing life would have to wait after work.

He ran to the jeepney stop and hoped that his dream about a friendly, understanding Raylen became a reality. Dylan wouldn't mind being called Dyl if his boss transformed from a mean grouch into a friendly, understanding, somewhat awkward version of himself that Dylan dreamt about. He prayed for a miracle. Hopefully, that dream would prove to be prophetic.