“Maybe next time,” is what Angel thought each and every take, until she stopped thinking it.

How many times had she looped back? Rewound? Retried? Was it a thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? It was hard to tell without the season changing. Either way, it didn’t really matter how many takes she had gone through. She was already on that last phase of giving up.

Each time she rewound, it was the same routine. During the earlier takes, at least the latter half of the hour was new. Now nothing was new. She had run out of ideas. And when that happens, there isn’t really anything to do other than give up.

So Angel didn’t have any goal anymore. At least she still remembered she had to escape the time period with Damien. Or was it just herself? Why did he matter so much anyway? Maybe she should just take a short break and then go find him again back in his own time period—from where it all started.

Heh. As if she hadn’t already tried that. It didn’t matter if she left Damien alone and fled the area. It didn’t matter if her pursuers got him or not—they would still come for her.

Still, there has to be another way. Maybe if she tried long enough, she could eventually find the needle in the haystack. No. She had abandoned that thought long ago. There was no needle in this haystack, and last resort sounded more and more worthwhile to try.

And that was surrender.

So once again, Angel woke to the sunshine-filled room in the straw bed, with Arthur sitting beside her. She went through the same conversation and same fight. But for the first time, she didn’t try escaping.

Guiding Damien into the cabin, they waited. Well, they had waited like this before, when Angel stupidly thought they wouldn’t meet their pursuers if they just stayed in the cabin. She was wrong. This time though, Angel didn’t try to escape.

Arthur stood back in shock when the door opened. That’s right, she had forgotten to tell her about the shooters, that they were criminals and she wasn’t. Can’t really blame him for waiting until the man had knocked Angel out and was dashing toward him before realizing who was the real enemy here.

Though at least Angel finally reached a new scenario, as if she had completed a level of a game. Well, it was more like skipping a level after failing it so many times.

But to her, it felt like she had won.

When Angel came to, the shooters had grouped back together, and, along with Arthur and Damien, they were all in a teleportation capsule just large enough to fit them all.

The capsule was definitely one of the more advanced ones Angel had seen. It was covered with cold, raw, glistening metal. There were no controls, which indicated that it was a mind-based interface. These people must have come from one of the more advanced eras.

Teleportation capsules are definitely a pretty useful transportation device for anywhere. They, well, do exactly what their name says: teleport. Though it isn’t just teleporting through spatial dimensions, but also through temporal dimensions. In just a blink of an eye, the group was sent to a completely different timeline.

It was immediately apparent they had traveled far when the doors to the capsule slid open. Cold air seeped in through the opening, but it wasn’t a breeze but rather a simple change in temperature.

Xiang was the first to go out since he was the leader of the team. Damien followed, led by the woman, Diane. He seemed mildly amazed that they were in an unfamiliar place. Ah, Angel had forgotten to explain to him what time-traveling is. Well, it shouldn’t matter much.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Angel was guided out next, with Ben, the taller, laid-back man, pushing her from behind. She was always put right in the center of the group, as they knew to be most careful around her. After all, Angel could go through a time jump any time, and after going through so many tries failing to prevent that, they were extra careful now that they had finally caught her.

Arthur followed behind, pushed out by the shorter man, Wayne. He, unlike Damien and me, wasn’t silent and looking at the ground the entire ride. To be fair, he probably still didn’t know what was going on. The top explanation on his list was most likely that Angel was a criminal and these four law enforcers were arresting her, only to take Arthur too for taking care of her, when he was actually innocent. Well, that isn’t too far from the truth, so it isn’t really Arthur’s fault for trying to get the group to listen to him. Now he was silent, though, after realizing any explanation was useless.

Outside, the cool air hit the new arrivals in full force, sending shivers down Angel. The air was still, with no sound of the smallest breeze. A large bug scurried across the path, going back into the forest of dead trees. Down the path in the distance was a looming structure of buildings with pointed roofs. The thick fog, however, only revealed the outline of the city.

“Don’t worry, this place isn’t representative of the rest of our kingdom,” Ben told the group. He was right. Angel had never been to a place quite like this in her travels. She had always stuck to areas with more people as she searched for Damien. But even when she thought back to books she had read, she didn’t remember a world known for its dense fog and dead forests except for in fairy tales.

“You wanna know why they made this place so creepy?” Ben continued as the group started on their hike toward the mysterious castle. The only sound that could be heard was their footsteps.

“Do you really have to go over this again?” Diane responded with a sigh.

Ben ignored Diane. “This place… is a prison.”

Prison. That word rang a bell inside Angel’s head. There were many prison worlds—timelines where criminals would be taken, places where you couldn’t escape from—but she had never seen one this void of life. She looked back to the castle in the fog. Was that where they kept the prisoners? Prison worlds usually functioned as rehabilitation centers. They always had prisoners living together in some sort of “happy” community. Angel had been to one before, and yes, as a prisoner, but it was quite an enjoyable experience. This, however, gave the direct opposite feeling.

It took them almost half an hour to walk up to the castle. It was as if their captors were showcasing the endless rows of dead trees to them. Still, it was effective. The colossal city became more and more visible through the white fog as they walked. By the time they had arrived at the open gates, Angel was filled with fear and uncertainty of what was behind the large walls. She suppressed her feelings, though. This was nothing compared to the countless hours she had spent running from those shooters.

The group walked through the gateway and thick walls easily, and the guard didn’t stop them. He was probably only there to prevent prisoners from leaving anyway. Finally, they reached the other side of the tunnel and out into the open again. Only then did Angel realize the dead silence of the city.

Ruined buildings were placed together to form a complex web of roads. She could imagine what this place would look like with children running, villagers gossiping, and merchants riding on their wagons. There was none of that. The walls of the houses were crumpled, revealing rooms with rotting furniture. Just like outside the walls, this place was devoid of life.

The prison, however, was nowhere in sight. The only notable feature was the large building at the center of the town which towered stories above the rest. The manor gave off an even more mysterious omen than the city had when they first arrived. If this place was actually a prison, then the only place it could be would be underground.

That was when it clicked for Angel. The fog. The dead forest. The silent buildings. The large manor. The underground prison.

This place was the place where nobody would ever wish to even see themselves in. The world people enter, but never exit. Angel had never seen it in any textbooks or webpages. She had never heard of it through any gossips or stories. The only place she had ever heard of it was from her parents.

“The prison where they keep the most wanted criminals,” they had said directly to her.

“The prison they want us in,” they said to each other when they thought she wasn’t listening.

And as they liked to call it, “The Prison of Eternal Limbo: the final destination.”