When Back In Time

"CHEATING YOUR way, eh?" a familiar voice whispered.

Time started to move faster in a backward motion.

"No! No, no, no, no!" Esperanza screamed. "No!"

She remembered all the struggles she endured just to get back in year 2019. She remembered all the breakdowns, doubts and guilt she tried to overcome just to get back to her time. She endured sleepless nights, turning the wristwatch's crown clockwise with her numbing fingers and her fatigue days. But now...

All was lost. It's now wasted as the time flipped backward. All was lost as she saw how the sky turned twilight to night, dusk to afternoon, noon to day, day to daybreak.

Backward...

All was lost as the surrounding changed from more advanced technology down to basics.

And then, back to 1892.

Darkness...

And then a light came from this staff.

She turned around while yelling frantically at the god of Time and Cosmos. "How could you? I've spent my time and energy to go back there? But you! You------ you just took it away from me with one swoop. How could you? That's is unfair!"

"Unfair?" Bangun Bangun asked. His face became colder and colder per second, "Tell that to my face one more time human and I'm going to end you. Why every time I see you, you always have the audacity to complain to my face? You cheated on me, have you notice that? You didn't fulfill your task, instead, you go fly back to the future. Didn't I tell you to find Jose Rizal? Yes, I did, but you didn't comply."

"But you said it, right. You want me to go back to where I came from," Esperanza said.

"Yes---- After you finish ALL your tasks. I didn't say after you finish ONE task. And looked what happened. Everything is messed up. History changed drastically. The Philippines, which was supposed to be colonized for only 333 years, now took a long run of 400 years before they were finally freed from Spain's clutch. Revolution failed. More bloodshed came. The Philippines' heroes you once knew were replaced by those foreign people. The language that was once declared to be your national language now was forgotten," the god said.

Esperanza stopped and gulped. Indeed she noticed it. The Philippines became a country under Spain, after all the effort the Philippines made to sever their ties with the colonizers. Spanish became the Philippines' first language. And then some strange Spaniards became the Philippines' heroes. And then... Maria. Maria, her friend, was not her friend anymore in the future.

"I don't like what is happening," she blurted out.

"Oh! And now you don't like what is happening?" he mockingly asked.

"Why is it happening?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "Because you ditch your simple task-----"

"It's not a simple task!" she argued.

"-------of finding Jose Rizal, that's why that happened in your time. And don't complain to me that it's a difficult task, human. Remember that you'd made a grave mistake once and I gave you a chance. You've made another mistake now by backing down from your quest and going back to your time. You've made two strikes. I gave you a chance but you wasted it."

She bowed her head, "I'm sorry."

"And do you think, must I forgive this action of yours?"

She looked at him, pleading.

"You---- you will have another chance. Break it again and you'll be cold as meat the next day. One---- more--- chance--- human!"

"What should I do to prevent things from happening in the future?" she asked.

"That's why, I always tell you, if you do not want those stuff happened again in the future, stick to your quest."

"But----but," she said.

Bangun Bangun looked up to the sky watched the stars, "The stars say trouble is coming. More trouble is coming." He looked at Esperanza.

He continued, "I've returned you to the time after you used that wristwatch and time traveled. Now you only have 2 days, 23 hours, 51 minutes and 2 seconds left before the deadline. Now, you must hurry! Time is ticking."

He was about to turn his back but paused. He glanced at Esperanza, "Oh! I forgot. Mind you, you must find Jose Rizal. Find him. No more time traveling because I'll always find you and take you back here."

He then disappeared.