Chapter 0: The Divergence Reset

​The gray mist of a 20th-century European morning clung to the cobblestones.

In the distance, the rhythmic clip-clop of horses echoed as men in heavy black overcoats and silk hats hurried through the streets,

their heads bowed against the chill.

​At the edge of a departing carriage, a small dog sat shivering. Her master’s face was a mask of quiet grief,

a man torn away by the unseen hand of "family issues."

As the family climbed into the carriage, they turned one last time, waving a final, whispered goodbye.

The pup tilted her head, her tail giving a hopeful, confused wag. She didn’t understand the permanence of a goodbye yet.

​The carriage began to roll.

​Confused, the pup scrambled after it, her small paws thumping against the damp stone.

But the chase was short-lived. From the shadows of an alley, a pack of strays lunged, teeth bared. A flurry of barks and snarls filled the air.

By the time the pack dispersed, the pup was left alone, limping and bloodied, dragging herself across the street toward the shadow of a towering stone estate.

​The heavy oak door of the building creaked open. A man stepped out, his black hat perched perfectly atop a head of dark hair.

He was striking—handsome, but possessed of an aura that felt unnervingly heavy.

He knelt, his eyes softening as they landed on the broken creature at his feet.

​"Tell me, little one," he murmured, his voice like velvet.

"Do you wish to live?"

​The pup, exhausted and fading, managed a weak, subconscious nod before her eyes rolled back. She collapsed against his boots.

​A faint, violet light began to pulse from the man’s palm. His eyes glowed with an ancient intensity as he placed a hand on the dog's head.

"You are safe now," he whispered, a smirk playing on his lips. "After all, you’ve found the strongest wizard in existence."

​The very air seemed to vibrate around him, screaming to the heavens that this was the hero of the story.

​Then, the sky tore open.

​The calm was shattered by a screeching sound of rending fabric. A dimensional rupture, pitch-black and jagged, bled into the atmosphere.

From the void emerged a creature of nightmares—a dragon-like entity over a hundred meters long,

its scales the color of obsidian and its eyes glowing like dying stars. It didn't just enter the world; it stole the very light from it.

​The wizard’s eyes widened.

In a thousand years of life, he had seen nothing of this caliber.

​The creature lunged. The wizard didn't hesitate. He channeled every ounce of his mana into a single point.

"Die!" he roared, unleashing a fireball so massive and brilliant it rivaled the sun.

The explosion rocked the city, a deafening roar that should have leveled blocks.

​As the smoke cleared, the wizard’s blood ran cold.

The creature was unscathed. Not a single scale was charred.

​"Impossible!" he gasped, his voice trembling. "That spell could have shattered the moon!"

​The creature lunged again, its maw opening to swallow him whole.

The heroic wizard didn't run; he pulled the injured dog into a tight embrace, bracing for the end, and shut his eyes.

​BANG.

​The impact never came.

​The wizard opened one eye, then the other. Standing between him and the frozen, mid-air dragon were two figures.

They looked... jarringly ordinary. One held a sleek, glowing rectangular device—a tablet—and was tapping at it with a frustrated expression.

​"R76, what is this?" the man with the tablet asked, ignored the colossal dragon inches from his face.

"Why is a Black Dragon from the 98th Universe here? Who was monitoring this sector?"

​The second figure, a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I’m sorry, Boss. It looks like R98 is slacking off again."

​"This is unbearable," the man with the tablet sighed.

"I’m reporting him to the Council. This dragon is from a higher-tier dimension. My protagonist was supposed to have a major character-building moment here, and this lizard almost erased him from the plot."

​R76 gave an apologetic grin. "Sorry, bro. I’ll scold 98 later. Besides, I wouldn't have let him die anyway."

​The wizard, still clutching the dog, stared in a mixture of awe and fury.

"I don’t know who you are or what kind of madness this is, but now is not the time for banter!"

​Both men turned to look at the wizard with judging, clinical eyes.

​"R56, your protagonist is kind of cool," R76 remarked. "The 'heroic protector' type?"

​R56 sighed, tapping his tablet. "He’s supposed to be the strongest in this world, but thanks to 98's mess, he looks like a damsel in distress."

​"What is wrong with you!" the wizard screamed.

"You speak as if you don't belong to this world! The monster is right behind you!"

​"Your MC is pretty sharp, though," R76 noted.

​"Whatever," R56 muttered. "Let's send this stray back where it belongs."

​It was only then that the wizard realized the truth: the world had stopped.

A bird was frozen in mid-flight; the dragon was a statue of malice; even the dust motes in the air were still.

​R56 flicked his wrist toward the dragon. In a blink, the creature vanished, deleted from reality.

With another swipe of his finger, the crumbled buildings and scorched earth knitted themselves back together instantly.

​A blinding flash of white light swallowed the wizard’s vision.

​Suddenly, the wizard found himself kneeling on his porch again, his hands glowing as he healed the pup.

He gasped, looking around wildly. The sky was clear. The street was quiet.

​"What... was that?" he whispered, sweat pouring down his face. "An absurd dream?"

​He checked his mana reserves. They were full. He hadn't cast the Great Fireball.

There was no trace of the two men or the dragon. "I must be drinking too much," he muttered, shaking his head.

​The pup woke up, letting out a soft whimper, and licked his hand. The wizard smiled, picked her up, and headed inside.

​Beyond the veil of reality, R76 and R56 watched the scene through a shimmering, mirror-like rift.

​"You sure this won't cause a butterfly effect?" R76 asked. "He saw us, bro."

​R56 checked his tablet one last time. "The plot force says the divergence is minimal.

But..." He paused, his thumb hovering over a glowing red prompt on the screen. "Just to be safe, I’m hitting the Plot Reset."

​He clicked the button.

​In the final glimpse through the mirror, the wizard and the dog were playing in the garden,
the memory of the dragon completely erased from the timeline.

The two "managers" watched on, their expressions bored, as if they had just finished a routine day at the office.

​To be continued...
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