I was stargazing in the hills.

It was a dream of mine because where I live is full of light pollution, so stargazing wasn't possible.

It helps me with my depression, stress, and anxiety.

Just watching them soothes my mind and provides escapism from the real world. It just feels good.

But the job and the responsibilities for my family don't give me any free time to enjoy my free time. I work as a mechanical engineer. It feels like I only went home to sleep and I worked the rest of the time.

I finally got some money saved up for a vacation trip and went.

This place is deep in the mountains, far away from society, just like I wanted.

I may be antisocial and introverted, but why should I lose my sanity interacting with people that don't care about me? Even my family only asks about more money.

"Haa... I am tired."

'Let's stop these depressing thoughts and finally immerse ourselves in the vast universe and how my existence doesn't even account for anything. I live just because I am alive.'

I finally went back to stargazing.

'Finally, inner peace.'

So, here I am laying on a bedsheet watching the stars and trying to identify the constellations. I only got Orion correct. I am not sure what the others are.

Because of my busy life, I didn't learn about constellations.

But I like to draw invisible lines with stars and make structures and made-up constellations.

Today is the New Moon, so the sky is pitch black with the stars shimmering in different lights.

It's perfect. I wish I could watch this scene every day.

'Fuck the clouds, I think it's going to rain; what a miserable day.'

Krrraassshhhh*

That scared me. What the hell was that sound? It sounded near me.

I got up and looked over the area I was camping in. Some 100 metres away, some flashes of light could be seen through the trees.

I slowly walked to the suspicious area. I hid behind a tree and watched the situation.

The first thing that I noticed was a ripple in the air. It was blue, like water, but the edges were like smoke. "what the fuck, is that a wormhole?!!"

There is also a person there, a child.

"Where the hell am I? Fuck, I was supposed to teleport to UA. This is in the middle of a forest. Did the ERBB malfunction? I have enough juice for some more jumps. What a waste of time... "

What is that kid saying? Did he come from the future or something?

"Hey, kid, who are you? What is that thing behind you? Are you from the future or something?", I asked after coming from my hiding spot.

"Ooh, there is a person in the forest. What a coincidence. From which hole did you come?"

What a rude kid. "I was camping nearby. That's when I heard a loud sound and I saw something flashing, and here I am, so answer my questions, young man."

"A man camping in the woods alone? Are you tired of society? Do you know any places named UA? For your questions, the thing behind me is the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, or for simple-minded people, a "Portal" and I am from another dimension.", The kid explained it exaggeratedly.

Since I can see the portal, I can't disregard the kids' explanations.

"So the multiverse is real? No, I don't know about UA, So what's your name young man and which dimension are you coming from?"

"Don't call me a young man again. Yes, the multiverse is real as your girlfriend, for satisfying your curiosity and my ERBB to recharge. I will answer your questions. Some miscalculation happened and I accidentally arrived in your dimension. My destination was entirely different. This is Earth-0001, my destination is Earth-1000 and I am coming from Earth-1110001."

Damn. "Wow, and how did you mess up the numbers? They are so different. Did you mistype the 1?"

"Did your pea brain assume the Einstein-Rosen Bridge Band is a calculator and multiversal travel is some kind of walk in the park?"

"That doesn't make sense."

"Only if you are smarter."

"Okay, young man. Calm down. There is no need for these insults."

The kid lunged at me and caught me by the shirt collar, "I am very frustrated. I've come a long way and ended up on a normal earth and an idiot is asking me something that he can't comprehend with his pea brain, and if you call me young man one more time, I'm gonna put your head through that damn tree. Do you understand?"

Ooh, this kid is rough. Maybe I shouldn't mess with someone that travels through the multiverse. I dumbly nodded. "Okay, I understand. You didn't tell me your name, and what do you mean by normal Earth? What is the purpose of your trip?".

The kid tilted his head and exclaimed, "My name is Five, Five Hargreaves, and there is an apocalypse coming."

What the fuck

"What the fuck, apocalypse and Five Hargreaves? From the Umbrella Academy series? No wonder you looked familiar."

"Umbrella Academy series? So you are saying that our life was a television series in your world. Heh, multiverse."

"So about the apocalypse? Can you please explain?"

"What else is there to say? The Circle of Life."

"What? How is an apocalypse related to the Circle of Life?"

"You are a moron. Apocalypse is equal to death, so there, circle of life. I don't have time for this.

You are reminding me of my idiotic siblings."

"But..."

"Stop! There is an apocalypse coming, and I plan to stop it. And this one is on a multiversal scale. It's been 3 years since the last apocalypse. I thought it ended with our powers being lost, but no, 3 years of peace and there is another. Fuck, I hate my life. If it wasn't for Dolores, I'd say fuck it and let it all burn.

And your world is also going to end, so enjoy your life while it lasts."

"What, can you give me some deadline or something? Is it a few weeks? Or days? And how can I help?"

"I don't know the exact date, but a powerful being came to our world and said he was going to end the multiverse and if we wanted to save the world, we needed people from other worlds. Fought that guy and lost miserably, so I am searching the multiverse for powerful people, but there are some conditions. I have a device that lets me know if the Earth I am visiting has any special powers. You don't need to concern yourself. You are not in a position where you can provide me with your help. Do you have any unique abilities or powers, or some futuristic tech or gadgets? No? So just forget about all these big things and live the rest of your life your way."

Fuck, the world is going to end. I need to survive. What should I do?

"I want to come with you. Take me with you. I can't sit here and do nothing when I know the world is ending."

"No, I can't take you with me. You are useless. You'll be deadweight. I should have brought a memory-erasing flash or something for this kind of scenario.

Ooh, the ERBB is charged. the portal has a cooldown period it will become unstable after a jump, so it's time for me to go. There is a huge storm coming, so crawl back to whichever hole you came from, shoo."

Shit shit shit, what to do? I can't think of anything. The portal looks stabilized; it seems he is leaving.

"I am leaving, so thank you for wasting my time."

Five turned behind to leave, and I did the most reckless thing I've ever done: I ran to the portal.

"I am not going to live a shitty life and wait for the world to end. It's better to face the unknown than to count my last days."

"You moron, what are you doing? If you don't have an ERBB, you can't control where you are going."

I pushed Five aside and leapt into the portal. At the same time, I came in contact with the portal, lightning struck me and the portal.

Krrraassshhhh*

"You stupid idiot mother fucking fudge nutting moron, what have you done?"

Yep, that's the last thing I remember before losing consciousness and blasting into the portal.