He closed the browser and rubbed his eyes. It was just a glitch, he told himself. A residual echo. He couldn't have changed the past.

You have to climb. The water is pushing you up. Use the current.

Elias stared at the screen. It was impossible. He was chatting with a ghost from the past, a signal trapped in a loop of copper wire and server memory. Or, he was chatting with a simulation left running on the server.

Elias looked back at the beige server tower sitting in the corner of his room. He placed his hand on its warm casing. Somewhere in the ether of time, a woman had seen the stars because a machine kept a promise to listen.

The response was instantaneous.

He opened the chat log file one last time. He didn't need the gold. He had the treasure.

felicia_treasure111 (펠리시아) is a popular cosplayer and lifestyle influencer.