Dr. Elena Carter had never been the type to believe in impossible things.
She believed in data, in clinical reports, in the quiet certainty of science.
Not in prophecies.
Not in destiny.
And definitely not in time travelers claiming to know the future of humanity.
Yet in 2099, the world had become strange enough that even she couldn't ignore the impossible anymore.
That morning, as she walked through the glass corridor of the Global Health Directorate, she noticed her team huddled around a projection screen, whispering urgently.
"It went viral again."
"He's predicting another mutation level."
"Do you think it's real?"
Elena raised an eyebrow. "The time-traveler rumors again?"
Her colleagues stepped aside, revealing the paused image of a hooded figure.
No face. No name.
Only a deep voice that had shaken the world once before.
The man had claimed:
A mutation apocalypse would strike Earth eighty years in the future.
Humans would gain elemental powers—fire, water, electric, frost, light.
Others would twist into monstrous creatures.
Survivors would live in protected Valleys, surrounded by energy walls.
And the leader of the strongest Valley would marry a doctor from the past.
Most people dismissed the video as a hoax.
But then Elena received a message before dawn:
> GLOBAL DIRECTIVE:
Begin immediate research into predicted mutation patterns.
Source treated as potential future intelligence.
Level Omega clearance.
She stared at the order for several minutes, unable to decide whether the world had gone insane… or if humanity was inching toward something terrible.
Still, she obeyed.
---
By nightfall, the lab was silent except for the hum of machines.
Elena sat alone, illuminated by floating holographic screens displaying endless combinations of mutating DNA.
She was exhausted.
Her mind felt heavy, her limbs numb.
But she continued working, because that was who she was—dedicated, tireless, responsible.
Her eyes drifted toward the projection of the time traveler's final message.
> "In the world ahead, I marry a woman who comes from your time.
A doctor.
She becomes our Healer, the key to rebuilding everything."
Elena let out a soft, humorless laugh.
"Ridiculous. I don't even have time to date," she whispered.
The screens blurred. Her heartbeat stuttered.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"Elena," her lab AI warned, "your vitals are unstable—"
Too late.
A sharp, searing pain cut through her chest.
Her legs buckled.
The lab spun and darkened.
Her last conscious thought was a strange one:
Why does it feel like… someone is waiting for me?
Darkness consumed her.
---
Elena didn't know how much time passed.
Slowly, soft warmth wrapped around her senses—like sunlight filtered through silk.
She opened her eyes.
And froze.
She was no longer in her lab.
She lay on a massive bed layered with fur and woven sheets.
The walls glowed faintly with embedded crystals.
A fire crackled in a stone chimney.
The air smelled clean, crisp, almost electric.
A large window revealed a breathtaking sight—
A deep valley filled with towering structures, shimmering pathways, flowing energy bridges, and a crystalline barrier rising into the sky like a living wall.
It was beautiful.
Unreal.
Impossible.
"Where… where am I?" she whispered.
Something stirred gently inside her mind.
A voice—calm, warm, and impossibly clear.
> [System Online.]
[Welcome, Dr. Elena Carter.]
[You have successfully transmigrated into the Apocalypse World.]
Her blood ran cold.
> [Your soul arrived in this world in a previous timeline.]
[Your body has finally followed.]
She couldn't breathe.
> [You carry the rare Healing Core—the Sixth Element.]
[Your destined mate awaits your awakening.]
"No," Elena whispered, trembling. "This… this isn't real."
But the glowing valley outside the window, the hum of energy in the air, the faint pulse in her wrist—none of it felt like a dream.
Her old world was gone.
Her future had already begun.
And whether she believed in destiny or not…
Destiny clearly believed in her.