W1: If Time Travel Was Real: My First Adventure

I was walking through the bustling streets of Kuala Lumpur city center, where neon billboards reflected off sleek glass skyscrapers. The aroma of street food filled the air, blending with the distant hum of motorcycles. Near the iconic Petronas Towers, I noticed an elderly woman struggling to carry a heavy bag. Her frail frame trembled under the weight, and she looked as if she could collapse at any moment.

Without hesitation, I rushed over and took the bag from her hands. "Let me help you, ma’am," I said. She looked up, her wrinkled face showing surprise, then gratitude. "Thank you, young lady," she replied warmly. We walked together, talking as we navigated the busy streets. When we reached her apartment, she smiled and reached into her pocket. "Take this," she said, pressing a sleek wristwatch into my palm. "A token of my gratitude." The watch was perfect — minimalist, with a Tiffany-blue dial and a smooth, futuristic strap. It had a tiny glowing star emblem encircled by a ring, evoking advanced technology. As I adjusted the incorrect time, a sudden dizziness overwhelmed me. The world twisted and blurred, and when I opened my eyes, everything had changed.

Kuala Lumpur was still there, but it looked different. Towering skyscrapers with holographic ads loomed above, and the air was eerily silent despite the crowd. Every person wore a tightly sealed air filtration mask, some carrying portable air purifiers on their backs.

"Hey! Why aren’t you wearing an air filter? Are you trying to die?" A security officer rushed toward me, alarmed. Before I could speak, he strapped a filtration mask onto my face. "You must be insane to go around like that in this environment!" Confused, I turned to a massive digital billboard displaying a news broadcast.

"Year 2065 – The 10th Anniversary of the H5N5 Pandemic."

My heart pounded. "2065?!"

Before I could process it, a familiar voice spoke. "You finally made it." I turned and saw an elderly woman watching me. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. "Who… are you?" I asked hesitantly. She smiled knowingly. "The same woman who gave you that watch."

She explained that two years ago, a research team had modified the H5N1 virus to study its mutation patterns. They accidentally created a highly airborne strain which was H5N5. A containment failure led to its global spread. "It mutates too fast for vaccines to work. The world collapsed, and now, people can only survive by wearing air filters." A chill ran down my spine since I was a researcher at Malaysia’s Iras Medical Center, where we had been studying avian flu.

She handed me a file containing research notes, classified reports, and a list of scientists involved. My name was there. But the face in the photograph wasn’t mine. It resembled me, but it wasn’t me. I slowly lifted my gaze. She smiled. "Now you understand." I flipped to the next page. My name appeared again, under her photograph.

She wasn’t just any woman.

She was me, forty years in the future.

Driven by guilt, she had spent ten years developing time travel technology and had travelled 45 years back in time to prevent the outbreak. "Now, it’s your turn." She activated the watch again. A blinding light engulfed me. When I opened my eyes, I was back in the present.

I immediately returned to the lab, uncovering a classified genetic modification project, the very experiment that would create H5N5. I reported it anonymously and warned the International Biosecurity Committee of its risks. I also gathered like-minded researchers to push for stricter biosafety regulations.

A year later, the project was permanently shut down. H5N5 was never created. The future I had seen no longer existed. Standing outside the lab, I looked at my watch. The futuristic emblem still glowed softly. But now, I understood its true meaning.

The future is in our hands.

Smiling, I slipped the watch into my pocket and walked forward into the sunlight, toward a future I had saved.