Out of Time the Grand Quest

by Christopher Douglass

  “Her days were shattered by a voice. The first voice other than her own she had heard in at least a thousand years. Come, it said. Be our god it said. Let us worship you, it said. Help us, it said. And so she went. Anything to relieve her boredom. Through the black hole she had watched over for years she jumped. When her vision cleared, she found herself in a new world. One where she was revered as a god for her unique magic. Thanks to her, the world prospered as she walked among the normal mortals. Many times they knew not who she even was, yet they revered her. They gave her a new name, one befitting her magic.

  “Millenia, the Mistress of Time.”

  Millenia settled into a small part of the mind, looking out through Kimi’s eyes to see what the creator saw. She was far from a completed character, unable to survive as the main host of the body for long, and she didn’t have many skills yet. But what she did have would be adequate. Because her power was time manipulation. While she could not alter time for an entire world, she could alter it in an area or for a single person. Time was a constant, a chain everyone was shackled with. It followed the same laws wherever you went. It did not matter what world, or universe. It was set in stone. Time moved differently on different planets, but only because that planet had a different axis or eclipse. That was only planetary time. Universal time still ruled and trumped it. For other planets did not follow the same patterns or obey the same rules. Yet all things had to obey the universal laws of time.

  It was strange, knowing she had just been born. Knowing all the memories she thought she had were a lie made by Kimi, the creator. The one who had brought her to life using her special Power to Imagine. She felt real enough, if trapped in someone else’s body. Yet she also knew she was not real, her emotions, her thoughts, even how she acted and reacted, were all the creators. Just an aspect of her. Millenia's power was one Kimi wished she had, nothing more. Millenia really wasn’t quite sure what to make of all of it yet. But she would have time to figure it all out later. As master of it, that was all she had-- time.

  Lifting her arm, Kimberly forced her will upon the creatures in front of her. Millenia gave Kimi the knowledge she needed to wrap the hours and seconds about herself like a cloak. To see the mathematical equations that made up time. To understand the essence and the concepts on a visceral level. Millenia felt the flow bend through Kimi. Felt it warp as it heeded their mistress’ call. Kimi would be defenseless while she held time in her grasp, that was why Millenia had once had guards who could protect her when she used her magic.

  These creatures called the Unnamed slowed, turned to statues under Kimi and Millenia’s combined will. They were not dead, only frozen between one second and the next. Kimi had not yet given her the power to kill with time by aging her enemy, though she had been promised such an ability. Millenia did not understand the reasons why the creator could not simply give her this or that power, but she understood there had to be a reason. Perhaps it was some esoteric equation only the creator understood, just like only Millenia understood the mathematical concepts of time.

  More and more monsters ran towards Kimi as she moved step by slow step to stand in front of the town gates. As they came within the forty foot range of her magic, they slowed and finally stopped. None of them blinked, or breathed, but she could feel each and every one of them like a dot of warmth. An odd irregular hum echoed in her ear, the sound of hundreds of heartbeats pumping very slowly.

  F=MA. As the equation curved across an invisible circle in front of her eyes, Millenia tried out her new ability to speak using Kimi’s mouth. “I know my thoughts and how I control my power is a gift from you creator, but doesn’t that mean you could do this without ever creating me to begin with? If you know the mathematical equations that break down the secrets of time already I mean. Isn’t that how this works? All my skills are based on knowledge you have?”

  Millenia felt warmth wash over her. Felt the lips smile as Kimi took back control of the body to answer. “No. I know some very basic scientific concepts about time. I read it once in a book called “Quantum Physics Made Simple”. The breakdown is that time is a human concept. Take out the human element and you get universal time. The universe just ages, it has no concept of time like humans do. We use it as an easy means of reference. Twenty-four hours represents a single rotation of the Earth. Three hundred and sixty-five days represents how long it takes the Earth to circle the sun. these are the commonly accepted truths. I could say a day is forty hours and still be right, as long as I change the concept of what constitutes an hour.

  “We apply this to every planetary body we see, using the same formula to give even uninhabited planets days and months based on rotation and orbit. In this way we can say another planet has twice the number of hours as Earth, because it makes twice the number of rotations as Earth does in a single day. That does not alter universal time though, the planet would spin twice as fast as Earth regardless of what labels we give it.”

  “Then these formulas aren’t the secrets of the universe and how to manipulate time?”

  “Hardly. Well you could call some of them secrets of the universe. They are just science and math equations I learned in school and saw in books. Some of them are just gibberish I threw together to look scientific. Your mind just interprets them as the secrets of time manipulation, which in turn allows me to access that belief and control time.”

  “Oh.”

  Millenia wasn’t sure how to handle this revelation. She knew she was different from the other persona’s. The other characters Kimi had created knew they had been created, but were not bogged down by doubts. They embraced their back stories and had personalities that reflected this. They knew their abilities were impossible, or improbable, or even mostly fictional with only a small basis in facts. Yet it didn’t bother them at all. They had no desire to control the body except when Kimi allowed them control. They had no desire other than to be tools for Kimi to use when she needed them.

  But in order for Millenia to be born, Kimberly had needed to base her back story in her own memories and experiences. Without the time to create from scratch, she had made Millenia more like herself then any of the other personalities. She might have embellished and twisted the facts, but at the core, Millenia was in a way as much a real person as Kimberly herself was. It was why she could think of her as Kimi and not just the creator. She felt emotions, reacted to them in a genuine way. The others did not feel emotions at all, they emulated reactions based on the emotions they were supposed to have from the story they had been given as tools. She thought for herself, and altered her thoughts based on changing experience and environment, unlike the other characters.

  She knew why she had been born at this time, to combat the threat of the Unnamed. But she also wondered what would happen to her after this. Would she be discarded and forgotten about? Would she become just another tool like the other characters? Would Kimi destroy her and forget about her? Millenia feared her own death. Despite her story saying she longed for it because she had been alive for so long, she did not wish to disappear. She did not want to be born and given the ability to see and experience this world only to be cast back into the void once more.

  The Unnamed started to move. Not quickly, but little by little. The time stop was breaking down. It was breaking down because of her. This was her ability, her magic. Yet the thoughts she was having, eroded the will she used to hold it together. Other powers worked on desires. Her fears were weakening her resolve. Millenia clenched her mental teeth and focused once more on the task at hand. The arms that had inched forward halted again. The mouths opening to scream froze. Warmth flooded through the mind once more. There were no words to it, but Millenia was able to interpret the warmth. It was as if it spoke to her in Kimi’s voice.

  It said: do not fear, I will not forget you. I will not abandon you. I created you, you are a part of me now. You are an aspect of me. A me that I could never be without you. Regular Kimberly Changa is weak. She wavers and doubts. The Knight does not dou
bt. She believes with all her heart and stays true to her cause. Regular Kimi bites her tongue and tries not to make waves. Kalashnikov Kim says what she wants when she wants and screw what anyone else thinks. Regular Kimberly hates to hurt anyone or anything. Kimi the Blade is the embodiment of her murderous feelings.

  All of you are things I wish to be, or wish I was. While Regular Kimi can act and react the way any of you may. While she can stand for a cause, or speak her mind when pushed. While she can hit someone or something when angry, or raise a blade in defense, she cannot do so to the extent any of her persona’s can. You are the embodiment of my desires to be someone better. The embodiment of my dreams growing up. I am a better person because I have all of you. Because you all remind me of who I am. You remind me of who I want to be.

  This knowledge gave Millenia strength. It cast away her fears into the void. She felt foolish for doubting. She knew Kimi. She was a part of Kimi. She saw that now. If Kimberly cast her aside, it would be like casting away one of her own limbs. With her newfound resolve Millenia sent yet more power down their shared link and the circle spread another ten feet, trapping yet more massing Unnamed.

  The remaining monsters had caught on to the danger zone, circling around the edges. Those with ranged weapons fired on her, realizing she was the cause of this obstacle. But mages and mediators and Atlantian’s were all around her now. Those who had fought beside her, and those who had been resting in town. All were now her shields. The man named Daniel and the ten remaining Knights of Yandor stood in front of her with shields stacked on top of one another in a giant wall. Spectral shields from mages and those who had the Iron Wall ability also rose in front of the Knighs and around Millenia’s other three sides.

  The circle of magic flickered and failed. Millenia suddenly found herself in control of the body. The creators presence fading into the darkness inside. Her desire to protect was strong, but she had run out of energy and passed out. Gritting her teeth Millenia cast the spell once more as she fell to her knees. To her left and right, Bree and Maria crumpled unconscious, also drained of magic. The monsters who had rushed forward enough to pound on the first set of walls slowed down once more but did not stop completely. Millenia was also at her limit. She only had as much power as Kimberly had, because their bodies were still the same. Her chest felt as if a giant hand were squeezing it, the bones threatening to break. Breathing was hard and her heart was going to explode any second. The vision in her right eye darkened completely and all she wanted to do was go to sleep. Despite her desires to hold on, her body would not obey. The darkness kept approaching as the Unnamed moved ever faster once more.

  “Success!”

  The words in her ear were muted, yet it was something she could cling to. Something to keep the darkness at bay. She couldn’t pass out. Millenia owed it to the creator to see things through to the end. On hands and knees she watched as the first set of shields broke under the fists of the leading monstrosities. With roars of victory they rushed forward.

  And vanished.

  The very world split in two before her, growing wider and wider so more of the Unnamed could run back into their imprisonment. Those behind saw the danger and recognized it for what it was. They halted and backed away. They turned to flee. They fled right into another portal that sucked them up like a vacuum cleaner. The giants were dragged towards one or the other of the Rifts, their heels leaving deep grooves in the dirt. The fairies were caught and pulled in easily. And those Unnamed who were not large, but still had weight such as the horse creatures, were lifted bodily from the ground to be taken. Within moments the battlefield was empty, the tears in reality closed.

  Silence descended like a cloak across the fields. Millenia licked her lips, not quite believing what had just happened along with everyone else. “We--- won.”

  Her words seemed to be what everyone was waiting for as wild cheering broke out. Mediators and mages alike sat where they were, unable to stand anymore. Some fell to their knees weeping. In her mind she felt Kimi’s presence awaken. Bree and Maria also showed signs of recovery. Thought they both still needed help sitting upright. The pain in her chest receded, replaced by an overwhelming hunger that threatened to consume her entirely. Millenia tried to stand, only to have her arms give out as well. She fell flat on her face, the sensation another new one to add to her list of experiences. The smell of the dirt getting filed away along with everything else.

  Hands grabbed her, lifted her into the sky. It took a moment to realize the townsfolk were carrying her, Maria, and Bree, back to the camp behind the shields. Bread and a sweet round candy were shoved into her mouth. She chewed reflexively, even that sensation a new on she reveled in. When she swallowed, her stomach no longer threatened to eat her spine, but it still growled as if to say it was only a matter of time. The creators presence took over control of the body, leaving Millenia with a brief feeling of anger and jealousy. It was unfair of the creator to just push her into the back of the mind when she was experiencing so many new things. Her feelings faded as quickly as they came, the knowledge that she would have more chances to experience life replacing them.

  “So-- what now?”

  “Now-- now we rest, we rebuild, and we find our place in this new future laid out before us.”

  Jeremy looked tired. He had lost his mask somewhere in the fighting, yet Kimberly still didn’t know what he looked like completely. In exchange for his mask, he was sporting bandages around most of his head and eyes. Only a small slit over each orb allowed him to see. Kimi would have had a suspicion he was hiding his face from her on purpose at this point if she hadn’t seen him take some sort of acid head-on to protect Joel and Grell. He had fallen through a rift and avoided most of the attack, but not all of it. She could still see the angry red flesh along his cheeks where someone with healing ability had re-grown the skin. His left arm was wrapped in some of Jasmine’s string and she could see a large wound stitched up through his mangled shirt. Yet he had been out on the battlefield until the last moment. For that, her respect for him grew another notch.

  “And I-- I am retiring. Grell and I have talked it over and we both agree. It’s time for someone younger to take over as Grand Wizard of Yandor. Since Maria has proven herself more than capable without a mediator, we know this town is in good hands. And now that she has you as a mediator we know Maria is in capable hands. You’ll help her keep her head on straight. Not to mention attached to her body. That is, if you three wish to live here. With your talents and your power, you could even found your own town and leave this place behind. After the treatment Maria has received here, she might decide just that.”

  Kimi didn’t have to look over at Maria or Bree, she could feel their desires through the shared bonds. With a shake of her head she gave Joel a warm and open grin. “No, I think I speak for all of us in saying this is our home. Bree has family here, and I feel like I belong here too. You took me in when I first came to Aerth and you treated me like family. And Maria-- well Maria’s feelings are complicated I’m sure, but she has reasons of her own for staying.”

  Kimberly could feel Maria blush behind her without looking. In their current state of closeness, none of them could hide any secrets or feelings of the heart from the others. Kimi knew this would pass, it was just an aftereffect of the way she had used her Other abilities. As Jordon came up with more food for the three of them Kimi’s smile widened.

  “Besides, I think a certain little boy would pine away and die if I were to leave. He might just try following after. So, the only way to keep him safe in my eyes is to settle down right here and adopt him as my own.”

  Jordon blinked, her words not quite registering for a moment. When they did he grinned and threw his arms around her neck. He squeezed so hard it sent pain through her body but she didn’t complain, letting him have his moment. When he finally let go, his grin threatened to eat his face. She sensed both Bree and Maria’s approval of her decision, easing some of her sudden fear that she wouldn’t do
a good job raising him.

  Joel’s eyes twinkled in merriment as he shook a finger at her. “I almost forgot. Before I step down, there is one more thing I must do as Grand Wizard. And I need your help to do it.”

  “I hope it doesn’t have to be right now. I just want to go to sleep.”

  “That won’t do, it has to be right now.”

  “With a groan Kimi pushed herself to her feet. “Fine, what do I need to do.”

  Quick as lightning, Joel cut open her palm with a small ceremonial dagger. “Go touch the Quester’s Tree.”

  Kimi did so, staggering the distance with the entire town watching. The moment her blood touched the trunk, her branch fell off and the tree toppled to the side. The rainbow colored leaves falling off as it did so. Joel stood under the arches, her friends beside him and the townspeople arrayed behind, waiting for Kimi to return. The moment she had passed him, he raised his hands high in the air, his voice booming with amplified magic.

  “The last of the Quester’s have returned home to us my fellows! Long have we awaited their return! As Grand Wizard, I declare the Grand Quest officially over! Let us welcome home our heroes!”

  The noise that arose skyward then was deafening. Those with magic or energy to spare let it loose in a display of light works, causing trees to shake, the ground to undulate, and animals to appear from hiding. The sight filled her with a sense of pride and accomplishment. She had saved the world. She had survived the trials and tribulations set before her. Against all odds she had accomplished a near impossible feat. She had become stronger for it in the process. But more important than the Grand Quest or any of the things she had done, Kimberly Changa had helped protect Yandor.

  She had helped protect her home.

  Chapter 44: Epilogue

  “Aww! Why do we have to learn this anyway?”

  “Because education is important. Being able to write down the details for future generations to learn from is a worthwhile endeavor that can bring a lifetime of joy.”