Anything less than a gun in his hand, even a knife, and he wouldn’t chance it. Not without the capacity to keep his distance from my obvious strength. Otherwise, taking that risk would just be stupid – a dangerous gamble.
I quickly continued.
“Obviously, as I hope I’ve made clear, we don’t intend you any harm. And we aren’t your enemy. At least, as it stands now. So don’t make us one. I am personally asking you to leave my family alone.” My tone became more firm. “And I can personally fight against the military forces of the entire world, combined, if that request is not honored. All by myself. I wouldn’t even need help from my friends.”
My tone became more lighthearted again as I saw the blood drain from his face. “In case you hadn’t noticed, letting myself get hit by a missile, allowing myself to get shot by you, and jumping up to your fourth story office, was all to make that clear. I am no threat to you, but you are likewise no threat to me, and never will be. I may not be a god, but I’m about as close to it as there is – at least the Greek versions. A demigod of sorts. A real-life Hercules, except that I could defeat an army of Hercules with both arms tied behind my back. All by myself.”
Bradbury didn’t respond, his eyes seeming unfocused, so I nodded to Jericho, finished with my speech.
She finally let go of the doorknob, and quickly crossed the room, both of us leaping out of the window, causing us to be on full display for the collective group of military personnel to see.
Needless to say, our unexpected appearance caught a lot of attention, a ton of cursing and ‘Holy shit’s’ sparking the confused crowd to life.
However, Jericho and I only walked about half the distance I intended before I decided on a different course of action, glancing over my shoulder to see that Bradbury was standing now, looking out at us, while keeping a safe distance from the edge.
Reaching out to Jericho, I invited her into my embrace, so I could make my final point as to just how much they weren’t a threat. She did so carefully, not wanting to upset Miriam, keeping the majority of her body from touching mine even as we hugged loosely.
Maintaining my crimson gaze on Bradbury, I exploded the world below me, even as I contracted the universe above, an invisible warped bubble of space forming around us as we vanished from existence, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 14: Betrayal
After our dramatic departure, I stopped warping close to my hometown so that we could fly the rest of the way. And it was a good thing I reappeared over a field, because a massive chunk of frozen dirt, that had traveled with us, ended up plummeting to the ground the moment we stopped.
Just another possible hazard I had to consider when using this unique ability.
Miriam was already almost to our destination, having increased her speed when she saw that Amelia was handling it well, my sister’s face buried against Miriam’s upper chest. The only issue to deal with now was possibly being seen as we dropped down into the woods near Riley’s place – not that we were too concerned about it at this point either way, but still.
All of us could project the illusion that we were human, and even make ourselves invisible to the naked eye, but that wouldn’t work on Amelia. Which meant someone might see at least one person falling from the sky.
Oh well though. We didn’t have time to worry about it, and there was always the chance no one would notice.
Hiding myself from the perception of humans was surprisingly easy to do, almost as natural as breathing would be for a human, with Miriam showing me how to do it simply by doing it herself. At the very least, I felt like hiding myself would have come easier than flying did. But then again, my mind was also stronger than average, so that could be a reason why too.
Jericho and I could still see each other, but we were entirely invisible to people as we flew over the town. In a way, it was almost like projecting a telepathic bubble, wherein anyone who was in contact with that invisible bubble had their eyes covered over with selective glasses.
I recalled my previous attempt to understand it, thinking about it as if I was inside a house looking out a window, except it was a one-way window for me. Miriam had been able to hold up a filter to the window, affecting what I saw, but she wasn’t able to see into the window from her side.
Which was definitely not the case now, with her actually being inside the house – my head.
But the strange part was the fact that my theoretical house had areas she couldn’t directly explore, like what would be normal for those who were synced, including a room where Jericho could enter, with me having the capacity to be in both locations at the same time.
In a way, whereas all other Ryujin had a house, mentally, I had a duplex with Miriam only having the key to one side.
Honestly, I could understand how my love felt about the situation, but I’d figuratively kept Jericho on the front porch ever since the initial realization that they were both in my head so deeply, not to mention that the angelic demon had been cautious as well, having zero desire to upset another Ruler.
Not wanting to spring a new person on Amelia without warning, I had Jericho wait in the sky just as Miriam landed with my sister, dropping down by myself first.
The moment I set my feet on the ground, with us all hidden by the trees, Amelia was wobbling over to me, half falling into my embrace.
“Are you okay?” I asked in concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine. That fall was just a little disorienting.” She looked up to give me a smile. “It was kind of fun flying though. Maybe I should try it sometime with my powers!” she added eagerly.
I gave her a weak smile in return. “Maybe. You just don’t want to fall, is all.”
“Of course,” she agreed, looking playfully serious, her brow extra furrowed. “Splattering against the ground is generally considered to be bad for your health.”
I rolled my eyes at her, prompting an even wider grin, her green eyes almost sparkling.
“So,” she continued, finally pulling away to stand without support. “You wanted to talk to me about something?”
“Umm, yes. But first, we have a friend here too,” I explained, pointing at the sky. “She’s coming now, but we just didn’t want to startle you.”
Amelia looked to my left side as she heard Jericho land a short distance behind me, hidden by the trees. “Yeah, sure,” she replied, meeting my gaze again. “I don’t have a problem with that. He could have just landed with you – I’m pretty much used to your appearance now.”
“Oh, it’s a she.” I angled away slightly, knowing the person in question was walking through the trees, visible now. “This is J–”
Instantly, my sister’s hair turned stark white, as bleached as snow, almost looking like it was glowing.
“Jericho?!” Amelia exclaimed in disbelief.
All of us froze solid.
The angelic demon recovered the fastest. “You know me?” she asked in disbelief.
My sister’s bright emerald gaze immediately shifted to me, her eyes beginning to take on a similar ethereal glow that her hair had. Her expression was distressed.
“Something’s changed,” she whispered almost inaudibly to me.
My eyes widened in shock. “W-What?”
Miriam immediately interjected, her expression tense now. “What do you mean by that? Something has changed? What has changed?”
My sister didn’t respond though, instead looking shell-shocked, her eyes wide.
“Sis,” I urged, taking a step closer and gently grabbing her shoulders. “What do you mean something has changed? You can’t mean…” I paused as a new possibility crashed on me like a ton of bricks. “Sis, how…how many times have we done this?”
Her unfocused gaze finally fixated on me again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’ve broken everything, and I don’t know how to fix it. I gave up a long time ago, assuming there was nothing that could be done, but this…” She weakly gestured to Jericho again. “This is new. And I don’t
think new is good. It only breaks things more.”
Suddenly, I saw it then. In her expression. Plain as day.
This was the future Amelia, yes. But this was also a defeated Amelia. The one who had lost me and thus manipulated time to save my life, but who had now done something unrepairable in the process – or at least, unrepairable in her perception. Something she had tried to fix and failed at, repeatedly.
“Sis,” I urged her. “If things are broken, then they can’t get much worse. I’ve had visions of whatever the thing is that you said was coming. At this point, it seems like our futures are bleak no matter what.”
“Yes,” she agreed, her expression full of sorrow. “There is no future for us. Only the past.”
I exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Miriam, prompting her to speak up.
“Look, maybe it would help if you just explain what’s going on.” She paused, her crimson eyes tight. “As difficult as it is to stomach, I guess we’ve all done this before. And if Jericho being here is something different, then maybe that means we’re actually making progress. Maybe it’s a good thing.”
Amelia shook her head, her white hair becoming even brighter. “I’ve experienced this moment, over and over, for a very long time, and it’s always been the same. There’s never been a deviation. Never. Time is temperamental, but after my initial change, it stabilized itself. Something new means something unstable.”
“Okay, so what’s going on exactly?” I wondered. “We have no future, and yet we’ve been living this moment over and over again. So then, is this a time loop or something? Are we just living the same few weeks over and over again?”
“Days,” she corrected, her voice strained.
Dammit. So then, we really were limited on time. I exchanged another uneasy glance with Miriam. Jericho was disturbed by this revelation, but the whole idea felt distant to her, with her finding it difficult to accept that we were in some kind of impossible time loop.
“Okay…days. Then what happens? How does this start over again? I don’t remember having ever done this before, so then…” My voice trailed off when Amelia’s expression pained in response to my words.
Was this truly the first time I’d done all this? Unlike what she was suggesting? And if so, then did that mean we were all going to die soon? Because if that was true, then didn’t that mean…
Suddenly, the obvious hit me so hard it almost physically hurt.
Maybe this wasn’t a time loop for us.
Maybe it was only a loop for her.
She had been reliving this moment over and over again. But for us, maybe it had always been the first time.
Miriam unexpectedly grabbed my arm, panicking at my thoughts. In that same moment, it was like a lightbulb went out, with Amelia’s glow unexpectedly vanishing without any warning.
My sister looked confused briefly before focusing on Jericho still a little behind me.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said pleasantly. “I’m Amelia.” She then abruptly focused on me again. “Wait. What did you say her name was? Sorry, I think I missed it.”
The angelic woman spoke up in our stead, her tone uneasy. “Jericho.”
Amelia focused on her again, unnervingly cheerful. “Oh! I kind of like that – it’s pretty. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone with that name before. It really suits you though.”
“Thanks,” Jericho replied simply.
I tried to gather my scattered thoughts as quickly as possible, thankful when Jericho bought me a tiny bit of time by asking the obvious, inquiring about our relationship.
“And you’re Michael’s sister, right? Amelia is a pretty name too.”
Frantically, I wondered if there was a way to get the future Amelia to come back, or if that would be a bad idea. At this point, it seemed like there was no hope of us surviving whatever was coming, but my sister would survive it.
If this was a time loop for her, then she was getting to see her deceased brother over and over again, forever.
But not if I messed that up by doing something that would affect her future.
Dammit.
Was there any way out of this? Any way to fix it? Or was there truly no hope? Would it be better to try to stop this from happening? Or should I just give up and spend the last day, or so, that I had with Miriam by enjoying her – not sex, but enjoying her company, enjoying our bond, enjoying the little time we had together.
Miriam tightened her grip on my arm, her expression just as torn as I felt.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Amelia finally asked, noticing the tension between me and my love.
I cleared my throat, shaking my head as I tried to look more natural. “Actually, it can wait. Mom and dad will probably be worried if they find out you’re missing, so best to head over to Riley’s place and give them a call.” I paused. “Just, might want to hide your number, so the military doesn’t track the call to Riley’s phone. I forget what you have to push to show up as ‘unavailable’ or ‘restricted,’ but you can probably look it up.”
“Wait,” Amelia said. “What’s going on? You wanted to talk about something and now it can suddenly wait?”
Unexpectedly, Miriam made an executive decision that I couldn’t prevent, even as I tried to halt her by instantly slamming my palm over her mouth while grabbing her shoulder, urging her desperately to not do it.
But it did nothing to stop her speaking telepathically.
‘We already spoke to you – we spoke to your future-self. We’re in a time loop. Michael died in the past and your future-self went back in time to save him, except it didn’t work. He keeps dying over and over again. Only you can fix this, Amelia. You might not be able to stop whatever is going to happen right now, but maybe in the future you can. You’re our only hope.’
‘No!’ I tried to interrupt repeatedly, but it did nothing to hide her voice, because speaking telepathically wasn’t like speaking out loud. All Amelia had to do was focus on her instead of me.
Pissed, I kept my hand on her mouth and shoulder, my arms trembling as I held on tightly, my fingers pressing into her pale skin, desperately wishing I could make her take it back. Because changing this Amelia’s future might eliminate the future version of my sister that we’d been talking to!
It was selfish! Damn selfish!
Even though I understood her thinking, understood that the absolute pinnacle of her priorities was keeping me alive, to the point that she’d sacrifice her own life for mine – to the point that she’d make me hate her if it meant keeping me alive – I still couldn’t stop the anger from surfacing over what she’d just done.
Yes, we’d considered doing that at first, but now we knew differently! We knew this might harm her!
We had just learned that Amelia might be the only one who was going to survive this, and Miriam might have just ruined it! She might have just killed my sister!
Miriam finally met my gaze, my hand still firmly clasped over her mouth.
‘Even if you never forgive me, love,’ she said mournfully in my head. ‘Even if you want to leave me forever, I can live with that, so long as you’re alive.’
Pissed as all hell, I finally let go and immediately walked away, leaping through the trees into the sky, climbing higher and higher into the atmosphere, the world falling away at an accelerated rate. I wasn’t thinking straight, the idea that the future version of my sister might be truly doomed now, all because of what Miriam had just done, was beginning to eat me alive.
I was pissed, only growing more enraged with each passing second as I broke through the clouds, like something I couldn’t control had come over me.
She knowingly just killed my sister.
She knowingly just killed my sister!
Desperate to get away in my rage – without considering the implications – I began warping, having no intention to stop anytime soon.
Having no intentions to stop ever.
Chapter 15: Future
‘Michael, I’ve
missed you so much.’
‘Michael, I’ve missed you so much.’
‘Michael, I’ve missed you so much.’
I opened my eyes to find myself completely alone in emptiness. There was nothing all around me – no ground, no air, no light, no life. Just me and nothing else, endlessly. My thoughts were foggy, but I felt like I was forgetting something important.
Someone important.
‘Michael, I’ve missed you so much.’
My eyes widened as I recognized the voice.
‘Amelia?’ I called out in my thoughts, trying to look around, finding absolutely nothing.
There were no stars, or any indication that this was outer space. It was like a void of nothingness, somehow even more empty than space was, as if it was missing something vital.
Something vital, like existence.
‘Michael, I’ve missed you so much.’
‘Amelia!’ I repeated, reaching out in search of her, discovering that I couldn’t even see my hands. There would have been no difference between having my eyes opened or closed. It was all just darkness.
‘Amelia!’
There was no response.
I tried to reach out with my thoughts, searching for anyone. Searching for anything. But it was like there was a vice grip on my mind, holding me tightly in place.
And that’s when it hit me.
I was alone.
‘Miriam!’ I said frantically. ‘Miriam! Where are you? I’m sorry! I’m sorry I was angry! Just please, come back! Please come back!’ Panic gripped my chest as I desperately tried reaching out for her, but it was as if she didn’t exist. As if nothing existed.
Unexpectedly, I was blinded by a brilliant light exploding in my face, automatically reaching up to shield my eyes, my unseen hands doing nothing to block out the absolute illumination that penetrated everything.
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