He still couldn’t remember himself clearly from the time dilation amnesia from the day previous but thought he would risk it and try to make things right. If he went backward rather than forwards and forsake his return journey to the future, he could try and save her and that would make everything right. He would be stuck here in the past forever but maybe he could have a life with her? Maybe they could have a happy life and he could still save humanity?
He put her body down gently and closed the lids of her eyes. He kissed her forehead gently, wiping away his tears. He went back into the bedroom, cleaned away the blood, the perfect white sheets contaminated forever now and clothed himself. He took out the TDM and got the time dilation menu up. It said ‘Return?’ on the display but he clicked ‘Change time dilation?’ He made a rough calculation with what he knew about Saskia. What she had told him in snippets from the night before. Maybe if he went back before she was married, Jax wouldn’t want to murder her in the first place? He pinned the time coordinates into the TDM and without a second thought pressed ‘Go’.
A bright light enveloped Rai and instantly he vanished from the bedroom.
6
The Past
He appeared back suddenly in the same bedroom. There in front of him, standing in a wedding dress, was Saskia. She looked at him shocked. “Who are you?” she screamed. “An assassin? Get out!”
Rai was confused and felt ill. The dilation sickness was worse this time. Had he not gone back far enough? She was in a wedding dress? He felt his legs buckle and he fell forward, landing on the TDM, cracking its case. He managed to hide it in his trousers quickly before he tried to get up to explain what was happening to her. But he couldn’t remember why he was there. It was there a moment ago but now it had gone. What had happened?
Suddenly the door burst open. A handsome young man stood there with long blond hair and a muscular frame. Wearing some sort of ceremonial attire. His face immediately filled with rage. “Saskia! Who is this? In your bedroom! You whore! The wedding is off! You will pay for this insult! Maybe not today but one day!”
The man came up to Rai and punched him in the stomach so hard he felt like he would throw up his lungs. He fell on the floor in pain.
Saskia ran after the man desperately.
“Jax! He just appeared! He must be an assassin! I swear I wasn’t unfaithful!” She chased after him and she bumped into another man in the doorway, a bulky man with dark hair and hazel eyes. “Dear brother, lock that assassin up and throw away the key.” She left running after her ex-husband to be.
The big man picked up Rai and pulled him into the corridor violently and proceeded to kick him repeatedly until he lost consciousness.
7
Ouroboros
Rai regained consciousness in a cell that was locked. He was beaten and bruised, his clothes ripped and scuffed and he could hardly move due to his injuries. The cell had a high window in one end and a large metal door at the other. There was a bucket in one corner and an old bed. All Rai’s memories returned from the last couple of days like a dagger in his chest. He screamed and screamed, “Saskia! Saskia!” but no one came ever. He looked at his TDM and it was ruined. Broken from the fall. He spent days trying to fix it. To do anything to contact The Infinity Order in the future. Maybe they could help him somehow? He pulled wires out and fiddled with it trying to get it to work. He eventually managed to reconnect the broken screen. Suddenly, on the third day, it lit up, while he was sitting freezing and starving in the dark. It was the man in the lab coat from the video before.
“Well done, Rai. Your mission was a success. Humanity will live forever in time. Well done. All that’s left for me is to die.” He looked behind him. “They are going to open the Pandora’s box soon and kill us all. I am ready. Our duty is fulfilled.”
Rai didn’t understand and could feel his situation getting even worse than it already was. He shouted, “What’s going on? How was I successful? I am trapped! Saskia will still die if I am trapped here, starving!” but it was only a one-way message. The man in the future couldn’t hear Rai, but he continued on the screen regardless, almost carefree.
“You have successfully created a time loop, when we all die in a moment when the Pandora’s box is opened. You will have still gone back, meaning humans will be infinite in time. This is the main purpose of our order! Well done.” He held up a picture of The Infinity Order’s logo. The snake eating its own tail. “See?” He smiled and looked behind himself. “Saving the girl would have been just a bonus, Rai. Never mind, eh? Oh, here it comes! Tatty bye!” He opened his arms widely with an insane smile painted across his face, then the video abruptly ended.
Rai broke down realising his fate now. He tried the TDM again, but nothing happened. Another day passed, then another. Sometime later the device lit up one final time to Rai and displayed a single word. A word that closed the loop and made Rai’s soul weep. ‘OUROBOROS’.
8
The Beginning
The man opened his eyes with a degree of difficulty, a sticky mucus binding them together like glue. It obscured his sight, making the room appear blurry as if a thick haze covered it with a blanket. The first sensation that greeted the man as he awoke was a pungent odour that hung heavy in the air. The grotesque stink invaded his nostrils and felt to him like it was saturating his skin. It smelt like animal faeces mixed with something sweet, a sickening blend within its vile fragrance. It made the man’s mouth flood with bile and nearly brought his stomach to heave.
He stood up shakily and peered about the room. It had four stone walls with a high, barred window at one end that allowed rays of the sun to just peek in. It showed dust motes dancing in the beams of sunlight. At the other end was a heavy metal door, covered in a jacket of rivets. It looked strong enough to withstand a blast from a canon. There was an old wooden bucket with an oxidised brass fixing that appeared to hold some sort of dried dark matter that the man didn’t want to investigate too much. Lastly, there looked to be an old stained bed close to where he had awoken that was likely to be crawling with lice.
The man rubbed his eyes to clear his fuzzy vision and was surprised to discover he was sharing the room. In one corner, under the high window was a bedraggled corpse. The remains of a person who had long since died, the flesh all but rotted and the bones from under the thin dark skin could be seen clearly. The source of the vile smell clearly had presented itself. The man wandered over to the rotten body. It was sitting up with its head resting on the stone wall. Looking defeated. It was more of a skeleton now than a corpse. Its clothes looked like it had been gnawed on by rats or maybe this corpse had clothes like that at the time of death. The man couldn’t be certain.
He looked closer and saw that the skeleton was holding a device. It looked basic and broken. It was a mass of circuit boards and loose wires. On one side there was a flat surface which appeared to be a screen. The man picked to the device gently removing the bony fingers of the corpse. He investigated it for a short while and concluded that it didn’t seem useful. Just a piece of junk. Suddenly, the device beeped and came to life in the man’s hands. The screen flashed up a word for a brief second.
‘OUROBOROS’ it read then disappeared as quickly. The man tried to get it to work again for a minute. But nothing happened. The Powercell must be exhausted. He put the crude mass of wires and circuits back in the skeleton’s hands. He didn’t see any benefit in keeping a dead man’s device. That was his.
It was his.
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About the Author
Ben McQueeney was born in Stockton, County Durham, UK in August 1983 to the sounds of “Red Red Wine” by UB40. Which is coinc
idental, because he loves red wine now. Well, beer really to be honest.
He started his career as a Microbiologist and worked in big pharma for many years before deciding to be less scientific and more “Arty” and “Creative”.
He moved into Production Management for a design studio. Working with creative types urged him into writing and time later the first novel “The Spirit of Things” was finished and released in April 2020.
He’s a family man with an amazing partner Robyn who does well to put up with him most of the time, a daft dad with two little girls (and one on the way!) that keeps him on his toes, an avid CrossFitter and even plays drums in the UK’s best covers band.
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Also by Ben McQueeney
Please consider reading my first full length Young Adult Coming of Age Fantasy Novel!
The Spirit of Things (Beyond Horizon Book 1)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086VGQKH8
He’s a human that has been raised in a society of elves. Except humans are considered a plague upon the land. What’s the worst that could happen? He discovers magic…
“…for Tolkien and Harry Potter Fans.”
“Like an Updated Sword of Shannara meets The Name of the Wind.”
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The Infinity Order: Changing The Past With Time Travel Page 2
