The Hade War

by Luke Carlisle

  “I don’t have time right now. Either stay here and die as the world’s worst criminal or come back with me and make sure all this never happens.”

  “But… will you have to kill me?” Jessen asked innocently.

  Greyfall looked Jessen in the eye.

  “I hope not. But know this; if I have to, I will.”

  Jessen turned and listened to the sound of the guards heading their way.

  “Some choice. I’d rather die on my couch than in this shit hole.”

  Greyfall grabbed hold of Jessen. The blue and white light filled the tunnel and they were gone.

  Chapter 4

  Ronan and Santos brawled at the top of the runway while Elaine, Ronan’s manager, cheered the larger man on. The crowd went wild. The two wrestlers kicked and punched their way through the entrance curtain to the backstage area where there were no cameras and the live feed went elsewhere.

  “Got me right in the nuts man!” Santos half laughed, half scolded.

  “Sorry!” Ronan laughed. “One boot got away from me.”

  Crew members handed the two athletes towels and water. They wiped themselves down and joined the rest of the wrestlers watching the monitors back stage. Several of them complemented their segment. The whole NCW backstage area was buzzing with activity. Wrestlers were planning out their matches with each other, script writers where going over last minute promo spots with others, all the while Ronan watched the live monitor which was now showing an epic trailer for Sunday’s big pay-per-view event. The title was on the line and he didn’t even know who was scheduled to be the winner of the match. Having trained his entire life for this moment he desperately wanted it to be written that he could have the belt, but knew deep down that there was no way it would happen so quickly into his rivalry with Santos. No, chances are they’ll wait. That is if they even give him the belt at all.

  “Ronan?” one of the writers called out to him from across the room. “A minute?”

  “Yeah.” Ronan joined him and the two walked down a hall into a small office. Inside the owner, creator and head script writer Solomon sat at a desk.

  “Ronan my man, come in, come in. Nice segment there. Thank you.” Solomon gestured to the seat in front of the desk. Ronan sat down.

  “Listen I’ll cut to the chase, I’m sure you know why we’re talking. We’re keeping the belt with Santos for another while yet. Now it’s not guaranteed that you will eventually strip him of it but for now we’ll keep this heat going between the two of you. The audience seems to be particularly taking to your rivalry so we’ll let it reach it’s boiling point.

  “I agree Sol, it’s a good heat.”

  “Yeah. But at the same time we don’t want to hurt your character so we’re thinking a first blood match on Sunday. At least that way you can still go on about how he never pinned you.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Still sucks to hear though right?” Sol empathised with Ronan’s disappointment.

  Ronan laughed “Yeah a bit.”

  “You’re up there Ronan. Keep at it and it may come yet. Also we’re thinking of throwing in an angle that might take Elaine away from you. Maybe some kind of romance triangle or something. What do you think?”

  “Eh, I think she’s good for me at the minute. The crowd hates me but loves her beauty so it all works well off each other.”

  “You think you two should stay as is?” Solomon asked.

  “Well hey, it’s ultimately up to you guys but if I’m honest, yeah.”

  “Then we will. It was a minor plot line but we trust in our talent and if you think it’s good for business we’ll keep it going.”

  “Thanks Sol, I appreciate that.”

  “Just… be honest with me. Are you two a thing?”

  “No, no, no. Don’t worry about that. I just think that the fact that the audience are torn between loving her and hating me just adds to the mix. Their love for her only adds to how much they hate me, because I have her. The more they hate me then the more they love Santos and the more they love the champ then the more they love NCW wrestling.”

  “Yeah you could be right there buddy. Ok, shower it off and we’ll see you on Saturday. Aaron has your itinerary.”

  “Thanks Sol,” said Ronan, rising from his chair and leaving the office.

  Reappearing in the apartment, Greyfall let go of Jessen who fell onto his sofa bed exhausted. On the TV Ronan and Santos were brawling their way up the ramp in the NCW arena to a cheering crowd.

  “The first couple of times hurt. You will sleep deeply and feel better in the morning,” Greyfall informed Jessen who was clutching his stomach again. Greyfall found himself feeling sorry for the man. Within moments Jessen had fallen asleep. Greyfall lay down on the ground and took out the time jumper. Sighing he set it on the ground beside him and closed his eyes.

  The next morning Jessen awoke with one thought in his head.

  “Drunken dream. Please God, let it be just a drunken dream.”

  Jessen sat up and grunted. Greyfall was standing motionless in the kitchen.

  “You…you just standing there?” Jessen asked.

  “I saw nothing else to do. You have no food and I would have sourced some but I fear my appearance in public would only draw attention to myself, being dressed like this. I need you to get me some clothes.”

  Jessen didn’t even remotely feel like arguing, asking questions or even making small talk. He simply stood up, grabbed his wallet from the kitchen counter and left. About thirty minutes later Jessen returned to his apartment with several large bags of clothes.

  “Flea markets are getting more expensive,” Jessen complained.

  Greyfall took the bags and started to sift through them. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah… any time man. It was the least I could do since you shot people trying to kill me in the future because of the war I started which kills everyone. So yeah, listen; we obviously need to talk about all this so I’m all ears as soon as you’re all mouth.”

  “I will explain everything. But first we need to eat. Especially you. The time jump takes a lot out the body.”

  “Yeah you aren’t kidding. Alright, put something on and let’s go.”

  “Do you remember the energy you emitted in your apartment when I picked you up? The spark?”

  “Yeah what the hell was that? Did you do that?”

  Jessen and Greyfall sat on a bench in the park closest to Jessen’s apartment eating burgers for breakfast. Jessen came here often to escape his dingy one room home. He would come and listen to music or drink a coffee. Today he sat with an enormous Chinese man from the future who yesterday both tried to kill him and saved his life.

  “No it was you. That had never happened before?” Greyfall asked.

  “No way man. Of course not.” Jessen felt the question was a stupid one.

  Greyfall sat in silent thought for a moment. Jessen let him think.

  “You were in a state of great panic,” Greyfall finally said.

  “Yeah man, have you see you?! You’re kinda terrifying.”

  “I am mighty compared to you yes. Hmmm”

  The suspense was killing Jessen.

  “There is great power inside you, Hade. Dangerous power. My world, the world you saw, was the result of that power. You created an explosion in downtown New Belfast what would be tomorrow. You took out half the city, killing over two million people, most notably the national representatives at the peace talks in the Fordway Hotel. The utmost powerful and important people in the world. I believe you work there?”

  Jessen said nothing. Greyfall continued.

  “The only thing still standing from the blast was you. You were unharmed. Exhausted, dehydrated and sick as a dog, but you were there. The medical choppers brought you to a hospital at the far end of the city. It was seen as an act of terrorism on the highest scale the world had ever seen. When the police, army and the FEDs came to place you under arrest you panicked and were set off again, taking out
the other half of the city that time. You were the only man alive in the whole of New Belfast. It didn’t take long for the countries who had lost their leaders to start pointing fingers and activating their launch codes. One threat lead to another and countries you would never have imagined having nuclear weapons came out of the woodwork. No one knows who fired the first missile but once it was airborne the rest followed suit. In the devastation that followed all forms of digital records and communication were destroyed. Power went down world wide. All semblance of law and order was gone. We were sent back to the dark ages in a matter of hours. Earth didn’t stand a chance. You saw my battalions base; that was in China where I was born. My mother had me… against her will… about ten years after the war started. There wasn’t much of a war left to be had. After almost every country on Earth was devastated. Humans just turned on humans. There was no nationality aspect to the fighting any more, it simply turned into basic survival. Food is scarce in my world as is power, light, medicine… hope.”

  “Where did this power come from?” Jessen finally spoke up. “I don’t want it.”

  “There are many with powers in this world. Most are born with them. You know of these people?”

  “Yes. They’re sometimes on the news fighting each other. The government has made it illegal to practice your powers in public. You hear stories of people being arrested for using their powers even in their homes. I guess people are scared of what’s different. I never knew what to make of it all. I saw Deadvolt once in person. He wasn’t doing anything, just sitting there obviously trying to keep a low profile but I know it was him.”

  “Yes, I know of this man. The power to control electricity, a wonderful power to have indeed.”

  “Not in his hands. He’s a criminal. He’s even been to PATMOS but somehow got out.”

  “PATMOS?” Greyfall asked.

  “Yeah, uh… Prison For Alternative Terrorists and Menaces Of Society. Big-ass island fortress seven miles of the coast of the city. It’s out of the Bible or something. They put all the whackos and freaks in there. There is one single bridge that can take you there and every mile there is an outpost. The criminals have nicknamed them the seven gates of hell. No one quite knows how Deadvolt ever made it out of there.”

  “In my time he will use his electricity to power generators in what are basically refugee slave camps. In return for entrance, he demands full obedience and servitude. He will set himself up as a slave driver, building his own empire on the backs of starving refugees who are just trying to keep warm.”

  “You keep talking about this like it’s still going to happen. I won’t explode and… and even if I do then let’s get me out of the city, out to sea or something.”

  Greyfall sat in silence for a moment. “I don’t feel that is necessary. Forgive me for speaking of the future as fact. I believe that my very existence here at this time has changed that. If history… my worlds history is anything to go by, all you need to do is stay calm. Something is… was due to happen to you tomorrow that caused a huge amount of stress and panic. So let’s just make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  Jessen pondered this for a few moments before finally speaking up.

  “Greyfall, what will happen to you? I mean, will you just fade away or something? Can you time jump out of here or anything? Although I don’t see why you would want to go back home…no offence, I’m sure the place is lovely after a while.”

  “No, I must remain here. Life will go on for you and all who are here and now. For me, I will be living in, what is to my understanding, an alternate time line. An alternate world. Deep down I feel that somewhere in the realms of time and space my world goes on.”

  “Do you not want to go back and try to bring back friends? Is there anyone you need to save? Family?”

  “I cannot go back.”

  “Because you would be a criminal for helping me?”

  “Well yes, that would be the case if I were to return. But no, the time jumper is exhausted. Our last jump back here was the last it could make.”

  Greyfall fell silent, staring at the ground in front of him. Jessen found himself feeling sorry for the big man.

  “Greyfall. Thank you for saving me back there. It must have been hard to kill one of your own.”

  “That,” answered Greyfall, “was a pleasure. My captain was a vile man. I mentioned that my mother… had me against her will. Many women had children against their will due to his… he…” Greyfall found it hard to finish his sentence, but Jessen understood.

  “He was your father?”

  “Only biologically.”

  “That’s messed up.”

  Again, the two sat in silence for a while until Jessen finally spoke.

  “So, you have powers too?”

  “Yes. I have more might than the average man. Also any weapon in my hand is like an extension of my body. I just know how to use anything to fight anyone effectively. It is why I was chosen to exterminate you.”

  “So, like, could you lift that car over there.”

  “I could certainly move it, yes.”

  “…That’s awesome. Do you still have that gun?”

  “No, I dropped it to pick you up in the tunnel. All I have of the future now is an exhausted time jumper. Not much more use than a paper weight now.”

  “Yeah, what about that? How come it’s exhausted? What’s its power source?”

  “Athillium. One of the rarest substances known to man.”

  “Never heard of it.”

  “Exactly. Once the war was in full swing, scientists and the military started experimenting with absolutely anything without regard for public or personal safety. One of the things they found out about was the power of athillium. Using it and technology that is beyond my own understanding they discovered how to transport molecules firstly across space and then time.”

  “Can we get some?”

  Greyfall laughed. “No Hade. Not on your life.”

  “So…wait. You knew when we time jumped that you would be stranded here?”

  “I did.”

  “Wow. I officially owe you everything man.”

  “Start with not blowing up New Belfast. I will consider the debt fully repaid and then some.”

  “Deal… I hope. So you only had enough for three jumps?”

  “I started with plenty. As far as my own personal time line went I have spent the last four years jumping, looking for you. It was all still new and foreign technology to us. We thought we had the jumps figured out but it turned out we had the method of coordinating time completely wrong. My first jump backwards had me landing in the late 1960s, the next was further back again in the middle of World War One.”

  “No way!”

  “I jumped back and forth, never landing close enough to even wait out a year or two to find you. I was always at least ten years away. I landed once six months before you were born. I thought of waiting several years and killing you when you were an older child but any act resembling what my father would do is no act I want to commit. If I were to kill you I would kill you only as a man. After years of jumping, frustration and the knowledge of the war to come, I simply didn’t have the patience to wait ten or fifteen years in one timeline to kill you as a man. So I kept jumping. That’s when the time jumper began to show signs of exhaustion. Not only was it getting the time wrong, the locations started going awry too. I landed in early 1990’s Amsterdam and could jump no further so I lived there for over two years. I made my living thieving from drunken fools and hooligans only there for debauchery. Their money was better spent on trying to get me here. I spent my time following men of academia, befriending them in bars. Alcohol has a wonderful way of loosening a man’s tongue. By chance I heard of a man, a scientist experimenting with athillium in Berlin. I tracked the man down, followed him to his lab and stole the tiny sample of athillium he had. It activated something inside the time jumper that my own athillium never did. Perhaps the radiation in my world effected our own athillium nega
tively, I am still unsure. It was enough for only three jumps but it would be accurate. I jumped from nineties Berlin to your apartment yesterday.”

  “This is unbelievable. So to you it was four years? How long was it for your fath- uh… captain from the moment you left to the moment we reappeared together?”

  “Minutes,” Greyfall answered.

  “Why did you bring me there anyway?”

  “I thought…I hoped they would know what to do. I should have known better.”

  Jessen sighed. “So what now? I mean assuming I don’t blow up tomorrow? If we sit inside and watch TV all day, where do we go from there?”

  “Quite simply,” answered Greyfall, “we go on living. You will have to learn to control that power of yours. I will do my best to help you.”

  Chapter 5

  “Seriously man?!… Awesome… Yeah I’ll come get them in the morning. Thank you! Yeah, later.” Jessen hung up the phone.

  Greyfall and Jessen sat on the sofa bed watching television in Jessen’s apartment. The time traveler took up most of the room and Jessen was squashed over to one side.

  “This was a friend of yours on your telephone?” asked Greyfall

  “Yeah Greg, I just got offered two tickets to NCW Showdown this Sunday, want to come with me? Wait… you know what wrestling is right?”

  Greyfall was transfixed by the celebrity ice dancing programme they were watching.

  “Yes of course. Fighting,” he answered.

  “Well yeah sort of. Except it’s predetermined who wins the matches.”

  “I see no point in this.”

  “It’s entertainment.”

  “We shall see. Hade, tomorrow you must lay low. Tell your friend you will attain the tickets later in the week.”

  “Nah see, that’s the thing, he has to go out of town on business tomorrow afternoon, hence why he can’t go on Sunday, so I have to get them from him in the morning.”