by Wyatt Kane
And returned to the old man.
“Oh, shit,” he said. He couldn’t move fast enough to get out of the device’s way entirely, but he did manage to duck into a ball, making himself smaller.
Then the time displacer touched him on the shoulder.
He vanished.
Gone. Just like that, a more complete disappearance than any of his others.
What little hold I had over the bug-demon disappeared with him, and a mountain of chitinous flesh came crashing down.
XXXXI
April’s shield was more than an oversized frisbee. It was a glowing dome of energy that covered us entirely. When the weight of the bug crashed down on top of us, there was a pulse of power, but that was it.
The shield held. The monster let out another screech of rage and heaved itself up, ready for another try.
“What do we do?” April yelled. She was brave and capable, but the desperation showed clearly in her voice. Nor did I have a ready answer.
“Maybe you can turn the shield off long enough for me to fire!” I suggested as, with an almighty thud!, the monster hit us again.
But April shook her head. “It takes a few seconds, too long to activate. We’d get caught in the blast.”
It was a valid point, and one to which I had no answer. The monster above us was too big, too strong. With the old man’s help, we’d had a chance. Without him, I couldn’t see how we could beat it.
I saw the same understanding dawn in April’s beautiful face, and felt a surge of sorrow. I didn’t want to die, but could accept my own imminent demise much more easily than hers. Or June’s, for that matter, and the dark-haired twin would be defenseless in the van if we failed.
Even though she was still safe for the moment, I could feel June’s anxiety as clearly as my own, and a sadness that was akin to grief. She could see what was happening but couldn’t do anything about it.
Once more, the monster crashed down on us, and I wondered how much longer the shield could last. Not long, I figured. The glowing dome already seemed to sputter and spark, not badly as yet, but it was a definite indication of things to come.
I thought to offer a comforting word to April, but she surprised me by smiling my way.
“Well, we’re safe here for the moment,” she said, looking down at me. “Fancy a quickie while we’re not doing anything?”
As thoughts went, it wasn’t a bad one. I smiled up at her in return. “What, and try to level up some more?” I suggested.
She grinned more broadly. “Do you have a better idea?”
I had to laugh. If I hadn’t already known I loved her, that would have done it. Maybe, I hoped, June would somehow sense our good humor and take comfort in it.
At the same time, I knew April wasn’t serious. There were certain logistical issues that would be difficult to solve with her effectively holding the shield in place. Nor was that the only flaw in her plan.
“It won’t work, though,” I said with regret. “We’d have to level up multiple times to match what the old wizard could do. And even that wasn’t enough.”
April nodded, her smile fading as the grim reality of our situation returned. “If only he’d thrown that time displacer thing at us,” she said. “Sure, it would have sent us somewhere in time, but at least we could have lived to fight another day.”
The monster reared up over us again, bellowed its frustration at April’s shield, and crashed down with all its immense power and weight. The shield held, but only just. It buzzed and flickered as if it would fail at any moment. April knew it, and so did I, and I felt June’s distinct brand of panic from the van.
One more attack would be enough, I thought. Yet I wasn’t going to go down meekly. I stood so I could hold onto April, and gritted my teeth in preparation.
“Are you ready?” I asked, and the fierce, blonde woman at my side nodded. She understood what I was about to do.
I held my rifle at the ready, my finger on the trigger of the grenade launcher. If we had to go, I was going to do all I could to take that monster with us.
The bug-demon might have sensed it was close to breaking through. It reared up so high it blotted out the stars behind it. For a moment, it held itself there, as if anticipating the victory to come.
And I had a thought. Something April had said about sending us elsewhere in time. Not us, but me—because that’s exactly what had happened. The old man was just another version of me, and he’d inadvertently sent himself off somewhere, to live rather than being killed by this monster above us.
But how could he have even returned if I died here, smashed into the ground by a bug?
The fact that he had meant that somehow, I would survive this. And if he was able to return, then surely there were any number of different versions of me out in this timeline who could also return to this spot, at this time, to lend a hand.
Wishful thinking, I thought to myself. Not to mention paradoxical. More probably, the timelines simply hadn’t completed propagating, and when it did, the old man would have disappeared again.
We were going to die. I just hoped to get off one good shot before we did.
The monster came crashing down, and I knew this was it. I felt April stiffen beside me, and felt June’s despair from the van. The monster came closer and closer, collapsing over us like the mother of all waves, ready to smash us out of existence…
…and then stopped.
XXXII
It was frozen in place, and this time I was certain.
I couldn’t believe it. I felt relief combined with confusion, and a million other competing emotions. June exuded wonder and hope from the van, and April’s expression was one of puzzlement.
“How…?” she began, but didn’t finish her question.
Yet, to me, it was clear what had happened. My wishful thinking had come true. All around us in the dark, I could make out different versions of the van, all with me sitting in the cockpit. There were half a dozen of them, all of them from different times, and their combined power was more than enough!
“We’re saved!” I said, and even I could hear the disbelief in my voice.
At the same time, I wondered about the paradox. Thinking about it made my head hurt. How could I possibly have come back to help me if I would have died if I hadn’t? It didn’t make sense. Yet, at the same time, obviously I survived, because I’d come back to help me.
Even trying to describe it was nothing short of torture, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it meant for the multiverse itself. The giant bug-monster had spawned multitudes of new timelines by changing Earth’s history in meaningful ways. What would the impact of this paradox be?
Would it cause a festering sore on the multiverse that leads to its entire destruction? Or would the multiverse simply ignore the paradox and carry on as before?
Either way, I didn’t have time to worry about it just then. This wasn’t over, not yet. Though frozen, the monster wasn’t dead.
There was still more to do.
“Turn off the shield,” I said, and in a state of ongoing disbelief, April did as I asked.
From there it was easy. We both backed away, and, once we’d reached a safe enough distance, I took careful aim. The monster was stuck in the grip of future me, multiplied by half a dozen. It couldn’t break free, couldn’t get out of the way, and couldn’t retaliate. All it could do was glare at us with a cold, inhuman hatred that was palpable despite its intensely alien nature.
I returned that hatred in full measure, and had a nasty smile on my face as I squeezed the trigger.
Boom!
A blackened, smoky crater opened up at the monster’s thorax, just below the head. Such was the size and power of the monster that I couldn’t be sure it was enough, so I took a second grenade from my jacket pocket, reloaded, aimed, and fired again.
Boom!
Not such a good shot. I’d hoped to land this grenade in the crater caused by the first, but missed. Yet it still did significant damage, and de
spite the time lock, the monster seemed to know it was in trouble. I felt it straining against the combined efforts of my future selves—and it was starting to break free!
Even as I loaded my last grenade, the monster began to move. It let out a high-pitched keening and swung itself slowly away. At the same time, a rift in time began to form next to it.
The monster was trying to escape.
“Caleb,” April breathed, and I felt a shiver of fear crawl up my spine. I had one more shot, and knew I had to make it count. I couldn’t let the monster get away.
I took a deep breath to steady myself, aimed carefully, and fired once more.
Boom!
My third shot was good. It blew the monster’s thorax apart, spraying disgusting bug innards all over and severing the head from the rest of its body.
The forming time rift dissipated, and I lowered my weapon with a broad grin on my face.
“Is it over?” April asked. “Is it dead?”
She had good reason to ask. Though now in pieces, the main part of the monster still stood. But then, even as we watched, the remnants of the monster started to topple, and crashed, lifeless, to the ground. The future versions of me had released it from its stasis.
I couldn’t help it. I let out a whoop of sheer jubilation, and said, “It’s over! The monster is dead!” I gathered April up in an embrace, swinging her into the air, and she caught my jubilation. She relaxed, then giggled, and moments later we were lost in a world of triumph and open laughter.
We’d done it! The monster was dead, and the timeline was now back to how it should have been. The only thing left to do was thank my future selves and return to June in the van.
Except that when I turned to look, I saw that most of the vans had already vanished. There was only one left, and even as I watched, I saw myself give me and April a casual wave through the windscreen and then disappear as well.
We were alone in the vacant lot, standing in the dark, with only the corpse of the bug-monster for company. April caught my hand in hers, and together, we headed back to our own, upside-down van in the ditch.
June met us half way, and threw herself at us with her emotions all over the place. She was laughing and crying both at once, and the intensity of her relief was beyond anything I’d ever experienced myself.
“I thought you were dead!” she cried, hugging us tight. “But then all these other vans appeared out of nowhere!” She continued to hold us close for some time, then took a step back. “You’re going to have to tell me how you did that,” she said, glaring at me. “And where the hell has the old man gone now?”
<<<>>>
We were in the back of the van, just resting among the cushions, the girls on each side of me, lying close enough that I thought a proper celebration might be in order. Yet just for the moment, I was happy, as were April and June. We were still alive, the monster was not, and all was good in the world.
I would have been happy to just lie there forever, enjoying the close warmth of the girls. For me, it was a moment of perfection, the type of simple pleasure I would always treasure given the chance.
But no good thing can last forever, and after a few minutes of contented silence, June raised herself up onto an elbow and looked at me.
“Does this mean we can finally go home now?” she asked.
I reached over and brushed a lock of dark hair from her forehead. Her question had stolen some of my pleasure and replaced it with sadness. For me, this adventure had been more than a life-or-death struggle against monstrous bug-demons. It was an awakening, an acknowledgement of what I was meant to do with my life.
Yet I couldn’t deny her the chance to return to her old life, if that’s what she wanted.
“Do you really want to?” I asked.
She hesitated. “Yes,” she said. Then, “Maybe. I don’t know. This has been the most terrifying few days of my life. But they’ve been kind of exhilarating too. You know?”
I understood her completely. We’d opened the magic box and seen the universe for what it truly was. Would anyone really be able to put that box back down and choose never to play with it again?
But even that wasn’t the real question. “I’d hoped that maybe you’d like to stay with me,” I said.
All at once, the atmosphere changed. June laughed out loud. “Of course!” she said. She seemed much more sure of herself. “We won’t leave you.”
At the same time, April smirked in that way that made me love her all the more.
“Even if it means more of these mad, crazy adventures, saving the universe every now and again?” I asked.
The twins smiled. “Well, when you put it that way,” June said, “then yes. And maybe we’ll save your ass once in a while in the bargain.”
It was a better answer than I’d dreamed to hope for. But it was only one of the sisters.
“April?” I asked.
I lay there with a silly grin on my face, happier than I’d been in a long, long time.
“But I’d still like to go home, if only for a little while. You know, to pick up a change of clothes, and sleep on my own bed for a change.”
<<<>>>
With the monster dead and the three of us having decided on our future together, I thought our adventure was over. I thought we’d have time to relax. Of course, I still needed to time myself back and save us from the monster, but overall, I felt we had earned a break.
Instead, Shell, our helpful, floating AI, gave us something new to worry about.
“Forgive me,” she said in her characteristic, metallic voice with the faint English accent. “I understand that you are basking in your victory, but unfortunately, something has gained my attention. As you know, one of my functions is to monitor the timelines, which are indeed largely back to how they were before the insectoid demons appeared.”
As soon as the AI started to speak, the girls and I held our collective breaths, wondering what was to come. Somehow, we all sensed it would be something bad.
We had no idea.
“However,” Shell continued, “they are not the only dangers the multiverse has to offer. Nor do they typically act without being prompted to do so. There are other forces at work, and those forces will not take kindly to their plans being disrupted. As well, there are those who consider the timelines to be their exclusive domain. They have left a message, embedded in the timelines themselves.”
The AI paused, not hesitating so much as increasing the tension. “I have translated the message. It is a threat,” she said. Then, without asking, she projected a holographic image throughout the interior of the van. The image wasn’t as clear as the other images she had projected, but I could make out an indistinct shape full of tentacles and doom.
It reminded me of one of the Old Gods from mythology. Something Lovecraftian.
I felt June shudder beside me, and even April seemed uncertain.
“PROVOCATION … DO NOT … TIME,” it began, its great, booming voice that of doom incarnate. “DOMAIN IS MINE … ENCROACHMENT … NOT … FORJUDGMENT … IS … ANNIHILATION.”
No more than a dozen words, and yet they made me shiver in real fear. This wasn’t some voiceless bug messing with the timelines. This was something monstrous, sentient and steeped in old evil.
Nor was I the only one to think so. April’s expression mixed horror with disgust, and June projected something just short of panic.
Yet, surprisingly, it was the dark-haired twin who broke the pall that had fallen over us.
“Is it too late to change my mind?” She said it with just enough humor that I knew she was joking.
Author’s Note
THANK YOU! for reading the first in my Time Master series. If you did (and I really hope you did), it really, really helps if you write a review on Amazon. Go on, I know you want to. Head back to where you got this bo
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Until next time,
Wyatt.
