by Aditya Kumar
Scene: In the passage
"1 Monarc has passed... and there is no one here to rescue you. Unfortunately, I will have to release you in their universe... because there is only one door which is open," Tecton's consciousness said.
"So, you will leave me to die out there... knowing that after my death everything will get ruined..." Mark said.
Tecton said, "No... I will get another chance... many more chances like that."
"What are you talking about..." Mark asked.
Tecton said, "You will understand everything later. If I tell you everything... it will not create any difference, because you couldn't remember all this and..."
"No... I can remember..." Mark interrupted in middle.
Tecton said, "If you really think that you can remember my word... then remember this... 'Those one which you are trying to kill is not your real enemy... You real enemy is hidden behind all this incident... and he also wants you to kill them.'... just remember this."
Then Tecton released Mark and Emily in that other universe.
They both landed in the universe of dark elves. However, they didn't find anything different instantly. It all looked same. They wanted to find their weakness... so they went to explore their world. After searching a bit, they found a planet and decided to explore it. That planet was beautiful. It was filled with nature. "Looks like these creatures took good care of their universe than ours," Mark said, "Let's explore some other places."
"No... It can't be true... I know this... I have lived among them for many years... and I know that there is something more beyond this which we can't see yet... We need to find that... here," Emily said.
Mark agreed with her and they started roaming on that planet. After sometime they returned to the same place.
"I don't think there is anything different... Let's go from here," Mark said.
"Ok..." Emily agreed, "Wait... wait a minute... Did you see something..."
"What..." Mark asked.
"Can you remember the height of this tree... It got smaller from the time when we were here before..." Emily said.
Mark turned back to see, "Oh no... you are right... there is something wrong with this world."
But they wouldn't able to reach to any conclusion with this thing... they needed more to understand what is happening here. But then it started raining... not like rain... water droplet was going upward. Everything they found in reverse order there. "I don't feel good," Emily said.
"Ok... we will have to go away from here."
Then they went back to the place where they were thrown by Tecton's consciousness thinking that if Aleina will be able to open that wormhole... then they could return to their world.
"Do you feel better here," Mark asked Emilly.
"Yeah... but what is the difference in here and there..." Emily said, but then she told, "Nothing... I don't feel good here too... it looks like someone is pulling me... I can’t stay still... It feels like I can’t survive this."
"There is something different... but you can survive this," then Mark divided himself into many parts and one of him dissolved into Emily to make her okay, but then only they saw forming two comets after an explosion... It was like everything is going on in reverse order.
"Are you thinking the same as I am thinking," Emily said.
Mark said, "Yes... I can't believe... we are in a place where time runs backward... this is anomaly in this multiverse."
"If this is true, then Aleina and Xoguar will never be able to open the wormhole at right time... we are on our own," Mark said.
Then a dark elf came to Mark trying to attack him. Mark defended himself, but there was no one in next moment. 'What is happening,' Mark thought, but then they saw everything around them changing without following any order.
"We are wrong about everything... this is not a negative time flow... this is distortion in time," Mark said.
Emily asked surprisingly, "What do you mean?"
"This is not a natural thing... someone made this place... and they are changing its flow on their own will… this place is not created with Big-Bang, but this is made by someone afterward," Mark said.
"How can you say this," Emily asked.
Mark answered, "Because everything is unstable here... I don't know if this is fault in making or it is made this way... But I can surely say that this place is made to challenge the creation of nature..."
Emily interrupted, "Do you even know what you are saying?"
But Mark continued, "This is the reverse of any other universe in this multiverse... You see out there," Mark said showing Emily to some random location, "Whatever you see there, that's not any other place in space, but that's another moment in time. Every moment in time from our universe is mapped with space here and every place in space from our universe is mapped to a particular moment in time here... You see that wormhole never got closed, but we lost its access... because that wasn't made to use from other side. Whatever Tecton said to me... I still remember every bit of that because we are not in any real world. We can say that this place is nothing, but in other word this is everything. This is a pattern of reverse space-time... and this pattern is our enemy... and they are coming to our universe... we will have to go back to our universe..."
"No, you can't be right... I have seen their faces... they are creatures and you just saw one when tried to attack on you..." Emily said.
Then they heard a scarier sound of something that is echoing everywhere, "You are clever... but not complete. We used to be a reverse pattern... we exist here, but now we have shape as well mass and we are able to enter in your universe too. I am coming for you... for all of you. They call me Rogue Space Time. But since now we have shape... I picked a name for myself... Crayton." After a bit of pause Crayton continued, "Where you will run, when I will make the whole multiverse like this... You are brave and strong Mark, but others can't survive this... Just take back your part and she will die right now with tremendous pain... all of you will have the same destiny... I heard a lot about you... but I want to see if they are right or not..."
That was scarier, yet Mark asked by collecting his all courage, "Tecton said that you are not the real enemy... why?"
"Seriously..." Emily interrupted, "You are gonna ask this to that thing... that will kill you... Just run from here..."
"You want to run in time..." Mark said.
"No... then, think how we can go back..." Emily said out of fear.
"I need to harness the quantum data of time and space together... and merge them to open a portal between them..." Mark said.
"And how you will do that..." Emily asked getting irritated.
"When I entered into Acouch mind... I saw those data and I still have that... I can open wormhole, but I need to calculate the exact moment and place in time and space to open that portal," Mark said.
"Why..." Emily asked.
"Because if I will not do the exact calculation, then I will not have any control that where and when that portal will take us out in our universe," Mark said, "But don't worry... I have done that... just wait for my signal... and then we will run..."
"Do it quick... that Rogue Space Time is coming closer to us..." Emily screamed.
As Crayton came closer to them, Mark screamed, "Now..." and they both were out of that mysterious and scarier thing.
Mark and Emily came back to the same place from where they jumped into that wormhole... but when... He can see that his earlier version is tied and Emily... to be exact Veronica is laughing. "Ok... so a little bit of miscalculation..." Mark said sarcastically.
"So... what do we do about Veronica that was kicking you..." Emily asked sarcastically.
"Wow... you learned a lot..." Then Mark said seriously, "We should not play with time... leave the thing as it is... We should wait here until our earlier version jumps into that wormhole."
"You are right..." Emily agreed with him.
Mark said, "I don't know... but I feel like I recently met Tecton. But I a
m not sure if it's real... It feels like a dream."
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CHAPTER 27
One More Mystery
Whatever you think... whatever you imagine... at some point in life you may feel that everything is incomplete. There is always something bigger exist, that is beyond our imagination. This may make you feel like you are living a lie, but it mustn't break your whole believe system. In life you will have to face something bigger than you are prepared, but you will have to be ready to face it.
"I can't believe... a Rogue Space Time is coming to invade on every other universes of this multiverse," Emily said worrying about this fact.
"I was scared since the time Acouch told about them... I was scared who are those," Mark continued after a bit of pause, "But I never thought it would be that much bigger. How can even we come up with the approach to fight Crayton... this is too much. We have to tell Xoguar about this."
"Yeah... let's get out of here..." Emily said.
"But... don't you think that those dark elves would be waiting for us," Mark asked.
Emily said, "There is no one around here... only we are... I lied to you before..."
"But... why?" Mark asked.
Emily said, "When you left me, I waited a lot for you. But when you didn't come to me, then still I tried to be strong... tried to fight for humanity. I did, but I couldn't keep up. My weakness broke me and made me an integral face of evil... just because I was weak. But I didn't want to be weak anymore... and I also wanted to take revenge from them... I want to spend my life in the way you told me to spend, to save the people... to give the strength to weak and make them confident enough that make them feel like happiness is their right, and not a miracle... and they deserve that moment."
This small speech of Emily made tears in Mark's eye. He hugged her and hardly able to tell, "I am proud of you... be with me always."
"Ok... so where do you think... Xoguar and Aleina would be right now," Emily asked.
Mark said, "They were in Canyon cave... it's like a home to Xoguar. We should go there."
They went to Canyon cave. Xoguar and Aleina was not there. Except that everything is normal, but that all looked suspicious to Emily. "Oh... no, what happened here?" Emily said getting devastated.
"What do you mean," Mark couldn't understand.
"No... now this is ok, and again I am having the same vision."
"What is that?" Mark asked.
"For a moment I saw all of them as a corpse. They were like poisoned by some programmed viruses," after a bit of pause she said, "But I guess, I am just hallucination after a long and terrifying journey."
"What... why you saw them like that," Mark asked.
"I don't know... I got this mysterious vision. Well, I can see a lot of things... but I don't know why I saw them like a corpse," Emily said.
Mark shocked, "You can a see a lot of things. What does this mean?"
"Sorry that I haven't told you earlier, but I can find the current location of any person whom I know," Emily said.
Mark asked, "So... can you find Xoguar and Aleina."
"Yeah... sure if no one would be blocking my vision," Emily said.
But after a moment... she couldn't believe what she just saw. She came back from this telepathic search... getting sweaty and breathing heavily.
"What happened... did you find him," Mark asked.
"Yeah..."
Mark asked, "Where is he?"
"I can't tell exactly. Something is blocking my vision, but I can hear Aleina's voice... only her voice. They are going to Workstein cave..." Emily said.
"But why..." Mark interrupted in middle, "That place is dangerous."
"They are going to search for Wormpeiner, so that they could open the wormhole... and we could come out. But I am feeling that he is really in danger." Emily said.
"Be quick. We have to help them..." Mark said and prepared himself to go.
"Wait... wait for a minute," Emily stopped him, "There is something more. I can see those same programmed viruses in Workstein cave that I saw in the vision... that was responsible for killing everyone. Was that a future?"
"No... you can't see a future like that. Future..." Mark was saying, but Emily interrupted in middle, "Like what... how do you know what I saw?"
"You know I am allowed to read your mind in case of emergency. Am I right?" Mark asked.
"Yeah... okay, but only in case of emergency. So, you were saying that..." Emily reminded Mark.
Mark said, "Yeah... I was saying that you can't see only one possibility if you would be having the glimpse of future. Also, you can't see the future at one moment... in fact you would see the images from different time which would make no sense at all. So, I can assure you that this is not the future. This is something else, but we will figure out. First we need to help them."
"Yeah... We will have to go to Workstein cave now before them." Emily said.
"Can you find any way to go there faster," Mark asked.
"Let me check..." Emily said and then she closed her eyes. After a moment, she started whispering, "Yes... there is way. I can see a wormhole that will lead us directly there."
Then they followed their way through wormhole... and they were on the gate of cave and listened Aleina's voice that she was talking to Xoguar, "Are you sure that we can go through this cave?" and reply of Xoguar, "Yeah... we have to."
"Wait..." Mark came in front of them, "You don't need to go in. We came out of their world."
"What... How did you came out from there..." Xoguar asked.
"It's a long story... I will tell you later," Mark said.
"Well... we are glad that you are safe," Aleina said.
"Yes... we are safe," Emily said, "But why I got a vision like you are dead... poisoned by same programmed virus."
"What are you saying... I saw in 'Knowledge' that I will have to face that programmed virus, but I don't know what you are saying." Xoguar said.
Then suddenly Mark's face changed with some new unbelievable thoughts, "Oh... no... no..."
"What happened," Emily asked.
"Now I understand what's your vision. That is from another universe..." Mark said.
"Are you talking about dark universe," Emily suspected.
"No... let me explain." Mark said.
Mark started saying, "Remember the moment when I said that each place from their universe is mapped to a particular time in our universe and then using this fact, we opened wormhole and came out, but in wrong time due to slight miscalculation. However, we didn't communicate with our earlier self and in a manner, we didn't change our own fate. But we changed Xoguar's fate. He maybe supposed to die here which we changed... and also, that virus is supposed to spread until someone stop them, leading to more death. We changed these things, but this time-travel created a new universe from where you are getting visions. I know that you shouldn't get these visions because you do not belong to that unknown universe, but I guess this is your one of the powers now."
"So... you saved my life..." Xoguar said, "Not that I care much about my life, but I am glad that I could be able to contribute more in this war."
"You are my friend... and I will always save you... and will always be there for you when you need me," Mark said, "But first we need to destroy these programmed viruses. Emily... can you do that?"
"I am on it..." Emily said and she burnt the whole place including those viruses in a moment with her thunderbolt.
Xoguar couldn't keep himself in control this time. "Mark, I have to confess something," Xoguar said, "I know that you are searching for a person who made you unconsciously sleep for around five hundred years. That person was in front of your eye this whole time. That was me, but I had reason." Aleina couldn't believe that he himself told the truth.
"So, you are the reason that I become like this," it was really frightening to see Emily like this.
Mark made her calm and said, "But Aleina told that someone from 'Vast Horcune' made me sleep. Why did you l
ie to me... Aleina?"
"She didn't lie," Xoguar interrupted, "I am an elite member of that organization... Xena was too... and..."
"I am also the part of that organization," Aleina revealed herself too.
Mark saw them widening his eyes. He couldn't believe that his own friend can do like this. But slowly his unbelief turned into anger and he said, "Before I kill you or do something even worse with you, I am giving you one chance to tell me the true reason and prove that what you did was needed to do."
"First you need to come with me to Vascater where 'Vast Horcune' is. They will tell you everything." Xoguar said.
"They are not bad person," Aleina told, "I also thought bad about them earlier, but I know them better and I understand they are not bad person."
"Ok... but better come up with better reason, if you all want to live," Mark warned them.
Scene: Vascater
Everyone gathered there as if it would be the most important meeting of this all time. Their leader Vacrain, Ascab, Xoguar, Aleina and many more were there to watch this precious moment.
"So, you are Mark. I heard a lot about you," Vacrain said, "You are brave... and you came back from dark universe. We are so glad that you made it back. We are proud of you. We are..."
Mark interrupted, "Please keep this little speech to yourself. I have also heard about you and I know that you are terrible people. I know what you did to me. Do you have anything to say in favor of your action."
"Talk with respect..." one of their warrior came towards Mark. Then Mark's anger bursted into flames and it took a form of fire... That fire made his first prey of that warrior. They all understood what it means to go against Mark, when they saw that warrior suffering in those undying fire.
"Enough..." Vacrain said, "This is not the time of war. We are not each-others enemy. Our enemy is coming. Mark... take back that undying fire."
"This is not my fault," Mark said in cold blooded voice, "I guess... you should have taught them some manners..." and then he killed that warrior in front of everyone. He continued, "Whatever maybe the reason... never mess with me without discussing with me. You are the one who tried to make Emily away from me. I will kill everyone here." Maybe he would have done the same if Emily wouldn't be there to make him calm.
