The Time Stone

by Jeffrey Estrella

  “Did you get what you were after in there?” Asked James.

  “Yes, this is it.” Drax said.

  “A lousy letter?” Tina asked.

  “Not just any letter” said Mercedes “a message through time.”

  “Ooh…saucy” said Tina.

  “But Drax, don’t you already know what it is if it was received in the future?” Asked Mercedes.

  “I was not privy to all of them.” Said Drax.

  “Aren’t we altering history by taking the letter now?” Mercedes asked.

  “Maybe but maybe we are supposed to take it. Causality and fate are complex structures.” Said Drax.

  “So what should we do?” Asked James.

  “We send our own letter!” Said Drax.

  “Just open it” said Tina eagerly.

  “OK.” He tears open the envelope and from within it, he unleashes a piece of paper with strange writing on it in some foreign language he does not recognize. “This is not familiar to me” said Drax.

  “What could it be?” Asked Mercedes.

  James reached out and touched it and felt his mind turned inward and he saw a vision of the entire universe again then an image of a beast, one he has seen before and revered.

  “Dear God” said James.

  “What is it?” Asked Tina, “What did you see?”

  “Satyr!” Said James.

  “He could have sent the note?” Said Tina.

  “That cannot be!” Said Drax.

  “But it must be true if James had a vision from it!” Said Mercedes. A mysterious figure lurks in the background watching them and pops out as they are talking. “Satyr” they say almost simultaneously as he stands before them, his appearance slightly different from what they were accustomed as if he was younger in age and with less pronounced hair and wingspan.

  “Do I know you?” He said.

  “We’ve met in the future” said James.

  “So the experiment has begun sending humans. How pitiful. How I simply despise your kind. And now I see you have obtained my letter meant for our forbearers.” James took out the time stone as Satyr was talking. “The eye of the Gods. It is the greatest treasure of all time.” The winged warrior danced around them, his eyes glistening with hunger. “I must have it. If you are from the future then you must know its pedigree and danger to behold it. There is more to it than even you know. If you care to look back in your inferior human intelligence and think of what it might cause for mankind and your existence.” Said Satyr with a hideous snarl.

  “Let’s just say we’re old friends” said Tina “and he is the legendary holder of stones.”

  “Friends with humans? Never! I hate humans! Enemies is more like it. But the holder. That is something, ha, ha, ha, a powerful being supposedly dedicated to the preservation of mankind against the insolence of evil. How can this mere hobo be the holder?” Satyr snarled.

  James angrily waved his free hand at a tree branch and it cracked open and went flying towards Satyr.

  Satyr hovered up into the air and dodged it. “Impressive” he snarled at them. “What do you want dear holder?”

  “We want to go back to our own time unharmed.” Said Drax.

  “That is not possible. The eye of the gods stays with me.”

  “I don’t think so” said James.

  “Hey Satyr boy” said Tina.

  “You know he’s not really a Satyr” said Mercedes.

  “Close enough…” shrugged Tina. She then turned to Satyr. “If you hate humans so much, why don’t you just eat me?” She screamed. “I bet you don’t even know we have some things common. You don’t know what the future is going to hold and what good exists in loyalty and friendship” she said humbly.

  “What are you yammering about?” Satyr snarled.

  “We are meant to form a union and something’s will happen that will be bad but we will be strong together.” Tina argued.

  “That is ridiculous. Humans are weak, inferior, imperfect.” Satyr yelled.

  “We are strong together.” Tina corrected.

  “You conquer and destroy for your own personal gain; you don’t care about anyone but yourself.” Satyr observed.

  “You got us all wrong.” Tina said.

  “Why should I trust your race?” Satyr inquired.

  “Because we are the same race!” Tina yelled at the top of her lungs.

  “What?” He gasped back.

  “That’s right. Beasts from your universe were once human. You lived in a human populated world. Some mega mutant meta virus or something transformed you all. You are living for hatred and intolerance not of something else you fear is that of your own being!” Tina smirked.

  “Satyr, have you ever heard of the legend, the prophecy of the warriors of the rainbow?” Asked Drax.

  “What?”

  “It is a story from native American legends that at some point in the future there would be great disaster, including greed, corruption, and filth of the earth, sky, and water caused by people and beasts a like. Then there would come out of the darkness those who would change the world for the better, offer cleaner ways of living and doing things bring shelter and hope and overcome poverty, disease, hunger, war, and drought. They would be of every race, religion, color, creed, and lingo, and they would literally save the planet from annihilation, they are the warriors of the rainbow.”

  “Yes,” said Mercedes. “We have seen the future and what is in store and it’s not pretty. Things have to start to change with us now and in all of time.”

  “That is the way we can hope to truly breathe free” said James.

  “You’re words are odd to me but strangely familiar” said Satyr calmly. “I do not fully understand but I see there is hope.” Satyr said.

  “What does this letter say?” Drax handed him the envelope and Satyr clutched it and the letter in his clawed large hand.

  “Kill those of evil’s bane.” Read Satyr.

  “We need to send another message, one that spreads the lessons of peace we are desperate to bring to the future so in the year 2012, things might work out differently.” Drax said.

  “I will do so.” He nods. “You have my word.”

  “Wait a minute, freeze right there, hold it” said the policeman from the warehouse. “I recognize that freak of nature, drop yourself” said the officer holding a gun towards Satyr.

  Satyr snarled and flew up towards the officer causing him to drop his gun and rose up far away into the distance.

  “Who are you?” Asked Drax angrily.

  “Don’t even try it” said the officer reaching for his gun again and holding it towards the four.

  “OK, just be cool” said James as the four raised their arms in surrender.

  “What’s your name, kid?” Asked Drax.

  “I ain’t a boy, OK. My name is T Bone, I mean Officer Tyrone Borgegous.”

  “We are friends, not your enemies” said Drax coming closer.

  “Don’t try it or I will shoot” he smirked as they noticed a pair of furry ears behind his head.

  “You’re like all the others here, a human-beast hybrid.” Drax said.

  “A what? Man, just keep your hands up and spread ‘em.”

  “OK, but what the heck is that?” Screamed Tina.

  “Man, I ain’t falling for that one” T-Bone laughed as Satyr came around and came crashing down on top of him sending him face down to the ground. Satyr pounced up and was about to come crashing down on T Bone’s back with Satyr’s clawed hands and feet dealing a fatal blow to the officer as he turned around and saw the full-blooded beast about to land on him with a ferocious grin. Then James screamed “no” and waved his hands unleashing another tree branch towards Satyr striking him in the chest and pushing him back and away.

  “You again” said T-Bone getting up.

  “There is no need to kill him” said James.

  “Damn” said Satyr flying off.

  “The four ran over to T Bone.

&nbs
p; “Are you OK?” Asked Tina.

  “Yeah, thanks, you save my life somehow…I don’t believe in magic but I believe in miracles and that was God’s work man.”

  “You’re welcome.” Said James.

  “Look T-Bone,” said Drax “we are looking to have a letter sent for some odd 70 years from now.”

  “Huh?” Questioned T-Bone.

  “How did you know about Satyr, anyway?” Asked Drax.

  “That thing. I saw some conversation between him and three dudes in black in a warehouse over on Port Street. I thought it was the weirdest thing. We all grew up around here with deformities but nothing like that. These guys were straight out of some old scare flick.”

  “Can you show us?” Asked Tina.

  “Sure but their gone now. Come on.” T-Bone maintained a sincere grit as he saw they were determined and so he led the four to the abandoned warehouse. They all looked in and saw a vacant space where operating equipment was collecting dust and old crates were unused and growing mold and cobwebs adorned the ceiling and floors. “See they left.”

  “The men in dark suits were pale, looking like squinty with beady eyes?” Questioned Drax.

  “Yes, that’s them like three twins combined and stuck together like, whatchamacallit, Siamese. How did you know?”

  “Long story” said Drax. “Thanks for your help.”

  “No sweat.”

  “Hey” said James looking at the time stone, “its glowing again, we can jump.”

  “Great, we have to go now T-Bone but we need you to help us with something as we cannot be sure Satyr will keep his word.”

  “I wouldn’t trust that fool as far as we could throw him” T-Bone chuckled.

  “The message can be written in any form you like as long as it is left with the post office for 80 years. It must read…. “

  “Give peace a chance” screamed Tina.

  “Love is the way” said Mercedes.

  “We are all one” said James.

  “No,” said Drax, “it must read… whatever you want it to read, T-Bone! Make it a good one for the future.” Smiled Drax, “as long as it says my name Milton Drax, understand that? And remember the best part of humanity is overcoming our intolerances.”

  “Sure, I can do that but why?” asked T-Bone.

  “Trust me” said Drax looking into his eyes.

  “That’s real… I will take care of it. You got my word on it, brother.” T-Bone said.

  “Well, we are all chosen for greatness.” Said Drax.

  “We need to find out what we are here for and protect this time stone above all. We can make a difference.” Said James.

  “Didn’t you always want that?” asked Tina.

  “Yeah, let’s go out there and do what we do and find a way to beat the bad guys.” Said Mercedes.

  “If I can use the powers I have been given to continue to do well, it is worth it.” James added.

  “Let’s go kick some machination butt and beat them to the punch.” Added Tina.

  “They set us up to cover up their own faults. We got to stop them.” Said Mercedes.

  “Yeah” said Drax nodding in response with a smile, “we will….”

  “You know you guys always seem to make me feel better.” Said James.

  “Aw, same here buddy.” Said Tina. “In the end the most disappointing thing about time is that there is never enough of it. So that is why we have to cherish the time we have together with the ones we love.”

  “You got our back in this time, right T-Bone?” asked Drax.

  “You got it” said T-Bone nodding. “I still don’t understand all this but it’s all good.”

  “Thanks.” Replied Drax.

  “Come on guys” he walked with his friends and James held the time stone out and twisted it causing the vortex to roar open.

  “Wow, that is bodacious boffa man” said T-Bone shocked. Drax pressed a button on his wrist remote and with a moment, the scorpion car had arrived driving itself through the air above them and landing stealthy in the field before them. T-Bone was speechless. The four waved goodbye and saw as T-Bone waved with a cocky smile. The four walked into the car and drove forward as it morphed into combined balls of light and was sucked into the vortex. T-Bone began to walk away shaking his head in disbelief as he did not realize he was being watched by a man on a nearby hill, the old man from the mansion frail and meek standing having seen the entire ordeal and nodding his head with a coy and villainous smile.

  CHAPTER 83

  Time Period: 1962 A.D., Washington, District of Columbia

  “Time is the most-strongest force we know in the universe and we are bound within it like the sands in an hourglass.” Said Professor Charles Heater to his small class of ten students in the after school session of District Mall University on the outskirts of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.

  “Prof sure is a bore” said a young woman in the front row in a multi-colored sweatshirt and baggy jeans “yeah” said another man with an afro and tank top. “I can’t wait until tonight’s bash; we are gonna rock the roof off to the place.” “You said it.”

  That night, the dance club Hallar Fame was loud and filled with many young people dancing around in various forms of movement as exotic as their dress, colorful, loud, and vibrant. James, Tina, Mercedes, and Drax squeezed into the crowd feeling awkwardly out of place.

  “I guess we’re somewhere in the sixties. Not exactly 2012.” Said Drax.

  “Is that intuition from your wrist device or just an educated guess?” Asked James,

  “A little bit of both” Drax replied surmising. Then suddenly in the midst of the hectic dancing, a group of men in dark clothes that appeared to shine and red sashes jumped in and began to assault the crowd pushing through just as a loud band called Rocket Partyers began to announce their songs and play their smashing musical hits.

  “Mother of God, it’s The Culto” said Mercedes as the foursome noticed the melee.

  Drax ran over to one who appeared to lead the others with his directions and finger pointing and Drax threw a punching knocking him back against a wall. Another came at Drax and began to swing. Drax ducked and swung at that warrior in his belly.

  James ran up to one and waved his hands and initiated a psychic force that hung the warrior upside down in midair by his belt. Then he saw another running towards them and he held the time stone out and turned it and unleashed the vortex and toss both warriors into it with his powers as he waved his hands again summoning them by their clothes with his psychic energy field.

  One of the culto warriors held up his wrist bearing a metal barrel that emitted a hot red laser beam. The warrior fired several shots at James who skillfully deflected them all by waiving his arms about. The shots flew off away from James and fizzled off in the open air.

  Drax ran and grabbed the warrior by the chest tackling him down to the ground. Tina and Mercedes ran over and grabbed him as a loose laser beam flew off past them and struck a pedestrian in a nearby building.

  The vortex roared open on stage and spit them out onto the band to their dismay but they continued on with the music with great vigor as their euphoria from their use of narcotics has made them feel the enjoyment of the oddities occurring before them.

  “Yeah, rock on” yelled one of the band members. Tina felt one culto warrior grab both her arms and tried to pull her down. She kicked up with her right leg and hit him in the face. Mercedes ran against another pair of warriors and saw a dancer pole that she grabbed a hold of and swung herself around in full force and kicked them both with her feet spread in midair knocking them down. The partyers began to ran nervously while others stood in awe surmising if this was part of the club’s performance. The four time jumpers converged back together and one of the warriors approached them as the crowds gathered in fear and awe, music continued playing loudly methods of rock n’ roll in the background.

  “Hand over the piedra tiempo and you will be made to live free” he said with a Spa
nish accent.

  “Don’t give it to him, James” said Drax.

  “No but maybe you can give it to me” said Broad Staffnight coming out of the back room and approaching them surrounded by culto warriors.

  “Broad!” Said Drax.

  “My old colleague.” Said Broad. “I missed our witty repartee.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “Never mind that now. I will take the time stone and you will not be harmed. Trust me,” he smirked.

  “So the culto work for you” said Mercedes.

  “Just hand it over, I don’t have a lot of time…” Broad joked.

  “You betrayed me” said Drax.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Said Broad.

  A storm cloud started to gather with a loud disturbance outside and in an instant a flash of lightning swirled into the dance club and struck the center of the room. Everyone was blinded temporarily in an instant of hot white light and Drax yelled “run.”

  Outside of the club, the police had arrived and were checking everyone as there was a call about a loud fight and some intruders. The police entered with full riot gear ready against the crowd storming out of the club. Drax and his comrades held themselves low in the back room of the club waiting for the smoke to clear, with the help of a friend they never met, Tyrelia Borgegous, T-Bone’s younger sister who worked there and smiled as she recognized them as her brother had explained his encounter with the time jumpers in great detail. She smiled as she waved goodbye to the crew of four surrounded and escorted by a group of Black men in leather jackets and Berettas. “We always fight against hatred from men like those” one proclaimed. They hid with the crew for a while. The police arrested the culto warriors and several of the partygoers who were involved in possessing controlled substances. Broad was also amongst those hauled away in handcuffs.

  “This is a mistake. I am not the one you are looking for. I don’t know these people. I am a businessman, not a drug addict.”