by Chris Ayala
Contents
--
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
Victoria Celest 1
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Georgia Guidestones
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
Victoria Celest 2
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Victoria Celest 3
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Victoria Celest 4
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
For my best friend Kristina.
Thank you for telling me my writing was good, even when it wasn't.
CHAPTER ONE
Blue. Purple. Yellow. And then some color that Adam couldn't describe; there wasn't a name for that shade. Mars wasn't red, but more like a maroon. Uranus looked similar to purple, not blue. Adam had to remember, when it was time to awake from this beautiful dream, to find his fifth grade Science teacher and explain the universe didn't look anyway like he taught. It glimmered, but didn't twinkle. Planets don't twinkle; Brent taught him that. The clouds didn't do much to hide that bright sky. But it wasn't a brightness that would cause someone to turn away, instead it drew Adam in like a vacuum.
"Grandpa?" a tiny voice said. "Grandpa? Are you listening?"
His head turned. But Adam didn't turn it himself. Anxiety couldn't grasp his breath since he couldn't breathe where he was. Adam was in the future. A precognition of the future. With no senses, control of his movements, or the ability to close his eyes, Adam was at the mercy of this vision. Unlike his previous visits, he didn't feel afraid. This version of him wasn't in a dangerous situation.
"I'm listening, Yvette. Tell me all about what you learned today in Alchemy." His voice said, sounding deep and constricted. "I'm going to stare at the sky some more."
"The sky is boring." The girl in pigtails said as she combed her doll's hair with her hand.
"That's because you are too young to remember what it used to be like."
Adam's head turned back to the window. The landscape flew by; they must've been on a train. The grass was pure green and the trees reached up for the sun. An expensive landscape company couldn't get results like that. And what about that sky? Stars and planets aren't that visible.
As if Adam could accept anymore surprises, another one materialized. Adam's reflection wasn't his own. It was someone else. Or was it? Wrinkles lined up his cheeks, skin bobbled off his chin, gray hair poked out of his eyebrows...but it was definitely him. A much older incarnation. Even more bizarre, a crystal clear device hovered over his eyes and ears. The device created a prism of light when he slightly moved.
"Grandpa, did you hear me?"
Neither past or present Adams were paying attention. But he lied genuinely, "Yes, honey."
"How long do you have to wear that funny thing?"
"Until I've uploaded the memories I need to send."
"What memories? Like happy memories?"
"No. Like bad ones."
The little girl named Yvette swung her legs back and forth on the train's seat. "Why?"
"So my past self can fix them. Make my bad memories into happy ones."
It was the time machine. Well, sort of. More like a time machine link between two time frames. Adam wanted to see it again and maybe take some notes on how to build it. But, of course, somehow he would build it because somehow this future would happen.
"I don't get it."
Adam took the doll in the girl's hand. "Imagine if...what's her name again...Dolly?"
"No," Yvette said as if Adam was supposed to know already, "Francesca."
"Okay, well, let's say Francesca...what a weird name for a doll...anyways, let's say Francesca found a way to communicate with her younger self. That way her younger self could change the future. Make things easier. Better."
"But would that mean she wouldn't be my friend anymore?"
"No, sweetie. You can only change the paths but not the outcomes."
"It sounds complicated," the youngster said pronouncing the p like a b.
Adam smirked. The train began to slow. He looked down at his arm for the time. Regardless of the shiny watch on the wrist, the past-Adam asleep in this dream was mesmerized by the arm itself. Tattoos blanketed his arms. Tattoos? Adam hated tattoos and certainly hated pain. Why did this future version have them? And what were they? They looked like names. "Almost there. Did you bring something for the nice man?"
"I drew him a picture of the day he saved us."
From her pink backpack, she excitedly yanked out a piece of cardboard paper. On it, drawn in various colors of crayon, was a man standing above a castle. The girl had dragged black lines coming from the sky, the ground, and all the stick figure people outside the castle. All the black lines led the man on top of the castle. Elder Adam whispered, "Very well done. It's exactly the way I remember it. You're so talented. I'll make sure to give it to him."
Her big grin faded, "But I want to see the nice man."
"He's not well. We will see if it's okay with the doctors, okay?"
The train stopped. Whoever this "nice man" was, Yvette seemed excited to have a chance to see him. She swept up her backpack. Unfortunately, older Adam's movements weren't as rapid. Growing old was something Adam promised himself never to do; his future grunts and wheezes were louder than the train's noises. Around them, people were different. Not a negative way, such as in past precognitions. But in positive ways. Citizens radiated with flawless skin and fits of laughter amongst each other. Adam saw a woman breast-feeding her child with no angry mob ready to escort her out the train. A guitar strummed from a bearded man with crooked teeth and messy hair. As he played, he did something Adam hadn't seen in a while. The bearded man began to glow. A light inside him, coming from his mind, lit up his blood. This phenomenon should've made people run for the door, but no one paid any mind. Adam had seen this trick before; a magic performed by the People of Bliss.
Train doors slid open with a loud hiss. Him and Yvette were escorted off onto a platform by a lovely woman in uniform. The uniform with its green stripes became instantly familiar. Adam recognized it from his own timeframe. A uniform worn only by the diabolical Union Keepers. But this woman didn't bully them, yet aided them with a genuine smile. "Thank you," Adam replied.
He turned to see the train depart. It floated on a rail that glowed the most vibrant white Adam had ever seen. It gave a new meaning to the term "light rail
".
The two turned and exited the train station. Adam could see an enormous structure, more wide than tall, marked "New Haven Hospital". Besides an occasional polite nod from a Union Keeper or a polite wave from a person in white hospital gown, Adam and his granddaughter were mostly left alone as they traveled toward the building.
"What's that?" the child said breaking the silence.
Adam looked to see a vast garden filled with various types of fruits and vegetables. If Adam could control his lips, he would've smacked them together. With such lively colors, the fruits looked like they belonged in a museum rather than his stomach. "Those are for the patients here. Remember, only for the patients. If you take one, its considered stealing."
"What's 'stealing', grandpa?"
How can a child not be familiar with stealing? Yvette's voice didn't sound naive or idiotic, so Adam had to assume this place really was the definition of a Utopia. "It's something we used to do a long time ago."
The hospital doors opened and they entered without the fuss of checking in to the front desk. Adam sat his grandchild on a chair outside the door. "Now, I'm just going to check with the nice man and see if he's okay before you can come in. I want you to stay here. You understand, Yvette?"
She nodded then handed him the drawing. "Can you give it to him? I hope he likes it."
"He'll love it."
Adam stepped inside the hospital room and closed the door behind him. A patient laid in bed, with IVs feeding him fluids. An EKG gave a subtle beep.
"Well," Adam mumbled, "I guess you look...better."
"That's because I can't look worse."
Immediately recognizing the voice, there was no doubt who the patient could be. Of all the surprises in this precognition, this seemed to top them all. It was Marcel Celest.
The politician that had created a pact for a unionized government, sat idle as countries attacked each other, gained supernatural abilities to attack innocent people, used fear to become the world's leader, and murdered Adam's best friend...was being called a "nice man"?
The future Adam handed the drawing to Marcel. His hands were more wrinkled than Adam's. Wishing he could reach over and strangle the last of this evil man's breath out of him, Adam just had to sit and watch this vision unfold.
"It's incredible," Marcel whimpered.
"It's incredible what you agreed to after our pact."
His shaky hands placed Yvette's drawings upright against many bouquets of flowers. "It's been forty years. Forty years since I submerged all the darkness into me. And the cancer grew instead of weakening." Marcel took a deep breath and glanced at Adam with tired eyes for a long minute. "What on earth is on your head, friend?"
Friend? None of this made sense.
"Well, we were able to harness the Light and create a device that creates a wormhole to when I was an embryo and change time..." Adam stopped speaking at the sight of Marcel's confused face, "...you know what? It's...complicated. What are the doctors saying about you?"
Brushing the white sheets over his stomach, Marcel answered. "Doctors say it's...complicated." After a brief pause, he continued, "They did some tests last week. First, it was I had years. Then, months. Then, weeks. Now," Marcel shrugged. "days."
Nodding, Adam said, "I think it's better Yvette not see you like this."
Marcel agreed, giving a slight nod and sigh. His gray mustache quivered. "I wish time was on my side."
"Well," Adam thumped the device on his head, "it technically is."
His face lit up. Marcel sat up, cringing his teeth. "You mean...we could change all this?"
"Why would we want to?"
"Because," Marcel broke out into a fitted cough then continued, "The darkness. That's why."
"The darkness? But you absorbed it -"
"And it strengthened the monster in me. It was a mistake." Marcel coughed into his hand, then looked at it. With one tired swoop, he grabbed a napkin and wiped away a bloody glob of mucus. "When I die, the monster won't die with me."
"What monster?"
Another dry cough made the politician lean his head on the pillow. What hair he had left on his head bobbled to the side. He looked like his father Nelson at that moment.
Adam patted him on the back. "Let me get a nurse. You don't sound too good."
In between spurts of coughing, Marcel gave out half sentences. "Kill me..."
"Don't be silly."
"In the past. Kill me. Before the treaty with the People of Bliss. Kill me."
"But, Marcel, you were too strong for any of us to even -" Adam shivered heavily. Suddenly the room seemed like the inside of a freezer. "How did it get so cold in here?"
"Adam, you have to stop me. When I'm young. The only way to do it -" Another spastic cough. The EKG machine began to blink a yellow tint. "There's only one person who can stop me." Marcel whispered, "Tell my sister we all were supposed to die that day. We all were supposed to die with Mom. I altered our fate and it changed everything. I'm unique, I have no fate…I can alter fates."
"You're not making any sense. I need to find someone to -"
Grasping his collar, Marcel looked into the device's vision. Right into the eyeballs of the present day Adam. "It's all about the darkness."
The words gave Adam the creeps. "I don't understand." And neither did the present day Adam. Marcel's breaths began to slow. The EKG calmed. And Adam shivered again. He could see his breath. "What's happening?"
"Oh God," Marcel stuttered. "It's happening. Death is yanking me away." With the last of his strength, Marcel grasped Adam's collar. "Run."
"What?"
"It's coming. It will kill all of you. Run. It's too late. The darkness is too strong now. Change the past to save the future. Kill me, kill the darkness."
"Marcel. How?"
"The only way you can kill the Darkness is…" Marcel took his last breath. "…with the Light."
The EKG machine stopped. The politician's hand loosened and fell to the side of the bed. Then the room grew dark. Shadows seemed to grow more black. Adam took a few steps back as nurses rushed to the door. Everyone stopped and stared at what was happening in front of them. Black specks rose out of Marcel's skin, gathering together into a goo. The goo meshed into a solid mass. A nurse screamed at the top of her throat. From the goo, a creature climbed out of it. Wings swung out of its sides. Horns broke out of its skull. Teeth gnashed into a large grin. The creature filled up a quarter of the room. It laughed. Laughed so loud that its voice echoed in every direction of the air.
Adam dashed out of the room. The nurse behind him tried to run, but her leg was grasped by the monster. Its fingernails scrapped along the tile floor, but the sound was deafened by the nurse's cry for help.
Without looking back, Adam went into the hallway. His granddaughter was nowhere to be found. "Yvette? Yvette!" Being overheard through all these panicked yells wouldn't be enough. From hallway to hallway, Adam frantically searched for the little girl. "Yvette?" He could see his own cold breath like a smoke out of his mouth. What caused it to get so cold all the sudden?
In the lobby, people crowded to the front door and pushed each other to get out. The darkness grew to cloud every source of light. Whatever that creature was, it had a thurst for havoc. It slammed its fist against a group of doctors. Adam turned the other way and ran for a side door. With his shoulder, he shoved open the door.
Outside, the sparkles of stars were gone. Dark clouds began to loom. Adam's body shivered as he wrapped his arms around himself. "Yvette?" he screamed.
Then in the distance, the little girl could be seen wandering in that beautiful garden of fruits and vegetables. Just moments ago, it was colorful and vibrant. Now, the leaves were beginning to welt right before Adam's eyes. He ran, as fast as an old man can, toward her. Before he reached her, she turned slowly. Yvette's mouth was cherry red from munching on berries.
"Yvette," Adam scolded, "I said not to eat from here. It's stealing."
"I don't care!" the girl grum
bled with a tone of spite. "Leave me alone!" She continued eating from the fruit tree.
"What has gotten into you? I -" Before Adam had continued, the air made him shiver even more. His teeth chattered. Yvette's breaths began to hasten and smoke the air. She glanced at something behind him. Adam, slowly looked behind him. From atop a tree, a snake longer and thicker than any snake Adam had seen before, wiggled its way down. Its skin was so black that no texture could be seen. A gray tongue whipped out of its mouth.
The snake's red fiery eyes peered into Adam's. It whispered, "Hello."
"Holy shit! Snnnnaaaaakkkeeeee!" Adam screamed, pushed back into his reality away from the precognition. He was on a train, but not one floating on a mystical light. This rickety train wobbled along the rail with dozens of passengers who all turned to him. His outburst caused their eyes to widen.
"Did someone say snake?"
"There's a snake in here?"
"Oh, God."
"I hates snakes!"
"Is it poisonous?"
Before Adam could explain it's an unfortunate reflect of awakening from a vision of the future, panic ensued in the train.
"I got to get out of here!"
"Run!"
"Snake!"
"Where is it?"
Hysteria caused people to climb over each other, rushing for the door. Next to Adam's seat, his companion Royal gave an angry whisper. "You idiot! What are you doing?"
Covered in sweat, Adam could barely mutter a word. On his left side, a bald man with burn scars across his face stood on his seat. "I'll burn it!"
"No, Victor, sit down," Royal commanded in that hushed upset whisper.
Victor didn't listen. "Burn! Fire! We need fire! Fire will kill snake! Fire!"
While the pyromanic hurried through the overhead compartments for tools, Adam tried to speak. "I'm sorry, guys. I just had a bad dream. There's no snake. No reason to panic."
Just as the hysteria began to calm, somehow with a mix of chemicals and a lighter Victor created a fire. "Burn!" The fire lit up the overhead compartments.
Adam wondered where things went wrong. Not with the blazing train catastrophe before him that took four fire trucks to extinguish, that might've been his fault. But with the future. Marcel Celest was alive. And worse, he was an ally. How? The politician that let global catastrophes happen, the politician that could magically sway the elements to his favor, the politician that began a new world order and put their lives in danger…that man was a friend?