A Love That Destroyed Time

by Melanie Ray

  Wye didn't say a word as he watched X walk off. Zuffel Zinfan? He had middle names that sounded more like wine names. His mind trailed back to X. Was I really that bad? Wye layed down on the couch. If I start remembering, will his hatred for me become too much? Oh, a part of him wanted to remember. Wanted to know so he could get Muin out and get them all back to Dallas, but another part of him...No, I promised myself that I wouldn't be scared, I can't be. M-Win's in trouble, I can't leave her hanging, real sister or not.

  M-Win was a tough gal as far back as he could remember. He and X tried to look after her carefully since the amnesia of her mind was so intense. He had always felt close to her and X, assuming it was family bond. Well, it was a bond after all, but not family. He had no family. Only a lonely guy who fought and guarded women who couldn't even give a kiss back in thanks. That had to have sucked. He closed his eyes and let Pagnia fade away from his mind. There wasn't anything in this bizarre world so far that he could see that needed to keep him here. Once M-Win was back, they'd take the kids with them and head back to Earth.

  Back home.

  Chapter 34

  CHAT

  The next day...

  "Morning Uncy Wye!" Zar and Cooey said as they jumped up and down on the couch. Kids liked couches a lot, hate to see how many parents burned through on that planet.

  "Morning," X smiled at Wye, "any dreams?"

  "Nope," Wye groaned. "Nothing I remember." He looked over at X. He knew X wasn't going to tell him what he actually wanted to know, and needed to know, but last night he made a dent. As much as he didn't want to ask, he had to. "Where'd these enemies come from?" Wye asked, "I mean, when did the real difference start? They are us, but they aren't us. How does that happen?"

  "Oh. Well, that's tricky." X shrugged his shoulders. "Grammy Happy explained it in the beginning I'm sure, but you may have been too out of it. I was." He scratched his head. "I guess you could ask her about it again."

  Wye heard the kids laughing in the background. "X, I don't know her," Wye reminded him. "She doesn't know me either, and I don't want to talk to strangers about this. Besides, I still have some trouble concentrating, you know? I can do better with you. Keep it as straightforward as you can."

  "Okay, I'll try." X sighed and cleared his throat. "Do you remember how Grammy Fornot talked about warnos and waryes' in the beginning? As friends? Well, we were, if you didn't catch it. We didn't even see any differences. No one had black tails, pink eyes, rat tails or anything like that. Pagnialings were all called warnos, just like Earthlings are called humans. Everyone was the same, like on Earth. Different skin colors, but our tails were the same. With me so far?"

  Wye tried to concentrate over the kids who decided to play tag with Tiger and Carress. "We were all the same," Wye said. "Okay, got that. So, what happened?"

  "Inhibitors. They guide us and destroy us," X crossed his arms in a huff. "Before inhibitors, everyone acted like we did on Earth. Imagine millions of us just running around," X laughed. "They barely contained us in Aryu, so you can bet it was unprogressive."

  "Millions of us?" Wye couldn't believe his ears. "Free without restrictions? Without anyone to reel them in....scattered minds... like animals in a wild jungle."

  "That's what Pagnia was," X continued. "We have plants and animals here, but we were barely on top of the food chain back then. No self control, never wanting to settle down, it was a zoo. We acted like wild cats, with no one to stop us. But then, something grew from Pagnia. Our ancestors named them inhibitors because they calm our wildness to a degree, and we could start to process things. We were calm enough to crown a king and start an actual society."

  "Sounded like everything was excellent. What happened?".

  "Well, that's the tricky part. It's just a legend, and no one knows if it's true. Each warno knew it, since they were very small. It became a bed time story, a warning of sorts."

  "Warning? What warning?" Wye asked as he watched the kids running around the room again. They were like wild dogs being kept indoors.

  "Inhibitors are natural, and they shouldn't be played with." X uncrossed his arms and leaned against the couch with his hand on the side of his chin. "Well, some little warnos got curious one day and went to see them, up close, and even chipped off a little. One of them went home with some, hoping they could both sell it. As the days went by the boy who took it home grew smarter, ran faster, jumped higher, and felt incredible. Incredibly powerful, like a superhero. He went back and gathered more, and the more he collected, the more powerful they became. When other warnos figured it out, they chipped off some inhibitor too. But that power, it wasn't right. It was intensely dark," X warned. "The warnos who took it had started to act strange. They became more serious and intelligent. Really intelligent," X pointed out. "Humans and warnos were mere ants compared to their intelligence. Tails were starting to turn colors at that point. These smart male and female warnos were desirable, like models on Earth to humans. Not realizing we were endangering our own race, we mixed."

  "So, these intelligent superhero desirable models were still considered the same at that time?" Wye nodded his head, he was getting it. If he had a choice, he'd go for a hot model, that's for sure. "Let me make sure I got this. Inhibitor is good in its big natural state, but bad when abused. It changed our behavior and our ancestors got their groove on?"

  "Yep," X agreed. "The sad thing is, we didn't realize we were factoring out our race." X stopped leaning on the couch "We learned about two nasty side effects. Number one, we were doomed. After mixing, warnos become like paint." X held his hands up and stirred in the air. "Say you have white paint, and then you add black. You can add more white, but you'll never have complete white again." He stopped stirring. "Eventually, everyone will end up as a Pink, it's only a matter of time." He took a moment to compose himself before going on. "Number two, it shrunk our life spans. Suddenly, intelligence and superhero powers didn't seem so great. The warnos that had shortened life spans all went to live in another kingdom. Those with long life spans stayed in our original kingdom. That's when the evil trouble started."

  "Really? How come, is that when they started to plot?"

  "No, but remember we were mingling? Well, intelligent plus super intelligent equals so-so intelligent kids. But super intelligent plus super intelligent? Not to mention better running, jumping, and more power. Plus, the worst thing of all: Seriousness. Dark, evil seriousness." X faded off, his words becoming softer. "They started to love to fight. A whole lot and our nature is different from humans. We abhor violence, it's against our nature so we were easy targets to have fun with. That's when they were first called waryes'. They loved war, but we didn't." X cleared his throat one more time and spoke in a casual voice. "Inhibitors are great, no one should get rid of them. You can't." He pointed out the window nearby. "We're too far away, but if we were closer to the King's palace you'd see them a tiny bit. The enemies kingdom is inside of them. They look like snow capped mountains, except a sparkling green instead of white. Beautiful and deadly at the same time."

  "Mountains?" Wye seemed stunned.

  "They should not be been tampered with," X leaned on his chin again. "Oh well, we learned our lesson, only a little too late." He lifted his chin up again and groaned in frustration. "If we had known not to mix with those things, they would have been phased out a long time ago." X smiled. "Once we got along fine with them, even feeling we were partly to blame so the king had created a ban on any attempts to hurt them. Our kings got along, and the waryes' were creating things like transporters and transears." He pointed to Wye's ear. "What you're still wearing there."

  "Demolished by them, yet our race still has to use their technology?" Wye groaned. "Ouch."

  "You should take that out, you've started speaking the language again," X informed him. "Probably ever since you could read the language."

  Wye removed the transears. "I have?" He heard his voice and crossed his hands behind his head. "This actually feels right to speak. A
lthough, I have to say, we do sound like birds." Wye said. "Incredibly cool."

  "Incredibly hard to learn, but we used to speak it before English," X said. "We lost it when we went to Earth. We lost a lot," he said sadly. "Picked up English and other languages, but we let our own drift away from our minds."

  Wye nodded. "So what about this ban?"

  "The ban wasn't lifted until the waryes' attacked us for the first time." X got himself back on track. "By that time, only a few families were still pure. No waryes' of any kind. But, waryes' were smart. They took out every pure family they could manage. So pure or not, everyone hid behind black tails so they wouldn't be judged. Most warnos started to believe the pures were gone."

  Wye lifted his feet as the kids went running by the couch. "So we’re not pure, X?"

  "No, you are and my family was too..." X was hesitant. "Are you keeping up still?"

  "Actually, yeah," Wye insisted. "Superhero hot intelligent models, we mingled, shouldn't have, hot models take us out. I'm doing well today."

  "Yeah, you'll get even better," X said. "Anyhow, my family kept their pureness hidden. Fifty years before we first met, our family gave up hope on finding anyone else. We thought we were the last ones left, but we weren't. Ezraponia, my adopted sister, she had a pure line."

  Wye didn't continue with questions right away, he was processing a lot, and apparently so was X. Life was different now, turned upside down. Everything he used to care about, everything that used to be so important didn't seem so urgent now. Their way of living, it didn't make sense anymore back on Earth. He found himself remembering what Syo had said. Was it better to be insane on Earth, or right thinking on this wasted planet? Was it better to think he was a human and live in mental institutions, or was it better knowing he was a tailless freak to a race that was almost extinct? He strolled over to the window and stared out. A war torn land. What had it looked like before The Great Destruction war? Was it like Earth, with many of these warno people walking around, going to jobs? Or did they have flying cars? So many questions that his mind couldn't remember. He closed his eyes, what he wouldn't give to be able to function the same.

  X got up from the couch and went over to him, also looking out the window. "Doesn't matter anyhow, it's all over. As soon as we can get Muin back, we can go home. I'm sure if Ezra and...if they were still around, Grammy Fornot would have said something." He took a deep breath. Wye knew it must be hard on X, now that he could remember. It couldn't have been easy, imagining everyone you knew suddenly gone. How many souls had he lost that day, besides his wife and sister? "You've got to start remembering. We can't go in on just your instincts." X frowned at him before being thrown back as Cooey and Zar bursted between the pair. "These kids are driving me crazy; this is why most are kept in Dens."

  "I can't take those kids anymore!" Grammy Fornot yelled as she came from the kitchen and over to the window, piercing a glare at Wye and X. "Take those rascals outside, now!"

  "Us?" Wye questioned. "I don't know anything about your planets' kids. I don't even have human kids."

  "Great, then it will be a learning experience," she said coldly. "The children here have way too much energy, and they will not get tired for days on end." Grammy Fornot growled through grinding teeth. "So take them outside, or take them to a Den!"

  Chapter 35

  GET HER AND GET BACK

  Wye took them to the only place he could think of. He didn't know what to do outside, and they'd easily run away in a simple game. So, Grammy Happy reapplied some thicker spray on Cooey and Zar's hairs, then he and X took them to meet his great, great, great nephew.

  "I'm Normal," Normal shouted. "Normal, Normal, Normal!"

  The kids bounced and laughed at him.

  "Normal, Normal, Normal," Zar quit bouncing. "Far from normal, kid, you've got to get out of this Den. It's driving you crazy." Zar looked over at Wye and X. "Uncs. How long's he been in the Den? It's not good for him to be here all the time. He'll go nuts without releasing energy."

  "I'm not nuts, I'm not nuts, I'm not nuts," Normal yelled as he bounced up and down.

  "Nuts, nuts," Cooey yelled out to all the Den kids. "Get your fresh nuts here. Peanuts, pistachio's, and almonds. Want mixed nuts, we can arrange that too."

  Wye couldn't help but crack up at that statement. It was too perfect.

  "What is going on here," A Den mother came over to the kids. "Quit making fun of the orphan boy, he's perfectly normal."

  "He's perfectly not," Tiger disagreed. "He needs to get out of this Den for awhile."

  "And what are you smiling about?" The Den mother went over to Wye and X. "It is not right to smile at kids jokes. We refrain from that here, I'll have you know. Who do you think you are?"

  "The Uncs," X and Wye both said.

  "This is a decent Den. If you want one run by some old, ancient Ring, go down the road," The Den mother yelled again. She was skilled at yelling. Reminded Wye of Aryu again.

  "Cool your jets, girl." Wye frowned. "We're not even causing trouble."

  "You are wrong. I saw you, you laughed. That is not the impression we want to have on our young Furries and Sleeks," the woman said as she pointed to where Cooey had previously been standing. "A laugh from a grownup at that child's antics is-where'd they go?" Zar, Cooey, Tiger, Carress and Normal were long gone. "Oh no, those kids are missing," the Den mother shouted.

  "It's okay, we'll find them," X assured her as he and Wye ran outside the Den. They knew those kids couldn't run too far. Hopefully.

  "Yes, I feel free!" Normal laughed as he rolled down a hill with Zar and Cooey. When they reached the bottom, Zar and Cooey's eyes darted up, down, left, right, and all around watching Normal.

  "That kid seriously needed to be let out," Zar laughed.

  When Wye and X came running up to them, they didn't run away.

  "What the heck was that? You do not run away like that," X scolded the kids.

  "Hi, Uncle Wye," Normal laughed as he saw Wye.

  Wye took notice of Normal, no longer bouncing or moving around. "Hey, you didn't repeat yourself."

  "Of course not, he's not crazy Unc," Cooey said. "He hasn't been out of that Den in a while."

  "Surely, I was cracking up," Normal chuckled. "Finally, some freedom."

  "When did you last come out?" X asked.

  "They take us out once every year," Normal said with a grim expression.

  "One time?" Wye couldn't believe it. Fresh air? Once a year?

  "Told you guys," Zar said. "Being bad would be acceptable for once. We've rescued a poor kid." He placed his fist proudly to his chest. "Our mission, make sure kids don't go crazy in Dens." Cooey grinned as she saluted him.

  "Okay, okay," Wye said. "You need to take the kid back."

  "He's been out once this year," Tiger disagreed. "We should take him with us."

  Wye looked over at X. "What do you think?"

  "That will be five kids," X sighed. "Then again, he's the last of your family."

  "Once a year," Wye looked over at him. "That's ten times worse than Aryu’s outside schedule."

  "Okay," X gave in. "Normal, go back for now. We'll talk with the Ancients and see if we can take over your care."

  "Care?" Normal almost jumped onto Wye until he held his hands in a protesting manner. He settled for grabbing his leg. "Uncle Wye, you can be my daddy!"

  "No, no, no," Wye chuckled as he took Normal's hands off his leg. "Uncle Wye stays Uncle Wye."

  "We could all be like brothers and sisters then," Normal said as he wrapped his arm around Tiger and Carress. "Hi brother and sister!"

  "Uh, okay?" Tiger moved himself from his embrace. "Not really looking for a brother, but I hear Zar's been wanting one."

  "What? Aw Tiger," Zar groaned as Normal hugged him. "Great, a brother. Just what I always wanted."

  Wye laughed. "Hey, he'll fit right in." He looked over at Normal. "Okay kids, take him back now, otherwise we might never get him out of that place." Zar, Cooey, Tiger, Ca
rress and Normal all took back off to the Den, fast. Tiger and Carress showed up first again, with Cooey and Zar coming up from the rear. With nothing but a passing 'bye' each group headed back to Grammy Fornot's.

  "Crazy," Wye looked over at X. "You know, something's been bugging me. We've been together for a long time. I think I'm beginning to recall more too. My mind was so messed up, I can't remember calming down enough to have decent conversations with anyone though."

  "Oh, we used to have conversations all the time," X said. "It's all inhibitors, they change everything. The way we act, the way we smell, everything."

  "Wait, back up. What do you mean the way we smell?"

  "Warnos have difference smells here. You haven't seen any attractive females that are actually old enough yet. When they get older...it's kind of like pheromones, okay?"

  "Pheromones. Eh, Okay."

  "Come on, let's go run up with the kids. Grammy won't be happy if we're not there when they arrive."

  When they reached Grammy Fornot's place again, Wye and X sat down in the kitchen while the kids went off to play in the living room.

  "We'll find Muin and go back to Dallas soon," Wye said more firmly. "Kids are all old enough for a transporter, right?"

  "Yeah, now they are. It'll be a tight fit though, there's only room for six. Seriously Wye, I don't know if we can take them all." X looked back at Wye. "Have you come up with a plan?"

  Wye winked. "I may not remember being the Protector guy, but I know trickery."

  "Really? You've got an idea so we'll be able to get Muinela back?"

  "Yeah, and then go back to Dallas, and forget all about this world," Wye said. "Zip it up, lock it down. We'll never have to come back."

  X looked at him, a little strange. "You didn't like this world at all? I mean, it's our real world."

  "Real world, shmeal world," Wye said with indignation. "As far as I'm concerned, we are humans from the state of Texas. The Protector and all the others died the day they went to Earth and that's that."