A Love That Destroyed Time

by Melanie Ray

  “I...oh, Xiam.” Yed rubbed his head. He followed the rhyme all the way here. Ezraponia and his children were a part of it. King Sheward believed that something would happen that would stop the waryes. He had even seen, with his own eyes, a waryes become warno. If there was ever a time for hope, the time was now. “Okay, I’ll go.”

  “Wrong.”

  Yed looked over toward Ezraponia. “What?”

  “I said wrong. You are a father now, Yed. You keep going everywhere, up and down. Each time, we always end up in the same place.” Ezra shook her head. “Everyone is coming.”

  Xiam drew his attention toward Yed who had a hard expression to read.

  “I don’t want to leave. I am not doing this on purpose. I can’t take everyone with me, it’s dangerous.” Yed gestured toward the children. “What if something happened and we ended up stuck?”

  “Then we end up stuck together.” Ezra refused to back down. “If you get stuck alone, then we will live out the rest of our lives in a book filled world. Never knowing what’s on the outside. Never having a chance to save anything. Most importantly, you’d be gone from everyone.”

  “That’s sweet and sentimental.” Yed still didn’t back down himself. “We have no idea what they would do with the babies, do we? Some planets neuter, or declaw. Want their nails extracted? Want their vocal chords damaged so they can’t cry out?”

  “No,” Ezra said, “but-“

  “It’s. Too. Dangerous.” Yed shook her head. “No way.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Everyone needs to stay here. I’ll do better alone.”

  “No. I am not going to just sit here and wait, wondering what happened to you. What if you get in a bind? What if you need someone else?”

  Xiam almost volunteered, but Iri held his hand tight. He had scared her enough going with Yed once. “We’d watch the babies and the king.”

  Yed’s eyes moved upward and wide, a damning look of hate. “You don’t want to do that.”

  “We will.” Iri moved over toward the children. “If anything happens, we’ll watch them.”

  “Then it’s settled.” Ezra stood up. “I will go with you.”

  “Ezraponia. This is not a smart idea.”

  “I’m coming.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  “I’m coming.”

  “We could get stuck there,” Yed blurted. “We could be stuck forever. The children would grow up with no one but Xiam and Iri.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Xiam muttered.

  “Sorry,” Yed apologized to him quickly but didn’t let up. “Can you deal with that?”

  “...yes.”

  “Ezraponia Cattral,” Yed said louder. “The answer is no. No, because you know one of us needs to stay. Fight me all you want when I get back.” Yed didn't hear another yell, but he knew he'd have to deal with her when he got back. As he started to leave, he heard a voice behind him. AnoNymous was chanting some historical tune he didn't know. As he casted a glance back, he saw the woman stand up.

  "You still don't know." AnoNymous shook her head. "You are the one, but not."

  "Oh, not this again," Yed groaned. "So I'm from a different time. I don't remember whatever happened before, if anything happened before. I am me, and that's all that matters. This is my life."

  "What makes you say that? You do not even stop for two seconds. Love is near, and you run faster away. The mind may fool, but the heart doesn't lie."

  "Thanks for the tip, but it doesn't lie. Whatever future I may be from, it doesn't exist. The past changes the future." Yed didn't even know why he was wasting time. "I am the one, and so are they."

  "You are being cruel to yourself." AnoNymous glared. "Do you not understand?"

  "I belong here now, it's all I have." Yed closed his eyes a little longer. "I have weird flashbacks every now and then, but whatever happened, it's gone. I can't return."

  "You must recognize the truth for what it is." AnoNymous rubbed his head. "I will send you back."

  Chapter 72

  YOU KNOW THIS

  "What truth? That this isn't real?" Yed touched his staff. "It's cold. I can feel, and I can touch." Yed was losing his patience. "I'm not out here for a simple stroll. I don't know another time. That part of me is dead. That future, it's changed."

  "Do you know what time is? You act superior, but you are a complete inferior in this aspect. Without understanding the truth, you are hurting everything. There is still some part of you, that won't accept this reality. This truth."

  "What truth?!" Yed yelled, not caring if anyone heard him. He was done with this. "What's the truth? Enlighten me, O great one?" he said sarcastically. "What big, obvious truth am I missing?"

  "You latched onto a time as soon as you were born. By engaging with a machine, you changed it. Time must protect itself from intruders."

  "I don't understand what you're saying," Yed said.

  Time is an evil temptress, a deceiver of what she actually can be. If I don't show you, there is no telling what you shall do in the future."

  AnoNymous raised her staff. "I must do this."

  Yed felt himself hit the steel cold of the ground. Shattered pieces, sharp, embedded into the back of his right hand. He didn't move, but heard a familiar voice call out to him.

  "I see, so it didn't work." He felt Bibble try to move him to his feet, but he couldn't move. "You are not even singed, amazing." Bibble snapped her fingers, drawing Yed's attention. "Feel better? You honored your father's word, albeit amazingly stupid still. You're lucky you did not die."

  Yed's eyes moved from Bibble's finger, to looking back toward the time machine. "How long?"

  "A couple of seconds, I did not risk any more. Nothing was happening, and I didn't want to wait for the smell of burned skin." Bibble wrinkled her nose. "Still, it was starting to fall apart like a piece of furniture from a discount store."

  "Parallel." It was the only word Yed could think of. "Time didn't flow right. Parallel."

  "Whatever your babbling." Bibble let go. "I am out of here until the emergency is over. I am sorry about your father, but you need to get out of here too."

  How could he have forgotten? "M-Win. The kids. Ezzy." Oh, Ezzy. He bit his lip so much, he pierced it. He didn't make a sound as he tasted the blood. Time had moved only two seconds here, Bibble didn't even let it go long enough to hurt him.

  He dialed his cell, waiting for it. "Xiam?"

  "Yed? Are you still coming? If we're not going to Pagnia, then where are we going?"

  Not a thing. Not a thing had changed. "How are Ezzy and the kids? Any change?"

  "Ezzy? You haven't called my sister that since we were little. Are you okay?"

  "Fine. Just, hard day." Yed steeled himself. "How are they?"

  "You were taking awhile, and it's getting worse. They took off to Fala. It was the safest place we knew."

  "Kharma." Yed took a deep breath. Forget everything that happened, he was back to his life. The only thing he possibly gained was talking to AnoNymous. But, he couldn't be the one. Pagnia would be gone, and Muinela was... "Wait, is M-Win there? And her kids? Let me guess, they left too."

  "No. We're waiting on you."

  Xiam's voice was getting testy. "I'm coming back."

  Pagnia. Safety. Pagnia. Safety. Pagnia. Safety.

  As he arrived back at Double Yella, the second crew were all ready to go.

  "I still say this is wrong."

  Yed turned and saw M-Win. For once, not stuck on a different planet.

  "Wye, come on! This is Earth. This is home. Can't we do something else?" she asked.

  "There's no choice, Muiny," Zaria said as he wrapped his hand around hers. "It's not safe. We have to go for safety."

  Pagnia. Safety. Pagnia. Safety. "Earth is home." Yed looked toward M-Win. "Earth is home, M-Win, but I can't save it. I can't do anything." He looked toward Ezra, fascinated with a slinky. "We have to save what's left." Safety.

  "Yed's right," Xiam said.


  "Wye," Yed uttered. He smiled toward M-Win. "My life as Yed is dead, only existing in an unbalanced mind."

  Xiam raised his eyebrow toward him. "Are you okay?"

  "If I told you the truth, you'd think I was mad." Wye started to laugh, almost madly. "You'd swear I just broke out of Aryu!" He slapped his head. "Oh, geez. Yeah. This is it, this is life." He punched one of his hands into another. "Safety got me stuck between a bunch of books." Wye held his hand out toward Xiam. "You know what I learned while I was out? It doesn't matter, I wasn't supposed to be there."

  "Uh." Xiam moved back a step. "You okay?"

  "Better than ever. In my own time, aren't I?" Wye looked toward M-Win. "What do you think, M-Win? How should we save Earth?"

  M-Win stared at him, but he simply stared back. "I don't know."

  "Neither do I. Okay. How do we save Pagnia?" Wye leaned against the wall. "I'm listening."

  "We've never backed away from nothing before," M-Win said. "Ever. There's always been a way."

  "Good answer." Wye stood back up and looked around him. His mother and sister had been gone too. The group was already divided. One on Earth, the other Fala. Pagnia, if he were the one, he could save everything. It would be better than living as a pet.

  Then again, what could he do? The kids and Ezra were on Fala. Every time he got the nerve to help, he screwed it up. He even tried to give up all his memories, and he still couldn't win. Besides, Ezra wasn't disinnocent. She didn't even remember anything past childhood. "I hope they have gold collars, leather gets itchy."

  You were together. That was the most important.

  Impossible. Yed looked around, it couldn't be. AnoNymous?

  A possible future. A likely future considering the fala's technology.

  "Possible?" Yed tried to open his hand. If he could just hold someone's hand. "This isn't-"

  "-real." Yed opened his eyes. He was still on the ground outside of Golden Wood. He looked toward AnoNymous. "Stop yanking me around, and leave me alone!" He got up and was ready to run off. Back to this reality. Again.

  "It wasn't real, and you knew it." AnoNymous reached his staff toward him. "I can't take you back to your real time, you betrayed and left it, but the life you lead was still in your eyes. That could have been one ending. Or, perhaps you could have escaped and found another land? The fala are not as civil as others, but they are sensible. A deal after a couple of years...I saw many paths that could have happened."

  "What you did was cruel," Yed warned him. "You do something like that again to me, and I swear-"

  "You deserved it. You deserved it as much as I do." AnoNymous sunk back to the ground once more. "When you did not show back up, your family didn’t know what to do. They took too long to decide, and we're all caught. The females lived their brainwashed days out on Earth, while the males were all gone."

  "You don't know that. You're just a kook, just m-m-messing with my mind!" If she hadn't been female, he would have considered throwing a left hook her way.

  "You've been here for some time. What, does time stop?" AnoNymous shook her head. "I have messed around so much, seeing the past future of your time was easy. It's seeing your new future I am unsure of. I can't read this time. It may be why I like to stay in it. I have bonded with it."

  "I have to save some friends of mine, I don't have time for this." Yed tried to leave again, but once again, he couldn't. Why? "Why did you do that to me?"

  "It was the least you deserved. I've done the same thing, even willingly. You may find the machine again, one day in your future. But, remember this. This Yed, this time's Yed doesn't come back. More than memories change. You have taken his place, he doesn't even exist. In a way, when messing with time, you kill yourself."

  Yed stayed still. "He would come back after I left."

  "No, he wouldn't. He's gone. Your mind took over his. Your life took over his. If you leave, it's over. You don't exist in more than one place." AnoNymous pointed back inward toward Golden Wood. "Appreciate what you have. Don't mess with time anymore. The longer you bond with a world, the harder it is to let go. You know this."

  "No, no I screwed around once." Yed nodded his head, almost like he were going insane. "And-and the past went on. I was in the future, and it moved on!"

  "You moved to another time. You have not returned to your time since you tried the time machine. You never shall. That was another time, and another you. Another you that was killed by your brother. Imagine the grief he felt."

  Yed remembered that moment. He made Xiam do it.

  "Each time you move, you screw something up!" AnoNymous stood again. "Something about you...I can't quit reading you. I almost hate you, but I love you, and I don't know you. Do I? In another life." She looked at him, carefully. Her eyes darted around, as if he had words written in his eyes. "Oh." She stopped reading him, and looked him square in the eyes. She bowed slightly. "I don't remember anything, but I have found myself in your eyes. I cannot stay in this time, as two of me now exist. I don't want to ruin my other self, and I accidentally could."

  "Other self?" Yed watched her pass him. "Where are you going? What do you mean, now two exist?"

  "Just let go. This is your time now." She looked back at him slightly. "Father."

  Father? Father?! Yed started to scan her eyes, the same way she did his. "Oh by Pagnia!" He couldn't contain his scream as he remembered that same little girl with those familiar eyes, holding his hand for breakfast in Double Yella.

  Double Yella. That was his home, with M-Win and X. They all broke away, Ezra had been taken and so had Iri. Everything flooded back to him.

  Carressella. His daughter had been grown and lost to the flow of time. How? How?! She was nowhere near that machine. In the future, could another exist? AnoNymous said the females survived. If Earth became the new Pagnia, and if they dabbled again? Would she do the same thing he did?

  Would she do it again, and again, searching for where she belonged? Gaining power, yet losing herself. "You got in that damn machine."

  "I guess so. I don't remember." Her little smile was gone. Not sad, not happy. Just...there. "The machine stays, but you move. You have the power to move where you wish, you just can't control it yet. Don't wish or wander too hard for another future. There is no telling if that is what you will get. Your nightmares or your dreams, which is stronger? Don't move again, or you will eventually end up like me. Bond with a world, and it will be harder to leave."

  "Carress." Yed stepped toward her, but she took a step back.

  "I am sorry that my presence jogged the memories that don't exist. I should have kept to myself, but I just saw so much through your eyes. Things I never will remember." Her eyes slid off into the distance. "I have been surviving longer than you'll ever know. I guess it was destiny." She looked back toward him. "Take care of the other me, and listen to mother carefully. Don't let anyone get mixed in time. I have done what is necessary. Maybe now, time will let me rest in peace somewhere."

  Chapter 73

  EZRA’S DECISION

  Yed watched her walk away. Her true colors, her true personality, had been erased. His little girl was gone because of that machine! What if she had risked it, because he had? He held his hands tightly, and looked back. This was his time now. There would be no more skipping back, or skipping around. Not even if he found another time machine, never again! Her pain wouldn't be worth nothing. His family's pain wouldn't be for nothing.

  Xiam didn't kill him for nothing.

  He walked back inside. Everyone had settled down for a spot to sleep in. Ezra had the children near her, sleeping.

  He picked up Carressella, remembering how that same little girl kept holding his hand. Kept trying to please him. "You never have to try and please me. You never did." He held her tightly against him. None of these times would ever win against the waryes. Carressella would eventually be traveling through time, forgetting who or what she even had been. "Never again."

  He would defeat Fayu, once an
d for all. He tapped on Xiam's shoulder. When Xiam woke up, he shoved Carressella underneath him. "I am taking Ezra with me. If anything happens, you promise me one thing. Just one thing. Never get into a time machine."

  Xiam yawned, half awake. "Sure, never get into a time machine."

  "I mean it, Xiam. Don't ever let her get near one, no matter what happens."

  "Okay, I get it."

  "Do you?" Yed grabbed Xiam by his collar, roughly. He needed to understand. "My ghost will come back and personally kill you, sending you to a place of pure torture, if you let her get into a machine. Her future is worse than death! Do you understand?"

  "Okay, okay!" Xiam was awake. "I absolutely promise, not near a time machine, not ever." Yed nodded and let go of his collar.

  He went back over to Ezra. "Let go of Tigeravich, Xiam and Iri will watch them." He grabbed her hand with barely a word. "Come on, before I change my mind. Night is the best time to travel."

  Ezra got herself together, while Xiam took the children.

  "Don't forget Regwallis, he is your responsibility too." Yed set his hand against Xiam's arm. "I am depending on you, brother."

  Xiam seemed a little confused by the endearment, but nodded. "We'll take good care of them. Are you really taking my sister to Fala? You don't know what's waiting over there."

  Yed held her hand tightly. "If that's what she wants. I can't make decisions for her, I don't have that right." He looked back toward her, one more time. "Ready?"

  The journey wasn't simple, but Yed ignoring me didn't help. What made him decide to take me? I wanted him to, but something else was wrong. He had been distant, but since we left, he didn't even want to talk. "Is this about Wallis?"

  "Is what about Wallis?" Yed said, trying to ignore the subject.

  "You've been even more standoffish than usual, Yed," Ezra said. "I know you don't like the fact that you have another son, but-"

  "Not now," Yed warned her. "Conversation isn't what I need. You wanted to come, so you're coming. I didn't say we would talk the whole way."