Chapter 1

            Year 2273 C.E.

Wyvern was once a beautiful city. Streets were usually crowded with people bargaining trade, shopping in stores, and those who wanted to reach from one destination to another. Skyscrapers that stand tall and mighty are always looking down at you, watching your every move. All this peace spawned a couple centuries ago.

    In 2021, a war broke out between the two greatest nations; the Fortem and us, the Cerebrum. The Fortemetics believed that only people who have great strength have the chance of surviving in the world. On the other hand, the Cerebrumians, believed that everything can be solved through the usage of your brain and technological advancements.

    On a calm summer night, the Fortemetics invaded the nation through the city of Wyvern. Everything was destroyed, they made sure not to leave anything unscathed. Many of our people were killed, men and children, and the women were taken captive. Those who were lucky, manage to escape the frenzy.Word of the invasion reached the king very fast, but he did not seem concerned by it. We are a small city, he said, and that there was no point on protecting something so small. When it was all over, the remaining citizens of Wyvern returned to the land, hoping that they can return everything back to how it once was. They failed to do so. The once beautiful city of Wyvern is now a wasteland, a stark contrast to the prosperous surrounding cities. They will come by and dump their waste here, and we would go and scavenge for anything useful. Many families starved due to the lack of resources. Housing was terrible, in fact it still is. Those who were unlucky lived in the open or if lucky in tents. Now those who were the ‘chosen ones’ lived in the offices of the skyscraper. The last one remaining.

    “Hey! Hello! Ugh, there you go again, staring into space. BOO!”

    “Ahh!”

           The girl in front of me giggled and shoved me gently. I sighed and rolled my eyes at her and jumped off the boulder that I was sitting on.

    “Well. I’m sorry, but you are constantly staring at that big building over there,” she said apologetically. I pointed at the building. “That building right there, people in the past called it an skyscraper.” She looked at me like I was mentally insane.

    “Whatever, you’re weird,” she said and started to walk off.

    “Hey! Wait up!” I ran after her. “I’m serious, it’s once called a skyscraper.”

    “The others will look at you as if you are an alien,” she said.

    “I might as well be,” I replied as I trotted next to her.

    “Alexa, you need to stop thinking about the past and focus on the present. Time here is already rough. Plus, thinking about the past and the future is just so time consuming.”

    “I know, but Maria, we’re only 15, it's not like we fully adults yet.” I complained.

    “So?”

    “I just wish I can go back into time and fix all the errors.”

    “Oh, don’t be stupid.” She gave me a gentle push on my shoulders.

    “Fine, fine. I’ll shut up,” I said with a sigh.

    “Good, because if the others would to ever hear you say anything of the sort, they’ll just tell you to kill yourself. And maybe you might actually commit it this time. Now, enough talk. Help me with the water, dehydration is not good for the human body.” I nodded and I went to help her fill the buckets of water from the well. I was silent for the rest of the day. At one moment I looked up and I saw a figure among the shadows, staring at me. My heartbeat quickened. I closed my eyes and told myself that no one was there. I continued to help Maria with the chores.

    The sun was set by the time we got home.

    “Welp, that was a lot of work,” she said. I nodded in response. She then handed me two baskets of fruits and vegetables and one bucket of water. “And here is your share, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. I thanked her and I waited until she was out of sight before entering the tent.

    “Welcome back, my beautiful daughter,” a deep voice boomed over me. I screamed and fell backwards, accidentally knocking over the basket of fruits. My father laughed and helped me up. I shoved him gently while making an annoyed face. He asked if I wanted to eat dinner, but I rejected it.

    “I’m tired,” I said to him. After I took my bath and kissed him goodnight, I went to bed.

    I couldn’t sleep that night. The air was too warm for me. I kicked the blankets off of me but it still wouldn’t solve the problem. At one point I actually did fall asleep, only to be awoken by a loud crash somewhere in the tent. I sat up looking around, but it was too dark for me to see anything. I sat there with a puzzled look on my face. Nearby I saw a flash of light and I heard my father’s high pitch scream. I finally jumped out of bed to see what was going on. The night was too dark for me to see anything. Then, I felt something grab ahold of me. The grasp was strong and I couldn’t free myself.

    “Let go!” I started kicking at the arm.

    “Run,” it said to me.

    “Father,” I gasped.

    “Just go! Get out of here! Run!” I could tell he was going to say more but he was cut off as a lady wearing some fancy, shining outfit stabbed him through the chest, ending his life. She looked up at me. Terrified I began to run, but she was too fast for me. The lady grabbed ahold of my arm and wouldn’t let go. I saw her press something on her wrist and a clicking sound started. A BOMB! I thought to myself. When the clicking stopped, everything froze. Time froze. We were the only ones that could move.

    “Who are you?” I began to ask. A second later there was a sheen of light that blinded me. I opened my eyes and find myself sitting on a boulder, looking at the skyscraper. I then looked around. Where am I? What is going on? I thought to myself. Then a loud boom of a feminine voice startled me and I fell off of the boulder. The girl laughed at the sight.

    “Well.  I’m sorry, but you are constantly staring at that big building over there,” she said to me.

    “What?” I said in confusion.

    “I said you were staring at the big building over there, the ‘skyscraper’ or whatever you call it.”

    “I was here yesterday,” I said. She spun around, with a very confused look.

    “No you weren’t. You were at home with me complaining about not seeing the ‘skyscraper’ for one day.”

    “This is weird.”

    “Ahem. You mean, you’re weird?”

    “I could have sworn that all of this happened yesterday,” I began to panic.

    “You okay?”

    “I need to speak with my father.”

    “Um, hello? Have you been living under a rock? We don’t have a father.”

    “What? We?”

    “I’m your sister, moron.”

    “Huh? No, you’re not my sister Maria, you’re my friend.”

    “Legit, you are so f*****g weird. Now come on, help me with these chores. We don’t want to starve tonight, do we?

    She walks ahead of me and I decided to follow along. None of this makes any sense. Did my father never exist? Maria’s my sister? I have a mother? What is going on? We continued to wade through the waste. It’s a shortcut, very convenient, I know. I continued to look around, nowhere in sight could I spot my father’s tent. Along the way we change courses into a forest of dead trees.

    “Um, we didn’t use this route yesterday,” I said. She turned around and faced me. “Listen sis, I don’t what is going on right now, but we did not head out yesterday. We stayed at home,” she snapped at me.

    “I’m sorry,” I said apologetically. She made a sound of frustration and continued along the path. Along the way I stumbled upon an object that look somewhat like an hourglass. I walked towards it. My sister, friend, I don't even know anymore, looked at me and gave me a ‘what now’ look. I got closer to the object and slowly picked it up. It is an hourglass, the sand inside is bright blue like the sky. There was a weird knob on the side of it. “That’s a fancy obstacle to overcome in a dead forest. It looks beautiful too, we could sell it for meats and vegetables. No more nights of starving, no more going out to get food, this is going to be awesome,” Maria said with great amount of excitement.

    “We got to find the value of it,” I said.

    “Hmmm, I think I know someone. Come on!”

    “Hang on, what does this knob do?” I asked

With an abundant amount of curiosity she leaned in closer. “Turn it, let's see what happens,” she said. Doing as she said I turned the knob. Nothing happened, just an eerie silence.

“Booo, boring,” she said and turned back around and continued down the path. Moments later it started clicking. Then the vibrating started. Maria turned around to the clicking noise, but she froze halfway. Not just her, everything froze. Again, that same light flashes, blinding me.

“Ow,” I said rubbing my head. I looked around to see where I was. There were flames everywhere I looked, devouring entire cities and villages. Thunder boomed and crackled from above. Thick clouds covered the sky making it impossible for it to tell if it was morning or night. I took a step forward and jump back in pain as my barefoot stepped on something was that was burning. Looking closely at it, it turns out to be a human skull. Not just one, but many, black and covered with ashes. Some still have flesh attached to the skeletal remain, still burning. Skin melted into the ground forming a puddle of slimy substances. The odor was unbearable. I screamed and ran, only to be encountered with something else. I bumped into something and fell backwards, dropping the hourglass. I looked up, I saw a half rotten corpse with eyeless sockets; dangling from an ashened tree staring down at me. Its guts spilled all over me. I felt the hair on my body stand up. Screaming in disgust, I ran off into the burning field, cradling the hourglass by my side.

Not looking back or stopping for a split second, I continued to run. Seconds later I felt the ground hit my face. I was too terrified to notice that I had tripped. Brushing myself clean of debris, I surveyed my surroundings once again. Everything was a dark vermillion color, engulfed in flames. Molten rocks whizzed by from a distance. I gazed in front of me and I almost fainted. There laid the ruins of the city of Wyvern, worst than before. Decaying bodies scattered across the field. People, still ignited in flames, slowly crawled to their dead loved ones. Others ran around screaming for help even though none came. A bright, gleaming light sparked from a distance that attracted my attention. There was a loud clang as two or more metallic objects collided with each other. I watched closely, I could make out two figures in the air. A boy and a girl, each wearing fancy, high tech armor. The boy’s was red and the girl’s, blue. In order for me to achieve a better view, I decided get closer. While I was running, I stepped on my dress and tripped, faceplanting into the dirt. Frustrated, I ripped the bottom half of my dress off, revealing my legs. I kind of ripped a little too hard so my a*s was revealing. I continued to run towards them ignoring the fact that my buttocks were showing. I got close enough to the point where I can make out what each of them were saying.

“Alexa, there is no point in fighting anymore. You have already lost,” the boy said. The girl, spitting blood out of her mouth, she retrieved the sword off of the ground. Breathing heavily, she glared at him. Her butt’s showing too, I thought to myself.  And parts of her b***s, too! I shook my head and focused on the conversation.

“Your time is up Alexa. I think it's time Cronos finds a new master,” he continued. The girl with my name, got into her battle stance. Still panting, she charged at him. Annoyed the boy parried her blow and knocked her back, sending her flying towards me. I screamed and covered my head. I open my eyes and I surveyed my body. I felt relieved as my hands cupped around my b***s. Whew, I’m still alive, I thought to myself. The girl started to get up. Painfully holding the cut on her abdomen to stop the constant bleeding, she began to charge at the boy again. I looked closely at her.

“You're-,” I started. Shocked to noticed that someone else was around, she turned and faced me.

“You should get out of here,” she said calmly. She continues to limp her way towards the boy, dragging the sword along the earth. I ran out of my ‘hiding place’ and after her.

“I know you! You're the one that murdered my father! Why? What has he done to you?” I screamed at her. She stops and slowly turns her head towards me.

“I had no other choice but to kill him. The explanation is complicated, you are too young to understand,” she said. From above, the boy landed in front of us.

“Well, what do we have here?” he said.

“Nothing that concerns you,” she snarled to the boy.

Ignoring her, the boy continued.

“My, I know you, you're Alexa. From the past that is.”

“Past?” I asked.

“Yes, you are in the ‘future’. Just how cool is that. Oh, she didn't tell you,” he said.

“Enough of your talk, let’s finish what we started,” she said. She turned to me and told me to get to safety. She then charged at the boy and swung hard. The boy sidestepped it with ease. Faster than a blink of an eye, the boy cracked the girl’s mask. It shattered as gravity pulled it to the ground, revealing her face. She flew back and slammed into a pile of rubbish. Slowly, she crawled out of it, hand still holding the sword, she rose to her feet.

Focusing on her face, I gasped. Standing there covered in cuts, blood, and rubbish, was me. She's me, I thought to myself. Hands still holding the wound, she proceeds towards the boy. At last, I manage to utter something.

“You're me,” I said. She stopped and slowly nodded her head. I collapsed onto the ground. “I murdered my own father,” I said looking at my hands. She didn't say anything. The boy laughed, he stops and started to think.

“Wait, so if I were to kill the past version of you now, that means I technically killed the future you,” he said contemplating hard. Smiling, he strikes me. The future version of me jumped in front just in time and took the blow for me. The sword inserted through her breast. Her body tensed as she fought back a scream. I stared at her, it felt like hours have passed, I was terrified. My mind told me to run, but my body was glued to the ground. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything, but stare at her. He pulls the sword out of her breast. She fell lifelessly onto the ground. I continued to stare at her body and I notice a small movement. Her body, rising up and down showing signs that she is still breathing. The boy noticed it too and kicked her body over so that her back was on the ground and her chest was facing upwards. With great amount of force he plants his foot onto her chest. She coughs up blood. Lots of blood. He brings the sword up to her and makes a cut on her face. Blood slowly oozed out of the wound. He looks up at me with a wicked smile on his face.

“This is the future, Alexa. This is your future!” He brings the blade up and with lightning speed he struck down. I felt everything froze. More than just time itself. Moments later everything seemed to resume. As he brings the sword down, the future me let out a short muffled cry. Her head flew off of her body, flinging across the field, landing in a pile of rubbish. Her blood splattered all over me. I was coated in her blood from head to toe.

My own blood, I thought to myself.

The boy picks me up by the neck, strangling me. He then rammed my body against a stone wall. I coughed up blood. I couldn't think straight, my head was throbbing. My consciousness started to fade away. He then took the blade and pierced me through the stomach. I screamed in pain, but choked on my own agony. Moments later I felt the cold steel exit my body and felt myself hit the ground. He kicked me on my wound, my body was numb so I felt nothing. I rolled to my side facing her, her headless body. From a short distance, I heard him turn the knob on the hourglass, it clicking started. He tucks it in my arms and gently brushes his fingers across my face.

“I was going to kill you, but I mustn't mess with the timeline. Therefore, I am allowing you to live and allowing you to keep the artifact. But, remember Alexa, I will be back for it. I'll be back for Cronos,” he said. Everything went white, the black.

“And I will be back for your life. Farewell, Alexa.” He was gone, leaving just me and the future me.

Timeline. Artifact. Cronos. None of this makes any sense. I need answers. As the clicking of the hourglass increases, my consciousness starts to fade away. Before I closed my eyes, I heard many people rushing towards me and gathering around. I heard one shout.

“Quickly! We need a medic out here now!”

…

I woke up to the sun beaming on my face.

“Mother! She’s awake!” A girl shouted. Puzzled, I glanced around. “Maria?” I asked. Maria’s mother, technically my mother too, walks in with hands covering her mouth.

“Oh my god! My beautiful daughter is up and well,” she said hugging me tight. I made a noise of pain and she lets go immediately.

“Thanks mother, I'm good as new,” I said to her.

“That's amazing to hear, well, I'm going to leave you here with Maria. Behave yourselves girls,” she said and she walked away.

“What happened?” Maria asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“When you turn the knob on the hourglass, you just vanished after a couple seconds,” she said.

“Oh.”

“Then an hour later your body was found in the middle of the road. You were coated in blood. Good thing that wound didn't hit anything vital. Otherwise, you would have been dead.”

“I know.”

“So, tell me what happened.”

“You wouldn't believe me.”

“With you disappearing and then showing up almost dead, try me,” she said with great amount of curiosity.

I looked uneasy.

“Well?”

With a sigh, I told her everything that has happened. About how I traveled into the future and how the future me died and things like that. She looked at me with wide eyes.

“Wow,” she said in disbelief.

“Whatever. Where's the hourglass?” I asked.

She gets up and walked out of the room. Moments later she showed up with the hourglass. “I hid it from mother,” she told me. I grabbed ahold of the hourglass and thanked her. I placed my hand on it and a great amount of pain struck me. I gritted my teeth fighting back the scream. I saw images of a girl running from a group of guards. Then it shows the hourglass being thrown over the balcony, disappearing into time landing here. The final scene showed her falling to her death.

Somehow I felt connected to her. I shut my eyes and reopened them. “I need to speak with her,” I said out loud.

“Who?” Maria asked.

“This girl from the past who had the hourglass before me,” I answered.

“So, time traveling again?”

“Yeah.”

“You know…,” she stops.

“What?” I asked.

“Maybe you are right. Maybe changing the past can affect the future positively,” she says.

“I hope so,” I said. But deep down I knew, it is not going to be easy. “Last time, I turned the knob right and I went into the future, so….”

“This time you'll turn left to go back into past. Just like a regular timeline,” she said. I nodded and did so. The hourglass began to click and hum.

“Good luck,” Maria said before time froze and I vanished into the past. I opened my eyes to see people, lots of ordinary people walking in the streets minding their own business. Music was sounded in the background, people were dancing to it. Children played next to their guardians. So this is what it is like before the war, I thought to myself. I continued to walk down the paved road, many people waved and smiled at me. I was beginning to like this place.

Out of nowhere I felt the sole of someone's foot struck my back and pinned me to the ground. The mysterious person was a girl, even if she was wearing a mask, no one can have two balloons that big. I saw the hourglass roll away, I tried to break free and run for it, but her strength was too great. She pulls a knife that was strapped to her thighs and put it close to my neck.

“Make one sound and you're dead. Make one move and you're dead. Do I make myself clear?”

I nodded in reply.

“Good,” she says as she tied my arms together. Something hit my head and I fell unconscious.

…

When I woke up, I found myself stripped of my clothes and chained up. The lady noticed me and gets up. “Listen,” I began. “Please, just listen to me. I'm only 15, I'm not ready for anything you're going to do to me. I mean if I'm naked then you're probably going to do some kinky things to me, right?”

“Kinky?” She looked extremely confused.

“Never mind, um, can you let me go. It's really cold,”I complained.

“We are all humans, if I'm not cold, why should you be?”

“Listen, I don't have any clothes on, and you do.” She walks up to me with a small knife in her hand. She moves the knife slowly against the curves of my body.

“Please don't tell me that's going inside me,” I said.

“You like to be funny, I see,” she said bringing the knife up to my neck. The knife pierced my skin.

“Hey, watch it!”

She leaned in closer.

“Now tell me a reason why I shouldn't kill you,” she said coldly. My body starts to tremble as she looked deep into my soul.

“Please, we can talk this out,” I plead.

“I'll tell you again, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you.”

I told her everything that happened.

“And here I am now ready to be sexually abused,” I said.

“How foolish of you,” she said.

“Huh?”

“You coming here, already changed the timeline; causing everyone to have a different life. Including the future just by talking to me now,” she said pacing back and forth. I gave her a confused look. She removes her mask and standing there was the girl I saw in my mind when I placed my hand on top of the hourglass.

“You have killed us all.”