Time Never Stops

A Chapter by Chai Tea

A brief introduction to the humble beginnings of Jayvyn Forestborn.

1500 BCE

With wide eyes filled with tears and shock, a young Jayvyn Forestborn stood in the dancing shadows created by the flames that burned his village. Hair black as night, skin pale as clouds, eyes blue as the ocean, and a body of a jungle-dweller, he bled from the top of his head. Completely helpless, Jayvyn watched bodies of his kin and friends fall to the ground, motionless and dead. He was only sixteen, almost a man, and yet, he felt terror beyond anything he had ever felt before.
Danger was everywhere, along with the cries of agony from women and children, men and elders. Religious and non, alike, the miracle workers and healers, they all fell to the ground. None were a match against the warlords that brought desolation to the land that had been filled with peace and prosperity. It burned now, all that was living, to the ground, leaving only ash in its wake.
Falling to his knees, Jayvyn fell forward and gripped the dirt in his hands. “Mother Earth,” he beseeched, his tears and blood mingling as his forehead touched the earth, “give me strength,” he added, feeling the blood spilling from him causing his heartbeat to pound in his ears.
A creature noticed the softening heartbeat from him and made its way over. A minion of War, one of the Four Horsemen who had plagued the land, he thirsted for blood and needed to quench his thirst. They all drank like gluttons, never stopping even when they had their fill. So long as a heart beats, they will hunger for more.
The creature stopped a few feet from Jayvyn and let out a yelp as the dirt around the him vibrated. The blood around them, the spirits of the dead, all gathered to swirl around the young man on his knees. But it wasn’t Mother Earth who responded to his cries, but the passing spirit who wanted to see War no more.
The creature let out a screech as it lurched backwards. From the center of the vortex of souls and blood, Death emerged to stand between the creature and the boy. She wore a black cloak with high black boots. Long white hair tied back in braids and ancient medallions, and eyes as green as the forest leaves in the sunlight. She was beautiful.
Or, that’s what Jayvyn last thought before she pulled out what looked to be a metal tube with wood around it. From under her cloak, on her back, she pulled out something circular, like a dial. Seeing the creatures around her, she sneered, “It’s been a while!”
Effortlessly, she swung the dial onto the metal tube and gripped the wooden handles. The creature and those that had drawn near for the blood, suddenly stopped and turned. With fear in their eyes, wild thoughts of terror, they turned tail and tried to get away. But it was too late.
When decided clicks were heard, the air around them froze. From the vortex behind Death walked in Kairos, the Keeper of Time. White irises with his brown hair, his tan skin made him look foreign and strange. But, it didn’t matter. He stilled the creatures, who were shot down by multiple small blasts from the device Death held.
Within moments, it was all over.
Jayvyn felt the fear in the air lift. He could feel his heart beating… alone. He lifted his head and saw Death with Time, standing in front of him. He swallowed and fell onto his side, crying. He felt like a boy, unable to contain the infinite sadness within him.
Kairos looked around and sighed, “War is getting bolder in his movements.”
“More blind with greed, if you ask me,” Death replied, spinning her dial in the air as other creatures fell that had been training the energy from their dimension.
In moments, it was all silent, in all dimensions. Nothing was left in that space, but darkness and silence. And one barely beating heart behind them.
From above him, Jayvyn heard the young man speak, “He’s alive.”
Jayvyn opened his eyes and saw the young man looking down at him. He appeared to be blank, or so Jayvyn thought. The young woman turned to set her eyes on him and Jayvyn felt his heart squeeze. With Death’s gaze on him, he could feel himself ready to cross over to the other side.
Surprisingly, she smiled and lowered her weapon, “Not yet, Jayvyn Forestborn. I feel you’d be a fine addition if you’d like to try it?” she turned to face him, her body clad in black garb under the coak.
Curiosity struck Jayvyn, who sat up and asked, “What do you mean?”
Kairos rolled his eyes as Death reached out and touched his forehead. A lightning bolt shot down from the sky and entered Jayvyn, setting him alight with what he’d never felt or endured. He fell back, writhing from pain, on the dirt. His blood and tears still streaked about his skin, but as the bolt of pure light washed him clean, he felt heat and light spread over his body.
Unbeknownst to him, as he underwent his Guardian transformation, Kairos turned to Death and asked, “Another lackey? You sure about this one?” he added, cocking his head to the right.
Death sighed, “We need him. You’ll take care of it, I’m sure,” she added, removing the circular device from her metal and wood contraption. She locked it back to her back, under her cloak, and held the metal and wood part as though it were a rod.
Kairos rolled his eyes, “Right, then. You’re off, Ms. Knight?” he asked, turning from Jayvyn’s quivering body to Death, giving her a strange name Jayvyn’s would only know even after his memories returned.
Death smiled and turned from Kairos and Jayvyn’s body, “I look forward to your results, Kairos.” She stepped forward and disappeared in the void between time and space.
Kairos watched her go, as he always did, but did not follow. He turned his eyes on the squirming body of Jayvyn and sighed, “It’s like getting a new puppy,” he reminded himself, scratching the back of his neck as he realized his task at hand.
As for Jayvyn, the moment the pure light struck his body, he fell into a void of white space. Though his body shivered, quivered, and shook, he felt and saw nothing. Just the white space of time around him, nothing more and nothing less.

1715 AD

In the quiet hours of the morning, as the steam engines puffed along, Kairos stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the street to see people pulling out their vending carts. It was a usual morning in Turrepida and human life was starting, slowly, as usual. Despite the passing years, as usual, Kairos remained as he had always when he met Death. No time showed on him, nor did it show on Jayvyn Forestborn.
Well, not since he returned to earth a decade after he started training within the space of time. His body had grown for ten years until his presence returned and then, all time stopped. With Kairos around, time changed and warped, but for others, time continued, and they lived amongst those who lived within the laws of time, but remained not of it.
Eyes wide, a smile on his face, Jayvyn stepped onto the balcony next to Kairos from their humble second story home above the antique shop. He looked down to see the vendors moving their produce onto the street and he turned his face to the sun. “Good morning,” he openly greeted the day.
Kairos rolled his eyes, “Always the same guy, after all this time.” He placed a hand on Jayvyn and stated, “The guests arrive tonight. Be ready for some changes, kid,” he added. Kairos stepped back into the apartment but Jayvyn headed down the stairs to the streets.
He loved Turrepida in its natural state, frozen in time. It was the safest place for those hiding from the ever-changing and moving world around them. Known as the place in passing between realms, Turrepida’s train station was of the largest Jayvyn had ever witnessed. Even before the creation of steam power, it brought people in through carriages. Now, with trains, it incensed travelers and moved faster.
“Morning, boy,” the older butcher greeted, seeing Jayvyn leap from stall to stall, buying goods and ingredients. He pulled out a prime slab of meat and added, “The usual, then?”
Jayvyn looked up and he smiled brightly, “Yes, please!”
It wasn’t a chore for Jayvyn to prepare the meals, but he understood it to be a different task. Since returning to the realm that humans and creatures alike shared, sustenance had taken on a different meaning that changed his perspective. With the ingredient shopping done, he returned to the upper apartment and started carving and chopping them.
The meat, however, he smoked the meat left on the bones while drying the rest for travel convenience. Much of the oils and water used to clean the vegetables, he used to water their garden. And the compost created that wasn’t edible, he fed to the soil, where he rolled it through and through to ensure proper separation and spread. He was conscious and careful, wanting the best for all that he grew.
The preparation work took him until noon, when Kairos walked up from the Antique store, looking for a bite of something. Jayvyn served him stewed vegetables and soup with meat and bread he kneaded himself. Kairos looked at the mounds of food around the kitchen and, he asked, “Why are you feeding me like a pauper?”
Jayvyn rolled his eyes, “It’s called ‘food prep’, Kai. It means preparing food enough for the week so that what needs to be bought daily can be minimized. Plus, I’m learning to pickle and ferment different foods to create a different taste.”
Kairos looked at Jayvyn and smirked, “Playing with time to see how it changes the appearance and construction of food to understand how it may affect people?”
Jayvyn shrugged, “It was just a thought that I found one day as I found old cabbage that I had mixed with chili sauce. The results were delicious but smelled a bit strange. It’s the way things work when shut in spaces of particular makeup. Or, so I think,” Jayvyn added.
Kairos smiled and shook his head, continuing to eat. “You’re still a strange one. It must be a way of your people,” he added.
“Most likely,” Jayvyn replied with a smile.
As Kairos finished his meal, Jayvyn hurried down the stairs to the shop. As Kairos ate, Jayvyn cleaned around the pace, looking at the strange furniture and careful with the metal remnants through time. Kairos Antiques was the shop where creatures inbound and outbound visited to sell some goods to lighten their traveling load. Special collectors from around the realm offered high prices for certain objects, and only Kairos did business with them.
As he moved to polish the glass mirror in the back of the shop, he heard the door open. Turning, he saw a young woman enter, wearing a coat with his hood pulled over his head. She looked around and then, hurried to the counter, where Jayvyn stepped behind moments later.
“Can I help you with something?” Jayvyn asked, carefully and gently.
The young woman looked around and then, she pulled out a single locket with the insignia of Kairos on it, an hourglass encased in a circle. She leaned closer and whispered, “Ateleíotos chrónos.”
Jayvyn smirked and then, pressed a button and the shop door locked. The backdoor, also locked. The blinds on the windows shut and the lights above them turned off, with blue light surrounding their space. From the back of the shop, Kairos stepped out. In the sunlight, he sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets. He looked around the small jungle-like yard and walked out of it.
Down the alley, Jayvyn stopped just before the mainstreet to see a group of kids playing with trinkets they had found. He smiled and stopped close enough to view within their circle of friends. When one of the kids noticed him, his eyes widened with a bright smile, “Hey, Mr. Jay. Wanna see what we got?” he asked, as the other kids seemed to shrink away into the shadows, away from Jayvyn.
Even though they were all of mixed cultures and colored skins, they feared him for he was very dark though his hair was light brown and his eyes were a lighter shade than many like him. He knew they’d never seen any like him, and it wasn’t rare, for his entire kind had been wiped off the face of the human world. For what reason, he still didn’t know, but he had moved past fighting it to accept things as they were.
Jayvyn walked over and, keeping his distance so as not to scare any of the kids, he looked into the center of the circle and smiled, squatting next to the kid who often reached out to him, as he knew as Donovan, Don for short. “Wow, Don, you got quite a bit of stuff there.” Taking a closer look, he asked, “A 14th century imitation of a gold statue of a soldier can get you a crown. The two bookends can fetch you a few shillings. The rest can get you some pennies, but always try for the bronze. That era never depreciates. And gold, too,” he added, showing Don and the other kids as he spoke.
Jayvyn knew these kids tried not to pick pockets but, often raided the home of the dead for treasures they could sell to survive and buy food. It was an old concept, stealing for the living who had no income. Many of their parents had died or left them, and it was up to their small groups to survive. Jayvyn had seen other groups of adults do similar things for a group, but knew these kids did it better.
When he stood, Don stood, too. “Hey, Mr. Jay, will you be coming around in the morning of the sixth day?”
Jayvyn smiled and nodded, “I’ll even bring some of those meat pies you guys like so much.”
“We don’t like meat pies,” one little girl grumbled, though the others knew she was lying.
Jayvyn smiled, “Sell them if you don’t like them.” He turned and headed off down the alley, again, towards the shop.
Don frowned at the little girl but shouted out after Jayvyn, “See you in the morning, Mr. Jay!” And Jayvyn waved, still on his way.
In Kairos Antiques, Kairos looked over the metalwork the young woman brought in. Qynn was very close to him, mainly because he had bought her when she was being sold in the slave trade. He brought her up to be a trader, buying rare goods and selling them for twice their worth. She survived because of him, and then, after a strange incident, she went her own way and stopped visiting the shop as often.
Still, when she came across something or rare worth, she always brought it to him, knowing he would give the fairest price if it really meant something. He would, of course, quote her for other prices and list people she could sell it to, as well. It was a difficult life she made work, with his help.
“This is something rarely seen in the realm of humans,” he stated, looking over the metal triangle lodged over the star. It was a rare symbol for a ‘doorway’, capable of making one where there was none. He knew it would be priceless to the right buyer, and he happened to be one.
Seeing the fascination in his eyes, Qynn added, “I found it in the garden of a noblewoman. She sold it to me for a few crowns. I was surprised but she only had one and said it came from a rare collections trader who sold it to her for a few pennies, since he only had one of the pair.”
This made Kairos frown, “That is strange.”
Qynn looked down at the metal piece and then, back up to Kairos, “What do you mean?”
Kairos swallowed and replied, “A doorway has an entrance and an exit. Depending on who has the other end, they could connect and be used as a gateway through the realms. What would make it a very dangerous relic or an obsolete portal,” he added.
Qynn looked hard at it for a moment and then, from behind them, Jayvyn asked, “Isn’t that one of the Four Horsemen’s relics?”
Qynn smiled, seeing the young apprentice return, with a look of fear and awe on his face. Kairos snapped his fingers, “That’s where I’ve seen it. Each carries one so they can all connect,” he added, explaining its use and rarity.
Jayvyn walked over and turned it upside down and it stayed, without tipping to one side or the other. “The gateway is now, closed,” he announced, feeling the anxiety Kairos felt. It was rare to have him experience such a human emotion, and yet, he eminated it.
Kairos nodded and pulled out a pouch of guineas. He handed them to Qynn, who pocketed them with a look of concern. “Should I look out for more?” she asked.
Jayvyn swallowed and Kairos frowned, “If they are getting rid of the doorways, that must mean they know Ms. Knight has no intention of rejoining. It can be an act of treason,” he added, carefully. And then, he turned, “Qynn, make sure you disguise yourself properly. Leave no traces behind,” he added, easily dismissing her.
Undeterred, Qynn nodded, “Of course, Kairos. Take care of yourself,” she added, and pulled her hood over her head, activating the glamour of an old lady. She walked to the front door and stopped, “Make sure he doesn’t get himself into trouble, Jay,” she added, and opened the door. The light flooded into the shop for a moment before the door shut and she was gone.
Jayvyn stared at the closed doorway and asked, “Shall I put it away?”
Kairos was very calm as he opened the safe behind his counter. He placed the doorway within. He shut the door of the safe and it disappeared. “We’ll need to take extra precautions tonight. There’s no telling who knows it’s here and who they will tell.” He nodded to Jayvyn, who swallowed. It was never easy being one of the good guys who avoided evil, especially three of the Four Horsemen.