A Late Requiem For A Fallen Deity

By JT Junkin

A Late Requiem for the Fallen Deity is a fantasy epic about an earthly man thrown into a fast-paced new world teeming with peoples who are easily attributed as evolved humanoids. Stricken with amnesia in his rebirth, the protagonist, Orius, finds himself tied with common sense qualities that are completely alienated by the evolved denizens of the new world. From simple social gestures to the basis of morality, Orius faces these topics as problems routinely against both his comrades and his enemies as he attempts to spread his aspect of kindness with others in an attempt to create a better world.

 

Tied deeply to the cause of his rebirth, Orius partners early on with an estranged, demonic-looking woman on the basis of killing a god-like figure that lives within the world for her own benefit. The woman is one of the many evolved races of humanoids that are able to physically and mentally exceed humans in every facet of ability. With her unique mental ability, colloquially known in the new world as a 'blessing', she, and many others, have the ability to consciously affect core concepts of scientific elements through immense mental strain. Their journey together is rooted deeply in the concepts of humanity, theology, and evolution as every step of Orius' adventure is met with the limits of his own mental and physical capacity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JT Junkin
• Release date: Sep 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223616948

Book preview

1        

A man draped in long robes of a deep brown and topped with short hair of light brown. With an insignia of faith upon his breast, his soft face twisted with disturbance. His deep sleep becomes interrupted by the encroachment of the light that pierced through a thin window. It was time for him to begin his life again and open his eyes.

A cold life dawned. No pain, no thoughts.

        Where… am I?

        There is no answer. Nothing but a slight echo within the stoic gray stone room. Not a bit of wind whispered back; the air is still as if petrified with the cold, lifeless stone that surrounds.

        Hello…? He called out with more force. Sound is completely non-existent once the question fades from the reverberations of the stone.

        The young man moved onto his feet and stretched his limbs. His body was limber and his mind rested. His robes were a little damp from the moisture within the stone room, otherwise, physically, he seemed fine. Even still, his face twisted with discomfort. No matter how he tried to recall past events that may have led him to this predicament, there was no answer that came to mind. Just vague events that can not be defined with any right words. Rather, even if the undefinable memories were true, they hung onto his ego in a dream-like haze. Familiar but far from clear eyes.

        What is this?

        Through the sole window, the full moon hung above a horizon of large timber-like trees with a tone of stark joy. The moon radiated as a tempered sun across the gloom and blue nighttime.

        His vision winced at the glint given off of the metal figure that laid against his chest.

        What… what is this again? He questioned as he lifted the symbol closer.

        He gripped the symbol tightly in thought. The cool metal clutched snuggly within his palm, the edges pushing against the skin. The action was almost familiar in pain, but regardless of effort, the necklace remained unrecallable to him. With a simple sigh, he released the symbol to hang from him again.

        I suppose I should find someone to explain this to me.

        Forward again, his green eyes met the large brown wooden door that guarded the exit.

        His hand hovered towards the handle with slight hesitation. As if this very situation occurred before, the effort felt almost fruitless. A slight piece of his mind firmly believed that it would be locked. Without any such memories to believe the doubt, the young man touched the cold handle and turned the mechanism. Without a bit of resistance, the metal hinges screeched as the wooden door completely opened.

        A candle fire raged alone within the narrow gray stone hallway. A series of brown doors, next to his, along the way.

        Hello? He asked within the stone hallway.

        The emptiness of the area was so certainly silent that even the slightest shift of movement would catch the bald stone face. Should the young man grind his straw sandal sole against the floor even the slightest, it repeated to him with utmost clarity. If there was a person near, not even the most accidental movement could be missed.

        From the meagerly illuminated hallway, a small staircase came into vision at the end.

        He pushed open the wooden door at the end of the gray stone hallway. The otherside revealed another world of material. Deep brown wooden floor with beautiful white walls and high rising ceiling. A world of wealth; a realm of riches. The very concept of the portal he stepped through sent cold shivers across his skin.

        Where the hell am I?

        The new extravagant hallways introduced two unclear directions to move towards, left or right. Naturally, the young man’s eyes gravitated towards the side with the joyously-toned moonlight. To the right, a large vertical window that jumped all across the wall to the very top, near the ceiling. The moon, cut in half from the positioning of the long and thin window, shone a bright, blinding light.

        He walked down the hallway, basking in the moonlight. It was just a hallway with nothing but a single doorway, two doors wide. He traced the moonlight through the hallway in awe of its splendor as it illuminated everything with such clarity. However, a movement, almost unnoticeable, caught his attention in the corner of his eye, stolen from his daydream. The hallway’s only decoration, the white double doors, shook ever so lightly. Cautious at first, he would soon realize that it was something that occurred often. Periodically in sense, but randomly in another. What exactly caused the odd phenomenon? The house was dead and made no sounds, at least beyond the doors’ curious quivers. He couldn’t imagine what might produce this reaction.

        Is someone there? He called out.

        With his breath held upon his throat, the young man steadily reached for the door hinge.

Instantly upon the slightest touch of skin to metal, an intense coolness caused him to reel back. He furrowed his brow in inquiry and reached for the cold iron again. He fought through the pain of the sharp, needle-like freezing touch of the metal and managed a solid grip. Before he even turned the handle, the vibrations of the door’s quivers bounced around within his grip. He could feel a separate force twist and torrent against the fancy wooden door.

The cause of the vibrations fought against his attempt to open the door. Determined to proceed, the young man prepared himself and threw his body weight a little more intensely against the door. Past the initial resistance, there was nothing else to hold it in place as the door swung forward. He quickly realized that, as the door hinge was ripped from his grip, that incredible gusts of wind held the door before, but with the slight crack in form that he created, the wind instantly grabbed hold of the new space and pried the handle from his hand. The back of the door smacked onto the wall with an explosion of sound. The entire enormous wall of the ballroom shook with vibrations from the impact and shivered across the old wooden house.

His blood ran cold as the sound echoed through the house. If there was anyone still around here, it would most definitely know of his presence now.

In the midst of his mental recoil, the young man quickly found the culprit that allowed such powerful winds to enter the room. Much like the hallway before, this main entrance room had large, impressive windows that overlooked the entirety of the area from the right, the same direction; however, there were no windows at all in the large window frames, more specifically, it seemed that the windows were broken as just shattered glass remained around the window frame. Moreover, the young man was taken away by the excess amount of light. There was nothing to hide the light of the moon any more, its full glory was shining and illuminated the barren room.

In his continued observation, he took note of the floor as well, torn and ruined. Unlike the other floor he had wandered upon to reach this room, this area was thoroughly conditioned by the outside weather. It had been like this for sometime already.

The next blast of wind came rushing through the broken windows. So powerful was the force and chill, the overwhelmed young man was knocked back by the unrestrained winds. He was immediately at a complete loss of breath and his entire chest quivered. Chills ran rampant across his body and his knees completely buckled; the cold traveled across his body like a destructive explosion.

In a moment of fear, he jumped from his stunned stance and away from the room, back into the hallway filled with radiant moonlight.

As if the robes that draped over his body had been blown away, his bare nudity revealed in this vicious cold, the young man shivered with chills as he dropped to the floor. Leaned against the wall adjacent to the room’s entrance, he bundled his arms close to his chest as the fear of unknowing enraptured his born-again mind. A primordial discomfort surfaced strongly in his mind amidst his period of physical plight. There was nothing to build a connection to his current place, nothing to decipher his predicament.

Lit candles, shattered window, but not soul to be found. He said to himself. Where am I? Who left me here? ...Am I really all alone?

He was cold.

Curiously, at last, a noise came into notice. A knock, consistent and timely. Though initially far and shallow, the noise became progressively more defined. It wouldn’t be too much longer before the idea of the noise’s origin became more clear. The man turned back towards the double doors that remained open by the wind as another knock sounded.

Captivated by the newfound foreign noise signature, he stood again and stepped toward the doors, shivering still.

The wind was completely gone, erased entirely. Laid across the floor were images completely unseen before, crosses, their image stretched and decorated across the slicked wooden floor, painted in shadows cast by the full moon that illuminated the entirety of the room. In the middle of the illuminated image, a figure of a person stepped in. The knock of their shoe resounded again as they steadily descended from the staircase and into the pool of moonlight.

Welcome to my home, my friend. The shadow concealed voice announced from above. The voice was soft, sweet, and feminine. Finally, it seems that fate has allowed you to appear before me, awake at last. Fate is a curious thing, isn’t it? An idea or happenstance that none can avoid. Annoying as it is to see with the eyes of the reluctant, the eyes of the curious can only wonder at its workings.

The dark figure stood defiantly to the moon’s light that blinded and shielded her image with the sharp contrast. A woman’s shape; a mistress of darkness that spoke with absolute authority. Her shapely shadow’s stance stretched across the stunned face of the man who had become lost within her home.  

As his eyes adjusted to the light, so did the figure grow in detail. She was sleek but not exactly tall nor short to any extreme, however what stood out the most was her hair. Was it trickery that caused this illusion to confuse him? No, for it was not hair. The reality showed, in clarity of sight, that it wasn’t exactly hair he realized he was viewing but large clumps of fleshy strings that hung down and seemingly moved. They didn’t swing around but withered in place. While a certain degree of definition was still withheld, the light was more than enough to reveal their translucency, thus their non-hair-like qualities.

They say it’s the will of everything. The very choices we all make that set our path. Beyond good and evil, the force that bends our will, unknowingly. I know it must be true because even you, today, have come here by the will of fate. The very fate that is beyond the control of anyone or anything. Her voice echoed throughout the room. You are my fate, human. You understand now, right? You are here because we were destined to be so. Truly a phenomenon for wonder.

With every step down the staircase, the young man’s heart rate began to build and his fingers numbed. Her demonic visage became more defined as she distanced herself from the shadow of the intense light. The feelings of blood and skin washed past his palms and up his arms until fading in the ocean of his body as he folded his hands tightly on themselves. He swallowed any spit he had left to calm his stomach with a near audible scratch in his throat.

As interesting as you may be, there is still my choice in how fate dictates a life, specifically yours. I might kill you, but I might not. I do like you, but I still have a question for you. Something fairly simple, I think.

Her steps down the hardwood staircase continued with their oppressive knocks. With each clack on the wood, another reaction echoed across the emptiness between her and the young man. Continually and noticeably, the noise grew stronger as the distance became shorter.

Her full image stood before him as she stepped from the staircase and smiled.

It was strands of pink unknown that fell from her head, hung down from her head and writhe in place, seemingly alive. Through the tentacle hair strands that slicked back across her head, two simple horns branched across her forehead, and in between them, a decorative gold intricacy was brandished. Each horn was scarred with black stripes. Her grin was wide and full of teeth, but within the childlike smile revealed the sinister twist of enlarged, grotesque fangs that could only ooze a sickly malice. The skin of the hellish woman was even unnaturally uncomfortable in his perception, painted a sickly purple and smeared across every visible inch of her. The color of odd purple went from light to dark from the point of her face.

Despite the twisted appearance, she wore a dress adorned with frills and other exotic extremities. A wild contradiction that threw his mind into an unreasonable confusion mixed with understandable fear.

The being standing in front of him, stood as though she were human, talked as though she were human, and even her face, with two iris’ of a golden yellow and as full as the moon that loomed behind her but still brighter, could contort along with her smile as though she were human. He was amazed―terrified from what he saw.

Down from the staircase and within the shadows of the window crosses that etched across her skin, with just a small margin between her and the young man, she stopped, a breath away. The young boy hesitated. Frozen in place, his eyes raced across every detail of her body. She was an impossible being in his mind, a being that should not exist.

Oh, how I have waited for this day. She said with a wide smile. To think that the day that you stand before me is finally here. I really hope that you can answer this question properly.

The young man wanted to yell at the being, intimidate it somehow, but the fear had caught his breath. He wanted to run from the being, escape from its sight, but his knees buckled in his shivers. He wanted to fight and try his best to retaliate from its proximity, but he couldn’t find any strength in his arms to raise them. He didn’t want to die, he wanted to try something, but there was no immediate answer. He was afraid like a child alone at night, helpless. She was the fear that always lurks within his mind. She was the depthless sinking despair that dug deep into his heart of hope; an utter hopelessness that holds onto his willpower with care.

Oh, are you scared? Come on now, boy. It’s only one question. The monstrous woman spoke with a soothing voice. Don’t be scared. This is fate, remember? There’s no point fighting against it.

        The young man was too frightened to respond to her remarks. His body was frozen, chilled in place, stuck from taking even the slightest of movement in fear of any provoked anger. Regardless, he kept his absolute attention upon her mouth, focused on the singular point to prepare every ounce of mental energy for the question that would decide his life, and as he watched the mouth of the monstrous woman, the teeth of her malicious mouth made his skin crawl. A sinister smile that scarred his shrinking resolve.

It’s a simple question, but allow me to explain this now as a fair warning. Do not try to lie to me or try to read my true intentions. She threatened with a half step forward and the scent of her chilling breath crept into his nose. A sickening sweet scent. I’d hate for something so deceitful to be the last instance of your existence.

        O… okay.

        She turned away, taking a few steps back and hid her face from him.

        First, a circumstance: say there is an immortal person that ruled over a kingdom. Having led the kingdom for centuries already, and likely for centuries more, most people are content with his eternal rule. The question is simple, would you kill him? She asked. Her single rule echoed within his mind immediately as she spoke the question. To him, the young man could not help but infer that such a question is only prompted because she wants to hear something that she agrees with. It was too specific, and furthermore, the fact that she lived in this home so far from civilization invited his easy deduction that she wanted to erase an entity like that. It made sense to him to agree with her.

        No… I wouldn’t. He responded.

        Interesting. Second, why; for what reason? Do you perhaps believe that there would be none more qualified than an immortal king?

        I... don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t want anyone to die. Killing shouldn’t ever be justified. It simply could never be right.

        A short follow-up to his short answer. No matter how terrible the answer was, he strangely didn’t feel any tension as he spoke, for it was the answer from his soul. The silence afterwards was entirely different, suffocating even. There were so many questions and doubts that ran through his head that questioned his own answer and her response. He thought that maybe someone as vicious looking as her would have preferred a more vicious answer, even against her one threat, it might’ve spared his life. He steeled himself for her response.

        The woman turned, at last, and gave the young man an estranged smile with an odd sense of satisfaction.

        I think you have certainly spoken your mind. I like that. She grinned.

        The young man was confused.

        Was I right?

        Surprised by his question, the woman broke into a childish laughter.

        No. Certainly not. I did not think I would hear such an answer like that, that’s for sure. I can’t say it's right. I can’t say it’s wrong, either. There really was no correct answer. Just interesting ones that can grab my attention. The reasoning certainly did. I did not expect you to be such a saint. Though I suppose you don’t look particularly fierce, either.

The estranged woman giggled. Her appearance suggested nothing but fear; however, he could not find the same quality in any of her words or tone. Immaturity of a child within a monster of the night.

You know, I never thought you’d actually awaken. I’ve brought many people into this house, but not one of them woke up, ever. That is, until you. Surely this might be the greatest moment of my life. She beamed. I never imagined that this would be the day. I am very happy to hear your answer.

The young man’s fear slowly began to shave away in front of her childlike mannerisms.

They never woke up? What does that mean?

Well, truth be told. You died already. She spoke frankly.

What…! How-

Don’t ask me how because I don’t know how. She promptly retorted. Let me just say this, I don’t like questions. I’ll permit…hm, a handful, just because it’s today.

The young man was suddenly completely reeled back from the newest revelation given to him by the estranged woman. Moreover, her condition hesitated his mind. He was suddenly forced to carefully generate a proper question before he could speak again, despite his befuddlement.

How do you know I was dead? I feel alive.

She smiled smugly as she pointed to herself.

A ha, see that’s the marvel of my work. Strictly speaking, it is absolutely impossible for you to be here without being dead. Alive people can’t be moved, that’s just how it is, but somehow every time, and I mean every time, I bring people here, they’re always alive, just sleeping. No matter how long I wait, how much I continue to care for them and keep them alive, day after day... Oh, it’s so tiresome! They just never wake up!

In a sudden frustrated huff, the woman threw her hands into the air.

Man, woman, child, elderly. Skin color. Eye shape. Nothing changed because none of it mattered. Sometimes I cut off fingers, sometimes toes. Eventually, I tried whole limbs. I would even feed them the best food I could find, but still nothing. The worst food after. Maybe the shock would startle them, but no. I tried deadly poison, too. I thought about every possible pleasurable and painful thing to do in order to wake up someone, even just one person. I could even jam my own finger into your brains and make your little eyes twitch but no one would ever wake even to just scream in pain. Still I tried, for years, bringing new people to my home, disposing of bodies. An endless cycle, really. My very impressive patience paid off because it finally worked. You’re here. Get it? You’re the most important person to me right now. Actually, irreplaceable. If you gave a boring answer… she paused, well, that would really not be good for me.

The young man stood, silenced, by her words. The explanation of his circumstance, the reveal of a strange ability, and horrible things she did to people like him. Although she answered his question, a whole slew of new ones hung on his tongue, desperate for answers.

Come on. Follow me. We have so much to do now. How exciting!

The woman swiftly began to climb the stairs. The young man, still dazed, snapped from his confused state as her shoes rapidly banged against the stairs. Up the moonlight soaked stairs, the woman hummed in happiness. Her body and arms swayed along with her tone. Occasionally, she glanced at the young man to check his face from behind her steps as he followed her from behind. Finally making it to the top of the stairwell she paused for effect. She moved a bit to find a spot that seemed to satisfy her.

I will say this though, you have quite the strength of fear. She announced.

The strength of... fear? I don’t understand. He asked.

It’s more or less true, she explained upon the apex height of the staircase. I’ve read quite a bit of tales within the books of this house, collected for generations. There are magnificent stories of a harrowing hero as he ventures to do various things: fight against villains, stop wars, meet with beings higher than himself, or even kill what he should not be capable of doing. Almost all of them follow a hero, someone with the resolve to fight with the strength of fear and outwit their opponents.

The young man's face twisted to comprehend the intentions of her explanation. It was a strange piece of conversation to suddenly speak to him so spontaneously.

When faced with those situations, I think most people would allow their natural instincts of fate to take charge. She continued. I would say rather than fear, it would be like an overwhelming feeling of loss and defeat. They would abandon the fear and allow the nothingness of their mind to take hold and make their decision. If they were too weak to maintain their fear then they would naturally die. I have no doubt you’d be the perfect partner for me, you seem just like those heroes in books, you know. I don’t really care about the answer to my question but it has you in it for sure.

He pondered to himself. I still don’t understand what she means exactly.

So, for this to truly be what I envisioned, I need to know something. She spoke seriously, will you join me?

Her visage casted down upon him from height on the second floor and her hand presented before him.

Do I have a choice?

Of course! She answered. I need you as you think you are, it’s very important. If I control you then there’s no point, get it?

Can I trust you? He asked.

Yeah, sure. She immediately answered with an odd tone.

The amnesic young man paused for a moment of contemplation. There was no immediate reason to reject her offer but something was certainly different about the woman beyond appearances. He needed his own assurance.

Before I give my answer, he said, answer my own circumstance.

Oh? What is it then? She asked with interest.

From the question you asked me before, would you kill that person?

The woman laughed after a momentary pause.

I certainly would like to, but with you, I wonder if I will. She smiled.

The young man was resolved after the response.

Fine... I’ll join you. Just at least tell me what we’re going to be doing.

Better yet, before we get into any bit more. Come up here, I’ll explain everything in another room. She began to motion for the boy as she began to head down an upper story hallway.  

The young man was still a little unsure about following, but quickly caught up with her, nonetheless.

Doubts remained within his mind. Though he agreed to join her, there were still issues that he feared. She appeared to have a low amount of empathy towards people, especially from what she described before. She was moody and bossy as well. There remained a reasonable argument to be made for the security of his safety, but he put it to the side. The young man could tell the estranged woman spoke in earnest when she spoke about his importance. Ultimately, there was no other recourse but to follow her and ensure that she is not hurting people any more like she once did.

Look here, boy. Her words snapped him out of the trance.

The eccentric woman led him into a room that’s location seemed to hold no real significance. Second floor, right side, neither the first nor the last but rather 3rd down. He had nearly missed the room because of his immersion in thought.

It was just a library, nothing more. It was a room packed with scattered books. Shelves and piles, each packed to the utmost maximum. It didn’t seem too significant to the young man. It was impressive by the sheer amount, but from what he expected, this appeared hardly as otherworldly as she was.

Considering you don’t even know my race or blessing, I guess it’s safe to say you really don’t know much of the world as it is. Really, I don’t know where or from what time you’re from, or if you’ve really got some crazy amnesia, or perhaps both. I’ll just say there are other kinds of people out in this unbalanced world. Races or species, I’ve read about all kinds of creatures that exist. She spoke whilst she paced within the small library. Of course there are others of my race too, just as there are other humans like you.

...Other people?  His voice and expression was strained to gather his thoughts. So this world is filled with other species of my intelligence? Like I could speak to them?

To be honest, everyone else is far beyond your intelligence. It is widely considered and accepted that humans are pretty dumb. Whereas my kind, archian, is supposedly one of the strongest.

If that is true, why choose me, a human, to begin with?

The young man looked fiercely into her eyes. He was starved for information about this new world. She was the first to break from the stare, and turned towards the window, which was closed and mostly covered by the numerous books stacked on top of each other.

It’s just nonsense to me. Strength is just a matter of perception. They say that my kind, considered the strongest, was initially human at one point, as were many of the other races. I always wondered what people were really the first because we clearly are more similar to one another than some of the other beasts out there. It’s just that humans are just so weak, so I could never really figure it out. Ultimately, I eventually came to the conclusion that none of it matters because I do not feel any connections to my kind at all. To put it as simply as possible, I don’t like them, my people, or this world and those who inhabit it. Her voice was straight with seriousness, though strangely hinted with a form of sadness. I feel connections towards people who inspire me. To me, they are far stronger than all others. They make me want to challenge the strongest there is in this world. Human or not, I can feel a connection with you in the same strange way.

She turned back around and grabbed a book from a pile, and began to flip through the pages before she loudly shut it. She cycled through them each in moments of silence that were quickly followed by explosive shut. Orius continued to watch the odd woman as she soon began to speak again.

There are tons of instances in our history where there are people of less strength than my kind doing great things. No matter how intelligent or strong the others might be, when they fail to see their own shortcomings, they fall short from reaching greatness. They’re idiots, simply, and I will show them that. I will show them that there are so much more interesting things out there than simple power. I will defeat the strongest. She spoke with passion as she shut another. A story worthy of history.

I see… He spoke calmly and readied his next question. Who is exactly this strongest?

It’ll be easier to understand when you look at this. She said as she turned toward him with an opened book.

She placed the book upside down onto a table for the young man to pick up himself. Just quickly skimming the top of the cover, he was confused why she would have him read a book in a language which was foreign, but strangely not completely unreadable. There were shapes in the letters that he could distinctively recognize as a part of a known language. He grabbed the book by the spine and quickly found it was surprisingly heavy, even though the page had an unnaturally sleek sort of feeling abound his fingers as he tried to lift it up. Confused by the book’s feel and odd image, he turned it upward. The sudden large black ink picture overwhelmed the young man with various images. Bit by bit, he began to realize the image it showed. The image was a solid black ink with few blotches of white to make distinct figures of the abyss of the darkness.

What do you see? She questioned the young man on the odd image.

It seems like a... person and two figures are bowing to it. He said the description of the image with uncertainty but even then he couldn’t make out much else.

That image there is one of the oldest in our modern society to be recorded. To be considered great, one would need to have a partner in order to be recognized by the Greater. The Greater is our way of life and the one thing that strings this world together from falling apart in complete anarchy. He’s been alive from the very beginning. Thousands of years.

She then took the book from his hand and set it back onto the table.

So this is who you were referring to… alive from the beginning... The young man spoke softly. I can hardly believe this person’s been alive for this long.

Even just to consider meeting with this centuries old entity sounded insane, but the fact it's considered the strongest is even more crazy than to say it's just a decrepit person. Moreover, if the Greater was so important then there would undoubtedly be tons of people to protect it from her.

Are you really as strong as you mentioned before?

Well, of course. She chimed. I didn’t spend all of my time just reading these books. I’ve learned a really interesting blessing years ago. Also, I’m supposed to be really physically strong or something, at least that’s what some of these books said, though I’ve never fought anyone before.

Blessing…? What exactly are you talking about? How do you learn something like that?

The woman chuckled.

These handful of questions are about to run out, you know? Anyway, I suppose you could say it’s something like a certain kind of knowledge that the mind can arm itself with, or at least that’s what I always imagined it to be.

Was it that thing you did to the staircase room before?

The young man wanted to know what kind of trick she was doing before. The fact that the room was completely fixed out of nowhere was absurd to consider with logic. There was no doubt she did something, but was this really something capable of those of higher intelligence than him?

It was exactly that! Cool, wasn’t it?! It took me a few years to perfect it after all. She proudly spoke with delight. Look, I’ll explain it. It’s really interesting.

With each hand out forward and next to each other, she curled them into a first with her thumbs forward and knuckles pointed towards the ground. She then began to stretch outwards at the same horizontal level, her hands perfectly aligned as if holding a tray.

Imagine a long sheet being spread across and suspended in the air by me right now. Now, imagine that a weight is being placed in the center of the sheet. Think of what happens naturally to that sheet affected by the weight, it bends, right? she explained briefly and then motioned to a book from before. That weight is that book you held and everything around you is the suspended sheet: the air, the table, even me and you. Now imagine if I took hold of that weight and moved it just slightly, the sheet would change just as slightly as well, wouldn’t it? Now observe.

The woman dropped her arms and walked towards a table of books. She grabbed the top book from the pile and began to quickly walk to the door then the window on the other side of the room before simply setting it onto another pile of books. She lifted her sight from the stack and back on the young man with wide golden eyes waiting for a reaction.

Well? Take a look around you, she casually spoke with a smirk. What do you think?

With a fuzzled bow, the young man looked around the room for any hint of change. A light sweat gathered on his forehead as his eyes took note of a distinct change. The door behind them was closed now and some of the piles of books had shifted around in height. The longer he looked the more tiny changes came to his attention. Could she have moved everything in the short walk she took?

The door… and the books. What did you do? Did you stop time or something? Reverse it? The boy could not keep himself after his realization of the silent shift of the room.

To put it as simply as I can, I shifted the timeline, replotted the four dimensions around us with that book as the weight and focal point. You see, spacetime is a fabric that bends around every object with mass and it governs how everything acts according to the object, even time. I simply take the object and float it briefly beyond the fabric's natural hold to reset it to a new position. It may look like time is progressing normally and only the object is changing but everything is moving unseen. In response to my artificial phenomenon, the fabric forcibly changes to match the point in time it would have been in that position at any point in the past. She explained.

What? He could clearly hear every word she spoke in such fine detail, but nothing was being immediately registered. The fabric?  He thought back to her first explanation with her hands spread with the imaginary sheet. The book was changed and the room filled with the other books reacted to match where it was before. His mind was beginning to connect with the explanation, but the entire concept was beyond his understanding. To me nothing has changed before she set the book down, but she said that things were moving. Could she see the changes? ...Did something change on me, too?

 Relax your expression, my ability can not directly interfere with living beings because the object is being moved in real time and I need everything involved to be static to be properly adjusted. She continued. Because of our mass’s constant bending and change around the moving target, it simply ignores the conditions of both temporal and physical control in order to be properly replotted. Just as this object has that fabric bent around it, so do we. If we see the object move around in real time and yet be free of the physical temporal plane, then we too travel alongside its interdimensional travel. That being said, if a living being were in fact constricted to that said plane during this time of freedom, then there is a possibility for the being to time travel around that person, reverting in age. However, it is important to state that even if a living being could theoretically travel through time, it would need to be in the range of the object being transported. Just as I purposely moved the book past all of the items in the room, I needed the book’s small bend to affect them for just an instance. The deeper the bend, the further the effectiveness of the range. Moreover, I have about a 10 second time frame in which I sustain the item from its natural hold. So if I could move a house, then the effective range would be around the size of this forest in half a day’s walk in every direction, assuming, of course, if there was even a point in the past I could move it to. If the grace period ends and it isn’t on a point in the past, then my ability and stamina is wasted towards that outcome. So it’s important that I use it when I know it’ll have an effect. That being said, I try to keep the changes simple and basic because of how potentially devastating it could be if used without a result in mind.

The young man was absolutely astounded by the duality the woman would speak in. There were times she was childish and simple, laughing and smiling so easily. Then she could speak with such complexity that he could barely even comprehend. However, even through all of the difference, her expression remains pure without any lack of excitement.

So that change to the window and sudden chill disappearing from the door knob in the room were both results of the movement of something with your ability. The young man said, trying to focus and picture every word and action described.

Yes, I moved an object to a specific position that would have caused the resulting change. I explained it fairly simply. You shouldn’t be having this much issue to understand the concept. The woman’s voice had begun to contain a tinge of irritation.

Wait a minute, is it possible you actually moved your own body as the focus point early? The young man asked with wonder, his mind barely containing his own emotions from bursting with intrigue.

A seemingly dangerous possibility the young man couldn’t help but be amazed at the sheer potential if so. On one hand he considered it impossible because of how she mentioned it having to be manipulated by her being, it seemed hard to imagine for him that she could actually affect even herself. However, he couldn’t help but believe it to be so. If the actual structures of the house changed then something weighing enough to affect that large area would have to be around the weight of living being her size.

Yes, you are correct. See you’re getting it. No more ques-

Isn’t that reckless to do that? If possible outcomes of the past, it’s possible for a more disastrous environment to be created. A single bead of sweat releases itself from the worried brow of the man, there was even a possibility for him to be in danger when she did that or even when she does that in the future.

What would happen to me if one of the books or even the door shifted to where my position was before during her little trick? The single thought that had frightened him the most. How could she so confidently use it on the entire room?

Brushing her hair-like tendrils away from her shoulders, she began to motion towards the door.

Hmph. You’re out of questions, you know? She sighed. I’ll give you this last one, though. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you. Let’s get going already.

        She promptly left the room as she opened the door without another pause.

Wait! He called out. Where are we going?!

The young man swiftly followed her out of the room.

What’s your name? She asked curiously as she completely ignored him. I’m Skarlett.

I don’t remember. I suppose I don’t have one, really.

The light of the sunrise illuminated the hallway and revealed the intricacies of the house. Previously hidden away by the dark beyond sight, the sun had begun to rise the curtain of night and shine upon places that the moon could not reach. Every detail of the house’s architecture captured the young man’s attention. The craftsmanship of the walls, doors, and windows were not lost under the several layers of dust, wear, and dim light. Its complexity of design left the young man’s mind mystified with wonder on many questions.

Is this really the same house?

Hm, is that so? Alright, from now on... I’ll call you, Orius. Skarlett said as she turned her head back with a smile.

---

2.

        The sun’s excessive light finally reached its highest point in the sky, piercing through the cracks of the canopy above. The intense searing heat constantly burned the nape of the amnesic young man, newly named Orius. Periodically, he’d reach back to cover his neck with his hand for just a moment to feel the heat that radiated strongly from his skin.

        Underneath the oppressive heat of the midday sun, their path was less than beaten. Numerous hills of trees and large vegetation riddled their whole way through the forest. The plants often passed on the trail, or occasionally stepped over, were varied in color and shapes. A vibrant blue, red, purple, and orange. A multitude of colors were contained within the primarily vibrant verdant forest. The winds were also alive and shifty as well, but holding a consistent chill, despite the intense stare of the sun.

Large critters often scurried around them in the brush from their steps. Orius only managed to catch glimpses of several brown colored creatures; they didn’t appear to like his attentive stares, or possibly even the light staying in the light for too long. He could naturally tell what the animals were, such as the distinction between reptiles, insects, and mammals, but their specifics just seemed to be lost in his thoughts. It was certainly a mammal, but what kind of?  It was as if the thought of them would begin to connect to an image then fail to realize into a distinctive trait or of any definition.

The frustration of the lost thought hung upon Orius’ mind.

You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself. Skarlett spoke. It’s not that bad.

        In contrast to Orius’ muddled walking, Skarlett’s movements held a powerful stride that radiated with pride in her heels upon the rough, uneven land. She wore her same frilly dress that she had worn that night when meeting Orius. Since the rest of her belongings were held by him, she was free to take her time to swing her arms and body in any fashion as she continued to hum a joyous tune.

        Hey, aren’t you gonna say anything? This trip is boring in silence. She followed.

Orius stared at her. He would often find himself stunned from her fully uncovered visage within the light. It had been many hours since the journey began that he looked at her, but he finally understood how to describe her. She looked like a monster unfit to live in the light. Her overwhelming appearance looked like something he’d fear as a child in the night waiting to sleep. Yet when he stares longer, beneath her smile of fangs adorned on a beast of purple skin and horns, is a person of simple characteristics. He wanted to doubt these impressions, but somehow found himself thinking the same thing whenever he would stare too long at her in a given instance. This is just what she is.

What…? She questioned in response to the stare.

        Was there something you wanted to talk about? Orius asked.

        Not in particular. I’m just bored. Skarlett spoke in the same manner of whimsicality as her walking. You got anything you wanted to know?

Orius was skeptical of this proclamation. He was scared that if his question involved too much explanation she would get annoyed and quickly refuse. He could sense that as a very possible outcome in her tone.

Alright, how close are we to getting somewhere?

Pretty close. Look. These surround the area where people live.

Her arm reached outward. A single finger rose, forward from the rest that fanned downward. Orius carefully followed the direction of the finger that bore an intimidating claw and looked at the trees she motioned towards. On their bark, odd symbols were etched in very cleanly. The symbol was a mix of varying line lengths and widths of the lines, almost nonsensical.

Orius approached them and as he pressed his finger against one the sigils on the carved, smooth wood. An intense electric shock jolted into his arm.

Ow! What the hell are these?! He yelled in quick response.

The shock made his bones rattle and violently shook the muscle fibers in his arm. Skarlett let a high-pitched laugh that echoed across the forest around causing unnatural stirs to nearby critters that shook the brushes around them. Even as he rubbed his fingers, Orius could still feel the shock of the touch echo on the tip of his finger.

You probably shouldn’t do that. These things pack quite a punch. Skarlett said after calming herself down. It might not kill you, but touch it for a few seconds and you might start to have some problems.

        Thanks for the warning. Orius said mockingly as he nursed his arm.

Waves of pain continued to crash across his entire arm as fingers still shook uncontrollably.

 What are those damn symbols for anyway?

        They’re just a bunch of nonsense by the villagers, I wouldn’t worry too much about them. Skarlett said as she started walking again. They’re just trying to keep something away. That isn’t us, though. So who cares. We’ll be long gone before too long.

Orius chose to withhold his irritation from her. He still didn’t know too much about the area, or her, however, there was clearly a reason for the village to create such dangerous sigils on trees surrounding them. Even despite the annoyance he felt from her decision to withhold the knowledge, he understood that she was at least right about it being unintended for the two of them. It was obvious after a few moments of observation that these sigils were placed quite far apart, more than enough space for any person to get passed without touching one.

        Within the span of a few minutes, Orius could finally see the clearing from beyond the reaches of the trees. He was excited about finally leaving the thick forest terrain, but he couldn’t contain this uncomfortable feeling upon his chest. He couldn’t help but clench his fists, mind on the pain that lingered from the electric sting, to temper his unsettled heart.

        Nervous? Scared? Skarlett grinned.

        I am.

        It’s adorable that you’re afraid right now, but there’s nothing to worry about. I will protect you, you know? I won’t let a single crop or farmer get you.

Skarlett laughed again to her tease.

It’s not about where we’re going. I’m nervous to meet other people. He quickly replied.

There’s no way anybody even close to here can match me anyway.

        How can you be sure?

        Skarlett turned back and met with his eyes. Like gold of immeasurable value, both of her gilded iris’ radiated absolute confidence. For only a moment, as if to jest such a possibility of her being threatened, she responded to his doubt with only a look before turning back.

        Orius reluctantly trusted this look and continued to follow.

        In their approach to the clearing, the forest’s shrubbery faded away at the birth of a trail. Past the forest stretched long hills that were lined with paths that had become smooth and beaten. In the distance, a single building loomed in the empty fields. The rolling plains covered the rest of the horizon. Much of the plain’s fields seemed to have been recently dug up and there wasn’t a single plant within any of it’s brownfields. The sudden drastic change from forest to farming planes allowed the sky to bear in full view in it’s complete cloudless blue tone. The wind, which was strong in the forest, was allowed to exercise its full might beyond the reach of any objects that might suggest to hamper it’s might. The chill was in full blast.

        We just gotta get through these farms quickly. Skarlett said. I’d like to avoid the farmer that owns this land. He’s a particular kind of pain.

        Making their way across the hills that their trail snaked over, a figure began to rise in the distance, atop the same path. Blurred and uneven in Orius’ vision, the figure slowly moved across another hill. Growing larger as they approached it, he realized that the blurry object was also moving closer on it’s own towards them at similar speeds. Orius had thought the blur was a foreign