The Omega Timeline

Chapter 21: Abstractive - by Ben

“This place is a wasteland,” Neddy murmured under his breath. He was carrying a spear that Ruby had the courtesy of crafting on their travels to the “Sanctuary”. Erica seemed to be glancing over at Ruby cautiously, staring most keenly at her implant. Samuel noticed this.

“You know it’s rude to stare!” Samuel shouted out in annoyance. Erica glanced at Samuel, muttered something under her breath, and stopped looking at him. Freya and Sylas were near the back, talking about people that Samuel didn’t know. Freya certainly looked very mean but didn’t play the part, while Sylas seemed to be their tech guy. Samuel looked over at Andrew, who was in the front holding his giant futuristic bow thingie.

“Andrew, you have a very crazy crew,” Samuel stated blankly. Star smirked in a smug fashion. Andrew looked back at Samuel and Star, and looked off to the side.

“You have an interesting dodo bird there,” Andrew replied in retaliation, “You know… We shouldn’t be this way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Against each other. I don’t know where you come from, but me and my team come from a terrible place. A wasteland that riddles the Earth. This place is a lot better, I’ll tell you that much. I just wish all of us could cooperate. This is a beautiful land with no threats.”

“If we wanna cooperate more, you shouldn’t hold back. Tell me everything about yourself,” Samuel said. Aurora glanced over at Samuel. Her hands wrapped around the golden heart locket.

“I think you should go first,” Andrew replied, “It only seems fair. You brought it up and…”

Andrew stared at Star some more, and Star raised his eyebrow at him.

“Fine enough by me. I’m Samuel. This is Star, that’s Aurora, that’s Neddy, and that’s Ruby. We were all minding our business… and then ended up on this strange island!” Samuel quickly lied. While the latter was true, the former was not. They were all about to graduate. But would Andrew get to know that? Of course not.

Samuel needed to more know more about Andrew than he knew more about him.

“On an island?”

“Yes.”

“And were there dinosaurs on this island?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, you may have just ended up on the ARKs,” Andrew said. Andrew’s stare pierced Samuel. Unlike the rest of his friends he wore some odd clothing. Why would he be wearing that if he was trying to survive? And if he ended up on the ARKs, then he must have come from his time.

“Say… What century are you from?”

“21st,” Samuel replied quickly.

“21st?? That’s a while ago,” Andrew thought to himself. He stared at the clothing of Samuel, “It seems accurate too, from what I remember from the history books.”

Samuel’s eyes, while Andrew was analyzing him, were moving about. From Andrew’s wrist, and then to his friends’. One thing Samuel noticed? Andrew did not have an implant. But his friends did.

“Hmm. He does not have an implant. And these implants? They don’t seem to work like ours,” Samuel pondered, “Or at least, not exactly. That must mean he’s from another world. Or at least, another dimension.”

“Therefore, I have no qualms about losing him. The timeline will not be disrupted if he, or any of his allies, alongside all the other creatures and people who went to the mansion, would die.”

Andrew stared over at Samuel.

“What is he thinking?” Andrew asked himself, “He sure is a strange one. I have a massive feeling he’s hiding something from me.”

As they approached Sanctuary city, though, they felt something was off. The air felt heavier, and their feelings toward one another drastically shifted. Anger and hatred boiled in their hearts.

“You’re LYING to me aren’t you?!” Andrew screamed, suddenly grabbing Samuel by the collar. Everyone gasped and turned to face the fight. Star let out a squawk of anger and began to peck at Andrew, but Andrew slapped the bird away. Samuel let out a cry of rage and slammed his elbows into Andrew’s forearms. He began to seethe and back away, and Samuel reached forward and god slapped Andrew.

“Get a hold of yourself!” Samuel roared, “The same thing is happening here like it is back at the mansion.”

“W-What do you mean?” Andrew asked Samuel.

“Just now. I felt a sharpness in my heart. As if something is forcing me to act up. It’s getting harder for me to go against that obligation.”

“And what could be causing it?”

Sylas looked south and pointed at a black obelisk in the distance. It seemed to be glowing brighter and brighter.

“That obelisk over there is acting up. I have a feeling that’s our culprit.”

“How do we make it stop? If we just let that thing run rampant it’s going to get one of us killed eventually,” Aurora said. Erica nodded.

“I agree,” she whispered.

Sylas snickered, and pointed a finger at himself.

“Lucky for you all that I’m here. And Erica too. I think the two of us should go to the obelisk and check it out, maybe tamper with it so it stops doing that weird emotion thing. We’re going to need to get there fast though.”

Neddy turned to Ruby and whispered something to her. She nodded.

“Hey, if it’s fine, can we tag along too?” Ruby asked, “I can craft pretty much anything you ask me to. I could help just in case, you know?”

“And I could sense if Ember and Drain are there. My implant has been glowing every time someone new came to the mansion.”

“That’ll be useful, okay then, all four of us will head there,” Sylas decided.

“I remember there being a four-seater jet in Sanctuary,” Andrew realized, “Let’s go find it.”

The two groups rushed into the abandoned futuristic city in search of the jet. As they entered the city, Samuel looked around in awe. Andrew seemed to notice this, and he smirked.

After delving into the city for a few minutes, they ended up at a building that looked pretty rundown, but it resembled a garage. A runway connected to it, and sure enough, there was a jet. But their hearts dropped when they realized it was pretty beaten up.

“It’s missing a lot of components,” Sylas observed, “We’re going to need to find them or make them ourselves.”

“Then? Let’s do that,” Ruby said.

~

Sheeri’s wings flapped up and down in the air, the air getting colder and colder as Sheeri traveled further south. She muttered something under her breath, and as she began to get closer to the black obelisk, the world began to turn upside down. Strange glitches were appearing all over the place, landmarks and monuments flickering in and out of the land. It was a wasteland of eternal day and night, nothing seemed right. Sheeri felt her heart beat faster.

“This doesn’t feel right,” She thought, “It’s so cold and hot… What if I die?”

Sheeri shut her eyes tight, ignoring the weird sounds and roars and cries around her that seemed to be coming from nowhere but everywhere at once.

“No, I have to. I’m the only one strong enough.”

Sheeri flapped her wings faster and heavier, until eventually a crackling sound roared in the air. Sheeri opened her eyes. The black obelisk was just a few meters away from her. She came to a halting stop, and peered down at the base. At the podium were two dastardly creatures, a Terror Bird and a Desmodus. The Terror Bird looked really tired.

“Drain and Ember.”

Sheeri slowly began to fly down.

“So, how are we supposed to work this thing?” Drain asked Ember. Ember reached his talons out and grasped the terminal.

“An… old friend of mine back home taught me about these,” Ember replied. The terminal began to hum, and suddenly a hologram manifested in the air for them to see. The Omega symbol flashed on the hologram, and then it flickered to a strange list.

“Story Intersection,” a voice read, “Two users detected: automatically opening ‘Hope’s Cry’, and ‘Pandora Chronicles’.”

A list of words began to appear, all which closely resembled that of books. There were hundreds of unrecognizable names. Then, it zoomed into two of the stories. Two lists appeared, each one with names that only either could recognize.

“‘Hope’s Cry’. Analyzing characters. Characters detected! Dr. Ian, Dawn Pryde, Lieutenant Felswand, Edmund Rockwell…”

“‘Pandora Chronicles’. Analyzing characters. Characters detected! Caesar, Ron, Ping, Nash, Jaxz, Salizar, Cinder, Apex, Skyla…”

A cruel smile grew on Ember’s face.

“Hmm, I bet I could bring Rockwell here! Then no one will be able to stop him. He’s far too strong for any creature to take him down,” Ember thought to himself. He looked over at Drain, “And, I can get him to kill this fraud too. Why should I rule this place with him when I can just do it myself?”

Drain, on the other hand, seemed to be even more pleased.

“That Dragon… I can bring him in and get his blood,” Drain thought maniacally, “AND I can get him to just kill that Ember. I can just rule this place myself, and I’d be the most powerful once I get his blood.”

It seemed that Drain and Ember seemed to be thinking the same thing about each other. They clicked on the file of Rockwell and Apex, and a picture of the element-corrupted man and the Alpha Dragon showed up. But one button attracted both of their attentions.

“Abstract.”

In unison, they both pressed the button on the hologram. The hologram flickered red, and the obelisk began to shake. A pulse of energy was sent out, and anger flickered in both of their hearts.

“ERROR. BOTH FILES TOO LARGE TO ABSTRACT SIMULTANEOUSLY.”

Ember grabbed Drain with his talon.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“What do you think YOU are doing?” Drain snapped back, “Let me abstract this one first!”

“No, let me! This one is capable of anything!” Ember shoved Drain, and with his other talon scratched him across the face.

Drain barred his fangs and leaped forward grabbing Ember by the neck.

“You’re gonna regret that!” Drain snarled.

SHOOM!

Sheeri landed down on the podium, and the voice beeped out again.

“User detected. Home timeline: Pandora Chronicles.”

The air around began to crackle with freedom, and mist flew out of Sheeri’s mouth.

“Enough. I-I’m going to stop you from whatever you’re planning,” Sheeri shouted, “So step away from the podium, or I’ll be forced to kill you.”

Drain let go of Ember’s neck.

“Let’s have a truce,” Drain whispered to him, “If we continue fighting she’ll kill us both. We can discuss this later. I’ll distract her, my wing’s feeling a little better. You go to the podium and abstract someone that isn’t from either of our worlds, so they can deal with the wyvern. If you don’t I’ll rip your head off next time.”

“Fine.”

Drain barred his fangs.

“You look scared, wyvern. You should be,” Drain leaped forward and began to fly at Sheeri’s face. Sheeri let out a gasp and backed off, opening her mouth and shooting out a beam of cold mist. Drain quickly weaved to the side and latched onto Sheeri. Drain sank his fangs into Sheeri, and Sheeri let out a cry of pain as he began to suck her blood.

“OW!” Sheeri howled. Ember rushed to the podium’s hologram and clicked the back button. Rockwell and Apex’s image flickered away, and Ember scrolled the list down to the bottom.

“Come on, give me something good,” Ember muttered to himself as he clicked one of the random stories. Random names Ember couldn’t recognize beeped out from the terminal.

“Can I filter out good from bad?” Ember wondered. He looked at the top of the screen and saw a filter. He pressed it, clicked a few buttons, and the names shifted. At the top of the screen was a long name.

“Please be someone strong,” Ember thought. He pressed the button. An image of a fire wyvern popped up, and Ember smirked.

“Good enough for me.”

Ember pressed the ABSTRACT button, and a bar appeared on the screen.

“LOADING FILE. ONE MINUTE REMAINING.”

WOOSH!

Ember was suddenly pushed away by a gust of wind. His body slammed into a boulder, and he let out a cry of pain as he felt his bones crack. Sheeri had taken up to the skies in an attempt to get Drain off of her. Sheeri moved back and forth, but Drain latched on as hard as he could. Sheeri, with one last attempt, flipped onto her back and let gravity do its job. She began to fall to the ground, and Drain knew that if he stayed on any further he’d be crushed. Drain latched off of Sheeri and quickly flew a few feet away. Sheeri flipped back onto her front again. Noticing the injured Ember seething on the ground nearby. She opened her mouth and cold mist flew onto him. Ice began to collect around his body, and then, he was frozen.

“Damn,” Drain thought. His eyes darted over to the hologram.

30 seconds left. Sheeri spotted the hologram and began to make a bolt for it. Drain barred his fangs. He quickly flew over at Sheeri and latched onto her neck again. Sheeri continued to make a run for it, so Drain had to take measures into his own talons. Literally. He reached his wing back, and swung it as hard as he could at her eye.

SHINK!

Sheeri screamed out in pain and halted mid way. The sudden stop made Drain fly off of her. As Drain was flying midair, Sheeri prepared another ice blast at him. Drain’s eyes widened as icicles began to form on her chin.

SHOOM!

A huge beam of ice particles blasted out of Sheeri’s mouth and toward Drain. Drain clutched his wings as tight as he could, and felt his body flicker away in the light. Drain flew off to the side, and Sheeri’s eyes widened.

The ice blast stopped, and Sheeri looked around.

“What? Did he just turn invisible?!” Sheeri shouted, “But that’s impossible. They said they can only turn invisible during the night!”

The air crackled with glitches. Of course Sheeri couldn’t question it, this region was far more disconnected than the others. Sheeri’s eyes darted around. He seemed to be gone.

“Nothing’s stopping me from stopping the process,” Sheeri thought. She rushed over to the terminal.

15 seconds left.

Sheeri reached the terminal and outstretched her talon to press the CANCEL button. Sheeri wasn’t too sure what they were doing, or what the obelisk was doing, but it couldn’t have been good.

Click!

“ERROR.”

“What?”

“ERROR. ABSTRACTOR NOT FOUND IN TERMINAL VICINITY. CANCELLATION DELAYED.”

“Abstractor…” Sheeri looked over at Ember. His body was laying off the obelisk’s podium. Sheeri’s eyes widened.

“Wait, no-”

5. 4. 3.

Sheeri began to rush over to Ember to drag him over, but it was too late.

2. 1.

BOOM!

“ABSTRACTION COMPLETE.”

The air around them began to corrupt with a massive amount of glitches and code. Lines and lines of dialogue and strange words that told the story filled the air, and the smell of lightning filled the air. Storm clouds brewed all around them, clogging Sheeri’s vision. The smell of smog and fire began to enter Sheeri’s nostrils. Sheeri began to cough. She opened her mouth and prepared to use her breath.

SHOOM!

Cold mist filled the air.

But fire returned.

Flames shot at Sheeri, and she gasped. She quickly ran to the side and stopped using her breath. What was that?

“Who goes there?” a mysterious voice asked, “You don’t know who you’re challenging.”

Sheeri didn’t respond. The smoke began to clear, and a large Wyvern with bronze scales and small spines running down his back was left in the fray, summoned with the obelisk. His golden eyes darted from Ember, and then to Sheeri. The Wyvern stared at Sheeri for a bit. Smells like barbecue. He seemed to be studying her. Sheeri gulped, and began to back off.

“Another Wyvern?!” Sheeri thought, “This isn’t good… I can’t beat a Wyvern!”

The Wyvern seemed to be clutching something in his talons. It was glowing green and seemed to be made of stone, yet, it had a powerful aura to it. Thunder boomed in the distance.

“You,” the Wyvern said, pointing a talon at her, “Did you do this?”

Sheeri shook her head.

“N-No,” Sheeri replied meekly. The Wyvern stared at the object in his talons.

“It must have been the rune then,” he muttered. The terminal beeped.

“ABSTRACTION COMPLETE,” the terminal buzzed, “‘THE OBELISK’ CHARACTER, JETHEZZAR, ABSTRACTED.”

The Wyvern, Jethezzar glanced at the terminal. He scoffed.

“Perhaps not. Oh well.”

Jethezzar turned to Sheeri again.

“What are you waiting for? L e a v e.”

Sheeri stood her ground. Flames began to burst from his mouth, and Sheeri’s eyes widened. She began to back off, before finally taking to the skies and fleeing. Jethezzar smirked, and Drain flickered into sight.

“I was the one who brought you here-”

Jethezzar suddenly lunged at him and grabbed him by the throat. Drain gasped and began to struggle within his talons. Jethezzar opened his mouth.

“And why would you do that? I was just about to kill some puny juveniles. I took the rune away from them and-”

“Please! We needed someone to fight that wyvern… this place is wondrous, you see! There is so much that awaits in these lands, I promise that they’re even better than what you have back home!”

Jethezzar closed his mouth, and he barred his teeth.

“Is that so?”