The Omega Timeline

Chapter 27: Bound by Fate

“Is this my fate? To be like this, treating others like pawns in a nonexistent game of chess?” Samuel thought as he looked off at Ruby talking with Andrew and Erica. Erica suddenly got dizzy and the other two had to sit her down on a chair. Samuel sighed and looked back at Sylas and Freya, who were talking with Aurora and Neddy about something.

“Hey, that’s a very intriguing necklace,” Freya asked as she spotted the gold heart locket that was wrapped around Aurora’s neck. “How’d you get it? Gold’s hard to come by where I’m from. That thing probably is worth a lot…”

Aurora clasped her hand around the chain.

“Someone who means a lot gave it to me,” Aurora muttered back. Sylas glanced over at Freya, and she glanced back with a smirk.

“Is that so…” Freya said as her eyes darted over to Samuel. Neddy wasn’t as eager as the others. He looked down at the floor uncomfortably as the two began to speculate.

Samuel rolled his eyes and picked up some random mechanical thing that he didn’t know about. He handed it over to Sylas, who picked it up and began to put it into the jet.

“No. It has to be my fate. Otherwise I won’t ever have one,” Samuel thought meekly. Star seemed to sense Samuel’s confliction with himself and began to click her beak. Samuel looked down at her, and she placed her wing over her chest, as if she were pointing to her heart. Then she pointed to her ears.

“Listen to my heart?” Samuel thought. He looked away, “Maybe I should…”

Andrew, Erica, and Ruby all suddenly walked back into the garage and continued to work on the jet. Andrew had dry marks on his cheeks, and his eyes seemed a little red, while Erica seemed a bit more comfortable now. Ruby seemed just as fine as she was since she last talked with the two, but she seemed to be thinking about something.

“What did those two tell her?” Samuel thought. As he stared off into the distance, he suddenly shook his head, “I’m getting distracted… distracted.”

A few more thingymabobs, and picking up and giving items that Samuel had no knowledge about, the jet was patched up and seemed ready to go. Sylas pumped his fist in the air and cheered as the last bolt was screwed in.

“YES! We did it!”

Everyone began to cheer, and Andrew slapped the jet a few times.

“I’m glad we’ve fixed this up. So, Sylas, Erica, Ruby, and Neddy are good to go?”

Erica hopped into the cockpit and hit a few buttons. The jet tried its best to whir to life, but then it suddenly stopped. There were murmurs of disappointment around the crowd, but Erica’s eyes were still sparkling.

“It’s okay. Just need a bit of element and we’re good to go.”

“Hm? Oh, I thought this jet was fueled already last time I remember,” Andrew muttered, “Okay. I’ll go find some, it should be somewhere around here.”

“Element? The hell is that?” Samuel thought.

Andrew walked off, and one by one Erica, Sylas, Ruby, and Neddy got into the jet. They all strapped themselves up with seatbelts, and Sylas began to drum his fingers on the side. Samuel’s eyes wandered along the four-seater jet, and then to the back where a trunk lay. Freya looked around, yawned, and began to walk off.

“Welp. Let’s go, you two. Maybe I can train you two… you don’t seem like the fighting type.”

Freya walked off into the complex, and Samuel quickly took the opportunity. He bolted over to the trunk of the jet and opened it up slowly. Click! As it swung open, Samuel hopped inside. Star waddled over and looked at him with confusion.

“Come in,” Samuel muttered, putting his hands out for Star to jump onto. Star jumped onto Samuel’s hands and clambered into the trunk. Aurora walked up to the rim, running her hands along it and shooting a look at Samuel.

“Stay safe, okay?” Aurora said, a look of worry on her face, “I know you’ll come back but-”

“Stop worrying about me,” Samuel interjected, “Just find more about that Andrew guy for me until I get back. That can’t be too hard, right?”

“Right…”

Star shot a look of pity at Aurora, before clicking her beak and hiding away in a crate of random materials. Samuel closed the trunk, and Aurora sadly shuffled away.

“I really thought we could’ve been something more here,” Aurora thought as she grasped her heart locket, “But things will always be the same…”

Andrew walked back into the garage with a wagon of hard, solid element. It pulsated under the buzzing light above. Aurora’s eyes widened at the sight, and she took a moment to gaze at it as Andrew began to pour it into the fuel gauge of the jet.

“Is that ‘element’?” Aurora asked herself, “It looks so alive.”

“I wonder what would happen if I touched it.”

Andrew had a pair of metal gloves on, and even as he placed the element inside he seemed tense and dropped the element off as quickly as possible. What was so dangerous about the element?

“Maybe I shouldn’t mess with it,” Aurora decided. But the element still seemed to beckon.

With just a few plates of solid element left, the jet whirred to life, and Erica pulled on a lever and the jet began to whir and take off. As it did, Andrew let out a sigh and whispered something to himself.

“I sure hope they have this handled,” Andrew said under his breath. As he turned around, he spotted Aurora at the doorway looking at the element. Andrew took a quick glance at the element and shook his head.

“Oh no you don’t want to touch this stuff. Highly toxic, if you will,” Andrew said, hauling the wagon away. He suddenly stopped, and looked back at Aurora, “You seem tense. Something the matter?”

Aurora seemed hesitant about revealing her feelings.

“He’s not the same as Samuel,” Aurora realized, “He’s less… cold.”

“I really thought we could be something,” Aurora finally revealed to Andrew, “Me and… you know.”

Andrew’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Is that so? Why?”

“He treats this place like that island,” Aurora shouted, “I don’t get it, I DON’T GET IT!”

Aurora felt a lump grow in her throat.

“I just want to know what he’s really like. Maybe then I won’t be crazy for, for, feeling this way toward him!”

Andrew looked off to the side, unsure of how to respond.

“I didn’t know you were a player, Samuel,” Andrew thought to himself. Andrew turned back to see Aurora rubbing her eyes and heaving silently, and he lowered his gaze.

“Maybe these are his true colors. And if that’s the case, what can you do about it, am I right?” Andrew said, a soft smile growing on his face, “There’s got to be other people to appreciate, right?”

Aurora looked off to the side and smiled, brushing her brunette hair to the side, “You’re right. There are. Thanks, Andrew.”

As Aurora walked off into the building, the smile washed off Andrew’s face, and he clutched onto the wagon’s handle tighter.

“You really are a sick man, Samuel.”

~

“ABSTRACTION COMPLETE!”

“QUEEN OF ABERRATION CHARACTERS: PAT AND DOCTOR BUBBA, ABSTRACTED!”

Two white humanoid silhouettes appeared on the podium, and then their bodies were brought into the world. One was wearing a blood stained lab coat and had frizzy blonde hair and light blue eyes. He was chewing on bubble gum while the other was wearing a regular batch of hide armor. His chest piece was dyed green, and he had orange hair and cunning green eyes. The one with the lab coat gasped, and placed his hand over his stomach, but realized there was no wound.

“What happened? That damn guard stabbed me, and then-”

Milo suddenly walked up to the scientist with a sinister grin.

“Doctor Bubba, it’s good to see you back in the flesh.”

“Milo? You’re here too? Where are we?”

“Hm? Milo? Who is this?” the man with orange hair asked as he glanced at Doctor Bubba cautiously.

“Milo? You know this person?” Doctor Bubba asked.

“Yes. Pat, this is Doctor Bubba, Doctor Bubba, this is Pat. And we all have something in common.”

“We all are enemies of that wretched Sylveevee.”

“Hmm, if that’s the case, then consider us new found friends,” Pat said with a slick smile, “I hate that wretch as much as I hate hell itself.”

“So do I, she foiled my plans, and then had her little bodyguard kill me,” Doctor Bubba replied earnestly. Jethezzar yawned, and looked at the two unamusingly.

Jethezzar had only kept the human alive because of his shapeshifting abilities. The human intrigued Jethezzar, he had never thought humans could possess such powers. He had heard many tales of them… perhaps they were true. If he kept it alive, maybe he could bring more like it to take over the city on the horizon.

According to the desmodus and the terror bird, there was a beautiful metropolis a few whiles away with little to no threatening creatures. It would be easy pickings. Still, Jethezzar wanted to be cautious. Another wyvern had come to attack them, and Jethezzar didn’t know if it would be the last. They needed an army, or else some time the mysterious forces would get them. Were they working together? He did not know, but he did not want to take any chances.

“Perhaps they have come here just like these ones,” Jethezzar thought as he glanced at the small creatures at his disposal, “But then who brought them in?”

He didn’t want to think about it. Nor did he want to think about the rune that was sitting in his hands. Jethezzar looked at it. It was no longer glowing green, and didn’t seem to do anything upon interacting with it.

The rune was dead.

Jethezzar still clutched onto it with its talons. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to let go of it, even though it didn’t work. Something about the horrified look that Rock Drake gave him when he finally got a hold of it… it was capable of so much more. He wouldn’t let go of it. Ever.

Suddenly, there was a weird noise in the air that sounded like a roar. All heads perked up to see a trail of smoke in the sky heading toward them. A single dot was approaching them. It was very high up. Jethezzar squinted his eyes at it. It was hard to see, but it was made of metal. Definitely not a creature.

“More of them. Probably humans,” Jethezzar said.

“If they’re humans… then all of you creatures should hide,” Doctor Bubba suggested, “We can land an ambush on them that way..”

“I agree. We could hide ourselves in the rocks down below,” Ember said, “Let’s go.”

Ember quickly began to run down a pathway to the bottom of the hill, and Drain followed. Jethezzar grumbled, and turned around. The three humans grinned and jeered amongst each other.

“Humans,” Jethezzar muttered. He turned around and began to walk down the pathway.

As Jethezzar walked away, Doctor Bubba immediately ran up to the terminal and began to tinker with the hologram that floated above it. Pat and Milo glanced at him curiously.

“What are you doing?”

“Pulling in more humans,” Doctor Bubba replied. He tapped on a weird cog button on the side, and another hologram showed up with a wide range of filters and options. He began to tinker around with it, and a list of human names showed up.

“Ah ha! There we go.”

“We’re bringing more humans in? But how will we know they’ll work with us? They’re ‘villains’!” Pat spat, “We’re not villains… are we?”

“Well this system classifies us as so. I dunno why. Sylveevee is the only villain around these parts,” Milo said, “But we have to take a gamble. Who knows how strong those humans are, right?”

“The wyvern will save us if anything bad happens,” Doctor Bubba said.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Pat pointed out.

“Tsk! I guess you’re right… I guess we have to do it then.”

“Okay, how about this one?” Milo said, pointing at one of the names.

“Hmm, yeah, sure, sounds villainous enough.”

Doctor Bubba pressed the ABSTRACT button, and the silhouette of the figure immediately appeared on the podium.

“LOADING FILE. TWO SECONDS REMAINING. ABSTRACTION COMPLETE! ‘THE ARKS: OVER HEAVEN’ CHARACTER, LIL JACK, ABSTRACTED.”

A half-naked individual with nothing but his underwear on suddenly manifested onto the metal podium, and as the three sinister bad guys looked his way, he screamed and cowered into a small ball.

“What the,” Pat muttered.

“P-please don’t hurt me! I’m begging you! I don’t want to die again I don’t want to die!” he blubbered.

“What a weirdo… are you sure this is filtering villains?” Milo asked Doctor Bubba.

“Yes! I’m sure, we just must have not gotten lucky,” Doctor Bubba replied. He turned back to the hologram and decided to pick another name. This one was a captain.

“LOADING FILE. TEN SECONDS REMAINING.”

The ten seconds passed.

“ABSTRACTION COMPLETE! ‘THE RIDDLES OF THE PHOENIXES’ CHARACTER, CAPTAIN SHORTSTACKS- ERM, CAPTAIN FRANCIS HUGO, ABSTRACTED.”

A short, stubby man manifested onto the podium, carrying a sword that was freshly used. His eyes widened as he took notice of his surroundings, and he quickly looked around. Milo approached him slowly, and the short man quickly raised his sword to his neck.

“Stay back, foe,” the captain glowered. Milo raised his hands in half surrender.

“Relax, relax. We mean no harm…” Milo said. He scoffed to himself.

“I have no idea why we need more humans… I can shapeshift at any time. And me and Pat can just respawn anyway,” Milo thought. But he would just have to deal with it in due time.

“Where am I? What is this place?”

“Funny thing… we don’t know,” Doctor Bubba explained, “But we plan on taking that city over there in the horizon.”

Captain Shortstacks looked off onto the horizon, and his eyes sparkled with delight.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Right? So, think of it like a job interview. What are you good at?”

“Tsk, do you need to know? I have you at swordpoint,” Captain Shortstacks smirked. Milo scowled, and with swift movements, Pat sidestepped behind Captain Shortstacks and placed his sword at the base of his throat.

“Let’s not get so cocky, fella,” Pat sneered, “We can kill you right now, you know.”

Captain Shortstacks’ eyes widened, and he quickly lowered his sword.

“Good. Now, there’s a group of humans coming our way. They are probably trying to stop us from doing what we need to do, so, direct your energy toward them and not us. Got it?”

Captain Shortstacks grumbled.

“Fine, but you’re not the boss of this operation,” he revealed, “I’m Francis Hugo. Captain of the British army. I’m one of their most excellent swordsmen.”

“Hm. Good. Well, let’s get ourselves prepared. They’re preparing to land.”

“And what should we do once they come out?” Captain Shortstacks asked, sheathing his sword and adjusting his coat.

“Pretend that we all know each other. We come from a place with lots and lots of caverns… and plenty of dinosaurs.”

Pat turned to Lil Jack, who was still cowering in a ball.

“Hey, you!”

Lil Jack looked up anxiously.

“You better get up and stand here with the rest of us, or we’re just going to kill you right now.”

“O-okay I’m sorry! I won’t say a word!”

The five of them stood together in unison, looking off at the jet that was approaching the obelisk closer and closer, until eventually it slowed to a halt and landed right next to the podium. The glass raised up, and four humans clambered out of the cockpit. One with glasses and a bowl cut hurled all over the ground.

Two men, two women.

The four stepped onto the podium, and the hologram behind them buzzed.

“Story Intersection,” the voice read, “Four users detected: automatically opening ‘The Arks: Over Heaven’, and ‘Ultimus’.”

Silence filled the air, and then Neddy’s implant began to glow.

“So… who are you guys?” he finally asked. Then, he reached his hand for his spear, “And why do I have a feeling you are all bad guys?”

~

THUMP!

“Now they’ll never know I came as a stowaway,” Samuel said as he looked on at the black obelisk that hung in the air, far far away. Its negative energy crackled and hummed, making Samuel’s heart thump against his chest louder. Samuel could see the jet land near the obelisk. Star hopped down from Samuel’s hands, clicking her beak and walking off towards the pathway toward the obelisk. Samuel reached for his back and unclipped the parachute that he had used to descend to the bottom. Glitches and corruption filled the land.

“Should we wait?” Samuel asked Star as he began to walk toward the obelisk, “For, you know, the others to handle it?”

Star clicked her beak, yes.

“Fine enough by me,” Samuel replied. Star had a dazy look in her eyes. She looked at Samuel worryingly, almost as if she were judging him. Then, she averted her gaze, looking off at the obelisk.

Samuel reached his hand into one of his graduation robe pockets and pulled out a dim implant. It was cold to the touch but still had that hum of life that the other implants had. He had found it in one of the storage boxes in the trunk of the jet. Just in case he needed it to activate the obelisk.

If Samuel’s prediction was correct, then the black obelisk would be capable of getting rid of everyone that was a threat to him. Aragorn, Queen Sylveevee, Drain and Ember, Sheeri and the Rock Drakes, and especially that cunning Andrew. In what way? Samuel wasn’t sure, but he knew that as soon as the other four left the obelisk, he’d have it all to himself and he’d have all the time in the world to tamper and mess around with it.

“They won’t know what’s coming for them, they won’t know at all…” Samuel smiled.In the end, Samuel’s ways would always be bound by fate.

But that was okay. Samuel would fully embrace the fact.