Aelius was quite positive that he had found something that he would never understand, no matter how many times he went back. He tried to rewind time, to the very beginning , thinking that before something there had to be nothing , so therefore that was the beginning!

He was impressed that he had even gotten that far.

Whenever he wanted to go back in time, he simply held his breath, pinched his nose, and strained, as if he were underwater. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. He was always relieved when he could take a deep breath, relax, to breach the stream of time and be back in the past.

The past was easy, because he didn’t need to mentally prepare on what to say to others.

It was easy, because he could study longer, take all the time he needed to read, never really losing time.

Best of all, it made him look quite smart, and he was eager to keep up the ruse.

Now, there was no need to keep up a ruse because he was alone, in a garden, his own personal Eden.

“ My garden.”

He gently grazed his fingers over the man sized flowers, the animal shaped bushes, the trees with lime-colored leaves, and he knew he was home. The monster could not find him here, with the warm breeze, the buzzing bees, and the small cottage.

Aelius was nervous inside this garden, because it was everything he ever wanted and more. It was as if someone had peered inside his mind and picked it apart, meticulously, with love, finding what he wanted and packaging this strange land for him.

He was envious of Hayri’s garden, but this dwarfed his. The grandiosity made his heart race, but soon it turned to pain because he had no one to share it with. So he wandered around, trying to find someone, anyone , and he laid his eyes upon a tree.

As he sat underneath a pear tree, scarfing down a fruit, he froze, caught, a thief in someone’s garden. Aelius was eating The Forbidden Fruit, and there was no turning back.

“Well, hello, there.”

The man who greeted Aelius was holding a long scythe, commonly used for farming. He was overly dressed, in this nice garden, in a fine suit, white gloves, and a black hat. What bothered Aelius the most, was not his clothes, but the scythe.

“Why have you stolen my equipment,” Aelius asked.

“How can you tell this is yours?”

“How can a man use something so personal for days, and not know what is his? I can even see the small nick on the handle!”

Aelius was now obstinate, he didn’t care that he was a thief, because this man was a thief as well! He had stolen his farming equipment! His taste in fine clothes!

Even his face.

The man watched Aelius, and Aelius continued to eat, glaring at him whilst he took another large bite, and he swallowed too fast.

The piece was too big, and he started to choke, tears coming down his face. He gasped for air, as the man, something familiar yet different about him came close.

Aelius spread his arms out as he felt like he was suddenly falling, but he wasn’t choking anymore.

His head was no longer attached to its shoulders.

The body, hands and arms outstretched, had its fingers twitch twice, and then fell over on its side.

The most recent Aelius had found his way to The Place That Never Was.

The original Aelius sighed, dropped his scythe, and dragged the body towards the graveyard. In one hand he held the head by its long brown hair, and in the other, he dragged the body along, holding its hand.

“You would have died anyway. Or I. Paradox and all that.”

Aelius mumbled to himself that it was survival of the fittest. He told himself that the first time he let the other one live, that it tried to kill him. The second time, the new Aelius that came to visit spontaneously burst into flames.

Aelius sighed and groaned, because he was tired of killing himself.

He mumbled something to himself about some sort of metaphor he wasn’t understanding, and then got to work once he arrived at the cemetery.

The cemetery had the largest of trees, the biggest of flowers in the entire garden from the wonderful choice of fertilizer: himself. There already was a hole, left wide open, because Aelius knew he would have a visitor eventually that would never leave.

The body was thrown in, covered with dirt, and promptly, a statue of an ibis was placed on top.

----------------------------------------

The original Aelius had been in The Place That Never Was for quite some time.

When he first arrived, before he had built his garden, the cemetery, the fountains and statues, he witnessed something not quite right.

A man, a tall man with fiery hair and dead, translucent skin was there, standing in front of a door, holding a key emitting a strange color. His body was stiff and rigid, and he wasn’t breathing, but it was clear: he was somehow alive.

The man had conquered death itself, but at a price, and here he stood, in the empty void, next to a door, a bright empty void, pure white. Aelius’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and the living-dead man was also terrified of him.

A voice from beyond the door called out.

“Well, are you coming or not?”

The man who conquered death itself was now afraid, for the first time in eons because he had to choose.

It wasn’t an easy choice, but he had come very far, and he knew, it was how it had to be.

His dead eyes turned an obsidian black and something purple seemed to seep out of his body, and push out of the sides of his abdomen, making four more makeshift arms. The watch started to laugh and cackle, the hands spinning quickly, moving the watch up and down on his wrist.

“You should have never come here. I told you to never meet him. Never come back, ” the watch snickered.

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The dead man was the strongest he had ever been in his entire after-life as Aelius shrieked. Both of their emotional pain was feeding into him, making the dead man stronger.

Aelius’ shrieks were short and rapid, over and over as his terror mounted when more of the dead men appeared.

They were him, but they were also not him, phantoms of himself surrounding the both of them. They were young and old, big and tall, male and female, uglier or far more beautiful than the man, but it was clear, they were all the same person.

A younger version of the dead man came to Aelius’s rescue, and suddenly he started to laugh.

The little boy, in his black shorts and green shirt with a smiling lime on it, put up his fists. The incredulous act of a little boy being the first to defend him made the dead man soften and smile, and then everyone else relaxed as the sadness and pain left, making him useless.

“Stop it Rio,” the dead man said with a smile. “You all have to stop encouraging kids like this.”

His grin revealed his dying teeth, dead gums, and Aelius shrinked inside himself.

Yet Rio was steadfast, he was no longer the small and scared eight year old he used to be.

“I’m older now! I’m nine,” Rio asserted. “I know things! You can’t do this!”

The door suddenly swung shut, the loud echo reverberating throughout The Place That Never Was, and suddenly everyone was tense. Aelius had no idea what was going on, but taking cues from the suddenly crowded area, he knew that this was not good.

“Are you God,” Aelius asked fearfully.

The dead man giggled and snorted, and all his little copies were compelled, forced to laugh along with him against their will, because it was so so silly, quite ridiculous, oh goodness .

“Don’t be silly. Why would I be one? They’re just... food…animals on a farm... ”

Silent fear filled Aelius’s lungs as he attempted to leave, holding his breath, but he could not. He was stuck, with the man who he could now smell, rotting, giggling, never taking anything seriously.

“Don’t be mean,” Rio shouted. “I didn’t come with you to do this!”

The other phantoms agreed, and the dead, malevolent god-eater rolled his eyes and put his foot down.

“I’m in charge. We all decided on this, I’m the hegemon.”

“No you aren’t, bitch ,” Liane screamed. “You need me, you ‘aint shit, you need all of us!”

The phantoms had unionized.

The pay was not enough, they were tired of being pushed around, and the murder of an innocent bystander was enough for all of them. The angry god-eater was shocked. It had been a long time since anyone had told him no, and now it was himself telling him no.

“Wage-slave shit was better than this,” Nero’s phantom grumbled. “ You’re better than this. ”

Aelius was silent as the phantoms went on strike, forcing their host into submission, circling him, wolves ready to pounce.

“You hate me but I need to kill him! There can only be one. ”

In unison, they all turned to look back at Aelius, and he awkwardly waved back.

“I would like to leave,” he said softly.

They all turned to look back at the host.

“What if we let him stay,” Aurora asked. “Things keep repeating, and we’ve fixed all the paradoxes. This is the very beginning. He’s the only one left. ”

“I’m tired,” Rio whined. “He’s nice, we can’t hurt no more nice people!”

“I’m tired too,” Nero agreed. “I want to see my son.”

The host passed his verdict and spared Aelius’ life.

The extra phantom limbs receded into his cold skin, and he squeezed his eyes tight, bargaining with himself, trying to find inner peace with what he had done while still alive. When he opened his eyes he saw another person he had hurt, the last person he wanted to, the first person he felt like he had failed.

“Promise me to never come back,” he said. “You can never come back here.”

Aelius nodded furiously, and the phantoms sighed with relief, but their host wasn’t sure. He couldn’t kill Aelius and create another paradox, or if he let this one live, time would repeat yet again.

The phantoms disappeared, one by one, leaving their singular host. He took a step backward, a door appearing where he once stood. Once he took a key out of his pocket, held it firmly, and took one last look at the terrified man.

“I’m breaking my promise. I’m not coming back here Aelius, don’t wait for me. I can’t do this again.”

“I don’t want to see you ever again,” he softly replied.

The dead yet living man, the god-eater, trembled and fumbled with his wrists. He was crying, but his dead body exuded no tears, and started to panic. One of his best friends was no longer there to comfort him.

“I miss Invictus. He was better than you.”

“I miss Tyreceus, yet I’m stuck with you, ” the watch replied.

Rifling through his pockets, he took out the key, held it up to the door, and it swung wide open, its white blank expanse waiting for him. A head popped out, another odd man was inside the void, and he was angry, impatient, someone had stolen what he had been waiting hundreds of years for.

“Take care of him, please sir.”

“It’s okay...he said he would leave…”

Aelius found something eerie yet familiar about the man standing in the doorway, and he didn’t understand how someone could be so kind to a monster. He held the monster in his arms as he said a few words, crying without tears, causing Aelius to turn away, looking in on a private moment.

“It's ok, sir. We’re together now.”

“You know you can call me dad, right?”

Aelius’ skin bristled at the very thought that anyone would copulate with a monster, that he had a son, a lover, maybe a family. He kept his head turned, shoulders hunched, wondering what poor woman he had tricked.

“I don’t think I can do that yet…”

“What about my name at least?”

His son nodded bashfully, patted his shoulder, and tried his hardest.

“It should be the other way around...you should be consoling me, Ace…”

“Sorry,” he grunted.

The door closed, with another loud boom, and Aelius’s body went slack, alone in the dark, knowing that now, no one could ever hurt him, ever again. Then the sad reality of his condition set in once more as his fate was sealed.

“He forgot to tell me how to leave.”