Roger covered his eyes and felt the women’s arms wrapped around him. Their tears sprinkled down his head, and he smiled a little, knowing he won't be alone when they will turn into stone together. Could this be the end?

Roger waited until everything turned quiet. He opened his eyes and glanced around. "What?"

The white blast from Medusa’s eyes stopped high above his head. The Gods stood frozen with terrified expressions. Hermes appeared to run for his life although he didn't move. And Athena held her spear, ready to toss it toward the blast. But she stood frozen too.

And no sound whispered in the cold air. Nothing even the sound of wind breezed over Roger.

The women released Roger and stepped back. Their heads spun around, observing the motionless environment.

"What is going on?" Roger’s voice echoed.

Katina poked Poseidon’s chest. "Are they statues already?"

Labda stared at Medusa’s blast. "Medusa's gaze hasn't even touched us."

"So what happened?" Cilla asked.

From the rubble fog, a tall shadow strolled toward Roger and the Cerberus women. As the mist cleared, the figure appeared to be an old man with wrinkled skin and a long white beard. He wore a red toga without sandals on his bare feet. In both hands, he held an hourglass and a scythe that had a blade shaped like a wing. And speaking of wings, there were two on his back, and his eyes glowed blue like two marbles.

Roger wondered if the old man was an angel, but he appeared to be Greek in his red toga.

"Well… I guess I made it on time," the old man spoke in a faint tone.

"Who are you?" Roger asked.

The old man's wings spread on his back. "I am Chronos, the God of time and space."

Katina snarled. "What took you so long!? We were getting our asses kicked by Medusa and the Giants!"

"Just in time our butt!" Cilla complained.

Chronos tapped his scythe on the ground. "Calm down! Calm down! The Fates told me to arrive at this period."

Labda furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?"

Chronos shrugged. "They said because they saw it. Do not judge them."

Roger couldn't tell if the Fates should be trusted or not. But they do see everything through their single eye, so doubting them was out of the equation. "So you know everything, too?"

"Of course!" The Old God shouted. "I can see multiple timelines and travel to discrete events. I know you have to get back home and fix everything."

"But we are fighting Medusa now!" Katina exclaimed.

"She is about to ruin the timeline," Labda added.

"Nonsense." Chronos swung his scythe around. “Can't you see I paused time here?”

Roger looked around again. That made sense.

"If I didn’t arrive, we wouldn’t be talking now," said Chronos. "But there is a way to prevent your downfall."

"How?" Roger asked.

Chronos blinked his blue eyes. "Didn’t you read any science fiction novel about time travel?"

Roger shook his head. He only read a few novels in school, and that was it. But a God who read sci-fi novels sounded kind of silly.

"I can bring you back before Medusa sends you here. Or….." Chronos paused.

"Or what?" Cilla asked.

"Or you can go back to the time before Medusa escapes from the Underworld," Chronos suggested.

Labda widened her eyes. "Before she takes the scepter?"

Chronos nodded his head. "The Earth will return to normal if you can stop her escape. However…" He pointed his scythe at Roger and the women. "You will return to your normal lives without the memories of your adventures. It will be like you have never met before."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Roger and the women glanced at each other, then back to Chronos.

"What if we choose to stop Medusa before she sends us here?" Labda asked.

"All of you will be back in the Underworld with Hades," Chronos answered. "But your memories here will be gone, and the monsters will remain on Earth."

"What if we stop the person who created the scepter?" Roger asked.

Chronos shook his scythe. "That is a no-no! The scepter has served an important role in Greek history for a minor time."

Labda raised her eyebrow. "Which is?"

Chronos grumbled. "It's a long story. Read the history books yourself!"

Katina snorted and crossed her arms. "I don't read."

Labda giggled. "Just me."

Chronos half-smiled from his lips. "Well, the important thing is your decision will change you, either way. But I will allow you to decide for yourself."

Without a thought, Roger and the women huddled together. This was going to be the biggest decision they will ever make.

"How do you feel about this?" Roger asked. "We only have two choices to save the future."

Cilla sucked in her cheeks, turning red a little. "It sucks! I don’t want to forget about anything! Forgetting about you will be worse than death!"

Katina glared at the ground. "And I don’t want to be stuck at the gate again. It’s boring when there aren’t enough monsters to fight."

Labda rubbed her chin. "It will hurt us all, but I believe we should prevent Medusa’s escape. The world will still be in peril if we save Hades from Medusa’s ambush."

Cilla widened her eyes at Labda. "But we will never see Roger again! If we don’t meet him, we won’t remember him!"

"And we will be stuck with freaking Hades!" Katina shouted.

"Remember what the Fates said? Our love is supposed to save the world!"

Labda grimaced. "Maybe this is how our love will save this world. We must sacrifice it to save all."

Cilla glanced at Roger. "Sweetie! You don’t believe this, do you?"

Katina glared at him. "Don’t you dare put us back at that crappy gate!"

Roger sighed. "Girls… I understand your despair about this, and I do care about you. My life has become amazing since we met. But….." He removed his helmet and put it under his left arm. "Think about the world. Think about the innocent people who died in San Francisco. We can bring them all back if we change the past a little. My fellow officers and my partner can come back too. Nobody's life should go to waste."

Cilla sniffed. "I understand… But we will never see each other again!"

Roger grimaced at the ground. "I know….." He glanced at Cilla. "But would you do the same if you lost your Amazon friends in the past? Would you sacrifice your love to bring them back?"

Cilla’s eyes watered. "I….. I-"

“Wait!” A woman’s voice shouted.

Behind Chronos, the three identical goddesses stepped from a puff of gray smoke.

Chronos spun around and smiled at the Fates. “Oh! I didn’t know you will arrive here too.”

Clotho held up the crystal ball between her palms. “We admit this is sudden, but you must listen. Do not stop Medusa’s escape!”

“It will lead you to your doom!” Atropos exclaimed.

Roger glanced at the Fates. “Why will it doom us to stop Medusa?”

“We know who helped Medusa escape in the first place,” said Lachesis.

“Who?” Labda asked.

Clotho lowered the crystal ball. “Eris.”

Roger narrowed his eyes. “Eris?”

“The Goddess of Chaos and discord.” Labda glared at the ground. “

Hmmmmmmmmm… That makes sense.”

Roger pursed his lips. “Chaos sounds bad in her name.”

“She is Zeus and Hera's daughter. Creating chaos is in her very nature,” said Lachesis.

“After the Gods left the Earth, she decided to turn the entire world into her playground,” Atropis continued.

“That is why she freed the monsters in the Underworld,” Clotho added. “So they will bring ruin to humanity while she remains in the shadows.”

“Why can't we just kick her ass before she frees the green bitch?” Katina asked.

Chronos chuckled. “You can’t, but I can.”

Lachesis shook her head. “The outcome will still be fatal. Even if Chronos can win, Roger, Katina, Cilla, and Labda will still fall. We know because we saw it.”

“You cannot face Eris now, but you can stop Medusa from sending you back through time,” Clotho suggested.

Atropis gestured her hand toward Roger. “You can tell your other selves after you stop Medusa. Hades will also know."

Labda nodded her head to the Fates. “You are right. We cannot fail, or else our future is doomed. We must stop Medusa before she ambushes Hades.”

Cilla lowered her eyes. “But we won't remember this time if we do that.”

Clotho approached Cilla’s side. “Don't worry, Cilla. Your time with Roger will soon come to pass.”

Cilla smiled at her.

“So, back to the present before Medusa reaches you in the Underworld?” Chronos asked as he held up his hourglass.

Roger and the hound women turned toward the God.

“I hate to choose the other option, but we have no choice,” said Roger.

“We must avoid the inevitable doom and warn ourselves,” said Labda. “Without us, our world will fall.”

Cilla glanced at the frozen gods. “I wish we could say goodbye to them.”

Chronos shook his head. “It will not matter after the past changes.”

Cilla grimaced until she smiled at the Fates. “Thank you for warning us.”

The Fates bowed their heads to her.

“We only help to keep the world in balance,” said Clotho. “We will vanish too if we don’t interfere.”

Roger stared at the rifle in his hands and frowned. “I’m sure going to miss this thing.”

Labda laughed. “I think we will all miss this moment, even if it will no longer matter.”

Roger smiled at her and held her hand.