Happy Birthday, Dominic!” Aria shouted with bubbly enthusiasm, wrapping her arms around her brother as she stepped into his penthouse.

“Thanks, Aria. Do you know if anyone else is coming?” Dominic asked as the two let go and Aria placed a bottle of wine on the kitchen counter.

“Not sure. Do you want ‘them’ to come?”

“I don’t know. I want Thomas to come, but we haven’t gotten around to speaking since after the courthouse incident. But Dad, and our sisters . . . I’m not sure. You know how they get, right? Always asking us for stuff—for favours . . .” Dominic was pacing as he spoke.

“I know exactly what you mean.”

“I still love them, but . . . I wish I didn’t need to keep doing those things in order to keep them safe,” Dominic said, turning around as he heard a knock at the door.

* * *

Thomas had put on his tuxedo from his time with Dominic at the courthouse, and he was currently straightening his tie. It’s still a bit burnt, but doesn’t that add to the charm of it? That’s how charm works, right? he thought, preparing to step out of his front door. Thomas opened up the clock on his Unit. Let’s see, it should be about ten minutes to get there; it’s 6 p.m. now . . .

Suddenly, his Unit closed, and he was lying on his bed. It was as though he had teleported from the front door to a position where he was about to go to sleep. “What?” Thomas asked himself aloud as he sat up, looking around his bedroom. “Phantrana,” he said, sending a phantom eye around his apartment in order to find the source of this strange teleportation. A search which didn’t take long and yielded no interesting results. Yeah, this is a Civ attack, Thomas thought. “I’ve made the mistake before where something weird would happen, and then I’d just be like ‘Oh, that was probably just a trick of the light!’ but it never is. It’s always a Civ user, and I’m in incredible danger.” Thomas stood up. “Let’s see, I was about to leave . . . why was I about to leave again?” Thomas looked down at his tuxedo. Why am I wearing a tuxedo? Thomas thought, scratching his head as he paced around his apartment.

Thomas opened up his Unit again. It was 6:21. “What the fuck? Last time I checked, it was 6 p.m., and that was only a few seconds ago. Whoever’s attacking me had somehow managed to skip ahead in time. But why?” He quickly removed his tuxedo and looked over his body, examining his arms, legs, and torso for any new injuries. All he found was a bruise on his side, but it was one that hadn’t been there before he had put on his tuxedo. “So I got hurt in that time . . . but why? That’s what I can’t figure out . . .” Thomas continued to pace around his apartment. “It has to be memory manipulation, right? It’s the only thing that makes any sense, somebody erased the last twenty minutes from my memory.”

Thomas stepped out of his apartment, peering down the hallway as he prepared to step outside, and then he looked down at his tuxedo on the floor of his apartment. “Where was I going that I needed to wear a tuxedo?” Thomas stepped outside. Nothing happened. Thomas then opened up his Unit to check his calendar, seeing if he had any special dates for today. Sure enough, “Dominic’s Birthday” was highlighted. How did I forget Dominic’s birthday? God, I need to get over there! Thomas thought, quickly forgetting about the possibility of a dangerous Civ user as he grabbed his tuxedo and went over to Dominic’s penthouse.

Thomas was standing in his living room again. “Wait, what? What am I doing back here!?” Thomas shouted again in frustration. Wait, what was I doing just a few seconds ago . . . Thomas reflected on the night so far, checking his Unit as he did so. It was 6:42. This happened last time too . . . another twenty minutes erased from my memory. Let’s see. The last thing I was doing was . . . Thomas reflected more deeply. “Dominic’s penthouse. I remember checking my Unit and seeing that it was his birthday. But for some reason, I hadn’t remembered that it was today, and even now I’m not sure.” Thomas looked down at his tuxedo. “I wasn’t wearing it when I left. I must have put it on somewhere . . . but when? I think I put it on. That’s what I would do. So, I must have at least gotten there before my memory got wiped.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The moment Thomas stopped reflecting, he got a call from Dominic. “Hey Thomas!” he answered, the sounds of a train roaring in the background.

“Uh, hi. Sorry, I’m running late. I don’t know what’s going on—”

“Don’t worry about it! Party’s cancelled anyways, we can hang out some other time.”

“Okay. Are you sure? Why’s it cancelled?”

“Oh, you know. Scheduling conflicts. We’ll celebrate another night.”

“But it’s a birthday. You can’t reschedule a birthday. That requires time manipulation. Which with all of these Civs might be possible.”

“Just don’t come over, okay? I’ll see you later?”

And with that, Dominic hung up. He was on a train. Where would he be going on a train? Could it be . . .? Thomas thought as he walked over to his bed and sat down on it. “He doesn’t want to hang out with me,” he lamented, resting his head in his hands as he slouched on the side of his bed, looking down at the floor. “I forgot his birthday too, didn’t I? And I left forty minutes after I should have. He’s probably annoyed at me for it. I don’t blame him.” Thomas let out a melancholic sigh. “Wait, I’m having a thought. Okay, this is going to be smart.” Thomas stood up, his eyes wide with the thrill of the puzzle.

“So, I still don’t know who this enemy Civ user is, but they don’t seem to want to kill me. Which is weird because everybody wants to kill me. All they seem to do is erase twenty minutes of my memory and bring me back to my apartment. But they only do that once I get to a specific location because I’m able to get through the train ride since I was wearing my tuxedo. And then they bring me back here? I’m guessing to just keep me away from that place. And since they erase twenty minutes of my memory, it has to take me about twenty minutes to get there. No, it’s there and back, so it’s ten minutes there—”

Thomas’s eyes went wide. “It’s ten minutes to Dominic’s penthouse. And Dominic wasn’t at his penthouse. He was on the train and Dominic doesn’t want me at his penthouse . . . Oh my goodness. This is Dominic’s Civ. He’s able to erase memories. That’s the Civ he got last time, when I went to work with him. When I get to his penthouse, he comes back here with me and then erases my memory right before leaving in a mad dash. But why? There’s something in his apartment that he doesn’t want me to see. Now, it could be that he just doesn’t want me to come, but it took two memory wipes before he told me not to come. And it’s not because I was late . . . because he was the one erasing my time.”

Thomas looked out his window. “There’s something in Dominic’s apartment—something he doesn’t want me to see.”

* * *

Thomas was looking in through Dominic’s window, a purple phantom eye hovering far above the ground and staring inside through the corner of the window. Dominic was speaking to three women, one of them being Dominic’s sister, Aria. Is Dominic cheating on me with two girls? No, his sister is there. Then again, if he and his sister were secretly dating two other women that would be a pretty good reason to hide a secret from me, Thomas thought, standing at the base of the towering black building as his phantom eye did recon. Who are those two women? I feel like I know them from somewhere, but I don’t know where. God, why can’t I remember? They seem so familiar. Thomas racked his brain. Is this the work of his Civ as well? Or am I just shitty at knowing things? Well, I know it’s both, but I’m thinking more about it right now.

Dominic looked over at the window, and Thomas hid his eye just outside. He sent a phantom ear up quickly as well, hiding both behind the corner of the balcony as Dominic stepped outside. He was scanning the area. “No, I don’t see anything. What did you say you saw?” Dominic called back as he stepped inside, just about to close the glass door. Thomas deftly snuck inside through the gap, hiding under Dominic’s couch as he listened in.

“I saw something purple floating out there. I was wondering if he had come back.” a cold female voice responded.

So, they know who I am, huh? Thomas thought.

“I told him not to come back. Also, you aren’t thinking of . . . going after him, are you?” Dominic asked nervously.

“Dominic, I’d never kill your boyfriend, even if he is a tremendous pain in our family’s side,” the clinical voice answered again. Thomas could tell she was lying, though. “I’d like to thank you for all the help you’ve done, by the way. I feel like I don’t tell you how many times you’ve saved us. Even if you two aren’t as involved in the business as we are, you too are still an integral part of our operation.”

Thomas looked out from under the couch, just a tiny bit. Dominic was visibly uncomfortable at the expression of gratitude. “I do it because you guys are my family, not because I think it’s right. If it were up to me, you’d stop and get your lives on track, but you’ve all made it clear that it’s not,” Dominic said firmly, walking away from a woman with short turquoise hair as he spoke.