"Hello! You're my first call in another lovely midnight session of 'Weird and Bizarre Tales.' What's your name caller?"

"Jared … I'm a grandfather."

"Hmm, okay, Jared, a grandfather, what's your story?"

"Well, it's my grandson, Roger. He 'killed me' 40 years ago,' but starting today."

"What? How are you here? So let me understand this … is he a time traveler?"

"Right! He traveled to the past for the sole purpose of stopping himself."

"Himself? That sounds confusing, Jared."

"Indeed, but he said he had no choice."

"So why would he do that?"

"During our encounter, he explained that he traveled to the future and saw himself taking over the world, and there's no way he could resist the temptation to do it again."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Hmm … okay, so he becomes some world despot with his time machine, and he wants to be a hero and save everyone from himself?"

"Yes, and apparently, he was somewhat successful."

"Uhm, you're alive, Jared. The grandfather paradox, perhaps?"

"No, no. You see, I developed the theoretical groundwork for time travel, but before I wanted to 'release the beast,' so to speak, I wanted to make sure I could avoid getting stuck in a time loop."

"How's that possible, Jared?"

"I swallowed my nanite formula. They're in a state of temporal flux, and so am I."

"So you're fluctuating through time?"

"Yes, but outside of time. In this time stream, I can consciously choose to be in or out of sync with everyone else."

"Interesting. Is there something you want to tell us?"

"Yes, I mean, not that you'll remember. But you're all in a time loop."

"How's that, Jared?"

"As soon as Roger, my grandson, killed me, he created a time loop. The thing is, I suspected something like this might happen someday, so I swallowed the nanites before I finished the time machine schematics."

"How did you survive?"

"I didn't; I'm neither dead nor alive but in a state of temporal flux. My death instantly transformed me into an asynchronous temporal being without a beginning or end. I'm the 'anti-grandfather paradox.'"

"So, where is your grandson now?"

"It's midnight, correct?"

"Yes, about 15 minutes after … why?"

"The loop will begin around 1 am."

"Then what'll happen?"

"We'll either talk again, or I'll look for something new to do. I'm running out of ideas, though. I've lost count."