Day Thirty Eight

Dear diary, I am missing an arm

Beep, beep.

I wake up confused as I hear a constant beeping in my ear; I slowly open my eyes and scan the room. There are white walls, and everything feels blurry. As I try to sit up only to stumble, my arm is gone right. It has turned to dust. I try getting up again, this time using my left arm instead. I succeed disturbing the creature sleeping at my feet.

“Traveller, you awake.” He says in excitement.

“I guess I am. I still have a pounding headache. Where am I?” I ask, trying to figure out what is going on.

“We are in the hospital,” Kuro says. “You took some heavy injuries and fell unconcise for several days.”

I sigh. “That is not great, but seeing as we are not all dead, I take that as a win.”

“Yeah, we did win,” he says as he jumps up.

“So what happened after I lost concerns?”

“Well, most of the power was gone, so the ship could not really explode anymore, so I managed to steer the ship back into space. Apparently, the snake lady managed to take down their leader, and she gave him to the demon-looking Traveller for questioning. Can’t say I pity him.”

“Wait, the demon is here, two. Why did she not help us on the ship?” I ask, a bit surprised.

“Probably because she was busy rescuing your parents.”

“My parents? Are they safe? Where are they?” I ask finally for some hope of returning back to me.

“Yeah, there's fine. I'm a bit shaken by everything, but mostly fine. They were not willing to leave your sight much, so they probably are just out for breakfast at the moment.”

I smile. “So that means it is fine over then.”

“I guess so”, Kuro says “, but apparently, the time lords are very persistent.”

“Timelords?”

“That is what they call themself. They believe that there should only be one great timeline that unifies them all, and the travellers stand directly against those ideals.”

“Is that why they want the plates?” I ask, “So there won’t be any more travellers”

“Plate”, the blond-haired traveller says as he walks in. “There has and will only ever be one plate.”

“Then how can there be multiple travellers?” I ask, confused.

“Same way as how there can be multiple kings, succession.”

“But I thought the travellers were immortal.”

The man burst out laughing. “No, as you can see with your current condition, we can be killed just as easily as the next, but our closeness to the time vortex does make us age slower; it is nowhere enough to make us truly immortal.”

“I understand; then, do you know who the man who gave the amulet in the first place was?” I ask Curious about his origin.

“I do not know you have been to this day the only one to ever meet him.” He says as he puts an arm on my shoulder.

“Wait, what does that mean?” I ask

“I am not sure; it's just that he was not a true traveller, unlike you and me.”

“I see, but where did he get it from then?” I say, happy to get some answers.

“That is the great mystery. We assume that he was the one that originally made it, but we can’t be sure.”

“Wait, if he was the one to make it, wouldn’t that make me…”

“The first Traveller? Yes, you set the example. We all live by today,” he says with a smile.

“I see. Why are you telling me all of this?” I ask, a bit surprised.

“Because soon I will cease to exist or at least this version of me. I come from a timeline where Earth was destroyed a few days ago, and I directly changed that outcome, making this version of me a paradox. So soon I will disappear, and a new version of will take my place, and then whatever is deemed too dangerous for you to know will be deleted from your mind.” He says with a big smile.

“Are you not scared or sad that you be gone?” I ask, a bit scared myself.

“No, I have people on earth, friends, and fame that I love, and they get to live now, so I don’t regret it even if I will never be able to remember why exactly I did it.”

I pause and then reconsider. I guess if I knew the Earth was going to blow up, killing all my friends and family, I would do the same no matter the consequences. So I just decided to smile. I probably never knew what was truly required to get to this result, but I am really happy that we got there in the end. Then I pause.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Any chance you can go back again and prevent me from losing an arm?”

I never get the answer to my question as, at that moment, the door slams open, and my parents rush in.

“Mo! My baby, you are okay.” Mother says as she hugs me tight.”

“Yes, Mother, I am fine,” I say as I try to break free

“How could you do something so dangerous? What came over you?” Mother asks.

“Uhm, teenage spirit. I guess I was not trying to get hurt or anything, but if it was necessary to save the world, it was worth it,” I say with an awkward smile. It is kind of weird. I know my arm is gone, but it still feels like it is there, just like a thousand pins and needles are stabbing into it.

“And who says that you needed to be the one to save the world?” Mother asks, looking at me disappointed.

“No one did that. It is not really something that you tell people,” I say.

“Come honey, our daughter did a great thing. We should be proud of her,” Father says, trying to help me out.

“I know, but our baby is missing an arm. Do you know how hard life would be without an arm?” Mother says.

“Don’t worry, Mother. I am sure there is a magic spell that can give me back my arm,” I say, trying to calm her down.

Mother gives me a weird look, like she is pitying me. Wait, does she think I lost all my marbles or something?

“Baby, there is no such thing as magic. You should know this,” Mother says in a soft voice as she pats me on the head.

“No, there is. Look”, I say as I raise my left hand, making a small flame appear in it.

My mother stares at it with incomprehension. “But how? Where did you learn this?”

“My fiancé taught me,” I say with a big smile.

I think that I had the opposite reaction to what I wanted. Instead of calming my Mother down, She is instead freaking out even more now.

“Mother, you should calm down,” the snake Traveller says as she comes closer, putting a hand on my mother's shoulder. “There are many ways to restore her arm. From bromance, cybernetics and even specialised familiar contracts.”

Mother looks at the woman in surprise. “And are you capable of doing any of those?”

The snake lady nods. “I am, but it depends on whether Kuro wants to become familiar or not, and even then, it will only be a temporary fix until we find something better.”

Kuro looks up in surprise. “What would I have to do?”

“Well, basically, when you go into her shadow, instead of going there, you will form her right arm. This is until there is a better option; of course, after that, you can choose to break the contract or stay familiar. But it would mean that your relationship would become a lot closer than it had been before.” She explains.

Kuro looks at me. “What should we do?” he asks.

I just shrug. “It’s your call. Do you want to stick with me for a while longer, or do you want to go on your own way?”

“I see. In that case, I will do it. Until we find a better solution, of course,” he says with a smile.

The situation after that becomes a bit chaotic. All the other travellers come together to make a magic circle that would turn Kuro into my familiar. A big diagram is drawn on the floor of the hospital, and Kuro and I are told to stand on either side of the circle.

Then, they all start to chant as magic starts to circle around the room. I look around, and the colours are amazing as the flat two-dimensional structure becomes one of three dimensions. I can actually feel the power build-up, and then I feel something new, a connection. It is Kuro. I somehow know where he is, and I feel the desire to drag him closer.

I act on the desire, using the magical connection to drag him towards me. He flies towards me and disappears as I feel an increase in weight on my right side. I look to see that I have an arm again. It is a bit different from my old arm; this one's skin is pitch black, and its nails are vicious claws. Where the arm meets my flesh, there is some kind of crosshatching pattern, making the two parts overlap.

I close my hand. It feels exactly as it should. I pinch the black flesh only to feel its pain. I smile. That is great. It is working, but where is Kuro? I try to focus on it, but he is here in my mind. Somehow, we have merged, not exactly becoming one being but close.

“It worked,” I say out loud.

“Of course, it works. What do you take me for some kind of carnival show,” the snake Traveller says with a smile.

Father laughs. “Sorry, I don’t think she meant anything by it. How about we get out of here and go somewhere more comfortable where we can all talk.”

“Really, can we go have a barbecue then,” the demon traveller says, looking really excited.

“I am not sure; is it not a bit early? Your compatriots might not be hungry,” Father says awkwardly.

I look around only to see the snake lady wipe her mouth and the blond traveller looking excited. The only one that does not seem to be excited about it is Aluma.

“Father, I think we deserved a feast,” I say with a smile.

“Well, alright then,” Father says a bit awkwardly.

With that, we all leave, heading home, or at least that is what I would like to say, but everything suddenly seems to freeze everyone, stopping at the exact moment in time.

“What is going on?” I ask as I start looking around.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Kuro says, sounding nervous.

I spot a strange door on the wall. A door that had not been there before. I frown. It does not appear to be the one from the other traveller, but you never know. I slowly approach the door and open it. The inside is a massive library with rows of bookcases stacked together. The walls are strangers, though a mess of gears is ticking away.

“What is this place?” I ask, surprised.

“This is my home.” A child-like voice says.

I turn around only to see a cloaked figure with a skill mask on standing behind me. Yeah, not creepy at all.

“Who are you?” I ask the strange creature.

“I am Ypsis, the progenitor of time. It is my job to make sure that time does not become unravelled,” he says in his child-like voice.

“I see. Why am I here then?” I ask, a bit surprised.

“Because you broke time three times over, do you have any clue the amount of damage that I have to repair?”

“I am sorry. I never meant to break anything. I just wanted to save my family.” I say, trying to defend myself.

The creature sighs. “It is fine. If the so-called time lord got their hands on it, the damage that they would have done would have been immense. So for protecting it, I thank you.” He says, “Now I can take it off your hands, and we can all pretend this never happened.”

I jump away from him. “Yeah, no way. This thing is too important to just give away.”

The creature clicks his tongue. “It was worth a shot, but that does not mean I will allow you to get away scot-free.”

Suddenly, memories flood back into my head, things I lived through and would have done but never came to pass because of the other traveller. The despair and anger I felt when they killed my mother, the grief as I held Kuro’s lifeless body, the feeling of every cell in my body being taken apart as I stood in an atomic blast. They all come back to me.

I take a moment to centre myself and breathe. Those are all past versions of me and things that won’t ever come to pass now. I breathe. I sigh of relief as I start heading for the door, as I want to get out of there.

“Where are you going?” Ypsis asks.

“I am going to give my mother a hug. Do you have a problem with that?” I snap at the creature.

“Not at all. Good luck, and may we meet as little as possible.”

I smile “Goodbye time, god.” I say as I walk out.

I pause and then turn around. “Ypsis? It sounds like you worked hard as well. You want to come to a barbecue?”