“Schove. Forget about him and get the staff,” Streyes ordered.
Ken struggled to his feet and sent a large blast at Schove. It hit him in the back, but had little effect. Schove glanced back and dropped Silver.
Schove walked the short distance to Ken.
Ken tried to ready himself. Schove was going to kill him, and Ken knew it.
“Stay down, victim,” Schove said flatly, punctuating it with a hard punch to Ken’s face. Ken fell against the side of the house again, sliding down. Angelica, Natalia and Sasha appeared from the sidewalk along the back of the house.
Schove charged up a ball of energy in his hands, and pointed toward Ken. He gave a sideways glance to the three new targets and said, “I’ll take care of you three in just a moment.”
Ken tried to move but couldn’t. “Get out of here!” he tried to scream at them.
Angelica, Natalia and Sasha couldn’t move due to seeing Ken slumped against the wall, and Cassandra and Katrina unconscious.
Something collided with Schove. It was burned red, and so fast that Ken couldn’t see what it was.
Schove was launched several feet into the front yard. Whatever the red thing was, it continued across the yard, slammed into Sona, tripped Streyes, and then took to the air, disappearing behind a house across the street.
Silver’s staff flew from the ground right to his grasp. “My patience is exhausted.”
A breeze emanated from Silver. It was an Overlap. Red, skeletal wings sprouted from his back. Then something else started happening. It was an ‘itchy’ feeling spreading over Ken; it was almost like ants were crawling over his entire body. Something immense was going on.
“Stop him!” Streyes shouted as an order, and all three sped toward him.
A sound like a small explosion came from several houses down. Streyes sensed something and put up his field in the direction of the sound.
Alisa’s anti-tank rifle shell exploded against the field. Anti-tank rounds don’t normally explode, but they were, needless to say, ‘modified.’
“What was that!?” Streyes shouted in surprise.
Sona looked toward the sound and spotted Alisa lying on the ground next to a bush. She was pointing a long-barreled rifle at them.
“She’s got an anti-tank rifle,” Sona said.
Two more shots came in quick succession. Sona and Schove put up their fields. The shells would have no effect on them. But Alisa’s ranged attacks had a different purpose.
Whatever Silver had been doing, it must have been completed because Streyes, Schove and Sona turned toward him.
Silver’s eyes were now a whirlpool of orange, red and green.
Three actions happened in one fluid motion: Streyes was hammered against the ground; Sona was knocked against the house across the street; and Schove flew against the car.
Silver followed up on Schove, using his free hand to pummel Schove brutally. Ken could hear two loud snaps of bone; Silver must have broken Schove’s jaw, and a handful of ribs.
It was now Schove’s turn to be picked up by the neck. Silver glanced over to Streyes. “If any of do anything like go after non-combatants again, I will break all three of you in half.” Silver was deadly serious.
He tossed Schove to Streyes, who caught him. Sona arrived from across the street. They both turned, dejected, going through a portal Sona opened.
Silver then returned to normal.
Ken didn’t believe what had happened, but it did just happen. The pain he felt – and was still feeling – was proof that the encounter was all too real. Once ‘pain’ came to mind, he instantly thought about Katrina and Cassandra.
“Katrina!” he yelled.
She was still lying next to him. He picked her up in his left hand and rubbed her cheek with his right index finger. She finally came around.
“Are you okay?”
“Y . . . Yeah. Did someone . . . huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think the question is ‘Did someone get the license number of that truck’?”
Ken chuckled. “If you can make a joke like that, you’ll be okay.” He stood up.
Angelica, Natalia and Sasha checked on Cassandra.
“All you all right?” Sasha asked.
Cassandra groaned. “I . . . I feel like I just had a boulder dropped on me.” She got to her feet, but winced and put her hand to her stomach.
Ken was relived they were both all right.
Silver walked up to the group. “Everyone all right?”
Ken responded by grabbing Silver by the front collar. “What the hell is going on here!? You have a lot of explaining to do!”
Silver calmly removed Ken’s hand. “I fully intend to.”
“You’re . . . bleeding,” Katrina noticed.
“So I am,” he replied. He concentrated and his wound vanished.
“It’s gone . . . ?” Ken remarked.
“Mostly. It’s still sore.” Silver moved his staff closer to Katrina and she glowed for a moment. “Feel any better?”
“Yeah. You really are a Coordinator, aren’t you?”
Silver walked over to Cassandra and healed her in the same way. “T-Thanks,” she said. Then Silver did the same for Ken.
Silver looked at each of them, one by one. There was a combination of uncertainty and fear in each of their expressions.
“Why don’t we go inside? This is going to be an unbelievable story.”
* * *
They were sitting in the living room. It was silent. Everyone was thinking about what had just happened outside. Angelica, Natalia and Sasha seemed to be taking it well, but they weren’t the ones who had been beaten up. Katrina was eating a strawberry, her usual chipper self returning. Cassandra seemed a little more quiet than usual.
Ken rubbed his forehead. “Okay, Silver. Could we take it from the start? I’m fuzzy on the details.”
“Right.” He took a sip of coffee and put his cup down. “I’m a time traveler.”
No matter how serious he was, it was still unbelievable to hear he was a time traveler. All of Ken’s tenants who had no prior knowledge of him gave him an odd look.
“A . . . time traveler?” Sasha repeated
“Yes. As impossible as it sounds.”
“How can you say that with a straight face?” Natalia said with an incredulous look toward Silver.
“How can you not consider the possibility, after everything you saw today?”
Natalia sighed, but Sasha was a little more inquisitive.
“What did you come for, then?”
“That’s the best question I’ve heard all day. Even so, I can’t tell you the exact reason.”
“You keep dodging that one,” Ken said.
“Because if you know the future, it would affect the present. There are a specific number of events that must happen in each loop.”
“Loop?” Katrina asked. “You’ve been through this before?”
“Yes. And the Silver before me, and so on. I’m here to make sure the loop continues without being changed too much. There are other forces at work here that have an interest in altering events.”
“People trying to mess with time? Like those three?”
“Sort of. Those three don’t want to alter time. They’re working for someone who wants access to something that’s known as the ‘Akashic Library’.”
Silver looked at each of Ken’s tenants. “Have any of you heard of it?”
Angelica shook her head. As did Natalia. As did Sashsa.
Unsurprisingly, Katrina and Ken raised their hands.
But surprisingly, Cassandra raised hers.
Silver nodded toward Cassandra. “Cassandra, what have you heard about it?”
“Just a legend. It’s a library the size of a planet, somewhere at the center of the universe. Any subject you can think of is there, but it would take a lifetime to find what you want, and a
nother lifetime to read all of what you found.”
“Not entirely correct, but not entirely incorrect.”
“Then what is it?” Sasha asked.
“It’s a collection of knowledge.”
“Isn’t that the definition of any library?” Natalia shot at him.
“Sure. But it’s a place where knowledge of the past, present and future is housed.”
Ken nodded in agreement, remembering what Peter from the Library had told him. “So why does that man want access to the Library? And what about those three people? Do they have some sort of illness?”
“Yes, they do. Of their own doing.”
“If you couldn’t give them access to the Library, why wouldn’t you just look up the information for yourself and help them?”
“I tried. They’re my friends, so don’t you think I would try and help them?”
“F-Friends!? What kind of friends are they!?” Ken yelled.
“Friends that are being misled. I knew them all before they were like that. Being a space-time manipulator is something that you’re either born to be, or not at all. However, there are ways that people can learn to manipulate space-time. Unfortunately, if you’re not born with the ability, there are side effects.”
Ken heard that and remembered blood from Schove’s mouth. He was about to comment on it when Cassandra spoke up.
“The woman was bleeding from one of her eyes.”
Silver nodded. “That’s one of the side-effects. And it’s going to get a lot worse for them. That’s why they’re desperate.”
“What happened to them?” Sasha asked. “I mean, if we know more about what happened, we might be able to find some other way.”
Silver folded his arms. “They may not look it, but all three of them are brilliant scientists. They’re from different planets, but coincidentally, their work focused on the same thing: the control of space-time, and how it might be used to affect reality.”
He bit his bottom lip for a moment, and then continued. “I tried to tell them what would happen, that trying to control space-time would be deadly in the long run. Needless to say, they didn’t listen. At first, they were able to control facets of space-time like someone who had been born with the ability. Then came the side-effects. Time and time again I tried to get them to stop, but they had already been contacted by a manipulator by the name of Alexander Tohtell. He convinced them that I have the key to curing their condition. And so here we are.”
“All of those things everyone was doing, even flying. Is it magic?” Cassandra wondered out loud.
Silver shook his head. “It’s simply the manipulation of reality. I mean, it’s all governed by rules, but a lot of them are even over my head. I can do only what I’ve been trained to do.”
“Then what do you want us to do?” Ken asked bluntly. “As you can see, we were completely outmatched. They’re after you, not us. Don’t tell me you want us to keep fighting?”
“That’s exactly what I’m asking you to do.”
“We’ll get killed!”
“No, you won’t. Everyone will learn to fight at one point. Like Alisa over there.”
Alisa was cleaning her gun.
“Where’d you get that high-powered rifle!?” Ken yelled.
“It’s not a high-powered rifle. It’s an anti-tank rifle.”
“Oh, is that all? I was thinking—an anti-tank rifle!?” Since when have you had an anti-tank rifle!?”
“Since two days ago.”
“Two . . . !?” Ken gave up trying to understand her for the moment, and addressed Silver again. “Honestly, Silver, how do you expect us to do anything? We’re not warriors. Well, we could classify Cassandra as one, and maybe you could consider me one, but overall, we’re just non-combatants. How are we going to fight?”
“You may not believe this, but you all get a lot better. So much that any one of you could have taken on those three today, and won single-handed.”
“Are you serious?” Natalia wondered out loud.
Ken wondered, too. Katrina was tiny. Natalia was just a rich girl. Sasha didn’t look like she could, or would, hurt a fly. Angelica was . . . Angelica. Those were the four he was concerned about. They would be able to beat those three people?
“I can’t save them without your help. The alternative is far worse. And you all have a stake in it.”
“How do we have a stake in this?” Ken asked.
“I’d say saving the world, but most people can’t imagine the scope of it. Did you know that you all have been brought here for a reason?”
“You’re sounding like one of those astrology columns.”
“I know, I know. The wheels of fate have spun, and we are all now intertwined. Well, our destinies at any rate.”
“Seems fair,” Angelica said.
“What!?” Ken blurted out.
“Sure,” Katrina chirped.
“We’re already involved,” Alisa said.
“That we are,” Natalia agreed.
Ken face-palmed. “Hold it, hold it, hold it right there! How can you all just go along with this!? ‘Destinies intertwined’!? It’s like some new age cult!”
Cassandra looked up. “You Earthlings think about things too much, don’t you? If we’re already involved, we can only see it through as best we can.”
Ken sighed and noticed Sasha hadn’t said anything yet. “Sasha, can you at least say something that would be profound?”
“Well, I . . . I can’t fight at all, but I’ll . . . do my best to support everyone.”
“Gaaaaaaah!”
These women would be the death of him.
* * *
Ken served dinner to everyone – excluding Silver, who went home – and everyone was watching TV in the living room.
Ken made coffee and just stood at the back of the living room. His tenants were acting like nothing had happened. He considered the possibility that it was all just a hallucination, a really bad hallucination. It seemed too much fantasy to be real.
He put a free hand to his chest and lightly pushed. The soreness was still there. It had happened.
Thinking further back on it, he remembered a flash of red in front of him just after he was thrown against the side of the house. It had knocked down one of the strangers right in front of him, so he couldn’t have been imagining it.
Or did he imagine it? No one else brought it up. If anything could have caused his subconscious to create something like that, it would be a blow to the head. Ken decided to keep quiet about it until someone else brought it up. That’s when he could prove whether or not it was a hallucination.
Looking back on his tenants, Ken was amazed they were taking it so well. That’s when he noticed Cassandra was missing.
He looked in her room, but she wasn’t there. On the way back out to the living room, he caught sight of her outside on the deck. He went out the back door. She was just staring at the sky, leaning against the railing.
“Surprised to find you out here,” Ken said, moving next to her.
“Oh. Hi, Ken.”
“Trouble?”
“Well, I was just thinking about . . . earlier.”
“I thought I was the only one.”
“It’s just really . . . really frustrating.”
Ken leaned against the railing next to her. “Well, we did get our heads handed to us.”
“It’s not that.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve trained, practiced and focused a lot. I thought I could handle anything that I came across . . . but . . .”
“But?”
“I . . . I froze up. I’d appreciate it if you would keep this a secret from everyone.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“My first real combat, and I froze up. That’s the worst thing that could have happened. My mother would kill me if she new that, putting as much into practicing with me as she did.”
r /> From that candid confession, Ken’s opinion of Cassandra changed for the better. She always seemed so in control, so sure of herself while they practiced that he hadn’t even considered that she might actually not be up to the task of real combat. He now knew that there were limits even aliens had, and were just as disappointed when they realized they weren’t doing as well as they felt they should have.
“If it’s any consolation, it was everyone’s first combat experience.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Not the same? We all had out first experience, and we all got beaten. Badly. All the training, practice and thinking in the world won’t be of any help unless you experience it at least once. If you don’t, you’ll never understand why you’re learning what you are, what you can do, and your absolute limit.”
“You’re—” she stopped mid-sentence and smiled. “I think I misjudged you.”
He turned to her. “And just what do you mean by that?”
She turned to him. “I thought you were just an odd, high-strung guy. But you’re really profound.”
He patted her on the head. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll show you plenty of other things that you’ll need to know. Whether you want to or not.”
She smiled. “Seems fine.”
There was a silence, when a voice broke it.
“Awww . . . isn’t that sweet?” Katrina said.
Surprised, Ken and Cassandra looked at the door. Katrina, Angelic, Alisa, Natalia and Sasha were spying on them.
“This is not what you think!” Ken sputtered.
Natalia gritted her teeth. “Taking advantage of a defenseless guest in your home? What kind of person are you!?”
“You’re mistaken! And what do you mean by defenseless!? She could take my head off!”
“Well, as long as they’re both consenting adults,” Angelica said.
“Agreed,” Alisa . . . agreed.
Katrina was making figure-eight patterns in the air. “Kenny and Cassandra, sittin’ in a tree—”
“Knock it off!”
“That’s right,” Sasha said.
“Thank you, Sasha.”
“You’re shouldn’t make fun of married couples.”
“Gaaaaah! My head!”
“Don’t worry,” Cassandra consoled him.
“Huh?”
“We’re going to train a lot harder. Starting tomorrow.”
“Harder?”
“Yes. But don’t worry. Your bruises and fractures will heal.”
Ken’s eyes went wide, and he stepped back. “Fractures!?”