Chapter Thirteen: Hope For A Miracle
By: nike13

   "Why the hell did you do that?!" David demanded. Seconds after Teresa's escape attempt and Waren's kidnapping, David used what power he could in his emotional state to revive the girl, well, wake her at least. Teresa, still on the floor, was suffering a headache of extreme magnitude and trying very hard to control the urge to strangle David for his extreme volume when he was no more than one foot from her ear.

   "David," she pleaded, fingers rubbing her temples," will you please shut up."

   "I will not, as you put it, shut up. You must stop taking matters into your own hands," he argued, although softer than before, "you just woke up from a coma and you do something like-"

   "Like try and save our sorry behinds?" she interjected, "If I hadn't have done something, we would still be in the middle of our little Mexican Standoff."

   "Our what?"

   "No win situation," she corrected, "you saw the way Waren was acting, he was trying to buy time, so I tried to help."

   "And by you helping, Waren is now being held captive by that demon," King Charles said, reconfirming that he was still, in fact, present. The king walked slowly towards them and then kneeled to examine Marcus, another forgotten person. King Charles places two fingers to the archer's neck, checking for a pulse and then sighed, "He is alive at least."

   "I hope I didn't turn him into a vegetable with that blast," Teresa muttered and looked at David. David nodded in understanding and moved towards his fallen guardian, not sure what to hope for.

   If the man was alive, would he still be controlled by Lorid? Or would he indeed be left an empty husk of the man he was? If Teresa's 'help' hadn't destroyed the control device, they would have to kill him, on grounds of treason, attempted murder, and for their own safety. But was there any way of knowing if it worked if Waren, a telepath, couldn't see anything wrong with Marcus earlier?

   David slid his right hand over Marcus's face and closed his eyes, concentrating as he felt his power envelope not only Marcus but himself as well in a soft warm presence. Startled, David tried to open his eyes but found that he couldn't, that he actually didn't want to. This isn't like before, he realized, but it doesn't feel wrong, this is actually more natural.

   As he continued to let himself delve into the warm glow he saw a figure off in the distance. As he moved closer he realized that it was Marcus, kneeling over a tiny child, as if cradling the object.

   The king and Teresa shielded their eyes from the bright light emanating from David and Marcus, both afraid of moving closer in case any noise would cause both men extreme damage. A few seconds later the light dissipated, leaving four very confused people in its wake.

   Marcus sat up gently and began to rub the back of his head where it had collided with the floor. David stared at him with wide eyes, ignoring the other two in the room.

   "I'm sorry," he whispered, bringing his eyes to the floor. The archer looked at his charge with a look of brotherly affection and placed his hand on David's shoulder.

   "I know."

   "Ugh, I can't stand this," Teresa muttered and moved closer to them, "What happened? That was different somehow, and what the hell do you mean you're sorry?"

   "Lady Teresa, you are as confusing as ever," Marcus chuckled.

   "And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, slightly hurt at the remark.

   "It just means that you should clam down a little before you start talking," David said quietly with a gentle smile.

   "I assume then," his father interrupted, his eyes laying heavily on Marcus, "that everything is in order."

   "I humbly apologize for my actions, m'Lord," Marcus said, raising so as to face the king more properly and bow his head. "I knew not what I was doing, the last thing I remember was delivering some clothes for Lady Teresa to use for the hunt. Once I left, a strange presence made itself known to me. I apologize for being so simply manipulated by that monster."

   "So how did Lorid get control of you?" Teresa asked curiously.

   "It doesn't matter, all you must know is that this control feeds on doubt and fear," David said, hoping she wouldn't press further.

   "It also uses anger," Teresa said softly.

   "And how do you know that?" David asked, worried that Teresa would know anything about this.

   "When I had him cornered, Lorid got in my head. I was angry because he was being so pessimistic towards the future, that he listen, like he knew things were absolutely going to end horribly. And then I became furious with myself because his arguments did make sense, in a very scientific sort of way.

   "He used that anger to get you to release him?"

   "No, not to release him, it was used to attack myself," she whispered, feeling the guilt return, "he made me feel like there was no hope, like I should just end it all before I had to see those around me get hurt, so I wouldn't feel the pain anymore."

   "He was trying to make you commit suicide?!" David gasped, appalled that Lorid could have that much power to control someone so completely. "So that's why you wouldn't wake up, not until I..."

   "Yeah, I guess my stubborn streak is a little stronger than anyone expected."

   "Well," David said, grabbing Teresa's hands to hoist her to her feet. "I believe its time to get Waren back."

   "I suppose there's nothing more we can do, is there?" Marcus asked, his face still showing the shock of what had apparently transpired while he was being manipulated.

   "No," David said, looking from Marcus to his father, "I'm sorry, but this is something between Teresa, Waren, and myself."

   "We understand, son," Charles said softly, then smiled, "but when you are finished, all three of you must return. We do have a wedding to plan, after all."

   "Whose wedding?" Marcus exclaimed.

   "Ours," Teresa and David laughed and left the king to explain everything to the, still confused, archer.

   The scene in front of Waren was one that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The protective domes that had once encased his civilization were damaged beyond repair. Without those glass bubbles to house humanity, the acid rains, hard winds, and never ending dust storms tore through the buildings and people as if they were nothing.

   From the looks of the structures, the central some had been smashed in from the sky, possibly by a rocket or missile of sorts. With the collapse of the main infrastructure, the other, smaller sub areas, would crumble in seconds. Any who survived the initial onslaught would be dead in hours from the exposure to the elements.

   "Horrifying, isn't it?" Lorid asked softly from behind Waren. "you were born to safeguard time, and yet with this timeline, you are destined to see the end of the world. Is it really such a hard choice, Waren? You can choose to stop all of this or to do nothing."

   "We can't change time," Waren muttered.

   "Oh, but we can, Waren. It just takes a little twist or a little coaxing, time is such a fragile thing. We have the technology, why let that knowledge go to waste?"

   "Even if we have the technology, how do we know what to twist, to change, to get the outcome we need?"

   "Are you considering helping me, young prince?" Lorid asked, a cruel and triumphant smile twisting his pale features.

   Waren turned to Lorid and looked directly into his cold eyes with defiance and concern. "You want to end all of this?" he accused, his voice echoing through the empty room, "Your goal is to end humanity altogether. So why haven't you done anything to that affect? Why go to the 16th century?"

   "It was a side trip, I admit. But I could not resist testing you three, after all you were training so hard, it would be a pity to waste it. Besides, I believe I have had second thoughts about that plan."

   "What? What do you want now?"

   "Ms. Teresa has been kind enough to debate with my original motives and, although she is somewhat young and has much to learn of time travel and manipulation, she did raise a good point."

   "Before you tried to kill her, you mean?" Waren muttered.

   "There has been violence throughout history as well as people who try to bring an end to that violence," Lorid continued, ignoring Waren's interruption, "These people will be left alone, but I believe that maybe I can isolate the source of the violent behavior in humans and then stamp it out in its infancy."

   "Then why am I still alive? Why not get rid of Teresa, David, and myself and then continue with your plans? Why continue to play mind games with us when you already have the technology?"

   "Yes, it is true that keeping you three around will complicate things, but the technology is still unreliable. It takes me months to prepare a time jump while you three can move freely without science and calculations. It would be counterproductive to ignore the assistance you and your companions could provide. I assumed you would be the most logical and see this offer as it is meant to be, therefore you were brought here to see the ending you are protecting."

   "You want me to convince David and Teresa that it's a good idea to work with you?" Waren scoffed, "The minute we agree to cooperate, you'll twist your plan back the way it was and have us do the dirty work of destroying everyone."

   "Everyone will die if you do nothing! Don't you understand, Waren? This is the best way to save humanity, or are you willing to let time run its course and erase humans from existence? Everyone you know would die. Teresa would face a lifetime of war and David would have an even worse time trying to fight against the superstitions of his era. You already changed things by making those two learn of the future events of their timeline. Your mission was failed before you even met me."

Go to Chapter Fourteen
Go Back to Chapter Twelve
Back to Chapters List
Back to Completed Stories List
Go To nike13's Author Page