The Watch – Part 146:

I searched through the many menus on the watch’s screen. Even though I’ve navigated the same menus many times before, it still feels as if this is my first time searching, as if I don’t know where I’m going. Every screen I come to have so many options, and each and every single one of those options takes me to another screen with just as many, if not, even more options, giving the impression that it’s trying to confuse me – make me lose my way and stray off to somewhere else.

I finally make it to where I want to go. The screen with today’s time on and a scrolling option menu with every hour and every minute and every second and every millisecond, with the seconds ticking by normally as time continues forward the longer I stand here, studying the screen. I accidentally hit something to do with the time and the hours disappear. Now it’s showing me every microsecond, nanosecond, picosecond and every femtosecond. I am not as surprised as I thought I would be upon seeing just how precise I can travel through time, which does make me wonder if I can go even further, but I don’t know what I hit to bring up this option. Tapping this and tapping that, I eventually found what I was looking for. Attoseconds, zeptoseconds, and I believe the other one is called a yoctosecond, and I don’t know if we do have a name for that other infinitesimal sliver of time that follows. I bet I can travel even more precise than that, but I have to get back to my main focus.

Navigating my way back through the menus until I returned to what I needed, I inputted the necessary commands and soon I was ready for yet another trip through the space-time vortex. Taking a deep breath, I lightly pressed down on the activation button and I disappeared from where I was standing, flying through the vortex as the watch pulled me to exactly where I wanted to go.

All of time was in all around me. Every point in history, that ever was or ever will be flashing by in an instance, every decade being pushed aside by the next, every century ending with just another sunset, every millennium ending with that last second before ticking over to the next.

That single second, if you study it, is full of so much activity, so much life, joy and sadness, and cause and effect. There’s so much going on in a single second that it’s too much to take in all at once, I cannot begin to imagine what can be done in two. You can do so much in such a short amount of time, it’s unbelievable, but I can’t get wrapped up in it all. I must focus on why I entered the Vortex in the first place. I must find that specific point in time and exit back into the world once more. I’m so tempted to stay in the Vortex, study as much of time as I can, take it all in, remain in here for as long as it takes to learn everything, but I must leave.

Finally, I find what I’m looking for. An apocalyptic nightmare, full of burning buildings, scared, screaming people, and Monsters that are having far too much fun. Anger boils up inside me the longer I look at this scene. The damage that Magician has caused. How dare he unleash such beasts upon this world? I must stop this from happening.

The Vortex is thinning out, fading away, leaving me behind on planet Earth once more. Of all the times I’ve travelled through here, it’s a wonder why I haven’t been captivated by it before. It’s beautiful, colourful. Incredible.

Then it’s gone. The door to all of time closing behind me, leaving me in a world that once was stunning and bright but is now bleak, dark and heavy on the eyes. I know I have the power to simply reset time, but I want to repair the damage that was lost right here, right now. I want to learn from this, give me a message that I can overcome anything. This world has seen its darkest moment, and I’m the one to spread the light.

No one or no Monsters notice me. I don’t want them to. I want to do this in the shadows. When this is all over, they won’t remember this. They won’t know the nightmare that had happened. They’ll carry on with their lives, without worrying about it all ending in a matter of moments. I don’t want them to notice me because I don’t want them to know about me before they forget. I know that sounds strange, borderline contradictive, but I feel that is the best way. The only way.

I’m not sure how, though. I need the power to reset the world back to what it was, but I’m not sure what that is. I could really do with some help from Interface right about now.

Something ignited in my hand. I looked down and saw a bright white light pulsating brilliantly.

‘Interface?’ I called, my tone of voice asking what the heck this was, and when he appeared in front of me, he answered.

‘You requested my help. You would like to rebuild this world back to how it was, and I have given you that power.’

In the palm of my hand I hold the power to reset time. And that is exactly what I am about to do. The power buzzes through me, relieving any stress of trying to figure out what I want, I just knew all I had to do was concentrate on precisely what I wanted. I focused on the world I want. The ball of bright white light slowly increases in size, brightness, and strength. I’m rising high into the air, feeling the wind against my face. I close my eyes, making the image of the world I want denser.

With a single blast in every direction, I unleash the light. It spreads around the world, engulfing everything in its path. I see nothing but white light in front of me as I continue to focus on the world I want. I can feel the Space-Time Vortex running through my veins, building up in my hand. I wait until I feel the time is right before unleashing it upon the world. The image that I have in my mind’s eye is stronger than ever as the Vortex covers the world, repairing it, resetting it to what it was before the Monsters came.

When the world was ready, I cut off my powers and the white light starts dimming down before fading away entirely, the energy from the Vortex disappears back to where it came from. A world before the Monsters started to appear. It was only now that I realise how beautiful everything looked; how many different shades of green were on a single leaf and a blade of grass, how many different species that lived in my back garden, and how many differences there were between the most same looking things. Before, I was extremely nervous, hardly ever left my house, and now here I am, noticing how much I’ve missed, how much I’ve taken for granted. I made a promise to myself there and then to go out more, see the sights, explore as much as I can, spend as much time with the people I care about and who care about me: My parents, Tom, Amy; I never want to waste a single second every again.

Then it was gone. The world was back to how it was before. I stood in the centre of a busy street, watching as hundreds of people went about their lives, not knowing what just happened, what I had just done. Now they can finish the sentences that were cut short, the conversations that never happened, and finish the tasks that went incomplete. I watched them walk by without a care in the world except for their own problems, and I was happy.

In a way, I could thank Magician because he allowed me to open my eyes and see the world for what it is. He tested me, pushed me beyond anything that I ever expected, taught me to never give up no matter what, and that there will always be people supporting me through the toughest of times. I will then repay them with my never-ending support. It’s the least I could do.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)