Our Adventure Will Never End

A Past Not Yet Past
Source: https://twitter.com/mistlvv/status/1573943728036773889?s=46&t=vLNTUBeBy1IV0I1VMaKYug

Diary 1337---Entry 8 Floating Future View

“Stubborn to the end. Two halves of the same coin I guess.” She sighs. I sigh.

“Looks like it. So this is your answer?” I shrug my shoulders and keep my declaration strong.

“What I want and what you want are two incompatible views.”

“I don’t think so. In fact, I think you learned much on your own journey. As you grew lonely at the end, becoming one well acquainted with pain, you understand the cruelty of the traveling companion that is sorrow. But exile did not seek you Kronii. You sought it and for your final days did you seek to rob humanity of it’s fruits, it’s treasures and its hope.” Silence. Not unexpected. How can you still be so…heh…stubborn…

Clenching my fist, I stare at my mirror. A perfect woman who encapsulates the idea of flawlessness. Nothing short of 100%. Not a doubt in her mind that every step she took was the better option. I know what to do now. She knows what to do. And yet, I’m afraid. There isn’t a single thing that she doesn’t outclass me in and yet…I have to try.

“Your answer is based on falsehood. It is your duty, it was my duty, to watch the stars fade to black. To watch the last bit of sand fall down the glass. To watch life come and go. To live, experience, grow and laugh and smile and hurt and cry. Isn’t that why you have that body now? A form to finally encapsulate that perfection and to show it off to the world. Is that not who Ouro Kronii is? How could you turn your back on everything those experiences made you Kronii? And so I ask you, one final time. Where did the friendships go? The smiles and celebrations? The burnished warrior. The pride of princesses. All the time has come and gone. As it was supposed to and endured it’s fate. The good and bad all lay silent on the world. The work done below, organizing those of sin and without. Earth is empty and so are you. If you have no words for me left, then there’s only one thing left to do between us.”

Kronii tosses her blades away from herself. They sink into the sands and our eyes lock. This is it I guess. But maybe it has to be like this. A sadistic and prideful warden. Giving up to a dummy like me…she wouldn’t be able to live it down. Ok, final boss time. I take my jacket off and toss it over the sand. No gun, no Watson Concoction, just this massive brain and my pocket watch. Shaking my hands, loosening them up for the flurry of punches I’m gonna need to smash into her head to get her to come to reason.

“Well then, I suppose I should indulge in this. I will make you understand my determination time traveler. My final encounter. Brace yourself!”

Kronii, swift as ever, finds her way to Ame’s face. An up close and personal encounter with her face greets Ame more gracefully than the previous chat. The force behind the hit powered by millennia upon millennia of hidden trauma, pain, anger, sorrow and now, determination helped disfigure the person that received the vicious move. Time was swift. Ever was the advantage of The Warden of Time. Flying off into the endless sands, rag dolled, Ame’s body was seemingly unprepared for the first strike to be so vicious. The sands where her body traveled parted, parted as the great flood. Normally sand would exert an equal and opposite force on objects that push on it but, where she had flown left a trail of shiny, reflective glass. Of course she had planned for that though, over all the cases she had gone through and fights she made it out of, her watch protected her. Shaking her head and looking up at the half kilo or so she had been flown out into, she gathers herself and takes note of the situation. The squeaking sounds from the sands set the stage.

“She totally outclasses me…It’s not even close. I did all that big talk but to fight her, bare handed at that, she’s a monster. Ok what can I do. Think Ame think. You’ve been in bad situations before. Kronii punched you, it was a strong hit. Insanely strong and fast too. But you saw her, she didn’t vanish into thin air, she clearly wound up the punch and mashed it into your face. Then…then either she’s slowed down or you’ve gotten used to it. Yeah, that’s it! You might not be at her level but she’s not perfect! Not anymore!”

“Is this some sort of cope? Talking to yourself? Rationalizing the mistake you’ve made?” With disdain, Kronii’s voiced traveled into Ame, followed by a 2nd punch. The air would feel the might of The Warden but that would be all this time. Quick thinking saves her face from another hit as she had seemingly vanished away, no different from her opponent. The pocket watch was set to speed up her own independent actions this time, not to that of the flow of time. That would be her only edge, one that her opponent shared by nature.

“Lucky you. You know how few are able to dodge my hits. You’re on the list now, congrats.”

“Thanks! But that first punch told me everything I need to know. This fight is mine Kronii!”

Laughter erupts out of the blue figure standing in the sea of yellowish grey. Ame really focused on the figure that stood out in opposition to her, she could see waves of heat radiate off of her. She was upset. Putting it simply as upset isn’t enough. Sometimes when someone is upset or mad, you can feel it, the pressure. The soul crushing pressure that permeated the air around the two. Gritting her teeth, Ame braced for the storm that approached. Visions of movement entered her mind. The impossibly imposing figure of Ouro Kronii stood over her, her body arced back a bit as if winding up a punch. The air felt thin, Ame was choking up at the sight. Her expression morphed into a fearful girl, afraid of the sound of the shifting sand, carrying the hit that could end her life. Sweat rolled down her cheeks and in that moment, Ame felt what so many before her felt when faced with the judgement of The Warden of Time. As the punch approached, she could make out details of her face. A fearful expression, wide eyed, iris’ gone, it was scary, terrifying. A horror out of Ina’s own spell book. The world was oppressively dark, and yet she could still see. The blue of Kronii’s hair and eyes might’ve given relief if they weren’t the cause of the tyrannical feeling. And as soon as it started, it ended, leaving Ame breathless.

“Hah! Kidding! Should’ve seen the look on your face!” Trying to get her bearings, Ame reaches for her neck, checking if there was something around it, constricting her breathing. It slowly started to make sense in her mind, the experience crashed into her entire body. This is what it’s like, to challenge a god. She started regaining her senses, feeling her heart pounding in her chest, she was petrified. Standing still like a doll, life robbed from her, the light missing from her eyes. This was beyond the fear she felt when she first awoke at the end of time. She could at least feel her body still and reach for her shaking limbs back then. It was horrifying to know that she lived only because at the moment, Kronii allowed it.

“Y-yeah…Wh-what’s wrong? You’ve been standing there for a while now.” She’d vomit right then and there if it were any other occasion but, she can’t show weakness to Kronii. Not here, not now. Kronii would take full advantage of the situation and she knows it. The only thing to do was nothing. If Kronii doesn’t react, there’s no reason for her to react. She’s looking for a reaction, you never said anything Ame, you never moved. Just…just smile at her.

Kronii’s impressive staring contest ends with her looking off into the distance and adjusting her hair a bit. “Tell you what, this cat and mouse game will never end without some rules so what do you say to some sort of agreement time traveler?” Ame takes note of being called time traveler again but, is curious enough to bite the bait Kronii has cast. This could be her out, a way to achieve some sort of victory.

“And what are your rules Kronii?” Reaching for the back of her neck, she makes a pained face. The fight, short as it was, was already putting strain on her. Being punched by that force would flatline any regular human but, she left the realm of regular human a long time ago. Not to mention the phantom hit that just shattered her psyche.

“If you can hit me once, before I hit you 3 times, then you’ll be the winner. Sound fair?”
Standing in silence, the sandy realm at the end of time, she felt oddly calm. Win or lose, she said her piece and more surprisingly, Kronii listened. If anything, this was a blessing. A simple condition to follow. Ame reached for the watch once more in her pocket and set time ahead preemptively, Kronii would obviously predict that, and it’d leave her open…hopefully.
“Just one hit?”
“Just one.”
“And you’ll keep your word.”
“I’ll keep it. You know my defense is perfect, I am perfection.” She smirks and raises her arm, extending her hand out. Ame’s eyes widen and she kicks up some sand and hits her watch to speed herself up.

In that split second Kronii had learned just as much as Ame did. In fact, she had learned more about Ame in that moment than their years of traveling and solving cases. The girl with the pocket watch had completely vanished from her sight. Kronii didn’t move, stern in her spot and head held high, proudly she stood alone in the sands, her arm still raised, awaiting an attack that would never contact her.

Ame found her way to the hub entrance, a tactical retreat to think about how to successfully win by Kronii’s rules. The bus stop was still there, bench and all. She glanced at the previous Ame, still frozen in time.

“If I’m at the end of time, then technically I’ve lived a full life at some point right? Honed my skill…and if that’s the case. Then I should be able to draw upon that experience. But how do I tap into it, how do I break into the other side? What do you think Ame? That’s the only chance I have but…” All the words met with little more than sand flowing gently in a breeze from the hall staring into the other room.

“She wanted to retire me…like all the other Amelia’s but…you’re still here. You might not be…alive? But you’re here and you’re the only other Amelia I’ve seen. The graves…are those real? Retire…she wanted the watch back…What else was she saying? What she could “spur” within me? That whole encounter was such a trip…” Staring back at the area, the giant clock had sunk a bit more into the sands, maybe that’s why the tick and tock sounds had been absent for the time being.

“Does that mean there’s a flow of time here? Other than Kronii and I messing with the flow…wait Ame you idiot! If you’re messing with the flow then the flow exists! Right? Tell me I’m right Ame.”
“Yeah Ame you’re right, and you’re so big brained too!” Ame murmurs under her breath. She sighs and sits down, pulling her watch out and staring at it. A large split down the middle of the watch reflects two halves of her face and she lets out another sigh.

“Where have the horses gone? The riders? It’s all up to me…” As Ame declared to Kronii earlier, she took upon the responsibility of her timeline all on her own. Not a moment to rest and think through what her words did not only to Kronii but to herself as well. Was she capable of shouldering all of the good and bad of humanity?
“Ah how I long for those halcyon days of old. When the world was simple, or perhaps, simpler. You get back up Ame, good, or bad, you get back up Ame. All you gotta do is hit her. Just once!” She raises her watch to her face and stares at it while it swings back and forth. What possibilities still lie hidden behind its face?
“To spur me on…she wanted me to…do something? But what? What did she want at the end of eternity? What was it? Why doesn’t she say anything?” Sinking into the bench, she combos it with resting her head on the arm of Ame. Of her. A different her but still her. Did I miss something? Did she miss something? My watch. What does she want it back for? Why go through so much, what is the link? Surprisingly, Kronii hasn’t come after me. Is that because she thinks she doesn’t need to? The silence is starting to get to me. Clear your mind. You’ll think of something, you always do.
She sits back up and stares at the watch again, intently. A full examination of her device, a hint, a clue, anything to tip her off and give her an answer. A record of history, the beginning of time to the end. But alas, other than the mended cut into it, there was nothing.
“Why don’t I just…give it back then? An easy trade right? The watch for the timeline. I have no chance against her, she knows this. She has found me everywhere I’ve gone, well except Atlantis and that’s a special case…Not like I’ll be finding my way back any time soon.” Lines of worry crease over her forehead as she tries to make sense of anything currently going on. Kronii, her watch, the other Ame’s, even herself. Her core foundation for logic and reason was lost, she hadn’t learned anymore since the start of this journey. She was hopelessly wandering around in a hopeless situation. She knew better than anybody Kronii was unbeatable. Their last encounter proved as much; all she had managed to do was run. Run for what? The truth was…

You can’t escape infinity.

And then for a moment, she felt tired. For who knows how long, she was running around time, searching for an answer. For truth. Perhaps this is why the Ame next to her took a seat, to close her eyes and rest. She lowered her arm and sat back, shutting her eyes to the glow of the world.

“Ever fleeting, compared to you, beauty ends in an instant. Isn’t that enough reason?” She reopened her eyes and gone was the fatigue and weariness of her travels. Her body was light, rested, hollow. Whatever ailments existed within her before had vanished. A voice replied to her words.

“If it were beautiful it would last forever. Am I not proof, time traveler?” Snarky and sharp, it traveled confidently.

“Hmph.” A smile formed across the face of the time traveler, and she leapt for her victory. Faster than light she would’ve taken out the Warden then and there if she wasn’t suspicious of what was going on.

“How are you catching up? What is this? It’s ridiculous!” Keeping up with her pace, the two clashed at each other. Hits fly in between, close, but never upon one another.

“The space here is warped and time is bendable. I am only playing by established rules.”

“So you’ve finally arrived. Was it…was it the one on the bench?”

“Bench? Hmm?” She gazes back over the blowing bronze tinted world; a more defined look shaped itself over her face. Sharp eyes that stared at nothing. She slowly struts over to her fallen coat, lifting it up and putting it back on. Beyond years of experience yet earned and somehow…
“Ah you mean her? No, I woke myself up. There was no reason for her to ever come here.”

“No reason…y-you’re…ahaha…ahahahaha…. AHAHAHAH. So this is fate!? Cut the recording! Shut it all down!” The Wardens shouts echoing out into emptiness, who her words were for would be a question for another day as she clenches her fists. Her perfect smile now a disfigured frown.

“Still looking? Let me teach you to never look away from your opponent! Amelia! Watson!” She reached the time traveler before the sound could travel over to reach her ears. Boastful and confident, the Warden pushed her long arm outward to land all 3 hits on the awoken time traveler.

“Never look away…I’ll be sure to pass it on.” The time traveler’s fist crashes into the Wardens stomach in an upward arc, sending her off into the limitless ceiling of the room. So slow, she thought to herself. Or perhaps the Warden never looked into other possibilities, being that her state of mind was a bit chaotic after whatever had just occurred. She stares up with disinterest, wondering how long the flight back down will be. But ultimately, it didn’t matter to her. This was all the time she was allowed. The time travelers’ body couldn’t handle much more than the minute or so. 『  』returns to the bench, sitting in her original position, closing her eyes.

Stretching and opening her eyes, the familiar warm, golden glow of the area greetings her. She was surprised to find that she had dozed off, it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes but at the end of the time, who really knows how much time had passed. The more surprising sight was the body lying next to the bench. It wasn’t just any body, it was Ouro Kronii! Face flat into the sands, Ame jumped up in shock and ran over to check her condition. She was out. Totally lights out!
“Wh-what happened?! H-hey? Helloooo? Kronii? Heyyyyy!” Ame shouted at the woman and turned her body over. Where her stomach should have been was a gapped hole. The brilliant blue crystal that composed her body was in full view. Ame was fascinated by the discovery, only hearing from other council members how Kronii’s physical body was composed but, this was no time for that, Kronii needed help. Ame tapped on Kronii’s face, moving to gently slap her and make her conscious again. She pressed her ear against Kronii’s chest, wondering if she would hear a beat.

“Ah…” Her eyes slowly open up to the gilded view. Bright blonde hair and shining blue eyes with an unnecessarily worried face stared down at her.

“Why are you…crying…idiot.” Her words were quiet. Pained coughs leave her mouth. “How dare you…In my presence. You…cough Can’t…kill a concept…” A heavy sigh follow these words as Ame leaves the obstruction of Kronii’s vision and sits down next to her in the sand. Silent contemplation rests in Kronii’s head. Part of it was fearful. For her who could see into the past and future, there was never an unknown. There was never an x factor that could ever have hoped to surprise her. She lived as perfection personified. When you knew every road, there was no reason to be afraid. And here she was, laying with a hole in her stomach, the size of an adult female fist.
The other half was happy. Joyous to have witnessed something amazing. There was a counterforce that existed, somewhere, somehow, someway, that came to stop her. A spark that reignited something in her. She witnessed the impossible.
“An oblivion…recording…” She whispered under her breath.

“Wh-what? Hey are you uhh…better? Now?” Ame replies, hoping to hear Kronii repeat herself.

“Get my swords…they’ll speed…the process up for me.” Kronii grumbles again and haphazardly lifts her broken body up. Harder than any self-depreciative night full of misery, post depressive episode hangover with a 3-day old cold sub from the fridge, she managed to pull her head up and get her own bearings. Ame cautiously stared at Kronii until she was waved away and motioned towards Kronii’s swords. She ran towards their glimmer and noticed she had been slowing down. Was the sand getting deeper? Or was she simply tired?

“Almost there! Just a se-” Her voice cut tragically short as hands from underneath her pull at her, trying to drag her into a pool of dark, viscous, bubbling fluid. Handprints ran up her legs, matching the dark colour and leaving disturbing streaks across them.
“K-Kronii! If this is another trick, deactivate it please! I’m sinking.” Panicked and hurried, her words spilled out one after another, she was brutally ripped from the comfort she was enjoying moments ago.
Kronii’s head perks up. She was unaware of any sort of secret trick hidden away on her plane. In the direction of Ame’s footprints and stared in shock at what she was witnessing. A portal of the ancient ones. Darkness ethereal encroached on Ame’s body, taking her away and into their void. As panicked as Ame, she pushed herself up, no matter how futile it was in the shifting sands.

“Damn it. The…recording. I shut the system offline. Ame! AME!” Struggling to get up, the wound on her body notwithstanding, she pushed with all her legs might to get over to Ame. Limping over like a wounded warrior, she watched Ame begin to descend.

“JACKET! TAKE THE JACKET OFF AND EXTEND IT TO ME!” Kronii shouted at Ame as she approached her former foe. Her breaths were heavy, terrified, this was the 2nd time in such a short span of time that something happened against the natural flow of time. Ame was quick to rip her jacket off of her back, tossing one end to Kronii while holding a sleeve tight in her own. She was sinking quickly, already down to her waist. Handprints now gather across her chest and arms, soon they would gather over her face.
Kronii fell into the sands, diving to reach for the jacket, wishing she could pull Amelia up. She took a deep breath and shouted with what energy she could muster in the moment.
“BOROS! GET AME OUT OF THERE!” And the sands trembled with might, her ancient pet stirred itself awake. If there was a moment to save her friend, an opportunity, she would toss her pride aside and do it. Ame was sunken up to her chest now, the prints scatter across her fearful face as something had found its way into infinity and violated her person. Boros found his way to Ame, slithering towards her simply as a snake, but enormous as a chthonic beast of old, the Python. It rode underneath Ame, sure to spring her out of the pool but had instead, sunken in with her, even speeding up the process as the large body expanded the darkness.

“KRONII!”
“AME!”

“Some things are beautiful because they cannot be obtained! Have you heard of this before Kronii? In other words…” An unknown voice speak out amongst the two. In between seconds, she vanished. The dark portal of the Ancient Ones shuts, thieving Ame away from the scene but, not at least without some resistance from the Warden of Time. She reached out her arm once more, for the first time in eternity, she reached out to take hold of something precious to her but, was left pulling at a jacket. A jacket that slid out of Ame’s hand and hung from Kronii’s hand, empty.

A Past Already Past:
Entry 7 TIMELINE ERROR

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Pub: 30 Dec 2022 23:51 UTC
Edit: 01 Jan 2023 06:19 UTC
Views: 525