After the End: Serenity

The next set of Tutorials were as uneventful as the first, but Serenity was very, very tired of them. The only thing that seemed to change from one to the next was the way Time blurred at the start and end of each one.

[Tutorials Completed as Instructor: 25/180]

He’d spent years of subjective time in Tutorials now, and yet he knew that each Tutorial was only half an hour here, less than that in real time. He could feel the memories blurring together as he tried to resolve the difference.

It didn’t have to be resolved. It was all three Times simultaneously; they were all true. They were separated by something. It wasn’t exactly space as Serenity had understood Space, but at the same time it was.

He’d always heard that Time and Space weren’t really separate even though the standard Universal magic model held them that way. It suddenly made sense. You couldn’t move something in Time without also moving it in space; they were the same thing. You might be able to stretch or slow time NOW or even reach the memories or future of what was HERE, but without Space, Time was bound in shackles.

It suddenly made sense to him.

He knew what the Voice was doing to make the Tutorials separate and yet overlapping. They weren’t supposed to overlap in the same place at the same time, so the Voice ran them very quickly sequentially. They were supposed to proceed to the next Stage “before” the next group was ready.

Yet his group was in Stage Two.

So all of the groups that were to go to stage two were waiting in the space between seconds.

All because he’d accepted the offer to do more Tutorials now instead of later. Not that “now” and “later” were exactly different. They were the same as “here” and “there”, simply different locations on the strand of Time that was his life-

A strand that wrapped back on itself. He could see the way his strand of time whipped through a future that never was and coiled around his NOW-

[Time Remaining in Stage Two: 04:02.47]

[Time before next Beast spawn: 00:10.47]

[Note: Killing all spawned Beast Lords will cause an early spawn of the next Beast group]

[Time before first Beast attack: 00:11.47]

Beast Lords defeated: 10/15

Beast Lords spawned: 12/15

It was after dark, so everyone was back in camp. While they’d made good progress on the beast leaders, there were still two groups that no one had found. The core group - Nightwitch, Doyle, Echo, Lancaster, Rissa, and Moira - were waiting for Serenity to return so they could finalize the plans for the next day. Liuyedao had been invited, but he claimed he wasn’t interested and would rather get more sleep instead.

Nightwitch wanted to have Serenity continue Tutorials for the next six hours, then stop to prepare for the Beast spawn and attack. Doyle was of the opposite opinion; he thought they’d handled the Beast Lords just fine without Serenity so far and that if they needed Serenity to save them and couldn’t wait half an hour, they didn’t deserve to win.

The only person who could resolve the dispute was Serenity, and he should be back soon.

A figure appeared in the shelter near the Dungeon entrance, but as Nightwitch called out to him, Serenity just stood there.

Why isn’t he moving?

Nightwitch watched as a small wooden biplane glided silently above a Luftwaffe formation. Several small objects fell from the biplane, which turned away from its course as explosions lit the night.

Nightwitch could see the biplane’s sister planes turning above the formation to drop their own bombs as the first plane fled and the scene faded.

The scene that faded in was a wedding. It was still, like a photo, but it seemed real in a way a picture didn’t. It was years later and Nightwitch hadn’t seen the woman flying the biplane, but she somehow knew the woman in the white dress was the same woman. She had a small symbol like a pair of wings pinned to her dress.

The man wore an early United States Air Force uniform with a pair of silver wings that matched the woman’s wings.

The scene faded but did not disappear. It shrank and was joined by several other images, each connected to a string. Some of the people in the images were military and some were not, but nearly everyone - both male and female - wore a pair of silver wings. The strings twisted together into a single silver cord that approached Nightwitch.

Nightwitch heard a Voice. It was quiet, and yet it filled the emptiness around her.

“Call me Nightwitch. It’s a family name.”

The voice was youthful, but it was still her voice.

[Time affinity initiated]

Echo stood at the counter in the Greyhound station. She still hurt from the last beating, but that didn’t matter. She’d finally gotten away. “I need a ticket to New York City. The next one I can get.”

The man at the counter looked her up and down. “Do you have someone there for you? It’s a long way, and not a good place to run to.”

Echo probably did look like a runaway. It was true, after all. Even if what she was running away from wasn’t her family. “My aunt’s there. I’ll let her know which bus it is so she can meet me.”

Echo didn’t have a way to let her aunt know she was coming. She’d never had her aunt’s phone number, and she didn’t have a phone anyway. What she did have was an address and a set of directions from a card she’d saved two years before.

Hopefully, her aunt hadn’t moved.

2613 … 2615 … 2617. There it was. Her aunt’s address. Echo walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. When no one answered, she pressed the button again.

She leaned against the wall next to the door. Echo hadn’t been able to catch her breath since some time on the second bus. She also hadn’t really been able to sleep. Every time she fell asleep, the pain would wake her up.

A car engine cut off behind her, then a door opened and slammed shut. Echo turned to see a woman carrying groceries headed up the walkway towards her. The woman looked a lot like how Echo remembered her mother looking.

“Aunt Claire?”

The woman seemed to notice Echo. “Who?”

“I’m Felicity. Megan’s daughter?” Echo hated the name Felicity. Nothing had been felicitous since she could remember. It was almost as bad as being called Lucky, except that then she’d have been able to say that it was true as long as the luck was all bad.

“Felicity? You’re-” Aunt Claire nearly dropped the groceries, then hurried up to Echo. “Come in! How are you? How’s your mother?” She hugged Echo.

Echo couldn’t suppress the wince and groan as Aunt Claire squeezed her bruised ribs. Aunt Claire immediately released her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“It’s not you. I just have bruises.” Echo lifted her shirt to show her aunt. The part of her side Echo revealed was puffy and black with blood under the skin. The areas that weren’t covered in new bruises had the yellow and green remnants of old bruises.

Aunt Claire’s eyes narrowed. She brought Echo into the house and set her down. They talked for a bit, before Echo started to drift off to sleep sitting on the couch. Echo heard part of a phone conversation as she drifted in and out.

“...my sister’s kid … doorstep … bruises on bruises … today, please … yes ...”

“Felicity? I need you to come with me.” Aunt Claire led Echo out to the car. Echo faded in and out of sleep, just like on the bus. “... in today … don’t like …” Echo couldn’t really piece together what Aunt Claire was saying until they arrived at a place called a “Health Center”.

Was Aunt Claire taking her to a doctor over a few bruises? “But the cost ...” Echo wasn’t sure when the last time she’d seen a doctor was. Her parents hadn’t been able to afford it.

“It’s worth it. I don’t like the look of that bruise.” Aunt Claire wasn’t accepting no, and Echo didn’t have the strength to argue.

They walked into a large waiting area with several entrances. Aunt Claire said something to the receptionist and a couple minutes later someone walked into the room from one of the doors. “Felicity?”

Felicity was led back into one of the exam rooms. She leaned on her aunt for support. The walk to her aunt’s place must have taken more out of her than she’d thought.

Echo’s memory splintered.

She knew she took off her shirt so the doctor could examine her chest. She knew it hurt when the doctor pressed her fingers against the bruises. She tried to take a deep breath when the doctor asked, but it hurt when she tried. She remembered the doctor sending them both to the hospital.

The memories turned sideways and shattered into a string of images that spiraled around a center point. Images flashed by that she hadn’t seen.

Echo lying on a surgical bed.

A doctor talking to her aunt.

Her aunt sitting in a waiting room.

Her aunt pacing around the waiting room.

Her aunt on the phone.

Her aunt walking across the hospital parking lot. In the distance, Echo can see Rissa and Serenity vanish while her aunt freezes in place.

Echo herself waking up with Blaze standing over her.

The images stop spinning and expand. She falls backwards through Time, remembering the beating and why she was beaten. Remembering the others trapped in the same place she was. Remembering how she got there, and how she got out.

Time speeds up and she’s sitting up, finally pain free for the first time in months, maybe years. Blaze’s smile is the first thing she sees as she wakes up.

I can’t change the past. Maybe I can change the future.

[Time affinity initiated]

The baby cried as Maria handed their daughter to him. Doyle held her in wonder. Rhionna was a beautiful baby-

Doyle watched as Rhionna raced by on her first real bicycle. The training wheels had only been off for a day, but that didn’t seem to matter-

Doyle thanked his neighbors when they brought Rhionna home safe once again. Human or not, it was good to have friends in the hills and forest who would keep a child safe when she explored places she wasn’t supposed to go-

Doyle braked to a stop while Rhionna picked herself up off the mountainside, grinning. The rock she’d hit was nowhere to be seen, but she was fine beyond some bruises and a dented helmet. Her mountain bike wasn’t damaged-

Doyle sat in the kitchen and watched the front door. Rhionna hadn’t been home all night, and for all that he knew she could take care of herself - he’d taught her as much as he could when he was home, and others had taken his place when he wasn’t - he wouldn’t relax until he saw his little girl safe at home. The front door opened and Doyle pretended to be busy with his morning coffee as Rhionna came through the door-

The look of joy on Rhionna’s face as she came home from her first semester of nursing school, carrying a bag of dirty laundry-

“I’d like your blessing.” Young Jack stared at Doyle with a look that seemed half hopeful and half defiant. He’d clearly gone to some effort to look presentable. Doyle suspected Young Jack was in the nicest non-ritual clothing he owned. His long white hair was tied back instead of left loose, revealing the small nubs of horn on his forehead that were the only blatant sign of his half-Human heritage.

Doyle shook his head. “No. I won’t stand in your way if you’re the one Rhionna wants, but I won’t give you my blessing.”

Young Jack tensed as though he expected a blow. “I thought you were better than that. I thought you didn’t care we’re-” He turned away.

“I want someone who can give her a better life.” The words were said to Young Jack’s back as he walked away. Doyle didn’t think Young Jack believed him.

Doyle walked his only daughter down the aisle to meet Young Jack. As they reached the front, Old Jack - Young Jack’s grandfather - told the young couple to join hands. Doyle and Esmerelda - Young Jack’s mother - each pricked a finger, then dripped blood on the joined hands, his blood on Young Jack’s hand and Esmerelda’s on Rhionna’s. Doyle watched as the blood that landed on the joined hands disappeared.

Doyle could only grin at the expression of shock on Young Jack’s face. He clearly hadn’t realized what his grandfather and Doyle had talked about in the long hours they’d spent planning the wedding. Doyle might not have blessed the courtship, but he wholeheartedly wanted his daughter’s marriage to be happy. Giving his blessing in the way of her husband’s people should help-

A heavily pregnant Rhionna cuddled against Young Jack in a small cave. Young Jack looked different; his buds had grown into small horns which curved slightly backwards and the nails Doyle had never really paid attention to had been allowed to grow out into claws. They were both dressed in tattered, dirty clothing. Rhionna was crying, while Young Jack glared at the wall. It looked like he’d cried as well, earlier, but anger was all he showed now.

Doyle recognized the cave. It was a place Rhionna had played in as a child. Back then, it hadn’t been filled with supplies and weapons.

A lot of weapons but no ammunition. Doyle could see boxes that had once held ammunition and reloading supplies, but they were all empty.

“Is there anything -” Rhionna’s voice was clear despite her tears.

Young Jack tightened his arms around her. “No. It’s all over. We’ve lost. Even the mountain will be destroyed soon. We’ve put up too much of a fight, but we took too long.”

The view Doyle had slowly rotated until he could see the wall they both watched. It held a long, long list of names.

The first two names were his and Old Jack.

Doyle saw the world outside the cave light up, then a blast of wind tore through the cave. The scene faded out before he could see what happened to his daughter and son-in-law.

[Time affinity initiated]