Time’s Fate
Prologue
For all of existence I have been cursed by men. By “men” I do not mean a man himself, or even the male species. All of mankind has detested me, cursed my existence. “If only I had more time,” they would say. They frequently complained of my duty. I could have been more merciful to their timelines, I suppose. So many died so young, before they should have. But I have an entire universe to oversee, and I cannot watch every person in it. Some slip through the cracks and for that I am regretful.
I was an idea- an object. But slowly I was ousted- my duty done. The universe became so accustomed to my existence that I no longer needed to exist. I was a natural law and did not need to enforce my will any longer. After several millennia I was freed from my chains and given a new life. I was the last to go of us; there was only one immortal left, and he was slowly losing power as well.
He was God.
Not God in your sense of the word. Not even God in any other definition. He- if it was a he- had existed before even I had come into being. I knew no more of him than that he was the first of us- and the last. His power was slowly decaying as the universe took hold of its own destiny and his duty to it was diminishing every moment.
This God- I called him Zeus, a personal joke on my part- had only one job. He was to weave creation, because the natural order of things could not do it for itself. For billions of years he created, wove into species their duty in the natural order. The only time he neglected his duty in the hopes that the universe could decipher its own direction, an asteroid crashed into his favorite planet, killing the pets he had worked so hard to create. He was devastated, and vowed never to return to that galaxy again. However, Destiny and I- before he too had been freed of duty- we nursed the planet back into existence. We created a larger array of animals, smaller, more beautiful to look at than the large ferocious beings he had treasured. It took the two of us to create them and millions of years to do it. When Zeus discovered our surprise he was overwhelmed. As a gift to us he created mankind. They were to become both an entertainment and a woe, much like the modern soap operas.
“I thank you, my friends. This shall be the domain of my most favorite creature. It is here we shall go when we are no longer needed.”
I did not understand then what he had meant. But when the first of us was freed of duty- Destiny, it was- he was sent to this planet. The species there was beginning to call it, “Earth”. He took a role as a human man and lived for longer than any of us could have imagined in that weak, frail body. He lasted for three hundred years and dragged out his mortal life with the magic of the power he had once had. After death he passed into the next world, where the Lord of Dead reigned. Several years later, the Lord of Dead was granted a role on Earth- he, too, was no longer needed. The natural order of things was coalescing into what it was meant to be- self sufficient.
And so it passed this way for many years until Zeus and I were the only ones left. I knew I was indispensable, and my duty would never be done. I was time, the river that flowed in one direction. I would always be needed and my job would never be done.
Or so I had thought.
I was so terribly wrong. It seemed that I was no longer needed. Zeus would create my body, and I had asked for a female one. He warned me, “You will live the longest of them. You have been the most powerful, and are the oldest aside from me. You are no longer time, no longer a being with power. You shall become a mere woman, but I estimate you shall live for longer than I can foresee. Perhaps we shall meet on Earth in several hundred years.”
“Creation will always be needed, my companion.” I could not smile because I had no body, but I longed to then. I think he felt my feelings of warmth and regret.
I could feel his disbelief. Even now he knew he was losing strength. The universe was creating stars and planets of its own accord, now. Things were not as they had been. “You need a name, Time. A name befitting your goodness and sense of justice. You have always been my favorite and I will miss your presence.” He was sad, I could tell. Even as he was simultaneously creating millions of lives in the universe, he found the…time…to pity me, to miss me. “I know you love the mythology these humans hold dear. You have always found it amusing to refer to me as Zeus, and it is your humor I placed in mankind. Unlike the others, whom I named, I ask you to name yourself. You have earned the honor.”
I was so happy then. I was honored he thought so highly of me, and I replied, “I would like to be Freyai.”
“Ah, I assume after the Norse goddess of love and beauty? So shall it be done. Perhaps I shall join you in several hundred years.”
One
Five hundred years old and I still looked like the beauty I had been created to be. Zeus had been right when he had said his goodbyes; I would last the longest of them. Even Fate had at least looked forty by the time she was five hundred, and she had been one of the more powerful of the immortals beneath me.
I still looked to be in my early twenties, and as one gets older and wiser, forever twenty can get exasperating. Men at that age used to be proper and much more mature. However in this age they were but tall children and women seemed to be their toy of choice. I had not had a relationship since the 1960’s. I suppose loneliness was starting to grow on me.
I could no longer go by the name Freyai, it was too uncommon in the age. I went by Arcadia instead, seeking anonymity. It was still an uncommon name, but not so easily mispronounced as Freyai.
I spent my days without much incident, much as I had for several years. I lived in America, mostly because it had seemed the place to be during the sixties. It never lost its appeal, not during the cold war, oil embargo, assassinations, or catastrophes. I had always found a shocking amount of peace in America…but only in select cities. The bustling metropolis of New York had not been one of them. Basically everywhere else- Miami, San Francisco, Chicago- even rural towns out beyond their limits were perfect for me. I was planning on moving back to Britain or India in another century, but for now I enjoyed the American spirit.
I lived in a small house outside of Grand Rapids, a city in West Michigan. It was close to I-131, but not too close. This allowed me to be in a large city within minutes but I was allowed my quiet and privacy.
It was Friday, my allotted day to go to the mall with a friend I had made a few years ago. She had been twenty then, a blossoming socialite with hundreds of male suitors. Today she was married with three children and getting closer to the dreaded forty. Her name was Jenna, too simple a name for a woman so complex.
She picked me up in a silver jaguar- her husband’s. As I stepped in, ducking my head, she launched into a tirade, peeling away from the curb before I could fully close the door. “He had a fit, Cady.” She took a breath and inwardly laughed at the human instinct to give people nicknames. Cady seemed so simplistic compared to Arcadia. She continued, “I told him a thousand times I was shopping today- like every Friday- and he forgot. Again. Thank God Mikey is old enough to babysit Jeff and Tisa, or that man would never have experienced sex again. If that stupid school hadn’t scheduled today as a stupid “break” I wouldn’t have had to depend on that imbecile that is my husband. I need to spend money like my mother needs therapy, and by god, I shall have it!”
Jenna had long wavy blond hair that fell in all the right places. She had piercing green eyes, high cheekbones, full lips, and a surgically enhanced nose and chin. She was dressed in a black A-line skirt, knee-high boots, and a navy shirt with an empire waist. Her large breasts- which she swore were natural- peeked out enough that if she moved wrong her black bra showed lace. She was clad in diamonds on her neck, wrist, and of course her left hand.
Compared to Jenna I was a street tramp, even though I dressed well. I looked good, too- long black hair and gray almond-shaped eyes. I had high cheekbones and an angular nose. All of it was natural, even though due to my longstanding friendship with Jenna that fact was often questioned. I was a poster woman for Express, my favorite store of the decade. In the eighties it had been Calvin Klein, and in the seventies…I tried to think back, but was interrupted by Jenna passing a Volvo on the right.
Her driving was enough to scare even me, a former immortal. “Jenna, please calm down. I don’t want to die today.” She swerved onto the entrance ramp with a screech of tires and I yelped. A glance at the speedometer revealed she was going ninety, and the road was slick with rain. “Jenna, please!” I whimpered.
She slowed down a bit, but cut off enough cars that I still couldn’t relax. “Sorry. But, ugh! That man! He said he had an appointment he had to keep, and wouldn’t be back until dinner. Normally he gets Fridays off, but lately…” there was a pause, and I knew what was coming. “He’s cheating on me! Isn’t he, Cady?! That rat bastard is probably bonking his secretary right now!”
“Oh God.” I said with exasperation, as she took the wrong exit. “Jenna, he probably is just working overtime, and where are we going? This isn’t the way to any of the malls. Are we…” It dawned on me where we were going. We were on the direct path to her husband’s law office on Leonard Street.
“We are gonna catch that asshole! And then I’m getting a divorce!” She swerved into the oncoming traffic lane, cutting off the black truck in front of us. Jenna is a little crazy sometimes but when she gets angry it is really horrible. Normally her wrath is short-lived, but when it came to her husband she was a slow fire, rising and rising with each spark.
“What if he’s not cheating, Jenna? What if you burst in on a perfectly normal meeting?” I asked, kicking the floor reflexively as we ran a red light. What I would give for control over the brakes right then…
“Well.” She had no real answer for that. “I suppose I’ll make up something about Michael’s soccer match…or something.” She seemed frazzled, glancing at me, then at the road. “You don’t think he’s cheating?”
“With a body like yours? He’d be an idiot to cheat on you. You still look twenty.” She actually did look twenty, but that was due to plastic surgery. Facelifts can make anyone look twenty. As well as liposuction…And about four nose jobs.
She scoffed, but smiled all the same. “Well, I’ve had work done. What’s your secret? I mean, I swear you haven’t aged since our days out clubbing.” She laughed. “I remember the crazy nights we had, and half the time I didn’t remember them the next day. It drove me crazy that you kept whatever happened to yourself.” She frowned, provoking a laugh from me.
“Jenna, turn around, get back on the expressway. Let’s go shopping, please.” I begged her. I was not prepared for an adventure in her own anger and self pity when she discovered he was cheating on her. I’d had my suspicion for a while but as a good friend, hadn’t mentioned anything. I was almost positive he was, though.
“Well, we’re almost there. Might as well, don’t you think? Maybe I’ll offer to run and get him Chinese when we stop in…if he’s alone.”
I sighed. I wasn’t winning this one, we were going either way. “Fine, fine.” We pulled into the driveway and I saw her husband’s black Mercedes-Benz alone in the parking lot, setting off alarms of suspicion. I looked over at Jenna. “What the hell?” I asked, furrowing my brow. I didn’t normally swear because of my long time standing as a being of supreme and ultimate power I thought it not very classy. Sometimes you need to get your point across though.
“My thoughts exactly.” Jenna’s anger was returning. “A meeting without anyone else? But there’s no other car…” Her anger was replaced with suspicion. “What’s the deal?” She parked next to his car, the Jaguar looking sleek and dangerous next to the Benz.
We got out, and I was careful not to ding the Benz. I closed the door softly, knowing that silence was the best way to sneaking up and finding out what was going on. I felt a growing sense of suspicion that had shown up when I’d seen the mostly-empty parking lot. “Let’s go in.” I said, walking resolutely up to the front door of the building. I turned the knob. Locked.
Jenna tried it herself, as if her touch was more efficient than mine. She frowned. “Let’s go the back way. It’s normally unlocked.”
I was getting a bad feeling about this, like an imminent disaster was looming. “Jenna…” I began, but she was already around the corner of the building, blond locks bouncing up and down with each step of her high heeled boots. I followed resolutely.
I was barely around the corner when I banged into her from behind. “Jenna-“ I began, looking beyond her. I stopped before I began the sentence.
Her husband was there, pointing a .38 revolver at his wife. My eyes widened in shock and looked beyond him to a parked nondescript dodge. It was so plain I didn’t even bother remembering the model. Leaning against it was a handsome man around twenty, but that’s all I gained from looking at him. My attention was focused more on the gun being pointed at my closest friend- and me, since I was behind her.
“Gareth?” She asked, fear in her voice. I could almost hear her thoughts. He was just shocked that someone came around the corner. He won’t shoot me, I’m his wife. Everything will be okay…
“Jenna, I used to love you so much.” His eyes were glazed. I could tell that look; I had seen it in the eyes of murderers after they had killed. I remembered coming upon the dead body of someone I had not meant to die until late in their life, an their murderer had stood over their body with that look on their face.
Memories flooded back to me; of lives lost because of my spreading myself too thin over the universe. I had been preoccupied with managing time in another galaxy and had not been there to stop so many with a good destiny from dying.
I could stop this.
The shot rang clear in my ears as I pushed Jenna to our right, shielding her with my body. But I knew-knew- that I had not been fast enough. I had been too entrenched in my own thoughts, so afraid of letting another die. As blood blossomed from her chest, just beneath her breasts, I began to sob silently. She still had eyes for her husband, blinking emotionlessly. My tears fell onto her face as I tried to stop the bleeding. She looked at me and smiled. “Run.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Run. You won’t… live through a gunshot.” She whispered, and looked down at her chest. “They really are fake…” She closed her eyes and laughed silently to herself. I looked over to her husband.
He was reloading his gun. Apparently he had already used five of the shots earlier, because what fool carries a gun with only one bullet? I glanced at the man leaning against the car, then flicked back to Gareth. “Why?” I croaked out.
He glanced up at me dazedly, blond hair stuck to his forehead. He had been out in the rain earlier and his hair was a mess. He had a good body for a forty-five year old. “I don’t really know.” He said pleasantly. He aimed the loaded gun at me. “Sorry, Arcadia.”
The bullet never had a chance to hit me. I used to be Time itself, and apparently all of my latent powers had waited until then to reveal themselves. I paused the universe. I did it without thinking. I just didn’t want to die. I knew I would, someday, but I liked the way mankind was going; I wanted to be part of it, not a spectator. I paused the entire universe.
I felt the power again. It was like being deaf, blind, and mute, then suddenly regaining those senses, plus another. It was like I was Time again- I could feel the pulse of life, strand after strand of lives intermingling. I focused on Gareth, and saw his life story.
He had just killed five people because they had seen him with Mark, the man at the car. Mark had been a professional killer until he had gone to prison five years before. He had just gotten out a year ago and met up with Gareth. The two had begun an illicit affair and it remained secret until his secretary got wind of it. She threatened blackmail the night before, and he had picked her up this morning promising fifteen thousand dollars. He killed her, a cyclist going by earlier (I could see the bicycle in the dumpster next to the building, on my right) and three other unlucky witnesses. Mark had helped him, and they were now partners in crime. He killed his wife because he was still shook up from so many deaths and it seemed logical at the time. Later, he would regret this day. He was also slated to kill me immediately after his wife. This however, was not true. As I looked at the timeline, at the infinite strands that became ultimately clear as the car in front of me; I saw it. The last addition to my lifeline, an artificial, quick cut.
Today, I was not meant to die, but I would have if I had been but a powerless woman. The universe had grown tired of me, and had written the timeline so that I would be killed like a simple, unlucky human. It was not meant to be this way; my destiny was to live out my life as a woman, dying only of old age. I had been the servant for thousands of years and my reward-as had been the reward for the other immortals- was that I was meant to live freely and for as long as possible.
Basically, the universe was trying to kill me.
It didn’t take much to adjust the timeline. I had done things like this every day, every second hundreds of years ago, and it came back quickly. Absently, I called out for Zeus through the strands, and found no trace of him in the Ether. Apparently he had been replaced by the universe as well. I wondered absently where he had ended up and if I would see him again.
I rewound time so that the bullet had not been fired. I made sure the strands were correct-that my lifeline did not end with this day-and began the roil of time again.
He aimed the loaded gun at me. “Sorry, Arcadia.”
And he paused. His partner looked at him expectantly, but Gareth didn’t pull the trigger. He lowered the gun and sighed. “Bury her, take care of the kids. You never saw me.” He put the safety on, and put it in the back of his jeans, looking over to Mark. “Let’s go.”
Mark didn’t move. “She’s a liability.”
Gareth sighed, opened the driver’s door. “She won’t talk. She loves my kids, she won’t let them think their father killed their mother.” Mark didn’t move for a moment, then stepped into the passenger side. They drove away without incident.
You might wonder why I didn’t rewind time so Jenna would live. The thing was that she was meant to die that day; I could tell. Her strand would not allow her to live past 10:47 on Friday, October fourth. If she didn’t die from a gunshot, it would have been something else. It was her fate to die that day.
However, I could tell that my strand had been altered. When I adjusted time, my strand had snapped back into place and I saw I was not meant to die for another thousand years, from natural causes. I was supposed to live out my life on Earth for my service to the universe.
But the universe was trying to undo what was meant to be. It was adjusting time to be rid of me.
Why?
Was it because it knew I still had power over time? I had not realized it until the bullet had been flying toward me. I thought all power I had was gone with my immortality. Did the universe know?
Was it self-aware?
Self-sufficent of course. But could an entity that large be self aware without Zeus and I’s knowledge? Of course not. We would have felt the intelligence building. We had coddled the universe, done our jobs to better it for living creatures; in our mass treks we would have found evidence of a growing intelligence, an underlying consciousness. It was, and always had been, a simple being. It learned, over thousands of years, from our examples. It became so used to Fate that it began to implement it; so accustomed to an afterlife it supported it. So it could not be a conscious being; it was too simplistic. It had taken us millennia of training for the universe to become what it was today. If it had possessed any intelligence we would have been out of jobs sooner; it would have learned faster.
So what was happening? Why was Time being obstructed?
A thought occurred to me as I held my dead friend’s body in my arms. Perhaps something else was at work here. Perhaps something had ousted Zeus in my absence, some devious entity.
Perhaps…we had not been the only immortals.
Two
I left the crime scene. I was back home before I knew it, and staring into the distance. I could slightly see the edges of Jenna’s estate as I looked out of my window. I sighed, slumping into an easy chair.
“What do you want from me?” I whispered to the universe.
I headed over to Jenna’s house, knocking on the door. Mikey answered, eating a candy bar. He was fourteen, three years older than the twins. Jeff and Tisa were playing in the entryway, and even though and hour had passed since their mother had left, Mikey was looking straggled already. I sympathized- I had been on babysitter duty since the day the kids were born. Mikey grinned at me, and I stepped inside without a word.
“Hey Twinsies!” I yelled to the eleven-year-olds. I turned to Mikey as the Twins yelled, “Auntie Cady!” and ran to me. I was pummeled by two eighty-pound kids as I attempted to talk.
“Where’s your mom, Mike?” I knew he hated being called Mikey, so I tried to get along with him. He was a blossoming teen so I tried to step lightly around him.
Of course, I knew where their mother was. She was lying dead on Leonard street, not twenty minutes away. But there was no way I would share that information with Mikey, because I was going to play the victim. Well, one of the victims. It was better than being on trial for murder.
I would keep Gareth’s secret. Though it wouldn’t take the police long to put the pieces together, I would never be the one to tell his children I was there when their mother died. I gave the police a day to find Jenna’s body and a week to put the pieces together. Why, yes, her husband had worked in the exact same building her body was lying next to. Yes, his secretary was dead in the dumpster. My, my, maybe the husband is the murderer.
Gareth, in the parking lot, with the revolver. I could win a game of Clue.
Mikey’s brow furrowed. “She’s been gone an hour. She was supposed to pick you up. She was pretty pissed at Dad for something, so she left early.”
I shook my head, looking puzzled. I hated lying to the poor boy. “She never did.”
“Mommy’s gone?” Tisa asked, tilting her head up at me.
“Are you going to babysit, Aunt Cady?” Jeff asked, eyes bright with excitement. Normally when I babysat, I ordered pizza or let them eat ice cream for dinner. And bedtime was always later than they were allowed.
Mikey shrugged, worry gone from his eyes. “She must have gone somewhere first. She’ll probably just be late. I bet she’s at your house now, knocking on your door.”
Oh, if only, kid.
“Well, I might as well stay awhile. She’ll see my car is gone and probably figure I’m here.” I smiled at Mikey. “You hungry?”
His eyes lit up. He knew where this was going. “Oh, yeah.”
“How about some pizza?”
The cops called later. A dead body had been found, and did I know a Jenna Spinnet? I acted shocked, like I was supposed to, and called Jenna’s sister, Lori. She insisted on telling the kids the news- that mommy was dead- so she knocked on the door almost as soon as I had called her house.
I left soon after. My work was done. The police had my cell phone number if they needed it, and Lori would take care of the children. I slipped out as Lori was telling the kids that “Mommy went to heaven.” I wish I could have told them that heaven did exist, and that it was an amazing place. I’d seen it from afar, and it seemed a fitting place for the dead.
Jenna was dead, and so was my life here. Six hours after the murder I was gone, on my way south. I had no idea where I was headed, and my plan was simple.
Find Zeus. I needed to figure out what happened. Where he was, what had caused such a drastic change in the natural order. He was out of a job, something I found shocking. His power had diminished when I left him, but I did not expect him to change to human form so soon. I had thought maybe a couple thousand years before he would be ousted, but here it had only been five hundred- a blink to we immortals. I was not immortal anymore, but with my talents as Time itself, I could be close to it.
My only limitation was if Zeus was actually scheduled to die. Be scheduled for death is much different than the universe’s shifting of the timeline, slating me for an early death. Death scheduling was much like Jenna’s death: preconceived at the moment of her conception. I could not undo this. The only up side was that death scheduling could not be undone. An early death could be arranged, but no human could live past their due date. Fate always found a way.
The universe was watching me now, calculating. I was constantly on the alert for any disaster, and I traversed south by way of expressways. As I drove I had the time line open in front of me, constantly watching it. I monitored mine the closest as I called out for one similar to mine: Zeus’. I sifted through thread after thread, prodding here, touching there. I would be able to tell if Zeus still lived. I would know. I also knew that if he was dead, I needed to find a way to undo it. If he was dead, I knew it had been before his scheduled death: we immortals were not meant for a short life. Millenia after millennia of supervising a growing universe? Our life on Earth was a gift that should not be denied. If Zeus was dead, and had been denied that gift…
I would wreak my vengeance like no other. The universe would rue the day it attempted to murder me. Of course, I could bring Zeus back no problem. I was Time, after all, and I needed another Immortal to implement the plan I was already formulating.
It was easy to drive while monitoring the length of my life, almost too easy. My powers were returning but I would never be the entity I once was. It was good I had trained so hard and so often in human defense. If the universe had it in for me, I needed all the help I could get.
There! Too quick to see, and only milliseconds to avoid it. My strand glowed red and was a thousand years shorter- I was about to die. A semi truck was going too fast on the ramp and merging with too much velocity, turning his wheel too fast. He was going into the leftmost lane and did so with a too-fast turn. The gas tank tipped, tipped…
I braked, spinning the car around the opposite direction. I maintained my thrust and without losing much speed, rocketed along in the opposite direction. I was going the wrong way toward oncoming traffic. A hard left and I was on the ramp the doomed semi had veered off of. The ramp was slick with newly-fallen rain and patches of ice. Strangely cold for October, but it was Michigan, so it made an odd amount of sense.
My strand still glowed red as the tanker exploded. Even a few hundred feet away my car rocked slightly, and I was pushed off the road. Too late I realized the tanker had been a diversion, and my car was through the steel fence between the ramp and a seventy- foot ravine.
I was Time. I would not die here. I was out of the car faster than I had realized my mistake. I used the car as leverage to propel me toward the ramp, kicking its flank with superhuman strength. I rocketed through the air like a well-dressed lawn dart.
The car crashed below me as I held onto the remnants of the metal rail. I still had the web of time in my vision; my strand was a quiet translucent, no longer a terrifying red. I was safe, for now.
But safety, like all things, was relative. I knew that until this was over, I would find no rest, no peace.
I was going through my options at a rest stop. Apparrently the ramp had not been an exit ramp to an actual road, merely a small rest stop. It was dark and a trucker was already stopped for the night, even though it was relatively early. I sat on a bench across from the “STATE OF MICHIGAN” sign with my head in my hands. The sign before me detailed all the fictional things that the history books insist happened, but in all honesty the state never amounted to much more than a wannabe New England. Reading how this trader did this, that president was born there…it became quite tedious. Especially considering that the president mentioned wasn’t even really elected. I’m sure that the Presidential Order of Succession was meant to be used well, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It was quite like a Michigander to cling to the coattails of a politician with actual popularity in the polls…
But I digress.
I was going through my options, and they weren’t looking pretty. I wasn’t sure whether I should just die now and get it over with or keep trying to find Zeus. Zeus- what would his name be now? He always liked Gareth, one of the knights of Arthur. Too bad Gareth was killed before he could pass into legend like Joseph of Aramathea. My fault- I’d been monitoring a sollust in a galaxy on the other side of the universe when he died. Zeus gave me hell on that, along with Fate. I understand Gareth was supposed to be a King that would later unite all of Ireland under his flag. Oh, well; it hasn’t been done yet, so I don’t feel too badly about it. I’m sure Gareth wouldn’t have been able to do it, anyway.
I admit, the deal with the universe was stressing me. I hadn’t thought this much about my past as Time since I had been born here. I sighed, leaning back and glancing into the parking lot. Two threads were busy making another in the truck that had parked early. I amused myself by watching the thread slightly appear and finally manifest itself as a real being. Her name would be Kayla, and she would live a hard life. She would die at fifteen, murdered by her uncle. I frowned, shifting the line instead. Kayla would no longer be Kayla; her whore mother would instead give her up for adoption at birth, and the child would be named Laura. She would grow up in a happy home, lose her virginity at eighteen to Bobby Woodward, marry him at twenty, and have three babies by thirty.
I wished my timeline was so easily manipulated. Humans were so easy to shift and change; that’s why I could never really be sure the timeline would stay in place, and that the events would happen when they should. There was always error- I could never foresee small events or accidental ones. I could predetermine quite well, but sometimes events slipped through and people died. It was through no fault of my own; merely human error. Often I was taken aback at how many soldiers die via friendly fire, and these I cannot determine. Some must die in war, yes- but around ten percent of deaths in war were not meant to occur.
I groaned. I was doing it again! My mind was spinning in circles, not knowing where to land! I was jumping from topic to topic in the hope that-
That I would find Zeus.
Instantly, my mind formed an equation from the mass amounts of miscellaneous thoughts that had begun to infest my mind:
Zeus: not human +
Zeus: possibly named Gareth
= Search all Gareths, test
their threads
By testing their threads I could see if I could adjust them. It takes great will to adjust a thread of an immortal, and barely any effort to adjust that of a human. Whichever thread was difficult was Zeus; if he still lived.
I pulled up all the men named Gareth. I knew Zeus would become a man; he found men too amusing. I think it has to deal with how he placed the sexual organ; he finds it amusing that it simply “hung there”. He created a great many things simply because it amused him. An example would be cockroaches. They don’t really have a purpose, they never die, and I have yet to meet a person not creeped out by them. It’s Zeus’ little gift; he liked watching people’s expressions when they encountered a cockroach.
I tested each thread with ease, either shortening it or lengthening it. I put them all right after I adjusted them, and followed that with dismissing the thread completely. All the while I kept my thread within my vision and prepared for the worst.
After a several hundreth try I was getting quite cold on the bench and my mind ached from the strain of adjusting the timelines. I tugged at one, and it didn’t budge. This brought my attention. A closer look revealed that this Gareth- Gareth Alchemy Jones- had never been actually born. He had been placed there, approximately ten years ago.
He had no childhood, much like me. I had been born into a full grown body- created by Zeus himself. He was without family and worked as a scientist creating test tube babies. Finally, his strand was difficult to move.
Gareth. Zeus. I smiled, looking at his location: South Texas. At the moment he was on an interstate heading toward the Mexican border. He was going on holiday in Mexico City.
I sighed, leaning back. Okay, I’d found Zeus. As the deity of Creation, I only guessed that the Universe couldn’t cut his timeline. He was slated for another fifteen hundred years of life. I tried adjusting it to a thousand years- no response. I frowned and looked at the thread more closely. It was stuck to the very fabric of time and space. It intersected thousands- maybe millions- of lives in a way that if it was adjusted these good deeds would never occur. I had never found a thread I could not adjust.
I crossed my arms, closing my eyes. I needed sleep. Though an Immortal I had lived as a human for a good five hundred years but the body was used to the normal human routine. Also, I didn’t have transportation. And if I started heading to Mexico, the Universe would try to kill me again to keep me from Zeus. There was something going on he was unaware of and something I shouldn’t know about. The Universe was trying to kill me because it held some secret- some dark secret- that I could bypass and make right.
An old saying came to me: “It takes two to create, but one to destroy.” There has always been two Immortals needed to create something- Earth itself was healed after the asteroid by myself and Fate. Even Zeus needed a second, but only in his most important of pursuits. Often it had been Hope; after she went to Earth and died, it became me.
I had to get to Zeus, and we had to create something. That much was clear. What we would create remained shady, however. I sighed again. I couldn’t go to Mexico if the Universe was trying to kill me. It tracked me through my life thread; the one thing that could not be moved.
However- if I died, the universe would ignore me. I would be dead, and would have no quarrel with it. It would possibly watch my death and move on to whatever else it was planning. It would notice my death and cast it aside, moving on to more important things. I needed to die to escape it; there was no other way.
Even if the Universe was self-aware, I could still outsmart it. My thread would glow red, then disappear completely. I would have to be dead for a solid minute to accomplish this. But then, I would be resuscitated and as a last resort, possibly reborn. I was Time- I had enough control over my soul to tell it to stay or jump to the nearest mostly-dead person. I would not be able to jump far, and I would not be able to stay out of a body for long. There is a limit on such things.
I got up, headed over to the truck. A little tug on his thread and he was struck with a sudden need to go to the restroom, leaving his keys in the ignition. His wench was at the vending machine buying a Snickers. They never noticed the 18-wheeler was gone until five minutes after I had merged onto 131 northbound. I would head for the Spectrum in Grand Rapids. I kept my thread visible, along with Gareth’s just to be paranoid. He had been God once, but he wasn’t anymore. I needed to watch him just to be safe that he was going to stay alive long enough for us to figure this out.