Static Reflections: Book 1 of The Mortal Guard Series

Chapter 50 - Nick and Richard: Empty Space

Chapter 50 - Nick and Richard: "Empty Space"

Nick and Richard exited Prostasia through the Station, appearing in an alley near their destination. The hyena scratched at his cheek. "Richard, something's bothering me."

"Mm?" The raccoon turned.

"What if this is a trap? If King really is behind this . . . what if he's trying to trick us?" Nick fretted. "Aren't you afraid of this timeline's King sending you back to a place like that?"

Richard leaned against the wall, looking at the ground. "Terrified. Absolutely terrified. But there's something I'm afraid of more."

"What's that?"

"I'm afraid that he's going to send you to a place like that."

"You'd save me from there, right?"

"No matter how they had you, I would fight fang and claw to get you out of there," Richard told him. "And then take you back to Prostasia and take care of you as long as I needed to so you don't become me."

Nick stood in front of him, sighing. "Even if all of that happened to you, Dick, I still like you. Look at what you're willing to do to save me and make sure I'm okay! Did you ever think you could have the will to do that for someone?"

"No, but I'm glad I do."

Nick, rubbed his own cheek. "M-me, too . . . If I could go back in time and prevent that from ever happening . . ."

"Unfortunately, we can't change this timeline," Richard explained.

"Oh . . . " Nick frowned. "Yeah." He looked toward the alley's exit at some movement of a piece of trash on the ground. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Richard nodded.

"I'm sorry if this is rude or insensitive or anything, but why don't you just erase the memory of what happened? You said you would take it if you could, but you never said why."

"Timeline travel is complicated, Nicholas," Richard began. He held his hands up, gesturing as he spoke. "If we removed those days from my memory, all of my memories from birth to right before that point would be normal. Skip the time of trauma, where I'm settled in the Mortal Guard, and there is a space where my memories stop in an alternate timeline and start in the main timeline. That would create a rift between timelines, and my brain would basically collapse, and I would die."

The hyena's mouth fell open. "Holy fuck . . . "

"Yeah . . . "

Nick couldn't help but hug him again. "The universe is so damn cruel. Let's make sure we look out for each other while investigating this case, okay? So neither of us end up there."

Richard rubbed his back. "Yes. Come on. We should talk to the police so we can investigate."

"It's weird to think that the entire time before the Mortal Guard, the police knew about it all along." They began exiting out of the alley, walking around the building, and spotting the large campus in the distance. The entire campus was multiple long white buildings with light brown roofing and tons of windows. There were plenty of trees and greenery to create a comforting sense of peace there, but that peace was entirely interrupted by the yellow and black police tape and the blue and red lights of the police cars lining the road.

Seeing it made Nick freeze in place and stare as passersby stopped, watched, and took videos and pictures. A parked news van was nearby, and a beagle woman was reporting on the situation. Richard waved him along, and they walked over to one of the officers closest to them. He was a black and white husky.