Timeless War

Chapter 8: A Dying World

I had never seen a place more grim. The sky was blood-red, the sand fading away slowly, and the rocks growing moss and aging away with time. "What the hell happened here...? What caused the world to die like this...?" As I walked away from the Gate, I eventually saw a small village that was near perfectly intact and had some lights surrounding it. "Could there really be people at the end of days? I can't imagine anyone being here." As I walked down to the village, monsters came seemingly out of nowhere. I quickly changed to android form and swiftly cut them to pieces with my blade, though it left me exhausted.

Stumbling to the village, I finally was able to rest on a wooden box, filled with unknown contents. The village, despite being completely intact, was absolutely empty. Nobody was around, not a soul. All I could hear was the empty sound of the wind blowing. "This place really is the end of time... It's as if everyone has already died..." I switched to android form just out of curiosity, and somehow I got a signal of life in one of the houses.

Following the signal into the house, to my surprise, there was somebody. "Who are you? Another one of those freaks who've come to take the timeline? You'll find nothing here, your boss already accomplished his goal since this place exists." I changed to human form. "Actually, I'm against those people. My name is Nova. I'm with the group that seeks to save the timeline. Your name?" The red-haired young woman rose up and spoke. "It's Rose. You've come to save the timeline? That would mean preventing this place from ever existing." She had this sad tone in her voice. As if she were so used to this time. "Well, if you want, you can come along. I have a way of giving you the ability to fight." She changed to her own android form and pulled two swords. "No need to change me. Wherever you've come from, we've already mastered everything by this time. You said I can come with you?" I nodded. "Yep. If you can fight, and if you seek to save the timeline, you're free to come with. I actually only just started this journey pretty recently, so I could use the help." She changed back to human form. "Let's get going then. The sooner the better."

We left the house only to be surrounded by monsters, changing to android form. "We need to get to the Gate. Just blaze through these guys!" We ran straight through them, blasting magic at them to keep them at bay. Eventually we got far enough that the ones who weren't destroyed just disappeared. Returning to human form, we gave ourselves a chance to breathe. "Man, fighting is WAY easier with someone else. And you're really good too. Where'd you learn?" She looked downward, saddened by something. "It's a long story... I'll explain it once we've got a longer chance to rest. For now, we should go."

Right before we were able to activate the Gate, a portal of darkness appeared, and from it came out a monstrous being that seemed to be half monster, half robot. It only came out half-way, the rest of it being contained within the portal, so we could only see the face, a portion of the body, and a claw. We quickly changed to android form and backed up to prepare ourselves. "Rose, what the hell is this thing?" "I have no idea, my scanner isn't picking anything up! For now, let's just focus on killing it!" The beast roared, signifying the start of the battle. "Nova, you sit back and attack it! I'll take the hits, I promise I have a plan!" I nodded and tried to change to my flying disc, but by some magic, I ended up using a bow and arrow instead. "Well, however the hell that happened, it's WAY more helpful!" As I fired shots on the beast, Rose cloaked herself in some sort of defensive magic that let her take the beast's claw slashes with minimal damage. Catching on to Rose's strategy, the beast stopped slashing and began firing magic shots that struck me. They hurt, sure, but I could feel this form protecting me. I countered back by firing water magic of my own, which it appeared to be weak to, as it recoiled back in pain. "Rose, now's your chance!" It attempted to slash at her one more time, but she stabbed her blades into the beast's arm, jumping on the hilts and somehow pulling the swords out, before delivering one final hit with both blades that forced the beast back into its portal, closing it and ending the fight.

Changing into human form, we both took a second to rest. "Damn Rose, not bad. That was actually REALLY freaking impressive." She retorted back. "You're not bad yourself Nova. For a beginner, you handled yourself pretty well." I was still confused. "Just what was that thing? Like you, my scanner didn't pick up anything. As if that being wasn't meant to exist." She shook her head. "I have no idea. But, maybe if we keep going, we might find out." Once we got ourselves together, we entered the Gate, and went on to find answers.