The Time Capsule

Chapter Seven.

        Darkness surrounded her. It consumed her to her utmost being. A bottomless pit of despair clawed its way up her throat, almost breaking free into a scream. Smoke the color of corruption and gloom flowed into her mouth when she opened it, and her heart started shifting into overdrive to compensate for her loss of breath.
Right as she started to fade into the corners of death, a blinding light burst from the edges of the darkness. All the smoke and blackness were sucked out of her lungs by the light, finally letting Nadia breathe. The despair that had once taken over into her body left, leaving her floating in the radiant room.
         The room, if you could even call it that, looked endless. Just blinding light that went over every shadow. “The Night Wraiths almost took you. Thank goodness I came in time.” The Keeper of Time was floating in the center of the room, glowing so brilliantly that Nadia had to shield her eyes. His hair was the color of snow, flowing out all around him. It was insanely long. His skin was void of color, and his eyes… the glowing black depths that were frozen in time.
Roman Adair looked completely inhuman, which was the only word Nadia could think of to describe him.
         She slowly floated to the ground, sitting down, shock replacing all other thoughts. “Night Wraiths?”
        “Beings of time that steal the very soul from your body. Once they take all that you hold dear, they kill you. You were almost dead by the time I got here. Luckily, I can restore your soul. If you had died in this realm, you wouldn’t wake up to another day in the time loop.”
        Nadia looked confused, standing up with concern on her face. “This realm? Where am I? Your note said to drink from the chalice, so I did… the next thing I knew, I was in here, being suffocated by the darkness. Or Night Wraiths. Whatever you call them.”
         The Keeper of Time changed his appearance to look less immortal. He made himself have a hint of color in his skin and changed his hair to black. Floating down to the ground, he stood beside her. “I made you drink from the chalice to go to the Realm of Time. A place where Time is both moving and ceasing. Think of it as my Headquarters.”
       “And those… Night Wraiths are your enemies?” Nadia asked, shuddering at the memory.
       “In a sense, yes. They don’t pay any attention to me. Just newcomers, or people they think aren’t welcome. Maybe they think it’s your fault for disrupting the timeline. You’ve been stuck in the loop for almost a year. They don’t like that. They badger me every minute of every day, asking me when I’m going to fix the loop. I’ve been working on it.”
      “My question is: Why do you want me in the Realm of Time? I’m of no use to your job.”
        “Actually… you are. Your job is to help me find a way to trick Fate into breaking the time loop. Or finding out the reason as to why you’re stuck here.”
       “Don’t say that! Fate will hear us speaking.” Nadia looked around, worried.
       “My Headquarters are perfectly safe. Even Fate can’t breach them unless I give it permission. Fate doesn’t even know I broke you out of the time loop. I can only keep you here for a little while.” The Keeper of Time assured her.
        “So you want me to… help you break the loop? I thought we already agreed on that.”
       “Well…. It’s a bit… difficult.” Roman Adair shrugged sheepishly.
      “What do I need to do?” Nadia inquired, suspicion flashing on her face.
       “You need to anger Fate. Just enough that it’ll get mad and hopefully give you some kind of clue.”
        Rage entered into her emotions. “Last time I did that, Fate hurt my friends!”
       “Just wait. Since you’re in the loop, your friends won’t get hurt while you’re in it. You’ll just wake up the next day, and they’ll be fine. I need you to anger Fate just enough that it’ll help us out, maybe give us a hint as to who put you in here, how, or why.”
       “I…” 'I suppose it sounds like a fairly sound plan. I just don’t want to see my friends get hurt over and over again, just so I can find a way out of the time loop…'
      “Nadia Wolfe. This is the only way I can think of to find a way for you to escape it. We can either push back at Fate and fix the rift in time, or we can die trying. You can, at least.”
       And then… a plan had formed. A plan to conquer the greatest being in the universe. Nadia Wolfe was going to tempt Fate.
         It had been two days since her Realm of Time HQ visit, and Nadia had grown restless. She had been searching for ideas as to how to trick Fate without harming herself or her friends. Eventually, she gave up the notion and decided to face it head on…
       Nadia started to swing on the rusty old swing set at the park she loved to visit. Her friends, Niko and Carina, sat on a bench, eating some takeout they had gotten earlier. She wanted them to hang out with her, but sooner or later, she would have to bring up the time loop.
       “So, guys. I was wondering…” Nadia cringed, really disliking the fact that she had to do this. “Are you… excited for the cheer meet, Carina?”
       Her friend nodded. “Yeah! I have to leave for it in an hour and a half.”
       Niko took a bite of his taco. “I’m working on my revenge scheme for the idiots who put those demon statues in my yard.” He meant the flamingo heads…
       “I was thinking about writing a story. It’s about a… time loop. Maybe you could help me with it?” 'Please work. Please work.'
       “Sure!” Carina smiled while Niko nodded silently.
      “Okay. It’s about a girl who gets stuck in a time loop, with no way out, and no hope to survive. She needs help figuring out how to leave it, but her friends don’t believe her. Unfortunately, an enemy of time is out to get her, and every time she tries to talk about it, the timeline gets reset, and she wakes up again and again for a year.”
       “Wow. That sounds… pretty interesting. It seems like you don’t need help from the sound of it.”
       “Actually. I do. I’m trying to figure out a way for her to escape. But I can’t think of any ideas. After all, she has no one else who is stuck in the time loop, and her friends don’t remember it the next day, and she has a giant villain of time after her at all times. Any suggestions?”
       “It sounds like she needs to find someone who is also stuck in the time loop. Maybe the loop isn’t just for her. What if someone else was put in there as well? Then they could plan it together, and hopefully leave it without any problems.”
       ‘Another person in the time loop? What if… someone else IS here? The Keeper of Time is helpful and everything, but what if I try to find someone who was put here for a specific reason? They might be able to help me…’
      “Thanks!” The time loop reset again, and she woke up with a determined mindset. Her mission? Find someone else who is stuck in the time loop. Before Fate catches her…