Project Time

Chapter 18: Aiden?

Trisha was shocked to see Anthony.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Anthony demanded, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Trisha, instead of lying, went straight to the point. "I'm getting what I own."

"You don't own anything. This company owns that device," Anthony scoffed.

Trisha quickly strapped the prototype of Project Time onto her wrist, and Anthony immediately charged towards her, grabbing the prototype and trying to wrest it from her.

"Let go, Anthony. This is mine!" Trisha's voice was desperate as she resisted.

"I own this device!" Anthony's anger flared.

"You never made it," Trisha shot back, defiant.

"Oh, but I made it better!" Anthony's grip tightened, and in the struggle, he accidentally activated the prototype. Random buttons were pushed, and the device began to light up brightly.

"You let go, Anthony," Trisha insisted, struggling to keep control.

"You just don't know how to let go of something–" Anthony's voice was cut off as a bright light engulfed them both.

Pop.

They were suddenly transported into a colorful, shining space, falling at an incredible speed with colors and lines swirling around them. As they fell, Anthony grabbed her jacket, still trying to steal the prototype from her wrist.

"Let... it... go!" Anthony grunted; his face twisted with effort.

With a desperate push, Trisha managed to shove Anthony away, causing him to float endlessly away from her. The next moment, she woke up in a strange place, disoriented.

"Good morning, dear lady!" A man's voice startled her.

"W-who are you?" Trisha stammered, trying to regain her bearings.

"Oh, I'm Mr. Speckman, the guard of this gate to the castle of Princess J-"

"What year is this?" Trisha interrupted, panic creeping into her voice.

"The year is fourteen sixty-seven. Are you a lone traveler, miss?" Speckman replied, his tone curious.

"No... no... no," Trisha muttered, her mind racing.

"Well, what are you doing here in front of the castle?" Speckman asked.

Trisha immediately brought up the Chronus, which luckily was still on her wrist. It looked damaged but was still working. She frantically tried to fix its wiring. After a few minutes, she tried activating it, and it immediately lit up.

"Is everything okay?" Speckman asked, concern in his voice.

"Y-yeah," Trisha replied distractedly.

The Chronus got up and running, and Trisha fell unconscious again, collapsing to the ground.

She was transported through time again, falling at light-speed in the colorful space, until she woke up once more.

"Good morning, dear lady!" Mr. Speckman greeted her again.

"Mr. Speckman?" Trisha asked, bewildered.

"Well, yes, it is. I'm Mr. Speckman and I'm the guardian of this–"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The guardian of the castle of the Princess," Trisha interrupted.