Eclipse of the Chronicles

Chapter 10: Light of Fate, Shadows of Destiny

(Scene reopens where Chapter 9 left off)

"Let me fight again. This time I'll—" I started to say, but I was cut off by a voice coming through a portal near the gates.

"I'll fight her," said the voice, and we all gasped, recognizing who it was.

"I'm eligible to enter the tournament, aren't I?" the voice continued, stepping through the portal.

"After all, I'm the Fated Chronicle of Illumination!" the voice cried, raising her Fated Chronicle card for all to see as gasps echoed through the stadium.

It was future Amy.

"You're..." cried Amy, stunned to see her future self standing before her. "Wait, is that...?" Jessica stammered, too shocked to finish her sentence. "...Amy from the future?" Queenie completed, her eyes wide with disbelief. "How is she here...? Didn't she go back to her timeline?" Stephanie asked, equally surprised.

I immediately rushed from the spectator area to where future Amy stood, burning with curiosity and confusion, overwhelmed with questions.

"Oh boy..." Simon muttered under his breath, realizing the gravity of the situation.

"Amy!" I called out as I got closer to her. She turned to face me, her expression calm but serious.

"Why...? How...? Didn't Simon told us you went back to the future?" I asked anxiously as the Fated Chronicle gang turned to Simon for answers. He responded with a nervous laugh, clearly caught off guard.

Amy began her explanation, "I'm sorry, bro. I asked Simon to keep it from you guys because I didn't want you to worry about me, someone who had no place here, while you continued living your lives. When I accidentally time-traveled here, I used up a lot of my powers. Ever since, I've felt my powers slowly fading away. After the Fated Chronicle clash, Simon took me in, giving me a place to stay while I waited to be erased after changing the timeline."

She paused, then continued, "To gain enough power to return to my timeline before being erased, I would need decades, maybe even centuries... I thought by then, I would have disappeared due to the forces of time."

"But you're still here and well, aren't you?" I said, still confused about what was happening.

"You kept this from us the whole time, Simon?" Queenie asked, feeling a little betrayed by Simon's secrecy. The rest of the team shared her sentiment, their expressions reflecting disappointment.

"Yeah... sorry, gang," Simon admitted, scratching his head nervously. "She made me promise I wouldn't say anything about her still being around. She needed a place... and my house is pretty big, so..."

Amy resumed speaking, "I'm curious about why I'm still here too. A few days after the Fated Chronicle clash ended, I learned about the Destined Chronicle Showdown through a match-up message on my Fated Chronicle card. Simon confirmed it with me after the first round of the showdown."

We all took a moment to process what we had just heard. Amy really seemed to be at the center of everything happening right now.

(Flashback)

It was right after the first round of the Destined Chronicle Showdown. Simon was calling future Amy to inform her about the unfolding events.

"Amy, you gotta come see this," said Simon, holding his Fated Chronicle card with the message: Fated Chronicle of Ingenuity VS Destined Chronicle of Leadership.

"Oh my! Simon... that's you... there's another tournament? But how...?" Amy exclaimed, shocked.

Simon then explained the Destined Chronicle Showdown to future Amy, mentioning that we had just lost the first round and that he would be fighting next in the showdown.