Art of Creation: Enlightened (Novella)

Prologue

"So let me get this straight," I said, raising my hand to massage my temple. "You want me to go back to keep your wife from dying in a car crash involving five others?" I looked back up at the man, his hair slicked back, showing a face of grief and worry.

"I- I know your rules sir... but-"

"I can't." I said bluntly. "If it was just her involved, I would do it in a heartbeat, but I need you to understand that messing with five other timelines can lead to a lot more chaos than you can understand."

"What difference does five other lives make!" He grips the velvet chair tighter, eyeing me with subtle intimidation. I set my pen and clipboard down, clasping my hands together with a quiet sigh.

"Sir," I mustered. "Messing with five other timelines branches out into many. A death of one person in that crash could have potential to keep this world from falling apart. I know that's a massive jump, but I can't simply toy with Fate more than I already do. Hell, I would jump to help even if there was one other involved, understand that."

"Sir."

"Understand that." I say, a little more frustrated, but raising a hand to his shoulder. "Believe me, I wish I could, I honestly do. However, I can't risk it. Not with how the world is currently going, you've seen it out there. Politicians promising false peace to hide the fact that the earthquakes are growing steadily. Tensions between nations are spreading like a wildfire, just look at the threats we get monthly from Fienherd." He sat there silent for a moment, tearing his eyes away from me, looking down to a slightly ragged picture of him with his arm around a young girl. A sweet smile running across her face. I felt a ping of guilt run through me, a spark of hesitation as I looked over the picture.

"You aren't about to consider it are you?" A voice inside my head, soft and feminine breaks the silence. I adjust myself in my chair, clearing my throat softly. "I can't" I say softly to the man. "I'm sorry." The man looks back up to me, an anger in his eyes that shifts to grief in almost an instant. He nods, standing up carefully, breathing out audibly before returning his gaze to me.

"I get it, I'm sorry to have troubled you." He said in a defeated tone.

"My condolences to you for your loss. I truly hope the best for you Eric, I do." He gave me a small smile, a smile that seemed to pierce into my like an arrow. A smile of a man who has lost hope.

"Good day, sir." He says, walking to the door, grabbing his hat from the coat rack, pausing. "Fate has been a lot crueler lately... be careful." I watched his silhouette fade from the foggy glass of my office door before giving out a long, loud sigh. Has Fate really been any different? Even now?

"You did what you had to." The voice said, a forced empathy in her voice. I looked down to the table where the picture still sat. 

"How... badly would it affect the timeline? To go back and save all those souls. Or is there a way to just take her out of it?" I sat in silence for a moment before her voice echoed in my head again.

"It's a high risk Connar. I have a vast sense of knowledge of what would happen but I can't reach out to see the lives of those beings on the outside. The ones linked further down the line. The path is blurred for me."

"How bad would it be? Please, I want you to try your best to figure it out for me.

"Why are you so obsessed with this?"

"The pain in his eyes. Felt like there was more to his story."

"You can't keep letting that dictate your work." I winced at the frustration in her tone. I contemplated it for a minute, grabbing the picture and flipping it over, finding the date when it was taken. Three years ago, March twenty. 

"Is there an alternative?"

"Elaborate?"

"If I can't go back and stop that crash, is there a way to fix her death without throwing the world out of whack so to speak?"

"Not unless you want to sacrifice yourself."

"There has to be a way." I set the photo down again, getting up to pace the room before heading to the window. I watched the man, holding his hat as a gust of wind shot through the buildings, looking both ways before crossing the street. "What of that man?" I ask, curious. "What will become of him if I ignore this mission?"

"Suicide." She says dryly. "Simply put, that is why he came to you." I watched him a moment longer as he disappeared into a building across the street.

"What's the time for that?" I ask, investigating the building. It was a six story building. By the look of the dirty windows and the poorly kept lining it seemed to be low traffic, the only lights coming from the lower leveled floors.

"Tonight," She said calmly. "The exact hour is blurry to me." With that, I grabbed my coat and ran out of the door. Something doesn't feel right about this man. I burst out of my building, the gust of wind taking my coat back as I sprinted across the street, causing a car to slam their brakes, a horn breaking through the night as I continued, pushing open the door to find a receptionist suddenly stop typing, looking at me with startled eyes. "Did you see a man enter here just now?" She panics slightly, pointing to an elevator. I looked to the dial at the top which marked its position on the sixth floor. "Dammit!" I exclaimed. "No time." I headed back out of the building, catching the sight that numbed my heart. The man lay there on the ground, a pool of blood running from his mouth. His cold eyes looked at me as I stood there. My breath quickened slightly as I raised my hands to my head, scratching at my scalp. How... serious was this case to him...

"Don't." The voice simply said, before a calm mood entered my head. I reached for my phone.

"Connar. Don't think about it. You know the consequences" Before she could take control of my moods, I remembered the date clearly in my head, feeling sharp, pins and needles stab at my skin. There was something with his last words that resonated within me. 'Fate has been a lot crueler lately.' There was something in those words, a hidden knowledge. My body grew cold, a white, blinding light engulfing my vision before I faded to nothing. "I'll fix this for you." I whispered.