Chapter Eight: Horrors of This Day

Rebecca was dead. There was a knife sticking out of her body, and her eyes stared at me, full of unspoken words. Then, her bright eyes went dull, and her body flopped onto the ground.

Even while staring at her lifeless body, it didn’t feel real. It couldn’t be. There was no way that the one person who made life even more adventurous for me was dead.

“This is a prank, right? Elijah? She’d appear from behind the trees and try to scare me, and we’d all laugh over my reaction. Right?” My fingers were shaking, and my eyes were unfocused. My head was banging, and I wanted to scream out loud.

“DO NOT TALK TO HIM, WARNER!” I heard Elijah’s voice and turned to see a badly beaten-up version of Elijah, eyes swollen and lips bleeding. I couldn’t recognize that once handsome face anymore.

“Run, Warner! Don’t let him catch you!” Elijah screamed, but I didn’t move. His eyes roved around and latched onto Rebecca’s form on the ground, lifeless.

He ran toward her, tears streaming down his face. But I steeled my heart; I couldn’t be taken unawares again.

“Why would you do this? WHY?” He screamed at the fake doppelgänger, but it didn’t budge. I was staring at Elijah when I saw his head disconnect from his neck, and no matter how I steeled myself against it, I shattered.

My knees went weak, and my fingers were unable to form themselves into fists. My knees crashed against the cobbled stone, and a sharp pain assaulted me, blinding me momentarily.

“You brought this upon them, Time Slipper. You shouldn’t exist, not at this time. You are a being that should have died—an aberration. I’m here to weed you out,” the thing spoke, still using Elijah’s face. But I didn’t even care anyway.

“Before you kill me, show yourself,” I said at last, resolving myself to a life of trauma and pain. How else would anybody explain such a random occurrence a month after I woke up in this world?

“Is that your last wish, Time Slipper?” The thing asked, humoring me. I nodded, my body mimicking the motion, my mind too far gone.

“As you wish,” the thing said and changed. It wasn’t a metamorphosis I was used to; its skin elongated, almost past elasticity, and I turned my face away, not willing to see it explode.

“You can look now,” it said, and I stared at the being. It had a total of five mouths, or rather, elongated snouts, and eyes dancing all over its body. The eyes were sentient; they moved at will. Its scaly skin brought a feeling of nausea over me, but I held it back.

I wasn’t going to break, not after watching my two favorite people die.

“Okay. Kill me now.” I said without preamble that the pain in my chest was getting a little bit too intense. I couldn’t survive an hour more of that; I’d rather die with them.

“I will kill you when I want to. Have you formed a bond with such fickle beings? Snuffed out like a candle barely taking form. You’re weak, Time Slipper. And I, Anukai, would break you.”

I knew its name. Not like I was wondering anyway, but it was best to know such details before I died.

“Anukai? What are you?” I asked, merely for formality. I didn’t care a whit about whatever that monstrosity was. I stared at Elijah’s head, and it rolled in front of me, but I didn’t gag. No, I owed it to him to stand firm and not look like a wimp in my last few moments alive.

“I am a being that roots out Time Slippers from time immemorial. I weed them out, and those they’ve had the most contact with, to avoid inconsistencies in the time stream. You’re not special; you’re just a random happenstance, and I will correct that notion. You’ll die an old man, and your relatives will disappear, presumably killed by a rogue monster. Your name shall be erased from this time stream and returned to where it belongs.”

It yapped on, but I was barely listening. It’s not like it was my fault I was present at this time, but I couldn’t say that; I didn’t want to hear that either. It reeked of excuses. I hated such kinds of things.

“How did you find me?” I asked at last. Thankfully, it was answering my questions without any prodding from me.

“Every slipper is untouched for a month, until the barrier breaks. I found you immediately; it did.”

That explained a lot, especially about the accuracy. I didn’t even mingle, so it made no sense how it was able to pinpoint my location with such preciseness.

“So, a month. Were you stalking me during that month?”

“Yes, I was. And when it broke, I attacked. This is my job, and I do it proudly. You, Time Slipper, won’t find salvation here. You won’t find what you’re searching for. Even if it weren’t today, others aside from me would have come after you. And destroyed the idyllic world you seek to create for yourself. You’re a cancer. You cannot escape your origins, and neither should you try to. I shall give you a death worthy of your name. I shall give you the words. Time slipper, today you meet your end.”

I closed my eyes and waited for death. My life flashed before me, filled with days spent laughing and playing with Rebecca and Elijah, teasing Saul about making gimmicks. Those were my happiest days.

“Okay, Anukai. I’m ready.” I said that and heard the sound of a blade being drawn and a choking stench of despair and death. I grabbed my throat, trying to squeeze it out of me, but it was to no avail.

“This is your punishment, World Ender.”

And I saw nothing.