Metastasis, Part 17: Changing History
Table of Contents available here.
Synopsis(spoilers ahead if you want to read the story from the beginning)
Victor Meta is a time traveler who lived with his wife Janet and his young daughter Mira in a quaint timeline on the edge of obscurity. However, one day he was ambushed by soldiers of the Legion, and was forced to ally with a con artist named Shuck to save them from certain doom. By carefully manipulating time, he was barely successful, thanks to additional help surprisingly provided by his own daughter, now an adult time traveler.
But all of that pales in comparison to the revelation that Mira brings. They were not alone in being targeted. The time traveling family of Meta has been attacked throughout history. Ghost, another Gatekeeper who helped Dante Meta escape the coordinated assault, has joined the effort alongside that same Meta to find the masterminds behind the attack. And now, they all are working together to unravel the mystery of the Legion's ability to coordinate throughout time.
They now find themselves in the middle of a veritable warzone, facing contorted monsters called Vorpals. With few options left and other lives at stake, they throw in with a group of survivors to try holding back the encroaching horde.
***
Shuck, still slightly stunned by what had just happened, made his way to Ghost. They categorized their stock of cards, separating them into groups. They distributed them among five appointed commanders, three selected from the survivors and two being Ghost and Shuck themselves. Ghost gave a rundown on their use, and held a larger strategy meeting with the entire group in attendance, save the bare minimum of survivors keeping watch outside the bunker.
Ghost held up a card. “Everyone know what this is?”
Most people nodded, though others had expressions of confusion. Ghost continued. “If you don’t, allow me to explain. We have three Metas with us, one of which who had several of these that she volunteered towards our survival effort. They are called summoning cards.”
Ghost paced back and forth as he continued. “These cards contain an individual, snatched out of time itself and brought not only to the current time, but also the place the card is used. We effectively have an additional fifty more people that we can use in the defense effort.”
One person began to question Ghost. “Now, wait a minute… why would these fifty people WANT to help us? Surely, if we summon them, they might die or be injured. And if they somehow still want to help, then why haven’t we already summoned them?”
“Good questions… first, summoning cards use a predictive time safeguard to prevent death, where they will fail if the person would otherwise die during their summoning. But this does not apply to injury or exhaustion. Basically, it’s slightly less risky than normal mercenary work. So, people are either paid to have part of their lifetime be used for a summoning card, or do so as a favor to friends and family. Second, and this is very important; each summoning card has a time limit. Once that runs out, the person will vanish back to the point in time they were snatched from. These time limits are concrete, and cannot be extended while the summoning card is active. Additionally, each card is single use only. You need another card to re-summon a person.”
Mira wondered why he was giving the speech instead of Shuck, though she saw he commanded a certain respect despite his young age. A sudden glance and half knowing smile from him as she wondered this sent chills up her spine, which reminded her why. His infinity power let him read a crowd like a book, preempting questions and steering their emotions. He continued as he demonstrated this exact strategy. “I see many of you have realized what we have here… an extremely valuable resource, but not a renewable one. If we waste a card by not using a summoned asset to their full potential, then we can’t get that resource back. Alternatively, if we bite off more than we can chew and put our summoned allies in positions where they would die, then they won’t successfully summon at all. Both of these situations require exceptional situational awareness and command acumen, which is why I have already chosen the commanders to hold these cards.”
One young man, dirty and clearly distraught from the conflict that had interrupted his likely very normal life, raised his hand. “But is this all enough? What are the chances we win?”
Ghost frowned. “Define… win.”
Ghost’s tone did not encourage confidence in the man, but he clarified. “We all survive till the end of the onslaught, and can return to our old lives.”
Ghost stood silently for a minute before letting out a slight smile. “We have three captive time travelers that must fight or die, fifty conscripted casters trained for battle, an electric caster with clearly more than one trick up his sleeve, and… myself. Not to mention, all of you are the survivors, already battle tested and having the will to survive against all odds. I wouldn’t be willing to bet against us.”
The man nodded, now looking much more confident and determined. No sooner did that expression fill his face, though, that the alarm sounded again, signifying a new assault. Terror crossed his face, while Ghost grew serious. The young caster adjusted his blindfold, and marched towards the surface as he was already barking out orders.
The survivors moved with renewed determination to fight back the onslaught. With the enemy surrounding them completely and outnumbering them beyond hope, they had no other option but to to fight.
Each commander took a different section of the battlefield. Victor and Mira stood with Shuck, holding his own share of the summoning cards. He deftly flipped through the roughly dozen cards, grimacing. A wave of Vorpals was already approaching in the distance directly toward them on the leveled ground. “We’re really going to do this? Trying to stop an Eventual with a dozen summoning cards of varying value… this might be the craziest thing I’ve ever done.”
Victor gave Shuck a confused look. “Might be?”
“I’ve done some crazy things, alright? But that doesn’t make this less crazy.”
Mira began to grow antsy. “Place a card already, they are almost here!”
Shuck casually flipped through to select his first card. “Not yet… we need to use these to the fullest extent we can. That means not wasting time on any of them because of an itchy trigger finger. Oh, and there are going to be a lot of pocket watches to deal with… Victor, could you give me a localized orbit I can place them on?”
Victor waved his hand, and an almost imperceptible ring appeared around Shuck. “Done.”
Shuck charged a ball of electricity in one hand, and dropped it to the ground. It rolled forward at increasing speed as it grew in size as well, smashing into the approaching front lines and drawing the Vorpal’s attention. Shuck smiled as the amorphous beasts drew ever closer. “Here it goes… Kinetic Caster Crust, show em what you got!”
Shuck dropped the first card, placing the matching pocketwatch in the anti gravity field around him so he could keep an eye on how much time was left. “A full hour… he’s going to be our main warrior.”
Crust appeared, gave Shuck one slightly confused glance, and immediately engaged his opponents. With a massive battleaxe and a full suit of armor, he fought valiantly against the approaching horde. But it was clear he was outnumbered, so Shuck placed another card.
“Electro Caster Cysta, I need some support…”
A young woman appeared along with her timepiece. “Shuck? What is all this? What’s-”
“No time to explain, but you should know that already. I just need a lightning extension, stake out the mid field and forward my messages as well as my strikes.”
Cysta nodded. “Understood.”
As the female electro caster ran into battle, Mira’s curiosity got the better of her. “What do you mean, messages? Redirecting lightning I understand, but-”
Shuck’s voice was not audible, but echoed through the minds of all around him. “With two electro casters, we would be foolish not to switch to synapse synchronization. I can send messages to only whom they concern, and receive messages with increased clarity. The only downfall is distance from our allies, which the second electro caster remedies by acting as a relay.”
The battlefield was eerily silent now as everyone in Shuck’s squad communicated with mind only through the two electro casters. With lighting strikes protecting his back, Crust tore through wave after wave, and any attempt to cut off Shuck from the rest of the battle was met by Mira and Victor using their own gravity casting to push the Vorpals away. As the battle dragged on, Shuck deployed another kinetic caster and a light caster. The light caster created illusions to confuse and disorient the Vorpals, while the kinetic caster simply helped Crust whittle away at their ranks. To everyone’s surprise, the battle seemed to be going well.
Mira looked at the four pocketwatches rotating around Shuck as he monitored them closely. Shuck noticed one of them specifically. “Crust’s time is about to expire… we will need a new main offensive force. I should summon it soon to ensure a smooth transition… I guess now is as good a time as any.”
Shuck selected a card and dropped it to the ground. It sparked in a brilliant flash, and vanished entirely. “What the…”
Shuck selected a different card, dropping it and getting the same result. “That’s… not good.”
Victor crossed his arms. “Two failed summoning cards? What are the odds of that?”
Shuck looked around, clearly perturbed. “It’s possible… perhaps they weren’t capable of handling the intensity of this battle, and having them attempt to do so would have led to their death… or…”
Mira was concerned now as well. “Or?”
Shuck looked at Mira. “Something big is coming, and it will be here once our current cards are already expired.”
A light message stretched out on the ground in front of Shuck. “Shuck! This is Ghost, we are getting reports of all new summoning cards failing. I recommend an immediate retreat, two of our commanders are already doing so.”
Shuck answered out loud. “Retreat? Retreat to where? There is nowhere to run!”
The light based message erased and rewrote itself. “To wherever you can! We can fall back on your original plan, and the survivors will just need to figure things out for themselves!”
Shuck grabbed all the pocketwatches, clicking the top as they changed the remaining time back into summoning cards if there was enough left, or vanishing entirely if there wasn’t. One by one, the previously summoned warriors vanished. Shuck turned and began to walk briskly, not immediately threatened due to the battle being a fair distance away and most of the remaining Vorpals being disoriented or already retreating. “Mira, Victor… we’re going. We lost this one.”
Mira was flabbergasted. “Just like that? We are giving up, after spending all those summoning cards… we are just going to run? Do you have any idea how much all of those cost?”
“It doesn’t matter how much it cost! We failed. We can’t hold back whatever is coming, it’s too strong. We always knew this might happen, and we are just lucky there is still a window for us to escape.”
Mira refused to move, drawing a look from Shuck as she responded. “No. I’m not running. I’ll fight side by side with the survivors if I need to.”
Shuck laughed incredulously before getting in Mira’s face. “Do you think this is some kind of game? Playing the hero, fighting till the last man?! That’s nonsense! You stay, and you will just be another casualty. Not even your summoning cards will do you any good now!”
“Ghost will come help us fight, I know it. I think you will, too!”
Shuck walked a short distance away, yelling even louder. “Oh, well ain’t that just great! You think Ghost and I can save you! You think we can just snap our fingers, and make all the bad things go away! I can’t believe this… you know, Mira, it’s not just you! You, Victor, Gerald, Dante… all of you are just so unfathomably stupid! Even with access to time travel, you still end up in these absurd situations depending completely on the goodwill of others!”
Mira crossed her arms, defiant. “That’s what allies, family, and friends do, Shuck. You get help from people, how is that any different?”
Shuck pursed his lips as he clearly tried to restrain himself, though whether it was words or physical violence that he was restraining was anyone’s guess. “That’s… NOT what I do! You gain favors ahead of time! You don’t ever…. EVER… go into debt like this! You know what you’ve done, Mira? You wrote a check you can’t cash. You are out of options, period!”
A beam of light slammed into the ground nearby, Ghost with his blindfold pulled up appearing from residual luminescence. “So, is this it, then? Are we fighting to the last man?”
Shuck ran up to Ghost in disbelief. “Ghost! Are you SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? Has everyone lost their mind? We need to go, NOW!”
Ghost smiled slightly. “You should know, I’m not one to run away from a fight. Not until all hope is lost…”
Following the sound of a ground shaking footstep, everyone turned to see a massive hand grab onto the side of a building. Ghost turned around just as the monster’s eye began to peer around the edge, yelling desperately over the sound of crushing rubble while he pulled his own blindfold down.
“EVERYONE! Avert your eyes, this Vorpal can kill you just by looking into your eyes!”
Everyone looked away, not sure what to do. Everyone except for Mira, who was now collapsed on the ground deathly stiff.
***
Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying the story, you might also enjoy some of my other published work on Amazon! It’s set in the same fictional universe, but follows different characters.
Gatekeepers, Book One: Unquestionable Truth