To Ashes And Blood

A World That Shouldn't Exist

“Come on, let’s go get Damien.”

His chest hurt. This wasn’t the kind of pain caused by bruises or exhaustion. It was the kind caused by random flashbacks hitting all at once.

“What?” a voice exclaimed as they barged through the door. “Why aren’t you dressed yet?”

“Looks like we’re getting in trouble again with Cinder Cole,” the other voice followed closely behind.

Damien pressed his hand against his chest. His heartbeat increased with every second.

“Cole… Cinder Cole is alive?” he whispered under his breath.

“Uhh, hello, is anyone home?” The girl in front of him snapped her fingers across his face.

“Corvin, were you both out drinking again last night?” she said, gazing sternly at the masculine figure standing at the door.

“No way, Vera. I went to bed early because I know Cinder Cole would kill me if we missed training this morning. That doesn’t matter now, because we’ll be dead if we aren’t at the lab in thirty minutes,” Corvin said as he walked in, flexing his muscles in front of the mirror.

Damien sat upright slowly, breathing hard. Sweat trickled down his back. Morning rain tapped softly against the window beside him. His eyes locked with Vera.

“Vee, it’s good to see you again,” he said, relief heavy in his voice.

“Someone must’ve had a rough night,” Vera replied as she threw him his uniform. “You have a minute to get dressed.”

As they stepped outside the room, Damien stared at their silhouettes through the translucent glass door.

He couldn’t place it, but what he felt was far from relief.

His body remembered dying even if the world didn’t. He couldn’t forget the exact moment the light swallowed him and his body came apart piece by piece beneath the Hollow King’s gaze.

And now he was here.

Year 2055.

The three made their way out of the Ashen living quarters and onto the busy streets of Crimson City.

Crimson City looked alive, and it made his heart beat a little faster.

The streets below the academy district were filled with morning traffic. Vendors were already fully set up along Corridor Seven, while students crossed overhead bridges in neat uniforms, laughing like there was no worry in the world.

Damien knew better than to be comfortable.

Most of the pedestrians wore breathing masks, some in different styles. The few who walked barefaced had paid for cybernetic lung modifications….a process that gave them layers of synthetic filters and embedded processors that removed toxins as they breathed.

Ashen soldiers stood near tunnels, pretending not to watch civilians.

As far as he could tell, the city was changing already, but the people hadn’t realized it yet.

A holographic screen glowed between two towers overhead.

ARE YOU EXTRAORDINARY?

ECHO CANDIDATE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN.

JOIN THE PHANTOM FORCES TODAY.

A smiling young recruit appeared beside the words, light erupting from his fists.

Damien looked away.

He knew what happened to most Echo candidates before they got the chance to become Ashens.

The missing-person board outside Umber Station had forty-three new faces pinned to it.

No one stopped to read them.

As they took a turn with the lab just in view, Damien came to an abrupt stop.

Everything around him went silent, except for the sound of a child laughing as he ran with a paper plane while his parents watched from a nearby bench.

The rain fell in slow drops.

His fingers clenched at his side as his mind filled with vague images of his parents, their faces scratched out.

“Damien! Damien! Damien!” Vera’s voice echoed.

Everything returned to normal as she grabbed his hand.

“Let’s go, we’re almost there.”

As she walked with him toward the lab, she glanced back at the bench where the boy’s parents sat, smiling as their son ran through the rain with his paper plane.

“I need coffee,” Damien said, pulling her slightly as he led the way toward a coffee shop just outside the lab.

“Yoo, make that two orders,” Corvin said as he jogged toward them.

“We’ll have two cups of coffee and a chocolate shake, please,” Vera said with a smile to the old lady behind the counter.

Damien gazed at the signage of Corridor Seven, his coffee cooling in his hand as he stared at the empty crater behind municipal fencing.

“That’s strange,” he thought.

That building wasn’t supposed to be demolished for another eight months.

The first Hollow breach in the original timeline happened beneath its foundation and that was how Damien knew.

On November 14th, 2055.

Sector Nine.

Three Hollow runners and a crawler-class were reported.

It was reported to the public as a gas explosion.

Damien remembered the exact date because he had been nearby with Vera when it happened. She died in his arms that night. Corvin couldn’t accept that his twin sister was gone. Without waiting for orders, he charged at the Hollows, killing the crawler before meeting the same fate as Vera at the hands of the runners.

Damien ran as far as his legs could carry him.

But if the tower was already gone by March in this timeline… then the underground structure beneath it had already been disturbed.

Which meant the breach would most likely not happen in November anymore.

It would happen sooner.

His stomach tightened and he drank his coffee in one gulp.

“Okay… someone must’ve been thirsty,” Vera teased. “Are you okay, Damien? You’ve been acting strange since we left your apartment.” She ran her finger across his jawline down to his chin.

Looking down at her, ignoring her eyes and staring at her lips, he replied, “I’m fine, Vee. Let’s get going.”

“Thank you very much for the coffee, Mrs. Yoka. Send the charge to Cinder Cole’s quarters,” Corvin said as they walked away.

The timeline was already changing.

And if that was true… then his memories would do him no good in this timeline.

As they walked into the lab, Damien instinctively shoved Vera aside.

“Watch out, Vee!”

They barely moved in time as something invisible hissed past them and pierced the wall behind.

Corvin’s expression changed as he adjusted his glasses.

“Behind the tank, Vera.”

Without hesitation, Vera rolled forward, already reaching into her pocket. Three small coins flashed between her fingers. She flung them toward the tank.

As the coins drifted through the air, she whispered.

“Burst!”

The coins vanished mid-air.

In that instant, a loud tear filled the lab, followed by deafening silence.

Dust rose from the floor in slow spirals.

Something was now standing on the other side of the lab.

In what felt like a split second, the three of them were knocked off their feet and pinned against the wall simultaneously. The wind pressure around them increased the more they struggled.

A heavy, unimpressed voice filled the lab.

“You rats…”

The lights around them flickered.

“…don’t even understand where you are.”

They flickered again then held still.