*shoots a bazooka full of confetti at you*
hELLO ONCE AGAIN I AM BACK WITH SOME QUALITY CONTENT™ WHY DO I ALWAYS INTRODUCE MY POSTS BY YELLING I PROBABLY SCARE YOU ALL AWAY
Ahem. Anyways.
Yes! I am back! With a slightly longer than normal short story!
This one was also inspired by a Reddit writing prompt (thanks Reddit). Except, it's so much cooler than my last one.
I'm pretty proud of this, considering today's events and my ability to finish something presentable. So yay! Fun stuff.
(click image to enlarge btw)
So yeah! Thanks Reddit!
Also, this is written in second person (!!!!) and present tense, something I've never ever done before. Experimenting is a thing. Very fun.
Anyways, enough of my ranting. Let's read.
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You step back and admire your work. Finally, time travel is possible! And it’s all thanks to you. Years ago, you had realized everyone was searching in the wrong place for the ability to time travel. It couldn’t be contained in a machine--it was purely biological! With the correct combination of chemicals, every atom in a human body, including the atoms of their soul, could be displaced to another place in time and space and reformed with magnetic energy. It’s that simple!
You shake your head in awe of your own genius. And to imagine, the first thing you made was a love potion. You’ve come a long way.
Oblivious to your admiration, the small vial of chemicals steams in front of you. The steam is white, but the solution is black, blue, and purple--the color of space.
Anticipation floods through your veins. The day has come! You crack your knuckles and adjust your stark white lab coat. This is it. The tests worked on guinea pigs and large mammals such as apes. You even secretly used your nephew as a test subject--thankfully he hasn’t told anyone yet. He found it very cool to be transported five minutes into the past.
It’s up to you to find out if it works on a fully grown human body.
You had discovered that the amount of one special element determined how far one traveled backwards. The amount of the chemical in the vial before you should send you back to the Middle Ages. You sling your pre-packed backpack over your shoulder. It’s time.
You take a deep breath. Without time to rethink things, you dump the contents of the no longer steaming vial into your mouth.
Instantly, a cold sensation floods your taste buds. It feels as if you’ve just bitten into ice. Your hands fly to your jaw, instinctively trying to warm it up, but to no avail. Your teeth begin to ache with the low temperature. You scrunch your eyes closed in pain. It hurts so very badly, you don’t know if you can stand it. A wave of pain slams into your head and you feel like you might throw up.
Just when you’re about to scream from the intense aches, they depart at once. Shocked, you pry your hands off your face and peek one eye open.
You’re on the edge of a forest.
Warily, you look deep into the woods. They look normal. That leaves one thing to do.
Ever so slowly, you turn to face the field behind you.
You see a walled city, comfortably plopped in the middle of a valley. Carts travel on a beaten down dirt road to the city, and you see knights in shining silver armor escorting and checking everyone who enters.
You fist pump excitedly and jump up and down. You’ve made it! You’ve gone back in time!
“Hey!” A voice startles you out of your personal celebration. You turn to see a knight riding up to you on a large brown stallion. The horse trots to you and leans forward as if to sniff you, but the knight pulls its head backwards with the reigns.
“Where did you come from?” the knight asks. He has a kind face and appears to be on the older side of middle age. His breastplate bears an elaborate coat of arms, and each piece of his armor is expertly shined. He looks to have a high status.
“I, uh…” you stutter. “I--came from the forest. I’m traveling through these parts to come see your wonderful city.”
“Indeed.” The knight raises an eyebrow. “Traveling through, eh? I’ll wager you must be a wizard, then.” You blink, hoping he hadn’t seen you appear. “No normal traveler wears such white clothing,” he continues. You relax. “Nor does a normal traveler appear out of thin air,” he finishes.
Tensing, you try to speak but can’t get the words out. You hadn’t planned this far ahead.
The knight winks at you. “Don’t worry. Apparently unlike you, I know what to do in this situation.”
“You do?” you ask, confused.
“I do,” he affirms.
“Oh.”
“Come, follow me.” The knight turns his horse around and begins to trot off. “I have my orders. If you don’t follow, you may have trouble on your hands,” he says over his shoulder as he pats his scabbard.
You swallow and run to catch up to the horse. “So…have you dealt with people spontaneously appearing before?” you question, genuinely curious as to how the knight will answer.
“I have indeed,” the man replies. “A few years ago. The man appeared right where you were standing, in fact. It was an odd day.”
“Oh.” You feel dejected. If someone had appeared before you, then that means you weren’t the first to discover time travel. All that work, and for nothing.
Sighing, you hoist your backpack higher.
The knight, whose name is Sir Micah, leads you through the city to its center. The people all clear a path for him, as if he’s important. You find he is important--he’s the Commanding Knight of the city. You learn that you’re being taken to the king, who has a particular interest in magic, as Sir Micah calls it. Everyone stares at you as you pass by, and you duck your head in embarrassment.
The city, you learn, is called Uther. When you hear the name, you feel something twinge in the back of your mind, as if you remember it. You shake your head. Must have been part of an old TV show or something. Uther is the capital of the moderately sized kingdom of Aertha.
Sir Micah leads you to the heart of Uther. In the center is a walled enclosure with some buildings and large towers. He explains that this is the palace.
You find it pretty impressive. The outer courtyard of the palace is a bustling hub of servants, soldiers, cooks, and knights. It’s so incredible, you can’t take your eyes off everything you see. Sir Micah dismounts and hands the reigns of his horse to a servant. He leads you up to a large square building, explaining that it holds all the important parts of the palace--the kitchen, bedrooms, ballrooms, and throne room.
We pause when we come to the throne room. Its large double mahogany doors are shut. You gaze in wonder at the tapestries and rich trimmings on the walls. The colors are rich and ornate, and each element of the room scheme is perfectly designed.
Sir Micah begins to look himself over, dusting the dirt off his armor. He takes a handkerchief from somewhere and shines his armor. “Best look your best,” he advises me. You try your best to clean the stains off your lab coat, but they won’t come off. You wish you could have changed into something nicer than your t-shirt and pants.
Sir Micah tells the guard in front of the throne room that you require an audience with the king. The guard motions to another guard, and both open the doors to the throne room. The king is seated at the far end of the room, just like you’ve seen in movies. He more accurately appears to be lounging on his throne, one leg thrown over an armrest and a gold wine goblet in his hand.
A thick strip of red carpet is extended over the stone floor. Even more ornate tapestries hang from these walls, and two rows of pillars line the long hallway.
You hang behind Sir Micah, unsure of what to do. An announcer calls out, “Your Highness, may I present Sir Micah, Commanding Knight of Uther, Advisor to the King, and--”
“Yes, yes, get on with it!” the king yells. “Come, Micah! Who’s your guest? Oh, I suppose I should have let you finish, my Announcer dude. Sorry about that!”
You’re puzzled. Did a king just say “dude?”
Sir Micah walks toward the king, beckoning for you to follow. “Sire, remember that order you gave me when you became king? The special one?”
“Yes…” The king leans forward in his throne, interest written on his features. His eyes dart to you, and suddenly widen. Hopping off his throne, he dashes up to you.
You step back, a little scared.
The king sticks out his fist in front of you. “Bro, you discovered time travel too?”
You blink.
“What?” you ask.
“Fist bump!” The king smiles encouragingly.
You slowly extend your fist and bump his.
“So how’d you get here?” you ask uncertainly.
“Definitely not a machine.” The king winks. “My dad taught me that well enough.”
“Your dad?”
“Yeah. You.”
You blink again.
“What?!”
The king laughs at your baffled expression. He explains the confusing situation to you, to Sir Micah’s amusement.
In the future, you will stay in Uther and become a successful nobleman. After a few years, you will travel to your original time and have a son. You send him back to the Middle Ages, and he will live in that time. From the king's perspective, he became king several years ago.
In the future, before your son left for the Middle Ages, the future you directed him to watch for you to come and time travel for the first time.
Your head spins.
Sir Micah and your son the king chuckle at your befuddlement.
You finally stop trying to understand it and shake your head to clear it. “So…if you’re the king…can you hook me up with some food?”
Your son throws his arm around your shoulder and laughs. “Announcer dude!” he yells. “Tell the cook we have a special guest!”
---------So? You like? I personally think it's pretty cool. Second person is a cool thing. And now I'm inserting hip lingo. It's rad. Kiddos. *finger guns*
Okay I'll stop now. Sorry.
So what do you think?
Please comment! :D
~~zoë wingfeather
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