Chapter 2: The Aqua Spirit
*Beep-Beep Beep-Beep*
"Ugh, it's already seven?" Alan groaned his way to his phone to turn off his alarm. He let out a hefty yawn before looking back at his phone. He noticed the date and stared at his phone. "What the...?" he said while scratching his head, "Was that all a dream?"
Alan got out of bed and performed his daily morning stretches. After finishing up, he walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day. But as he entered, he recalled a scene from the strange "dream" he had last night. He carefully walked towards the toilet and lifted the set cover. As he had expected, a large water bug, the size of his hand, flew out of the toilet and tried to land on his face. Alan spun around, causing the water bug to miss and land on the shower door. Slightly startled by the sight of the bug, Alan reached for his bug zapper off a nearby wall near his sink and tased the bug until it stopped moving. Afterward, he picked it up and flushed it down the toilet.
"Eww..." Alan's hair stood on end and he resumed his morning routine. Afterward, he stood across from his mirror and noticed a familiar-looking pendant around his neck. "When...?" He tried to take it off but failed. "Well, no one is gonna notice, I'll just hide it under my hoodie." Alan wasn't really the most fashionable person around. He would wear nothing but hoodies and jeans year round and would not even consider touching his hair unless he really had to. He had grown this habit because for about ten years he had lived alone. The only people who would visit him in his peaceful environment are two people: his best friend and his landlady who doubled as his caretaker.
He glanced back at the mirror, holding the pendant. "A dream, huh?" He muttered to himself. "There's no way that I can have a dream that foresees the future. But then again, it might be possible because of the weird things around the city."
*Ding-Dong*
"One second!" While Alan was putting on his watch, his doorbell rang. "Early as usual huh?" He complained to himself. He walked to the door and gently opened it trying to keep the sun from blinding him. On the other side of the door stood a tall, muscular man wearing a red t-shirt and khaki shorts. His hair was dirty blonde and was kept short due to his complaints of long hair impeding his performance in sports. The most notable feature was the scar on his left leg that he had received as a kid.
"Hey there shorty, are you ready to go?" The tall man asked with a playful smile on his face.
"Why are you acting like you are trying to pick up a girl, Marshal?" Replied Alan, seemingly annoyed.
Marshal and Alan were typically seen as an unusual combination of friends in the eyes of many. As their outward appearance made it seem like they were best friends, they never really thought of each other as one. They saw one another as brothers as they had been supporting each other for the past seven years after getting into a fight over a girl when they were kids. What made these two stick around each other is the fact that they always cover each other's weaknesses. Alan, who is normally seen as weak and insensitive, because of his nature of being brutally honest, was supported by Marshal who could protect him using his gifted athletic and charismatic abilities. On the other hand, Marshal, who acts rashly and falls victim to every girl that catches his eye, is supported by Alan's quick thinking and harsh sense of reality. But these two were inseparable as wherever an event or conflict happened, they are always there to back each other up.
"I mean... with your height you could pass as a girl." Marshal gave Alan a head pat. Alan pushed him off and grabbed his bag.Alan, compared to Marshal who was roughly 6'5, was short standing at a mighty height of 5'4. He was often picked on for this mostly because there was a very remarkable difference between him and Marshal. Most of the students his age had an average height of 5'11, both male and female. Many scientists have speculated that because of a massive earthquake that had to happen ten years ago, many children who survived had a weird mutation that affected their strength and growing abilities. But unfortunately for Alan, the strange mutation did not affect him, leaving him at the 1% of the surviving population of Old Providence that hasn't been affected by the "mutation quake", as scientists have called it.
"Anyway, enough with my height, I'm starving so let's go."
The two young men made their way out of the apartment complex and towards the train station. The station was ten minutes away from where Alan lives so it became quite useful to him after living alone for ten years.
New Providence is a relatively new and cutting-edge city that many millionaires have invested in. The city is split into four districts, each specializing in its unique attractions. The North district is home to the wealthy and ingenious minds of the city specializing in advancement in technology. The East district, where Alan lives, is known as the hybrid district. It is the only district to specialize in the hybrid working habits of man and machine, because of this, the East district has the highest population of the other districts based on the working opportunities. The South district is known as the maintenance district. This district produces and sends maintenance bots around the city to fix any malfunctioning robot that may harm human life. And lastly, the West district is known as the foreign district. This district imports and exports to and from other cities and countries and is home to the largest shopping district in the city. The city was built after an earthquake destroyed one of the oldest cities in the country of Navivaina, Old Providence. The cause of the quake is still unknown, but many have speculated that the cause was a renowned terrorist group named Ouroboros. Ouroboros is a group that nobody knows the motive of, as they come and go only leaving a bunch of corpses behind.
"Soooo... where are we going?" Asked Marshal while enjoying the view from the train's window.
"I feel bad for only being a regular at NaviCafe only because I am doing field tests on how durable the furniture we make is and hearing customer reviews, so I'm bringing a potential customer with me." Alan said with a smile.
Marshal turned and looked at Alan, "In other words, I'm being used?"
"Yes."
Marshal sighed, "Man, you better not treat a girl like this, or I'm gonna punch the shit outta you."
"Don't worry, I would never use a girl for work-related things, I'm not that low." Alan said to reassure Marshal, "Don't worry so much, I'm sure you'll like the place."
After getting off the train, the two found themselves in front of a small, yet inviting cafe. The two men walked inside and Marshal stood amazed looking at the interior of the cafe. The interior was that of a modern home but was completely untouched by the advancement of technology. It had a soft and inviting charm that many customers who visit all agree that the atmosphere brought forth a sense of nostalgia before the age of machines. It was a cozy place where everything was accomplished by hand, the cooking, the ordering, and the cleaning.
"Holy crap!" Marshal stood in amazement, "Are you gonna tell me that you help create all of this."
"Yup," replied Alan, "The boss wanted to help the owner of this place and he chose me to be their supplier of interior furniture."
Alan, despite being a senior in high school, worked full time as a craftsman who exclusively worked for businesses that refused to buy anything that the city makes due to the fear of the government planting hidden transmitters into the things it produces.
"Hey, there's the man of the hour!" A mature older woman said from across the room.Across from the entrance of the cafe stood three waitresses, each wearing a unique uniform to help customers identify them. The one that called Alan was a waitress dressed in a dark purple uniform with matching long hair, with blue highlights on the end, that reached her shoulders. She was the head waitress of the cafe and she has known Alan for almost eight years as she is the landlady of the building Alan lives in.
"Hey, Linda!" Alan greeted her with a forced cheerful tone. "I see that you have the recruit with you." Marshal looked at the waitresses and he held his mouth open with shock as he saw a familiar face.
"Yeah." She said with a smile then reflected on his response. "Wait, the way you said that makes it sound that you already knew we were gonna have one?"
"Err..." Her response caught him off guard. "For some reason I had a weird dream last that somehow everything from it has happened...up...until...now...?" Before Alan had finished his statement, the world around him was motionless and completely soundless except for the tick-tocks in his mind. As Alan remembered that sound he immediately looked to his neck.
"What the?" Just as Alan had guessed the source of the noise came from the glowing pendant around his neck.
"Tick-Tock." A strange yet familiar voice had said.
"Huh?" as Alan turned around he saw an aqua-colored spirit appear in front of him.
"Who are you?" asked Alan.
"'Who are you?'" the spirit mocked. "Man, you really are stupid, huh? Of all the questions to ask, like: where am I, or what is going on, you choose that one? How lame." The spirit rolled his eyes before drifting around Alan.
"..." Alan carefully read his movements.
"Tsk, at least you seem to know how to read a person." It said with an annoyed tone. "But to put everything that is happening in simple terms so that you'll understand, the name's Chronos, and that there is an artifact of mine that you somehow got chosen for."
"Wait, so Greek Gods exi-"
"No, you dumbass," Chronos interjected, "Gods do not exist. And if I seem annoyed, to which I am, that is because EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has received that pendant says that." He clears his throat. "Anyway, I don't have the energy to keep you here too much longer, so I'm just gonna explain the important parts and have you disappear from my sight." Chronos took a deep breath, "The place you are currently in is what's known as the Time den. This place is normally activated for twelve seconds and the reason for that is because of your curse."
"My curse?" Alan asked.
"Stop asking questions. Yes, your curse prevents you from allowing others to know what is happening with you. Oddly enough, it only works on humans. So if a human hears you talk about anything regarding you being able to relive time or being cursed, time will freeze for twelve seconds."
"So I can use this to freeze time and do anything I want for twelve seconds?" As Alan asked, Chronos glared at him.
"I just said stop asking questions. Time is energy. But yes, although," Chronos said, shrugging his shoulders, "It does have a price, and that price is twelve hours of your lifespan."
"What-" Just before Alan could speak, Chronos threw a strange block at his face. After taking the impact, Alan glared at Chronos and he resumed his story.
"For every second you spend here because of your activation, not mine, your body fast-forwards one hour. But lucky for you, that resets if you can break the cycle."
"..."
"Not gonna ask this time?" snickered Chronos.
"..."
"Good boy," Chronos laughed, "smart yet slothful."
"..."
"Anyway, your curse is something that I have no control over because that pendant around your neck is actually sentient, and chooses the trials based on its owner. And one last thing, the trials are something that has two ways of breaking, one is by completing whatever it is, usually, it's preventing a person's death. The second way is through death itself. If you failed to save a person related to the trial or if you wanna play the hero and save everyone, just wait till midnight. That is when the pendant around your neck activates sending you back in time to when you woke up. Or if you stayed up all night, straight to midnight."Alan stood there processing the information Chronos had just told him, then he looked up at Chronos.
"No matter what happens, I will pass these trials," Alan said with determination.
A wicked smile twisted onto Chronos' face, "Heh, you have no idea about what's gonna happen, and it's adorable. But I look forward to the day I watch you get devoured by despair, the hopelessness of being unable to save those that you love." His voice changed. He spoke with a lunatic-like tone as his body began to dissolve. Chronos waved at him before fully disappearing.
"Let's see if you can end our suffering."
And with that Chronos faded away and time flowed once more.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone