Ch. 83: The Key to Time
“Yo, big scary dude, what are you—” My words caught in my throat. My jaw dropped as I caught sight of the old man standing before the already humming time machine. Was he really working with it? That relic? Don’t tell me he was planning on going back in time but where was he intending to go to again?
I watched the contraption buzz and whirr before it let out a deep, resonating hum that sent vibrations crawling through the air. My heart stilled as it shot out a violent surge of energy. Not good— definitely not good. Before I could bolt, the wave engulfed me entirely. My surroundings flickered like static on a broken TV before dissolving into white noise as the light disintegrated everything in sight.
“Aaaahhh!” I hit the cold stone floor hard, trembling as the fear coursed through me. But to my surprise, I wasn’t dead. I blinked, my body tingling but intact. Everything was fine too. Slowly, I rose to my feet, filled with a mixture of anger and confusion.
“What is your problem?!” I roared, glaring at the ancient god tinkering with his monstrous machine. “Did you want to kill me too? Why don’t you go die yourself, old man!”
Hephaestus didn’t flinch at my outburst. He was focused on the large arc powering down, the machine groaning as it sputtered to a halt. With a heavy sigh, he muttered, “Huh. It still doesn’t work like it used to. I’ll have to rework it from scratch. I wonder why I didn’t finish it earlier?”
I was about to give him another piece of my mind, but then something hit me. A sudden influx of images and sensations— fragments of a vision. My vision. No, it was more than that. I had… been there. “Wait—Hephaestus,” I said, my voice trembling as the memories sharpened. “I think I just went to the future. A full- on reality shift.”
But he barely acknowledged me. His eyes were glued to the machine, utterly absorbed in the Temporal Rift Generator’s failure. Should I even tell him? He might not care, but the machine— it had failed. Yet somehow, it managed to send me forward in time. Briefly, yes, but long enough for my mind to grasp the future’s disarray.
And then the memory of Talos hit me, clear as day. Or rather, what was left of her. Talos, a once powerful being reduced to an empty shell, without any purpose and spirit. What the hell could have caused her to end up like that? Was it something I was supposed to prevent? An overwhelming sense of responsibility weighed down on my chest, and I could not shake the feeling that time was not something to be trifled with, even by the gods.
“It’s still a bug!” Hephaestus bellowed, slamming his fist into the metal casing of the machine. The sound reverberated in the cavernous workshop like thunder. I just hope he doesn’t break it. “After all these years, who knows if I will ever finish it.” He grumbled, massaging his temples as if the frustration gnawed at his very soul.
What an hardworking fella we have here.
I stared at him, trying to piece together what this insane god would have done if the machine had worked. When would he have gone? Why was he so obsessed with fixing time? I’d seen countless movies about time travel, but reality— it was not like those tidy movie narratives that always ended up cringed. Time was fluid, chaotic, more like a tangled web of pudding than a straight line.
“I wonder when Talos and the blue guy are coming back,” I muttered, half to myself. Had they ditched me? They wouldn’t, right? Why was I lefg to stay back with this big brute.
I walked closer to Hephaestus intrigued, lowering my voice. “Your time machine… it’s broken, isn’t it?”
He whirled around, his face twisted with anger. “What are you, blind?!” His voice boomed through the space, his frustration spilling over like magma.
I took a step back. “I was just trying to help, man, chill out!” On seeing the genuine looked on my face his features softened slightly as my words sank in. He sighed heavily, the anger evaporating, leaving behind the weary look of a man— no, a god— who had seen too much.
I could not help but press on, curiosity gnawing at me. “So… what’s wrong with it?” Not that I knew how to fix it!”
He opened a panel at the base of the arc, crouching as his hands deftly reworked the wires with a precision that only a master craftsman could have. “The machine is functional, but it has one major flaw. The location pinpointer that should have to operate at optimum condition has not existered yet. Without a way to pinpoint the exact coordinates of our destination in time and space, we’re just guessing.”
“Whoa…” I muttered, my ignorance laid bare. I didn’t understand a fraction of what he was talking about, but it sounded monumental.
“Machines need fuel, just like any other mechanism,” he explained, surprisingly patient this time. “This one needs more than just fuel—it needs a way to measure and track time. A temporal compass of sorts. I need something to help the machine pinpoint the exact moment in history, but the problem is…” He trailed off.
“We don’t have an address to go to,” I finished his sentence eagerly.
He nodded. “Exactly. And time isn’t like a destination you can find on a map. It’s a shifting, living thing. The challenge is finding a way to integrate the flow of time itself into this machine.”
I leaned against a cold stone pillar, my mind racing. How could you find time? Time wasn’t tangible, it wasn’t something you could hold in your hand. It wasn’t like fixing a car or wiring a circuit. It was an abstract concept, constantly shifting.
“Maybe you need a special kind of fuel,” I murmured, half to myself. “Something that operates within time itself. I don’t know what you need, but you can call me when you figure it out.”
As I turned to leave, I felt the weight of exhaustion pressing down on me. The alcohol still lingered in my system, making my head heavy. I swayed slightly, ready to collapse and sleep for a week. “The troubles I have to deal with in my second life better have a real reawrd…” I muttered bitterly.
But before I could to my seat for a well deserved nap, Hephaestus grabbed my arm, his eyes wide with sudden realization. “Wait! There might be a way to fix this after all.”
I frowned, yanking my hand free. “You found a new fuel source that fast? How?”
He smirked, the dark glint of revelation in his eyes. “Why did I not think of this before? You— you’re the key. You’re the only one besides the Fates themselves who can freely move through time and dimensions. You are the missing link.”
I froze. Me? What are you going to do to me?” Panic surged through me, imagining all the grotesque possibilities. Cutting me open? Harvesting my organs?
He released me, waving off my concern. “Relax. I just need a bit of your blood. Nothing more.” His voice was calm, but the intensity of his gaze sent a chill down my spine.
I exhaled sharply, relieved but s
till uneasy. “Great, because for a second, I thought you were about to kill me.”
He let go of me allowing me to sigh in relief. “Just a bit of your blood should do for the experiment.” He said with more seriousness than before. “And why would I kill such a funny man as you here and now?”
What a great compromise that turned out to be— or not!
The next few minutes, however, were a nightmare. Hephaestus drained my blood with disturbing efficiency, as if siphoning gas from a tank. My body weakened with each passing second, the pain sharp and biting. I cursed at him between labored breaths, furious at myself for agreeing to this insanity.
He, on the other hand, remained disturbingly calm. Focused. Eyes gleaming with the fervor of a mad scientist finally on the verge of a breakthrough. “Just a little more,” he muttered, his tone clinical.
I felt my consciousness slipping, darkness closing in from the edges of my vision. This better be worth it, I thought bitterly. The last thing I saw before passing out was the unholy glimmer of the Temporal Rift Generator sparking to life. Or maybe it was the light at the end of the tunnel again.
And then… nothing.
I had lost all conciousness.
A moment later I woke up to the familiar sound of Talos standing over me with Hades by her side. Good thing I wasn’t abandoned, “Is the portal working?” I asked weakly.
She said nothing and rose up to meet Hades, I was perplexed. Was the Temporal Rift Generator workinf or not? No one wanted to answer me this one question. Don’t tell me I wasted all my hard earned blood for nothing but a theory
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If I revive a magic castle I will mass release 10 chapters
