Time is a bit of a weird concept. Lots of people explain it like it’s a giant line, stretching into the past and future with little events interspersed to mark occasions. My problem with this is that for the future, time is always moving. It can’t be stopped, the “present” is nothing more than your mind reacting a few seconds too late to time’s passage to realize time has passed. Sounds weird right?

Well, it gets weirder. The future is malleable, and you can change it. But not the past. Believe me. If you, say, went back to thirty seconds ago and then told your past self not to travel back in time and they do it, you’ve created a paradox. Your time-traveling self would’ve needed to time travel to tell your past self not to time travel, but if the past self doesn’t, then the future where you do travel back doesn’t happen. So, how does the universe fix this?

They set the past in stone. Unmovable. Definite. Final. If you go back, maybe you’ll change the displacement of a few things, but let’s say, instead, your actual body is never transported back in time. Instead, only your mind is. So you mentally say, “no time travel”, and leave. And then what? Does the paradox exist now? Nope. Your actions are erased. Any memory of them is wiped from existence in order to consolidate all of the universe into one uniform time. The only way to enact a real change is to live out the new future. Which, at this point poses the question of whether the future you came from is wiped from existence, or if it

carries on in a separate, branching path. Frankly, I don’t know. But, I do know you have to stay in this “new” timeline to bring real change to the future. You don’t get to return to your future now having not made a choice, or maybe having prevented a cataclysm, and find the new and better world that would’ve been created if you’d stopped that tragedy in the past. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’ve tried and failed so many goddamn times to fix the past to save the future. Or at least, that’s what I’ve been told.

Part 1:

My name is Renmur. I started life as the average son of an average noble family in the middle of the city of Bastion. I grew up believing that Bastion was one of the last cities in the world I lived in. My world is one of monsters and demons, often created by our own hands. For us, the residents of Bastion, the majority of life was lived inside the hexagonal pattern that constituted the walls that protected us from the demons outside. But the demons also come from the inside. You see, in order to fight the monsters knocking at our door, my people developed a way to enter one’s own soul, and by doing so, we were able to tap into the power of our soul. But of course, the soul realm is filled with everything that constitutes a person, including the inner turmoil of oneself, and so, our inner demons, the ones that we lock away to keep ourselves sane, were now able to use their own power and will to overtake our bodies. This results in the mutation of a person into, well, a demon. And it was my life long ambition to become a demon slayer. Someone who masters the power of their soul and conquers their inner demons, and in turn, uses these powers to fight the monsters of the outside world. But, I was an average person. I might have managed to be accepted into the Divine Palace Sect, but as time went on, it was clear that I was a middle of the road demon slayer with no real power. That always pissed me off, but I guess it saved my life. Because when Bastion fell, I wasn’t on the front lines. I remember that day clearly, I was patrolling the inner city with my partner Ye Jin when the alarm bells rang. There was an invasion of a Cataclysm-Class horde. The next thing I remember that day is that I heard the front lines had collapsed after some humans lost their will and let their demons take control of them, attacking the front line from behind and letting the horde into the city. By the time I had received the news, the evacuation order had already been sent, so I ran to my family, hoping that I could save them. But I wasn’t fast enough. I didn’t make it in time to do anything, much less help. A small group of demon beasts had already killed them all. I found them there, eating away at the corpses of my loved ones. My mind filled with the color red and the next thing I knew, I was holding my little sister’s body in my arms, surrounded by the corpses of the demon beasts that had taken her away from me. I buried Runa and the rest of my family and left to follow the rest of the survivors.

Throughout the evacuation, I was tasked with protecting civilians, trying to save as many lives as possible. When we finally managed to clear the city, there were less than ten thousand of us. For the next few weeks, the survivors fought against starvation, sickness, and often one another, with many falling to despair and turning into demons themselves. The only ray of hope through this time was when I met Yu Li. She had been one of my martial sisters at the sect academy, but she had quickly proven herself to be an exceptional talent and moved on to be a prodigy, trained specially to be a front line fighter. Our travels together were happy, and she, oddly enough, reciprocated my feelings when I told her that I loved her. After that, she made it her goal to train me so that I could fight on par with her, and since we had just about all the time in the world, I began slowly improving. With her innate skills and vast knowledge from her time as a prodigy, she helped me realize my potential as a demon type. But, much like the rest of my life, it turned to disaster. One day, out of nowhere, something appeared from outside of existence, opening a portal. What came out is what I now know as a time wraith, a being that exists outside of normal time and space in order to correct anomalies and prevent paradoxes. At the time when it appeared however, I didn’t know that. So when I tried to fight it, it passed right through me. But for some reason, a part of its power was planted within my soul realm. The unexpected surge in power created a new demon within me, and I lost to it. All I can remember is watching as my body transformed into a featureless monster and killed Yu Li. It was like watching myself in the third person. After I had killed Yu Li, I went on a rampage, at least, according to the rest of the survivors. When I was finally out of energy, my body was returned to me, and I awoke in a pool of blood. For my crimes, I was cast out, never to see them again. In that long period of solitude, I was forced to rely on the time demon’s power to survive, and I began to study and strengthen myself further. Because of the time demon’s unique nature within my soul, I was able to increase my power by freezing time relative to myself, training for hundreds of years while the outside world didn’t move. I traveled the world, trying to master every skill, learn every bit of knowledge ranging from sword techniques to alchemy. I learned several dead languages and found several ancient artifacts. One of these artifacts was a single page, torn from a book called the Chronal Historia. This specific page detailed how a user could step into the Time Realm, a place outside of time and space. So I prepared myself to step into this place outside of time, and when I did, I found myself standing in a black void. But the page of the book lit up and began to move, and so I followed it. The page came to a rest near a second page from the same book. I spent the next eternity searching through both realms for more of the pages, hoping it would help me to reverse time. It was only when I had everything but the last 13 pages of the book that I finally managed to find the person responsible for the fall of Bastion. Or rather, they found me. I can’t remember all of it, but all I know is that I died. And as I lay there, bleeding out and gasping for air, the only thing I could do was curse myself for not having done things sooner. For not having saved the ones I loved. For failing. I closed my eyes for what should have been the last time. The problem is, my eyes opened again. And when they did, I was almost 15 years in the past.

As I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at a blue sky full of clouds. Around me I could hear the sound of children laughing and playing, along with what I assumed was training swords clashing. As I lay there, entranced, I felt at peace.

Is this Heaven? Am I finally free?

I felt a small smile form on my lips, and I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. As the darkness enveloped me, I was thrown into a different scene.

Blood runs down my eyes. Children scream for their mothers, and limbs poke out of the rubble of several collapsed homes. A blazing fire roars next to my left arm which has long since gone numb. The sword in my hand is cracked and chipped, but my fingers are stuck to it like glue because of the mixture of dried blood and sweat. Staring me down is a snake the color of rubies, a young woman’s torso poking out of its maw. She stares at me, aghast, and tries to scream. All that comes out is blood. As she slides down the throat of the scarlet viper, my mind goes blank. I lift the sword and croak out a battle cry, rushing forward and igniting the flame enchantment I placed on the blade. As the snake rears back to attack me, I realize that this will more than likely be my end. I-

“STUDENT RENMUR, NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR REST!”

I sat up abruptly, my eyes flying open as I came back from that nightmarish hellscape.

This is all wrong. If this was Heaven, I wouldn’t be seeing that. For that matter, I haven’t been a student since I was in the Divine Palace Sect.

I looked around this time, trying to see what was around me. I found myself staring at something that shouldn’t have been in front of me.

My sect’s training grounds?

Around me was the scene I’d heard playing out before I’d closed my eyes, with kids, or I guess teenagers training. Once upon a time, this had been familiar to me, but now it was almost as alien as the bottom of the ocean.

“Jeez, how hard did you knock him down Cato?”

“Not very!”

Cato?

I located the voice that had replied and saw him. Before Bastion had fallen, Cato and I had been inseparable friends. Now, as I stared at him in wonder, the scene of his death played in my eyes. He had run forward, charging towards a horde of demon beasts. As they started to rip into his body, he burst into flame, a supernova of his soul essence turning everything white and reducing half of the horde into ash.

“Cato… Is that you?”

“Yeah Renmur, it’s me. You remember everything alright?”

He was staring at me, his brow furrowing in concern.

“Uhh, Instructor, I think Renmur has a concussion.”

“No. Cato. I’m uhh… I’m fine. Sorry.”

I stood up, brushing off the dust that had collected on my uniform after I’d hit the ground. Cato had come over to me and was resting a hand on my shoulder, peering into my eyes.

“Dude, you should still get checked-.”

“I said I’m fine.”

I shrugged off his hand, brushing my way past him.

“Instructor, can I just head back to my room for a bit? I need to check something?”

“Very well. Go.”

I nodded my head at the instructor and started heading towards the courtyard that had once been my home. I passed by the blossom tree, ignoring someone who called out my name. My head was spinning, flashes of memories from both my days as a student and the day I lost everything blending together. I picked up my pace, trying to outrun my own thoughts. Finally, I found myself leaning against a wall, dizzy and nauseous from all the swirling images in my head. I was breathing hard and fast, my chest heaving. Suddenly, I was spun around and slammed into the wall.

“Hey Renmur, we were just looking for you.”

I stared into the eyes of someone I hadn’t seen for almost a decade. Ye Jin, my old patrol partner and before that, bully, was currently pressing his hand to my chest, his eyes lit with glee.

If I remember correctly, this is how he used to try and shake me down for money..

As I observed my surroundings, I realized that he wasn’t alone, and for that matter, that today had been an especially traumatizing day in my past. Today was the day that he had tried to cave my head in, along with his best friend Lei Yun.

“So, Renmur, mind telling me why you ignored me earlier? Because I could swear I told you that we’d come find you during your class, but we went there and they said that you were headed back to your room, and when we called out to you just now, you just kept on walking. So, were you trying to run away?”

I still felt sick, and I could barely hear what he was saying over the ringing in my ears.

“Listen, Ye Jin now is really not the time. I’m-.”

I felt my skull crash into the wall before I could even process the sight of his fist slamming into my face. I slid down the wall, falling on my ***. The dizziness and ringing in my head intensified, but with it came a rising sense of rage.

“Did I say you could speak? Lei Yun, did I say he could speak?”

“Nope.”

The two were grinning ear to ear, chuckling to themselves. They thought that they could get away with anything. They knew that I wouldn’t stand up to them, and even if I did, that they could beat me to a bloody pulp anyway.

“Anyway, Renmur, were you trying to run?”

Ye Jin leaned down and grabbed me by the hair, pulling my face closer to his.

“I asked you a question. Now answer.”

“No.”

“Then why weren’t you in class?”

“I felt sick.”

“Bullshit.”

I was slammed back into the wall, jarring my teeth. I felt the skin break and blood start to pour down my neck.

“Lie to me one more time, and I’ll kill you.”

“I’m… I’m not lying.”

Ye Jin peered into my eyes, trying to see a hint that I was lying, but I could tell he already knew I had been telling the truth. He just wanted an excuse for what he was about to do to me.

“Okay. I believe you. Unfortunately, I don’t care.”

Shit.

Ye Jin raised his fist and punched me in the face. I took the hit full-on, not bothering to try and defend myself. I knew it was useless. He dropped me to the ground and started to kick me in the stomach, Lei Yun’s foot following quickly behind. The building rage in my chest was starting to overflow, and before I could stop myself, I kicked out, blocking Lei Yun’s next kick with my own. His shin snapped back, his leg bending at a strange angle. He fell backward as he started screaming, grabbing onto Ye Jin’s shirt to catch his balance. I took this chance to stand up, my head lolling back while I struggled to gain footing. I was leaning back and forth, too dizzy and in pain to stand straight. I had bitten my tongue when Ye Jin had punched me, and now I spat it out at their feet. A strange sense of calm had fallen over me. I could still feel my anger, but it was more like a nagging sensation in the back of my mind.

“I just fucking told you that this really wasn’t the time, but still, you two idiots decided that you wanted to start a fight. Now, I know that you’re gonna kick the shit out of me and that I stand no chance. So let’s just fucking get on with it.”

I hadn’t really noticed it before, but Ye Jin and Lei Yun were now frozen in place. Lei Yun had stopped screaming while clutching his leg. And it wasn’t just them. The back courtyard had gone silent. Standing stock-still on the other end of the alley was some trainee I didn’t know. He was looking at me with a mixture of horror and terror, his mouth hanging open. I cocked my head to the side for a second, trying to figure out what was wrong. It was then that Lei Yun and Ye Jin finally got a hold of themselves. I saw Ye Jin’s fist become encased in yellow light, and then everything went dark.

The first sensation I felt after I woke up was a shooting pain that arced from my eyes to the back of my neck. The room was lit only by a couple of candles, but even that soft glow seemed too bright for me to be able to keep my eyes open for more than a second. I groaned softly and tried to gather my thoughts into a coherent enough string to actually do something, but I stopped when I realized that there was someone, or something, laying next to me, holding my hand. I cracked my eyes open again, careful to squint against the candlelight, and saw the shape of a girl who I couldn’t recognize. She had long blonde hair and was dressed in a nurse’s uniform. Her breathing was steady and next to her head was a piece of paper that had my name on it.

What the hell is going on?

I tried to move my arm to shake her awake and realized that I was tied down. My arms were strapped to the bed at the elbow and wrist, and my legs were strapped in at the joints as well.

“The **** is this all about?”

I managed to mumble out the words, my head still groggy. I decided since I couldn’t move that I would try and get her attention with my voice. I cleared my throat loudly, twitching my fingers in her hand while I was at it, but there was no response.

“Hey… Lady…”

She shifted slightly at this, so I figured she had woken up partially.

“Nurse… Nurse… Nurse!”

She bolted awake when I raised my voice, looking around for a moment to find the source of the noise. At first, she didn’t realize it was me, as my eyes were still barely open.

“I’m awake. Can you untie me?”

The nurse stared at me, the confusion from earlier dissipating, getting replaced with something between fear and concern.

“Ren?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Well, you’re awake at least.”

The nurse ignored my annoyance with being called Ren and instead started to look at the sheet of paper.

“Why the hell am I tied up?”

She looked at me again, the fear on her face returning for a second.

“Do you not remember?”

“Remember what?”

“When you were brought in for treatment you attempted to break away, shouting for your weapon and telling your friends that they weren’t real, that they were already dead. It took six silver cultivators to restrain you enough for the healer to apply an anesthetic and put you to sleep. It’s amazing you weren’t dead yourself with those injuries you had.”

She checked the sheet, listing off everything that was wrong with me.

“The back of your skull is broken, along with a fracture around your left eye. Your arm is as close to being broken as it can be without actually breaking, and that isn’t even counting all the bruises and cuts you have. You’re lucky to be alive.”

I muttered something under my breath, careful to make sure she couldn’t hear.

“Wouldn’t be so sure about that…”

“In any case, Renmur, I’ll have to wait for the doctor to come back before I start untying you.”

“Ok, I get all of that, but why were you holding my hand?”

“You wouldn’t stop trying to get out of your restraints, even in your sleep, unless someone was holding onto you. I guess I fell asleep holding your hand.”

I paused, trying to process as much as I could. The pain in my head was starting to fade away, turning into more of a dull throb than like someone was shoving a pike through my skull. I opened my eyes a bit more, slowly letting them adjust to the light.

“Thank you errr…”

“My name is Lu Fei.”

“Thank you, nurse Lu.”

“You’re welcome.”

She smiled slightly at me and then turned to the curtain. A second later, a doctor in white robes opened them, his eyes taking stock of the nurse, and then me. He sighed and shook his head when he looked at the papers that he’d been handed.

“Renmur of the… Iron Wolf family? Is that right?”

“Yeah. That’s me.”

“Good, you can remember your name. Well, let me just tell you, you’re lucky to be alive right now. I’ve seen cases similar to yours among much more powerful warriors and they didn’t survive. So, do you mind telling me exactly how you ended up like this?”

His eyes regarded me coldly, and I could feel him trying to use a soul search to find my intentions. Luckily for me, the ability to block that sort of probing was a mental one, and not a physical one, which meant that when I’d come back to life, it had transferred back with me.

I’ll have to remember to find out exactly what came back with me, best case scenario I could get in a lot of trouble for doing something I shouldn’t be able to. Worst case scenario, I try using one of my demons and I raze the city.

“I don’t really remember much sir. I was in a back alley on the way to my dormitory with Ye Jin and Lei Yun, and next thing I knew, I was here.”

I’d already figured out by the fact that the doctor was trying to search me without asking that he wasn’t really interested in my side of the story. He was more interested to know about how much he’d have to cover up for Lei Yun and Ye Jin. What they’d done was a serious crime, but given their family backgrounds, it would be brushed off like a feather.

“Is that so? Well, in any case, there will be a small trial for you and the other boys involved, as not only did you fight, but someone was harmed using true soul essence, which is banned under sect rules.”

“OK. When is it?”

“The elders told me that they would start as soon as you woke up.”

“Have they?”

“Indeed. You have recovered from your injuries, for the most part, so I see no reason not to bring you before the Disciplinary Guild.”

I couldn’t stop myself from narrowing my eyes at this, and I saw the healer’s eyebrows raise at this. I knew he was making a mental note of that, but for the moment that was fine.

After a millennia of pain and hatred, there is nothing they can do to harm me. There are only things I can do to harm them.

I suppressed the wolfish smile that I knew was trying to form and hopped off the bed. There was a moment of dizziness as I stood up, but it quickly passed and I was ready to start getting clothed.

“Some privacy?”

“As you wish.”

The doctor ducked behind the curtains that secluded me from the rest of the hospital, and I started to change out of the tunic they provided me with. I shrugged on the clothes they had provided, which, on closer inspection was a set that I had kept in my room. I found some wrappings that were probably used as bandages and wrapped them around my fist and up half of my forearm. Finally, using a silver bowl as a mirror, I tied my hair back and walked out.

“That’s a rather dark outfit young man.”

“It was what was provided.”

Nurse Lu from earlier had returned, and when she saw me she also commented on my attire.

“Black and red do suit you quite well Renmur.”

I nodded at her, turned heel, and headed for the door to the outside, and beyond that, my trial.