I travelled in time.

Now I'm starting to wonder if it was really worth it.

It had been through a gruesome 30 years, but throughout both theoretical and practical research, the professor had finally gotten the key to time.

I moved through the buildings in the desolate city, breaking through windows, climbing walls, all to spend as little time as possible on the streets.

We were actively being hunted down,, and any slip up would guarantee us taking our final breaths.

All we had to do was get to the professor's lab before they did. It was a race between our small group of Eight, and a superpower that controlled most of the world. It was already going to be almost impossible. We had just one thing ahead, we knew exactly where the lab was, but they didn't. They had gotten a hold of the massive energy readings from his lab during the final stage of his tests. This energy wave was so abnormally large, it was impossible to pinpoint exactly where it had come from.

We moved through the buildings until we got to the radio tower. We were very close; only a few streets over and we'd reach one of the secret entrances to the lab, but everything came crashing down when we say lights flashing into the building we were in.

We all ducked down and took cover instinctively. All our training had not been in vain. We were unaware whether it was a blind search, or our location had been compromised. We stated down until the lights had gone past, and then got up to regroup and change our strategy.

"Let's split up into groups. It should be alright if even one of us gets to the professor. We don't all have to survive. If we reach the professor, we've won", Our team leader said.

It was a pessimistic strategy, but she was right. We didn't all need to make it to the lab. If even one of us did, the mission would be complete.

We split up as instructed and went around in different directions to the lab to throw them off.

We set off our distraction flares that were a couple blocks away to take their attention away from us, and set off at once.

We ran across streets, through windows, but with their more sophisticated equipment, they were able to catch up to our location.

At this point, we were closer to the lab than ever, at the brink of success and then an explosion went off wiping out a whole part of the area; it was obvious that everyone in that direction was dead.

We couldn't regroup in the aftermath, and we're unable to use our communication equipment because they'd be intercepted basically immediately.

"We can only move forward; that's all we have to do; that's all we can do", my partner said to me.

Steeling our resolves, we continued towards the lab entrance. As we were going forward, more explosions went off, taking up more and more of us, till there was only a few left.

It was certain that the people after us didn't care about the collateral damage, but they had to care enough to not destroy the lab, which was probably the reason the whole area wasn't already a pile of rubble.

Soon enough, we reached the entrance to the lab, but the whole ordeal was far from over. The area was flooded with soldiers.

They seemed to have not found the entrance, but it was just a matter of time.

I spotted some of our people around, hidden in different locations, and some captured, being taken away probably for interrogation.

We had lost and sacrificed a lot. We couldn't fail now.

We finally had the chance to set things right, to stop the war from ever happening, to prevent the Overtaking. We had to succeed. It was the only option.

"We need cover to get to the entrance", I said to my partner, who in turn, held a bunch of smoke pellets.

"We'll only have one chance to go, and if we fail, it's all over"

It was tense. I never thought I'd face anything like this, but it was what it'd take. To save all the lives that were lost, all the children who were killed or left without parents, all the cities that were nothing but rubble. If it cost only my life to change it all, it would be a worthy sacrifice.

We verified our

"One...

Two...

Three!!"

And on her count of three, I activated one of the remote controlled flares in the close vicinity to attract her attention, and she threw a flash grenade followed directly by all the smoke pellets.

They also contained special electromagnetic dust particles to throw off infrared glasses to give us extra protection.

With the cover of smoke, they started firing in our direction general direction, but we were steps ahead them.

We broke in a run and went around them, making sure we were out of their line of fire and sure enough, we made it.

We were right at the entrance of the lab, we had won. We entered into the lab and the professor was right there. He welcomed us and showed us the way inside.

"It's been a long 30 years," the professor started, "You weren't even born when I started this project, but it's finally complete. Sadly, I can't use this machine I made", he said with a solemn atmosphere.

"Why can't you use it?", I asked curious about what he meant.

"The strain on the body from moving through time backwards is intense. The energy needed is massive and the shielding is not enough to completely remove the effects. Only if I had more time", his voice trailed off as he led us inside and opened an extra fortified door and took us into a room with what was very obviously the time machine in the center. It had a lot of wires connected to it from around.

He handed me a bunch of documents.

"This is a very long document explaining all the events that led up to the current state of the world. There's obviously not a lot one person can do, but if you affect just the right events, everything will change", the professor said.

I skimmed through it, looking at the different events. There was assassinations, riots, and even scientific breakthroughs written in it.

He handed me a file with some other items.

"This is your identity, someone your age that happened to look uncannily like you. I had one prepared for almost every one of you. He has basically no family and won a lottery, before disappearing, while in reality, he died in a mountain cave in and his body was never found. There was no one to look for him, so he just kind of disappeared.", the professor explained.

"And you had one for all of us?", I questioned, surprised at how he would go through such lengths.

"When the fate of the world is at stake, no preparation is too much, and more people go missing than you think. And even if they don't look exactly like you, if the person is unknowns as possible, it won't matter", The professor said.

"In there is also a bank card with around two million dollars in it at the time that I'll send you to, it's enough for you to live well and do some stuff. Remember us.", The professor said as he gave my a change of clothes fitting for the time he'd send me to and put me in the machine.

I took my seat and heard a loud whirring sound around me. He had started the machine immediately I got in. The sound was so loud, it didn't allow me to get in any final words to my partner.

My vision went white and my ears started ringing, followed by a great amount of pain assaulting my body. I gritted my teeth and powered through it untill my vision returned.

I was in a forest.

I found my way to a city and was able to integrate back into society it was 50 years in the past.

I quickly started my work and got to creating multiple businesses.

Due to my knowledge of a lot of the economic history of the time. I quickly amassed a lot of money and power. Two million dollars a lot of capital.

I got people I trusted into government positions and was able to control a lot of the affairs at the time.

I had research centers all around and was making sure to make the background work to fund the professor once he started his research.

Then I got into the international scene. Getting my feet into everything I could.

Before long, I had become one of the controllers behind the scenes. One of the people I used to hate and envy the most. I had to do it for the mission. I had money and power, but every day, I did all I could to make sure that as many of the events on the document didn't happen.

I was able to divert a lot of them, except some that happened before I got my ground, and others that happened outside my reach, or when I didn't have as much influence as I did.

As time went, I began to see some fruits in my labor. The world was as peaceful as I would have it. And while there was still conflicts happening around due to the nature of human beings, most of the events on the documents were worked out.

25 years had passed, and it was close to the day of reckoning.

I counted the days and soon enough it was just weeks left. That's when things took a very sharp turn.

World politics took a very sharp turn for the worse under the table. Minor conflicts and economic scrambles were happening, and things escalated very quickly.

It was the last 25 years happening right in front of my eyes. I tried my best to stop it.

But at those moments, I remembered how powerless I was. Some of my people betrayed me, and a lot crashed down.

In the end, I could only hope.

Only if hope could save me. It couldn't.

The Overtaking happened all over again in front of my eyes. In a last ditch effort, I started the Underground resistance, the very organization I was a part of. I wasn't even born yet, but I was sure I would be a part of it.

I integrated the professor's research into my organization and provided him with a facility better than the one he had in my time. I may have failed, but I knew one thing, it wasn't impossible to succeed.

A lot of things were different. I saved people.

I may not have saved the world, but the next person to try might succeed.

...----------------...

It's been a long while and watching everything happen has gouged my heart. I've tried my best to make sure that in the next iteration, everything is different.

I used my knowledge from being a world power to create a more comprehensive summary of the events of the past years and everything I missed that might have led up to the events that happened.

Next time, it might be different.

But as I look outside at the wasteland that was once home. I can't help but think...

Nothing changed