A Realm of Terror

"My child, this is an interesting device you have.  What is it?"  Athena was now holding the small globe in her had.  The blue flames in her eyes looked at the orb in curiosity.  The small blue bolts of lightning moved to touch her fingers as she tested what the orb could actually do.

"This is a plasma globe.  It was created by Nicola Tesla.  It is an ancient curiosity that doesn't serve much use on the surface level.  But it does contain secrets.  And I believe that if I use those secrets, I can save you."

I meant what I said.  I wanted to save this woman from whatever the scientists had done to her in the past.  

"Save me.  What do you mean?  I have already defeated the fake God."  She gestured to Newton.

"That's not what I mean."  How could I get through to her.  I needed a carrot for her to follow.

"I can end the war right now."  The war was actually already over.  There had been no winner.  Everyone had died in the conflict between the two Gods.  Athena hadn't realized that.

"You can help me defeat the Newtonites?"

"Yes, but I need something to make the orb function properly.  I need to make a gold plated coil of a certain specification."

"This lab has everything you might need.  As for gold, the whole sanctuary is made of gold.  Just melt the amount you need to make the coating you need."

Athena was smart.  I had been thinking a similar thing.  It seemed that she wouldn't get in my way as I worked on a method to travel back to the void.

********************

Making the coil hadn't been easy.  Many of my models just didn't have the right density or consistency necessary to work.  But I had nothing but time on my hands.  Athena had watched me quietly while I worked.  I had gotten used to her flame eyes and the genuine curiosity as to what I was working on. 

A part of me realized that what had happened in the future could have been prevented had I taken the Athenites more seriously.  But so entranced by the study of their culture....  Yes, I had failed to see a massive uprising like this.  

"There's a way to have me cake and eat it too, I think."  I truly believed if I had another chance that I could get the future that everyone deserved.

Finally, I had the correct coil.  The exact one that I needed.  I smiled.  Athena smiled back at me.

"Did you do it, child?"

"Yes, I think I have.  I can finally set things right...."  I looked sadly at Athena.  This version of her.  Would this version of her always be trapped in this reality.  It was hard to say?  Time could have multiple branches, each with its own bubble.

"Are you going to use it?"

"Yes, but I think a part of me will miss you watching me as I work."

"I will always be watching, child."  That was the last thing I heard as I transported into the darkness.

[I am back, My Friend.  And this time I need your power more than ever.]

I looked at the orb.  The orb was inviting me to touch it.  I had touched it before, many times, but now there seemed to be an invitation.  An overwhelming sense that the orb wanted to show me something.

I reached out my hand.  I could sense what the orb wanted to show me.

[The other side.   It wants to show me the place where you live, My Friend.  I cannot tell you how long I have waited for this moment.]

"Yes, I want to see it.  I want to see everything."

And I did see it.  And I was afraid and struck with terror at every image that flashed across my vision.

I saw a man with a pale white face.  No, the face wasn't naturally white, more like a painted coat.  He had a giant red grin, and he had fake red hair.  The hair was curly and unkept.  The man gave me a smile and gestured me to a massive building.

People, I had never seen so many people.  All of them lined up to go inside the building.  Each one holding a stack of paper with numbers on it.  Fake smiles lined their faces, and they tried to push their ways through the doors.

And I saw the people hand other people the paper.  And they were given food.  And the food wasn't enjoyed; it was stuffed down inside their mouths.  The people barely had time to chew or enjoy their meals.  And the sad thing was, after eating and eating so much, the people were still hungry.  And the food they had eaten had made them sick.

But this wasn't the end.  I saw a man just glance at another man.  The other man took this the wrong way and threw a punch.  The man who got hit fell down.  And the crowd around the two men ignored everything.  They were all bust yelling and pushing to get out.  And the man who threw the punch had the audacity to complain that his fist was now sore.

I saw all the people getting fatter and more unhealthy as they ate more and more.  I saw them exit the building to go to more buildings and buy boxes with their paper.  They smiled fake smiles as they filled their houses with piles upon piles of boxes.

I saw the people wake up early and go to their jobs.  Each one looking miserable as they did them.  And at the end of the day, they lined up to receive their paper payment.  And they repeated the same process day after day.  Pushing and shoving to go to jobs they hates.  Yelling and screaming to eat food that slowly killed them.  And hurting each other in the most extreme ways just to get a box.

And then there was a fog.  An old street with an old man.  And I knew him.

"Tesla."

There was no mistake about him.  The old man smiled.  A greeted me with a bow.  But there was a dark air around him.  Another man was coming from the shadows.  I tried to yell.  I tried to warn him.  But the other man came.  He hit Tesla with his cane.  He beat him and laughed with glee as he did so.

The man turned to face me.

"I am Thomas Edison.  I invented the lightbulb."

"Not true.  Fraud.  Fakester.  Liar."  I yelled viciously at him.

Edison gestured to a stone stairway that lead to a wooden door.

I walked up those stairs, but I wasn't a willing participant in the motions I was taking.  My body walked on its own, and Edison smiled a cruel smile as I reached for the door handle to open it.

The door creaked, and the wood scratched against the floor.  Inside there was a single wooded table with a book on it.

The cover on the book said, "Newton's Third Law."

My eyes got bigger.  "Newton doesn't have a third law."  But I knew what I said had no meaning in this world.  A world where Newton hadn't become a God.  A world where he was just a mortal man.  A world where he had written a third law.

My hand tremored uncontrollably.  I flipped the book open and read the simple statement.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

I turned the page again.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Again.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Every page.  No explanation.

I sat down on the wooden ground.

"I have seen more than enough."  That's what I said

The darkness was around me again.  But my mind had been shattered.  And I didn't know how to comprehend what I had just seen.