One Hundred Seconds Until Midnight

“You’re not dead, idiot” I hear a girl’s voice say to me. The same voice of that girl who was with me when I died, or passed out or whatever. “Since you’re unconscious right now, I’ll tell you what I did to you. If you have any questions then please don’t ask them, because I won’t be there when you wake up. So, there’s no point in questioning anything. To introduce myself, my name is Kali, the goddess of time. I’m also known as the goddess of death. That’s not the point of this. I didn’t come to bring you death. I actually came to you so you can save lives, or take them. I mean you can do what you want with this power, but your goal I give you is to stop doomsday. The world is inching itself closer and closer with each passing day. Now, you may think, why would a goddess of death want people to be saved? Short answer is, drum roll please, it makes my job so much easier. You’ll never understand how much work it is sorting people by their religion so they can go to their own afterlife. For example, if a Christian dies you either send them to Heaven or Hell right? Yeah well that goes for every religion. Well if you’d believe this, There’s a shit ton of religions. These damn shit monkeys that evolved from fish on this shitty planet have to take the time out of my day to make sure they get the end they wanted or whatever. Thinking about it now, it must suck being a Buddhist. Actually thinking that you have to be reborn back onto earth. I wouldn’t want my soul to come back to this dumpster fire of a planet. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, and the other reason I want this shitty place saved is because what would be the point of me existing. If there’s no one that believes in me, and I have no job to do, then what the hell does a goddess do? Anyway, I’ve taken some time off of my work to observe you. So, if you ever need any help along the way I can be summoned. Well, if I want to talk to you. If I don't want to talk to you then you’re gonna have to suffer by yourself for a while. Also, I don’t know if you want to know this or not but there’s multiple death gods and goddesses. Lucky for you, I’m the cutest one so you got that going for you. You can tell all your friends that you got to see the most beautiful death goddess of them all. That might not be saying much, but it’s fine. I’ll take whatever compliment I can get at this point. So, you may wake up now. I’m done talking”

I opened up my eyes to see the tree I was at earlier. I look down and check if I’m actually alive. Holy shit I am. I inhale deeply, just to really get the forest smell. I’m actually alive. That’s amazing. I also got to speak with a goddess. Well, have a goddess talk to me without me actually saying anything. I’ll take what I can get. I look down at my left hand and see the mountains she engraved into my hand. Oh, she said I get some kind of power. Does this mountain on my hand have anything to do with the power? She never told me about my power. That son of a-

“Calm down, I will tell you a little bit about your power. But, I have to make it somewhat interesting don’t I?” The green haired goddess appears sitting on a log not too far from me. “Would you like to come sit with me?” She pats the logs, motioning me to sit next to her.

“You are really funny! You expect me to sit next to a goddess of death?” I say, almost about to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

“You’re really going to be that mean to the one that just gave you the greatest power of all time, the power to stop doomsday.” She says. “You are also going to ignore how beautiful I am.”

“So instead of telling me what terrible super power you gave me, you are going to make me compliment you instead?” I sarcastically exclaim.

“I won’t tell you shit until you sit next to me and say I’m pretty” She says as she smiles at me.

“You tell me to save the world, but make me waste time on this bullshit”

“What would you rather have? Me, the most beautiful death goddess of all time, or your sister, a disgusting hag.” She says.

“You saw what she did to me?”

“I’m a goddess, of course I saw what she did to you”

“ Never speak of it again or I’ll kill you” I irrationally say.

“Kill a death goddess? How ironic. I’m already in love with you.”

“That might be even more ironic. A death goddess falling in love? A normal person wouldn’t think that someone who deals with the dead would have the capability of loving someone else.”

“You should stop with your hypothetical bullshit and come sit with me”

“Fine, only if you tell me what my power does.” I get up off the ground and walk over to the log Kali is sitting on. I sat down next to her.

“Lay down,” Kali says.

“Uh.. what?” I question a goddess, seems a little crazy but today has been a damn rollercoaster and I’m about to flip my shit if it gets any worse.

“Lay your head down on my lap” She says seriously.

“Lay my head down on a death goddess's lap? You have to be crazy!”

“Is anything really that crazy after everything you’ve been through today?”

“Fair point” I lay my head on Kali’s lap. Her thighs are very soft, like pillows. “So, are you going to explain anything yet? Like why did I get impaled by a tree branch?”

“A goddess has extreme power in the mortal plane, but I’m limited by my surroundings. I needed to stop you somehow. Would you rather have had me crush you with a tree?”

“ It would be great to see how much work it would take for you to piece me back together. It’s like a fucked up jigsaw puzzle.”

“A squished jigsaw puzzle”

“Great observation” I say sarcastically. “Will you tell me what my power does now?”

“Did you ever tell me that I’m pretty?”

“Yup, so pretty for a death goddess.” I say, I wish I could say I was lying but she is actually very attractive.

“I can read your thoughts too, so quotation marks aren’t necessary for me to understand.”

“That’s really creepy” you smell bad. You smell like poop, poop, poop.

“Very grown-up aren’t we?” She says.

“Well then do I even need to speak? If you can understand my thoughts”

“You don’t need to, but I like hearing your voice. So please keep talking. And would you stop thinking lewd thoughts about me, it’s making me uncomfortable.” she says but I don’t understand, since I wasn’t actually thinking lewd thoughts. But thinking about it now I totally can picture her nak- “I’m trillions of years old, even though I may look your age. Just making sure you know”

“You really know how to ruin anything don’t you?”

“I am a goddess of death after all, but you want to learn about your new power don’t you?. Well like I said before, I’m not only a goddess of death. I’m also the goddess of time too. So that’s what your ability is about, manipulating time. Whenever you decide to, you can pause time. But, before you get too excited, there is a very big downside to it. As I am a goddess of death, everytime you use your power you damage yourself. It’s very minimal to begin with, but if used too many times or for too long you’ll have some serious consequences. I’ve noticed that most of the time it damages your heart or your lungs if you use it for too long. The only reason I put that limitation on you is because I don’t want you to be able to stop time forever, or become a god in a mortal’s body.” I spring up from her lap when I hear how cool the power is.“Yes I know it is very cool, but you have to remember the consequences of using it.”

“Can I have a trial run? See how it works?” I ask, excited to try out my super power.

“Sure, but if you fail you die.”

“I’m fine with that! Cause I know I won’t die”

“Well then stop time” after she says that I hear cracking from next to me. The giant tree we’ve been next to started to fall in my direction.

“A little late to ask, but how do I activate this thing?!?” I ask, but it’s already too late. I look up to see the tree falling very fast, I clench my fist and close my eyes ready for my time to end already. But, nothing happens. I don’t feel any pain nor do I hear anything. I open my eyes to find that the tree is frozen in time a few inches above me. “Holy shit I did it!!” I quickly move out of the way of the falling tree.

“ Clench your fist to unfreeze time, it's the same to freeze time. You had me scared for a second, but I’m glad you instinctively clinched your fist when you're about to die, it’ll come in handy I promise.”

“I wish you could’ve told me that before you dropped a tree on me” I clench my fist and the tree falls to the ground, creating a shock wave that knocks me over. I look over to Kali to see her unfazed by the shock wave. Well what did I expect from a goddess? Honestly not much at this point.

“Get out there and save the world!” She stands up and says abruptly.

“How exactly do I do that?”

“Figure it out.” She disappears in front of me. Goddamnit.

I headed back to the clearing Kaylyn and I was in earlier, when that happened. Yeah I don’t know if I’m going to be able to go home tonight.

It takes me a few minutes to reach the road from the clearing. There’s a lack of traffic. But once I see a car, I’ll make my move. I wait a few moments until I see headlights in the distance. I wait until the car is just about to pass me and I clench my fist. The car freezes in place. I walk around the car to the driver's side. I open the door and take the old man that was driving it out of it and lay him on the ground. I get comfortable, and put on my seatbelt. I clench my fist again and the car starts to move. Remember how I said I failed my driving test multiple times, well about that. I’m driving a car right now and I honestly have no idea what I’m doing. I look in the mirror to see the old man laying dumbfounded in the middle of the road. I wonder how that was for him? Did he just teleport outside of his car from his perspective?

“Others just think you can teleport” Kali appears next to me in the passenger seat, which scares me so much I almost run the car off the road. “I also can see that you suck at driving. You’re not even staying within the lines on the road. Can you even do anything right?”

“I’m sick of people thinking I’m so damn useless at everything. With this power, I’ll save the world and show how useful I truly am.” I say, letting my frustration seep out.

“See that would be a great revelation right now, but it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t drive a car worth a shit.”

“If you don’t like how I drive, then leave you old witch” I say without remorse.

“So much for me being attractive!” She grabs my arm and sandwiches it between her breasts, which yet again makes me drive off the road.

“Could you tell me where Zyair lives?”

“Well you're gonna have to specify a little bit, because there’s approximately 5,000 people in this world named Zyair, and I doubt you want to know all of their addresses.”

“I thought you were supposed to be smart! I mean the Zyair that I talked to earlier today.”

“I don’t pay attention to your every move. I have other, more important, people to stalk as a goddess.”

“You are the most useless goddess ever. Well if I want to be able to see him again I’ll have to wait two weeks for school to open up again.”

“I don’t think doomsday will just wait for you to stop it. Usually deadly things don’t have much patience.”

“What kind of doomsday is it anyway? I’m going to have to assume it has something to do with the terrible state of the United States right now” I say this due to the radio and the incident at school, but that isn’t that much evidence to go on.

“Bingo! But, I don’t know much about it. Surprisingly, a goddess of time can’t see into the future. I can only manipulate time as it is now”

“Is there a goddess that can see into the future?”

“Yes, there actually is. Her name is Antevorta. A strange lady at that. She’s actually the goddess that warned me about doomsday. I mean I could sense a doomsday was coming soon, and soon realized how much work that would be.”

“How do you manage to make a simple question into something about you?” She must be a narcissist or something. She always wants it to be about her and her alone.

“Actually thinking about it now, Antevorta has a son with a mortal. That son's name is Zyair. Did the Zyair talk about rivers at all?”

“Yeah! When he introduced himself he made it clear that his name was another word for a river.”

“Well then it must be him! Antevorta made such a big deal about naming him Zyair, due to the symbolism behind rivers. Which is the passage of time. That also means he’s able to see the future. Not as powerful as Antevorta, but still it makes him a demigod.” Kali explains.

“Can you locate him for me? I’ll most definitely need his help in saving the world.”

After telling me Zyair’s location, Kali disappeared again, leaving me to my own devices. I wonder how much help Zyair would be, if this Zyair is actually the demigod. The sun went down a while ago, I hope I don’t hit a deer or something. I mean this is Pennsylvania after all.

I arrive at the location of where Zyair is supposed to be. It looks like a normal house to me. I wouldn’t suspect a demigod to live here. I walk up to the front door a little nervous. If it turns out that he’s just a normal kid who likes rivers then I’m fucked. I knock on the door and await an answer, or a shotgun to my face. Hey it would still be an answer, so I’d take it.

“Who’s knocking on my door at such a late time..Oh hey it’s you.. Uhhh ky-kylie? Wait no, that's a girl name” Zyair opens the door in a bathrobe.

“Uh It’s Kyle, but besides the point. I need your help Zyair. I know you’re a demigod”

“Hmm and what evidence do you have to back that up?” he questions me.

“Uhh.. That you like rivers?” I question myself this time, what evidence do I have that this guy is a demigod? Oh, a crazy lady that gave me superpowers told me. Yeah like that would hold up in court.

“Well despite your zero evidence against me, I am in fact Zyair, the demigod.. Hopefully I’ll be able to get that trademarked soon.”

“So does that mean you can tell me the future?”

“Yeah well about that.. How far did you expect me to look forward in the future?”

“Thinking reasonable, I’d only expect you to look as far as 90 days in the future.”

“Well about that. My mom, Antevorta, can look that far but I can’t.”

“How far can you see then?” I ask, excited to see my own future.

“Thirty minutes”

“You have to be joking, right?” all my hopes in Zyair quickly fade.

“Sadly, I can’t be as cool as my mom but hopefully it is enough.” He says, keeping a smile on his face.

“I’ll take whatever I can get” I say, not sure how to get out of this situation. “So, I’ve been in contact with-”

“Stop! Don’t tell him about me” I hear Kali, but not externally. It’s like she’s inside my mind. “I am inside your mind. After I gave you your power, we became one. More than Kaylyn can say.” Eww that’s gross. Don’t talk about my sister like that. “Well normal people don’t kiss their sister ” Oh yeah like being able to freeze time is normal. “We don’t have time to argue. Kill Zyair. He has no use for us.” Why would I just kill him? “Because he is a psychopathic weirdo that will kill you if you don’t do something” Nothing about him screams psychopathic weirdo to me. “Well wait for a moment and you’ll see”

“Before you start talking anymore why don’t you come in for a little bit” says Zyair as he steps aside and motions me inside. To the right I see a small living room with a tv and to the left I see a kitchen. Straight ahead are some stairs with some rooms up there. Overall, It’s a very small place. “Go ahead and sit on the couch in the living room, I’ll make you some tea.”

“Do you live by yourself, Zyair?” I ask loudly, so he can hear me while he’s in the kitchen.

“Yes, I do. My father was killed. By someone like you” He yells back. Wait, someone like me? What does that mean?

He appears in the doorway with a large kitchen knife in one hand. “Someone who was sent by the gods to wipe away this disgrace of a demigod” He says walking closer to me.

“Like I said, a psychopathic weirdo that is going to kill you.” But you are wrong Kali, He can’t kill me with my ability. Once he approaches, I’ll pause time and walk right past him.

He approaches me and lifts the knife above his head, right before he strikes me I clench my left fist. He freezes. I walk past him and to the doorway. “Kill him, '' Kali says, but I don’t need to. I clench my fist again and time unfreezes. I put my hand on the door frame for more leverage to run out the front door. But, before I could start running a sharp pain hit my hand. I look to my left to see my hand stuck to the wall, with Zyair’s kitchen knife stuck through it. I try to pull my hand free, but it is too painful. Instead I’m stuck here at Zyair’s mercy.

“You are so very idiotic, challenging someone with the ability to see your every move. Even with your time manipulation, I noticed three of your weaknesses in my 30 minutes of sight. Number one, you wouldn’t kill me. You just aren’t that kind of person. You refuse to kill because you think you're righteous. Is sleeping with your sister very righteous? Your sins have already consumed your soul. The lust dissolves your heart and will take you straight to the goddess of death herself. Number two, I knew exactly where you would teleport yourself to, and where your hand would be. Finally, Number three, I noticed that you manipulate time when you clench your left hand fist. So as long as you are pinned to the wall with that hand, then you can’t do anything. All that is left is your willpower. Will you be able to rip your hand free from the knife? Or will you die? All of you gods send the most weak people to deal with us demigods. I’ll just never understand it.”

He’s right. The only way out of this is to rip my hand free, unless Kali can summon in and deal with him. “No way! I already told you to kill him and you decided not to listen. That’s your own problem” Thanks for all your assistance dickhead. I refuse to die so I rip my hand from the knife. The knife that stabbed me through the center of the back of my hand, ripped right between my middle and ring finger when I yanked my hand free. Leaving my hand dangling in two different pieces, but through the pain I still managed to clench my fist. Time stops once again. With my right hand, I take the kitchen knife out of the wall and walk over to Zyair.

“Goodbye, Riverboy” I say as I slit his throat. I back up a few feet and clench my left fist again. Blood shoots everywhere, and Zyair dropped to the floor holding his neck. After a few seconds, his resistance to death stops and his eyes become cloudy. I look down at my left hand and see the blood pouring from it. I can’t help but smile. I’m bleeding but I can’t feel the pain.