The True Return

Conrad's entire skeleton had gone rigid.

He stared at the final words of this individual's diary, rereading them frantically. He had gone over them again several more times in a row before the shaking started. It was as if Conrad's shock had finally allowed his nerves to take action again. His legs wobbled, and he placed a hand against the wall of the cavern for support, gasping and panting. His difficulty breathing was no longer primarily coming from the altitude.

A footstep behind him.

Conrad's eyes widened like dinner plates, but he could not bring himself to turn around and face the one behind him. He opted to remain still, to remain static, as if somehow hoping that completely refusing to acknowledge the situation would make it go away. Slowly, gently, the one behind Conrad continued to walk, stepping past him and staring at the skeleton on the ground. Conrad felt no better than a little boy in this moment, all the strength of character that he had built up over the year in this book markedly absent.

Slowly, his movements jerky and erratic, he glanced up. She simply continued to study the skeleton at their feet. Conrad couldn't tell if he wanted something to happen or not. He couldn't even decide whether or not he wanted this silence, this stillness, to stretch on into infinity, or if he'd rather the tension broke.

And then that choice was made for him.

"His name was John."

Conrad stood there without the slightest response as Nana continued to speak.

"He was a good fellow as well. Complained about injustices of nature a little bit less than you have. Well...until the last time that he and I spoke. It was right here in this very chamber. He confronted me about the things I had mentioned to him."

Raising her hand, Nana snapped her finger, making Conrad jump out of his skin. In front of the two of them, a collection of old novels materialized. Conrad glanced across them all, taking in their ancient-looking covers, wondering why they looked so familiar. It clicked in his brain after a moment. He finally turned to Nana, taking in the look on her face. She wasn't showing an ounce of feeling one way or the other.

"These are the books that I saw in your library on the day you pulled me into here. They were all in the same row as the one you put me into."

"Yes, Conrad. Good memory."

Nana gestured to one of the books, which floated to her hand. She opened it, and showed Conrad its contents, the pages flipping by one by one by themselves.

"In this cycle, I gave humanity access to far inferior technology than you have in your world. I watched as they made the most of the crude tools they had. The human population was far lesser in this one. In the end, the tribes went to war over territory disputes. I ended this cycle after just one thousand years, condensed their story, all of their experiences, into this book. To be perused and to send people to at my discretion."

The novel closed itself, and floated away lazily, to be replaced by another.

"In this cycle, I did the opposite. I provided humanity with access to far greater technology, and kept them around for three-hundred thousand years. I watched them gradually become a truly space-faring species. I watched them build homes in space colonies that they lived in just as comfortably as they lived on Earth. But eventually, even their mighty resources began to run out. They squabbled about how best to use their remaining tools to colonize the stars and find new materials, and eventually, their inability to work together led to their downfall."

That novel floated away as well. Nana turned to Conrad, her expression still blank.

"There are many other cycles here, as you can see. All with varying conditions that I set up the human race with. But I think you get the point."

Conrad's brain scrambled to acclimate to the information. He stared at Nana, terrified.

"The human beings that exist when you end each timeline...?"

Nana nodded. "Their souls are in these books."

Conrad stepped back, as if thinking to flee. For all the good that such an would do.

"...And the book you put me into in the library? The world we're in right now?"

"It's as you suspect, Conrad. The world that you're standing in now is still Earth. It always has been. We're currently standing in the cycle of Earth I ended most recently. In this cycle, I had noble warriors, powerful mages, vicious monsters, and everything in between roam the land. The Ingram family, the residents of Estrenbridge, and scholars of Granmeta, and all those you haven't met, they all walked Earth before you."

Conrad was on the verge of tears. "Nana...why not just let us live? Leave us to our devices?"

Nana was silent. Her gaze was distant for several moments, as if thinking over this question from the beginning all over again.

"Because I want to see what you will all do next. I want to see if humanity still has it in them to interest me. To surprise me. To add some tiny scraps of stimulation back into the life that I have lived, staring at all of you, for billions of years. I am so tired, Conrad, and I need to see something new from humanity. Something that makes my heart dance again, like your species used to do for me, a long time ago."

Conrad held his head in his hands, steadying his breath with every ounce of will he had left in him at this moment. He looked up at Nana, his face desperate, pleading.

"And what John said in his diary?"

Nana closed her eyes for several moments, then looked into Conrad's face again.

"I would like to see what this world looks like with a different structure, at least for a time. Perhaps left to the animals, or with a different dominant species of my creation. Yes. It is as John wrote. Your species is a wonderful, beautiful group, Conrad, even at your worst. But I need the chance to try something new, or my ennui will only haunt me further."

"When you say "at least for a time" what do you mean?"

"I am not opposed to the idea of returning the human species here to Earth, Conrad. And furthermore, as far as you specifically are concerned...I would like to preserve you alive, even after making this upcoming book. I appreciate you deeply. Watching you persevere and grow, watching you fulfill your thirst for life, has reminded me of my past years. I adore you, Conrad, and I have decided to keep you with me. You are the only human I have assigned this quest to that has managed to make me feel a small measure of emotion again."

"...Thank you, Nana...but there is no guarantee that you will make the decision to bring my species back, is there?"

Nana did not respond with words. Instead, with a gesture of her hand, Nana summoned a smoking, billowing portal. It was identical to the one that had come out of this cycle's novel, back in the library.

Nana's voice dropped to a whisper. "You have finished your journey, young man. You have succeeded with flying colors. The moment has come. I will now bring you back to your home, or rather, to your people. Take the next week to hold the people you care for the most close to you."

The tears fell down Conrad's face freely as he fell onto his knees, begging and pleading for Nana to reconsider, only for her to calmly pull Conrad's soul out of his body and sent it through the portal.