You know, people probably think that being able to see in the future would be something you'd want.
A young man looks down at a PDA. "Everything is set?" A response makes him nod and look at the half-completed fortress before entering.
"You could become rich" "You could save lives" "You could avoid life's little mistakes" Yeah, maybe. But you have to see everything else too.
The last of the dolls was set up. The room had been built without the owner's knowledge just for this occasion. A whole laboratory, with its own supply of electricity, was created just for a handful of kids. The dolls... maybe the better word for them would be golems... had been created in an entirely different time and place. The technology to perfect it was still years away but these ones didn't need to last more than one day. And the events had been so closely recorded, it programming in the actions was extremely simple.
You have to watch people die in front of you. People that you could have saved if you did the right thing. You have to know that if you mess up, even a little, everything could end in blood. At least, that's my ability.
The young man watched as the blood pooled beneath the corpse. He shut his eyes tightly and seemed to fade away but not before saying "Again…" The world vanished after. He believed it did, anyway. He couldn't see it anymore. He knew that the deaths happened. They happened over and over again. He was just going to have to find a reality in which he was fast enough. The other worlds... he tried not to think about it.
I get to see everything. I get to see the results of my failures over and over again. People killing each other.
The barbell landed the blow and the corpse fell over. Well, the corpse of a doll, at least. The young man was tucked away in a tube. This time. The dozens of times before, the boy had been lost to the world, though at least the killer felt remorse.
People being killed.
Two corpses, this time. She was clever. But she'll fail. It won't matter for those two, though. I wonder if I should even bother. She valued only her own life and her puppet was so easily manipulated into killing another person. He had decided early on, though, that it wasn't up to him.
Terrifying events spiraling out of control, even if you do all the right things.
The world was gone even before the events he knew would reduce Earth to little more than a cloud of rust and ashes. Radical-6. Despair. Why do people do this?
He had watched the ones of hope wall themselves away from the world.
Steel and rivet, they worked tirelessly to create their own world, only to see it ruined by a mad woman and her comrades.
Is it fun for them? Do they have a purpose? Or is their madness just so strong that they cannot act otherwise?
This girl… she had almost as much insight as he did. He was cheating, of course. Not everyone can see things happen in many ways and know which path to choose. It almost seemed right that his daughter would be the one to save the world he made as a shield to protect them.
But then, you occasionally see the light triumph, even if it is only a tiny mote.
The boy was clever. Almost as much as the girl. The young man looked back at the tubes and wondered if saving everyone was the right thing to do. Many of them were killers.
The darkness almost won. You could say it even did win.
The boy would defeat the one behind the bear. He didn't know about the rabbit. How could he? And, if everything worked out like he thought, they would never know.
But you can't give up hope. You can't fall to despair. Even if you see the future drenched in blood, you have to try. And sometimes, your effort will pay off.
As they neared the ruins, several figures lay prone on the ground. One of the girls ran over to a former classmate that, in truth, had been the biggest pain to get. It was only thanks to his enhancements that he was able to even move that much muscle.
The young man watched them from the shadows, then returned to his home. He had a very long road ahead. But at least he knew the work that lasted a lifetime would produce the right results.
As always, comments, advice, and criticisms are welcomed.