Unwound
"What'd you got there, Ekko?"
He used to love saying that. I used to open the windows. He used to watch me work. Used to.
Not for long.
The metal surface of the zolt-heart told a cold story through my fingertips, one of secrets and countless hours of an intricate process, one that involved the compression and containment of a hextech crystal's total energy. Cradled within was the combined effort of an entire academy's worth of literature, an army of machines and instruments, and one daring genius who bolted the other two together. I had no idea what this was originally intended for, not even the schematics hinted it, but they were enough for me to figure out how to build the Z-Augment. I placed it beside my desk. It watched me like a burning eye. I looked to the Augment and the drive tethered to it. Thoughts gathered. Papers sifted. My stylo scribbled. Hours started to run.
"You never give up, Eks." He smiled. "You never get tired of rewinding. How do you do that?"
I began fitting the zolt-heart into the augment. I took measures. I made adjustments under the blue light of my long-lamp. The analysis gear I had specifically made to produce readings on both the zolt-heart and the Z-Drive flashed with data. Wires fitted, tools rattled, data tests were run, and the timekeeper ticked. I had to be sure. Blood-made effort could not be wasted now. Hours went by.
"Why do you always work like you're running out of time, Ekko?"
The black wires coursing into the Z-Drive hummed. The power of the z-heart's crimson energy flowed through, turning into ruby the black wires of the augment. I smiled the first real smile I had in a month. True progress was before me. The calculations I made, the guesswork I'd engineered, and the apparatuses I'd designed just for this moment finally resulted into something. The energy of the zolt-heart surged from the wires and into the Z-Drive's cyanic chamber like red ink swirling into a blue solution.
"You're always smiling, always solving problems, always finding something new, and always there for others. Someday, I want to do the things you do, Ekko, be someone like you."
My smile faded. Something wasn't right. The augment's limitator glowed from green to orange. They were functioning right, coordinating with the capacitators to prevent the crystals inside from overworking, but they did so too soon. I had needed control. I lost it. I had to move quickly. I pulled the first primer rod, and from orange, the limitators flashed red, and so did the heart of the Z-Drive.
"You sure you want to be like me, Aj?" I ruffled his hair, smiling. "Alright. Go get us some food, and I'll tell you how the Z-Drive works."
The red light overpowered the cobalt-blue of the long-lamp.
He didn't return after an hour. I looked for him. I found him lying on the gutter. A dozen times. Until I got to him in time.
The Z-drive's glass chamber cracked. Its passive hum boomed into a bellowing roar. I had no time to wonder if that woke mom and dad up. I reached a hand to twist the second primer, but I stayed still. If I activated this primer, all the supercharged energy would let loose in this room. But that's exactly my plan. The hinges of my door burst open. This time dad wasn't alone. Through the rushing sound of a million storm's worth of energy, I couldn't hear the words mouthed by their lips.
I had him in my arms. I heard his final breaths. More than twice. "I feel so tired, Ekko. I just want to go to sleep."
I saw their eyes, gazing as if they stood before the feet of a god. I saw wonder. I saw confusion. I saw fear.
"I'm sorry, mom. Forgive me, dad."
My fingers clutched at the coin laced around my neck, their final gift.
The Z-Drive's chamber cracked as the pure hextech essence threatened to detonate out of the casing. I didn't have to unscrew the second primer. Crimson beams began to flash through the wounds of the breaking glass. I placed the back of my right glove against my lips. The third and final primer attached to it was hard against the edges of my teeth.
"It's okay. Go to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be okay..."
With a bite to the cold metal, I twisted the final primer.
Glass shattered. Reality shattered. Time shattered. My screams distorted inward my warping conscience and toward a rift of nothingness.
Only one thing remained whole.
A memory, the after-image of what I had last seen.
The timekeeper. I no longer heard it ticking.
Nine hours. Three minutes. Five seconds.
If this works, the timekeeper wouldn't be where I first set it. I would be in my room, the day he visited me one last time. I would have my chance. I would be there to stop myself. All this chaos would matter no more.
But if it doesn't…
When you wake up, everything will be okay...
