The abyss was dead silent. The black, invisible floors were sustaining Ross and Mike as they stood in the End of Time. There was absolutely nothing happening after the battle with the Finis Tempi.
Ross sighed. He looked at the broken bracelets that helped him defeat Maverick. He took them off and threw them to the side. He slowly started walking through the dark abyss, but had no idea where he was going. He was sighing loudly and put his hands on his hips as he looked around.
"Ross, what is it?"
"There's no way out of here," Ross glumly said as he looked around the dark abyss. The End of Time truly seemed to lack any ways out. "When we killed Maverick, we killed our hopes of getting out, too."
Mike sighed when he realized Ross was right. All the portals that led them there were hone. The Finis Tempi, the being that could supposedly control time, was gone. There was simply no way to get out of the End of Time. It was nothing more than a black box that seemed to have no ends.
"Great," Ross said. "We're gonna die here in this place."
Mike and Ross slumped down on the ground and were silent. Defeating Maverick was bitter sweet. They may have stopped him from destroying the village and anything else that stood in his way, but now they were stuck.
Then, out of nowhere, Ross heard the twinkling sound again. He and Mike perked up upon hearing it.
"Did you hear that?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, it came from over there," Ross said, pointing to the place where the Finis Tempi had been defeated.
It seemed as if the two teenagers had overlooked something. They thought that any traces of Maverick or the Finis Tempi were gone, but they were wrong. There was one thing left: the necklace that Maverick was wearing. The necklace that Ross had woken up wearing the day the journey started when he never put it on to begin with.
"Wasn't Maverick wearing that?" Mike asked.
"Yeah," Ross said. "Maybe it can help us."
Ross took his time as he strolled over to the thick, silver-linked necklace lying on the ground. The blue jewel in the center was glowing.
"Whoa," Ross said when he held it up. "There's something going on."
"Put it on," Mike suggested.
Ross quickly looked at Mike for a few seconds, but quickly took his friend's advice. He slipped the chain over his head and it was soon dangling around his neck.
"Well?" Mike asked.
Ross stared down at the blue jewel in the center of it for a while, but nothing happened. "Nothing."
Mike started slumping until Ross said something that broke the silence.
"Wait!"
"Ross, what is it?"
"I can…I can hear the voice of the Finis Tempi. I hear its voice in my head."
Ross squeezed his eyes shut and tried to comprehend what the voice in his head was saying. Maybe it would help them get back to their real time.
"You are my new master," said the voice of the Finis Tempi. "Now, use my power to fulfill your desires."
"You're the Finis Tempi?"
"Yes. And I am only speaking into your thoughts. Your friend over there cannot hear me."
"Mike can't hear you? So he thinks I'm talking to myself?"
"Precisely. Now, what is it that you want?"
Ross stammered for a little while. The voice of the Finis Tempi was very masculine and very demanding. It sounded very stern, yet caring at the same time. Ross could picture the voice belonging to anyone, whether they were a Kindergarten teacher or an army general.
"I…want to go back home. To my time period," Ross choked out. "Mike, too."
"Very well. Then I shall…"
"Wait!" Ross called out.
The voice stopped speaking when Ross halted it. Ross thought about what he wanted to say for the longest time before he finally had the guts to say what it was that was on his mind.
"I want to say good-bye to Bien," Ross said. "He's a friend of ours who we met only because we got involved in this whole thing in the first place. I just want to say good-bye to him."
"Very well. I shall create the portal that will allow you to see him. Hold out your hand."
Obeying the voice of the Finis Tempi, Ross held out his hand with his palm facing away from him. A somewhat strong wind immediately started picking up and was blowing itself in Ross's face and pushing his hair and clothes back. Then, out of his hand, a white beam of light came spiraling out.
The white light formed a giant white, oval-shaped portal that looked very similar to all the ones they had previously traveled through to get to the End of Time. Then, somehow, Bien's face appeared in the portal.
"Ross?" Bien asked, excitedly seeing Ross through the other side of the portal. Bien was still inside the temple of the Finis Tempi, waiting for his friends to return. "Are you okay? Where's Maverick."
Ross explained everything about the Finis Tempi and how it actually existed. He told Bien about how he and Mike had used the bracelets they stole from Kline and Sandra to fight it and how the necklace Maverick wore gave him the power to control the Finis Tempi.
"Is the Finis Tempi that thing behind you?" Bien asked, pointing behind Ross.
Ross turned around, and a more ghostly version of the Finis Tempi was floating right behind him. It didn't seem nearly as threatening now as it did before. In fact, it almost seemed gentle.
"Yeah, that's it," Ross said. "Anyway, it looks like this will be the last time we see each other, Bien."
Bien looked horrified, but his look was somewhat awe-struck as well. "What do you mean?"
"Mike and I are heading back to our own time," Ross said. "Maverick erased pretty much all my memories of my life the way it was before he interfered. So, it looks like Mike and I are going to be teenagers in the new millennium instead of a few decades before that."
"And I'm going to remain here, in the late 1700's?" Bien asked.
"It's where you belong," Ross tried to say in an understanding voice. "You're accustomed to life there. Mike and I are going to be used to life when we get to it in the twenty-first century, so don't worry about us."
"All right," Bien weakly said. He was sad to say good-bye to his friends, but like he had told Ross before, saying good-bye was never easy. One just had to accept it in order to make it as painless as possible.
Mike ran over to the portal so Bien could clearly see him as well. The portal was slowly starting to close.
"Bye, Bien!" Mike called as he smiled and waved to his friend.
Bien gave a pleasant smile and waved to Mike without saying a word. He did the same to Ross, except with Ross he said a small "See ya."
Ross nervously nodded and kept a small smile across his face. Slowly, the last bit of the portal disappeared, and Bien with it.
Ross sighed. He looked at Mike as soon as the portal was completely gone.
"Well, that's it," Ross said. "We're never going to see him again."
"We may," Mike said, patting Ross on the back a little bit. "We just may."
Ross smiled, but his thoughts were once again interrupted by the voice of the Finis Tempi.
"Now, where is it that you wish to go?"
Ross suddenly had a burst of confidence. He balled up his fist and looked up into the black sky of the End of Time, almost like the Finis Tempi was hovering right above him. "Take Mike and I back where we belong: our families and homes in the twenty-first century. The one Maverick forced us to live in!"
"Very well. All you need to do is open up the portal and you'll be back there."
"All right," Ross said. Just as he was about to lift his hand up, the voice once again interrupted him.
"Just one thing."
"What?"
"You'll be better off if you don't know that you're supposed to be in another time period. Therefore, I am closing up the time gate that your friend opened in that cave so you cannot come back here any longer and get yourself into any more trouble."
"Fine," Ross said, not really seeing what the Finis Tempi was talking about.
"But if you live every day knowing that you're existing several decades after you're supposed to, then life will be painful for you. You'll spend your life wondering what your life was like before Maverick interfered and changed who your father was, how your parents divorced and you later discovered who your father truly was, and every other detail. Therefore, I am sending you back to the day this adventure started. You will have no memory of any of these events. That way, you can get on with your life without knowing that you're not supposed to be a teenager at the turn of the next millennium."
"Er…all right, if you say so," Ross said.
"Very well. Now, open your hand."
Ross opened up his hand and the white material shot out from it again. It created another portal that was going to take Ross and Mike back to the time period where they were supposed to exist now.
When the portal was open, Ross and Mike stood only a few feet in front of the portal. They stared into the blank white light that was coming out from it.
"This is it, Mike," Ross said as he turned towards his friend. "Once we go in there, we're only going to be aware of what things are like in the new millennium. And as far as we'll remember and be aware, we'll have only been alive about a decade prior to that."
"All right," Mike said. "I think I get it."
Both of them took deep breaths and then walked through the portal, engulfed in the white light.
Ross watched as the roller-coaster like movement swallowed him up. He hoped that this would be the last time he'd have to go through it. He just saw the waves of white light shoot past him. Ross felt like he was going thousands of miles an hour-so fast that he would have to be breaking through some time barrier.
Then, after several seconds, the movement just stopped. Ross felt like he was flying in a rocket ship and it just crashed into a rubber mat.
---------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- -------------
It was a clear, but cool morning. The sunlight poured in through the bedroom window. It made the dark blue carpet look brighter and the pale walls more colorful and lively.
Moments later, a loud alarm on a clock started buzzing. It wasn't even 6:00 in the morning, but the clock was going off, indicating to whoever used it that it was time to start the day.
A hand pressed down on one of the buttons on the clock, shutting the alarm off. From a bed right next to the stand the clock was sitting upon, a boy started rising.
His name was Ross McKane. He was a sophomore in High School and was about three months shy of his sixteenth birthday…in 2006. Slowly, he forced himself out of bed. He was wearing only a pair of plaid boxers and a gray t-shirt. As he made his way out of the bed, he felt something cold touch his chest, immediately waking him up a little.
"Huh?" Ross asked in a standard, flat teenaged voice. "What's this?"
Ross reached under his shirt and pulled out whatever it was that he felt. It was a necklace comprised of several think, silver-colored links. At the front of it was a mysterious circle shaped pendent that had a soft, but cold blue in the middle of it.
"When did I get this?" Ross asked as he stared at the necklace in his hand. "I definitely wasn't wearing this thing when I went to bed…" Indeed, Ross had no memory of where he got the necklace from. No memory at all…
Ross spent the rest of his morning doing what he normally does: showering, getting dressed, getting all his things ready for school and heading out to the bus stop. It was a cool March morning. The sun was shining clearly and warmed whatever its rays touched. Ross just sighed as he readjusted the backpack straps he was wearing on his shoulders as he thought about what the day would bring him.
"Hey, Ross!" called out a voice.
Ross turned around and a smile appeared over his otherwise bored face. "Hey, Mike!"
It was Mike, Ross's best friend. Ross and Mike had been good friends for about four and a half years now. His hair was a lot longer and thicker than Ross's and went about three-quarters of the way down his forehead. He didn't try to make it look straight or neat like Ross did. He was about five feet, three inches-about half four inches shorter than Ross was. His voice was still almost as high pitched and kid-like as it was when the two friends first met, but there was now an obvious deep tone and sense of maturity in it.
"How's it hanging?" Mike said to Ross, trying to create small talk.
"Ah, same old, same old," Ross said, turning his attention away from Mike and out in front of him to the empty road as the two of them awaited their school bus.
"Cool," Mike said, not knowing what else to say. "So…how's Alicia doing?"
"She's doing fine," Ross said. Alicia was Ross's girlfriend. They started seeing each other when Ross's parents got back together after being divorced for twelve years. It was hard to believe that it felt like a year and a half had passed since then.
A while later, the school bus finally came and picked the two friends up to take them to school. The ride was boring, as always. Just like how the first four periods of the day were boring before lunch time.
Lunch time wasn't a lot better, but at least Ross could spend it with Mike and Alicia. The three of them sat at a table together and talked about what their day had been like, if anything funny happened, or any stereotypical gossip about the teachers that students made.
While Mike was listening to his iPod, Ross had to sit through Alicia reading through a magazine about fashion accessories-stuff Ross honestly couldn't have cared less about.
"Did you see the picture of this dress!" Alicia asked as she flipped through the pages of the magazine, making sure Ross saw every single article of clothing in the catalogues. "I saw the most random picture for an ad ever! It has a girl wearing a dress, and she's kneeling on the beach and holding a bunny!"
Ross pretended to be shocked. "Wow," he said rather lifelessly.
"I know!" Alicia said loudly. "Oh, by the way, I just got really hungry, so I'm gonna go up to the vending machine and get a box of M&M's, k?"
"Sure," Ross said pleasantly.
Alicia got up from her chair and ran over to a vending machine across the cafeteria. Ross let out a giant sigh of relief and covered his eyes in his arm for a few seconds. When he looked up, he saw Mike was grinning at him.
"What's so funny?" Ross asked plainly.
"That look-you look like you've just had to sit through a lecture on harvesting dirt!" Mike said, still listening to his iPod.
"Heh. Try listening to complaints about prom dresses every day, then tell me what I look like! What are you listening to, anyway?"
"U2," Mike said with a smile on his face. "I downloaded it last night, along with some other songs from Sting and Metallica."
Ross smirked. "You're a real man of the eighties, aren't you, Mike? And that really says something, considering we weren't around then."
"Duh, of course we didn't exist in the eighties. Quick, before Alicia comes back-you want to get together this afternoon and just hang out at the brook by your house?"
"Why do we have to plan it before Alicia gets back?" Ross asked.
"Because if she hears us making plans, she'll invite herself and before you know it, the two of you will be kissing more than hanging out."
"Fine, I got no problem with it. What time?"
"4:00 good?"
"Sounds great. See you then."
The rest of the day dragged on. After Ross and Mike had completed the remainder of their classes for that day, both of them got home on the school bus. It was about 3:00 by the time Ross got home, so he went into his room and started working on his homework. The time slowly ticked by, but he put as much effort into the work as he could. After that, he went outside to the brook by his house and waited for Mike to show up.
In no time, Mike walked up to the brook and the two of them just started talking like friends do.
The two were walking along the muddy edge of the river. The sound of the flowing water was easing and seemed to take away any stress that the body had.
"So, Ross, what do you think of Sophomore year. Is it tough, or what?" Mike asked.
"Well, considering you've asked me this about fifty times since the school year began, I'll tell you, it's not hard. It's challenging."
Mike scoffed. "Easy for you to say. Let me guess, you made honor rolls for all three terms so far?"
"Yup," Ross said, looking at the muddy ground as the two of them continued walking along the side of the stream. Then, something caught Ross's breath.
"Hey, Ross, you okay?" Mike asked, stopping and looking at his friend. "What's wrong?"
"Mike, have you noticed that before?" Ross asked.
"Noticed what?"
"That."
Ross pointed to a mysterious cave that was sitting along the side of the stream. Although nothing was happening around or in it, there was something dark and brooding about it. The cave didn't look very big; it looked as if it were just barely big enough to fit both teenagers into it.
"Huh." Mike said casually. "I never noticed that cave before. Let's go look inside it!"
Mike started hurrying along the side of the stream and towards the cave.
"Wait, Mike, I don't think we should…" Ross started. But it was too late. Mike was gone and hurrying off towards the cave. Blowing a breath of air out from the bottom of his mouth and up into his short dark hair, Ross followed.
When both of them were at the entrance to the cave, they looked in. The inside looked dark and murky. Normally, it would be very dark, but based on the sun's location, there was plenty of light to see the inside of the cave. And the two of them could have sworn they saw drawings on the cave.
"Hey Ross, what do you think those drawings are?" Mike asked as he slowly went inside the cave.
"I have no idea," Ross admitted as he followed Mike into the brooding cave.
"Hey Ross, look!" Mike said. He pointed to a picture that looked like it had been drawn with a chalky material, but was obviously something stronger if it stood the test of time like that.
"What is that?" Ross asked.
The drawing appeared to be of a winged demon and it seemed to have a large circular center with several markings around the side of it. It also had a picture of three people who appeared to be fighting a man in robes. Another picture showed what looked like a feminine figure looking like she was about to do something drastic and a male figure looking upset-possibly crying about what the female figure was doing. It also showed what looked like a giant computer, only it looked like it was holding something far more complex than just data.
"I wonder what sick-minded kids drew these pictures," Mike said as he looked at the weird drawings on the cave's walls.
"Yeah," Ross said. "It's amazing what kids can do when they're bored."
Ross studied all the pictures and noticed that the author signed his name down at the bottom. The name read: BIEN- 1729
"Bien…" Ross said. "For some reason, that name sounds kind of familiar. I could have sworn I've heard it before."
"Hmmm…me, too," Mike said. "Maybe it was just the name of a character in a movie or something."
"Yeah," Ross said. Somehow, he doubted it was more important than that.
Bien had indeed drawn those pictures, except now, they were almost 280 years old. Ross and Mike had no memory of that adventure through time, but just so Bien would remember his friends, he drew rough sketches of them and memorable moments of their adventure on the walls of that cave. And just as the Finis Tempi said, the white time portal was closed up.
Then something caught Ross's attention: it was the picture of the boy watching a girl do something terrible and look really distressed about it. Something clicked in Ross's head when he saw that picture.
"…Beth…" Ross thought to himself when he saw the picture. He reached his hand out and touched the picture. Almost like he was remembering Beth's ultimate sacrifice during the adventure, Ross let out a sad smile. Then, a small tear fell from the corner of his eye.
"Whoa," Mike said when he saw Ross showing signs of weakness. "You're not turning emo on me, are you?"
"Huh?" Ross said. It was then he realized he had just shed a tear. "Weird…where'd that come from?"
Ross and Mike stayed for a few more minutes and investigated the drawings on the wall. Both of them were completely oblivious that they were just getting back from another journey. They started walking away from the cave when they were finished investigating the drawings.
"Bien…" Ross whispered. "He was a good friend of mine. I know it."
THE END