Chapter 74 - The Mystery Man - The Continuation

As I began opening my eyes, I hear the mysterious man tell me, "Welcome to my house!" As I began allowing the light to hit my eyes, my eyes immediately widened at the sight, opening wider as they had ever been before. I was surrounded by a night sky, more brilliant than any sci-fi movie you can imagine. You could see billions and billions of stars, and pick out the individual galaxies from each other. I looked under me to find that I was floating in the void, instead of the earth. "Sorry if it's a little dirty, I didn't have time to clean up.", he replied. I started to feel around my mouth, panicking as I realized that it was completely smooth, where my lips should have been I tried mumbling anyway, but my voicebox was also missing.

The Mystery Man began to laugh, watching as I began to slowly tumble while in complete fear. "Silly young Mark!", he said, waving his fingers. Suddenly, I was turned to the right direction, relatively upright in terms of the Mystery Man's perspective. I looked over at him, feeling a bit sick to my stomach. "Don't worry, Mark. You'll get used to it.", he reminded me. I looked at him much angrier, switching my eyes between him and where my mouth used to be.

"Oh, don't worry. It's only temporary.", he said, beginning to walk away, on the nothingness. He looked back at me, beckoning me to "Follow me!", as he put it. I began floating next to him, against my will. I attempted to move my arms, legs, anything, but only my head and neck were moving, allowing me to see. "You know,", he told me, "Some people call me a time-traveler." I raised one eyebrow, curious at the statement. "...I wouldn't put it that way, though. I'd say it's closer to a missing Chrononaut.", he explained. I again looked around as I listened to his inquiries, basking in the beautiful, complete night sky.

"Listen, Mark...", he told me, "Whenever you make a choice in life, the timeline splits in two." I looked back at him, watching as he just looked ahead of him. "Whether that choice is which cereal you'll have that morning, or if you decide to pull the trigger on the robber or not, that will always split the timeline. Of course, this doesn't apply to you on your own. Everyone has different choices to make every single day. Even if they decide to breathe in or out a little longer than usual, the timeline splits.", he explained. I began to grow curious as to why he was telling me these things.

"Most of the time, the timeline splits cause very little to no change at all to the universe. However, sometimes, the timeline splits in a way that largely affects a small part, a major part, or even the entire universe itself.", he told me. "For example, when the Big Bang created the universe itself, it made an infinite amount of timeline splits, each occuring at every plank second, for every single subatomic particle of matter that had ever existed. This number of splits did nothing to affect iself in a negative fashion, so it decided to move on with making the universe." I raised one eyebrow, yet again curious as to why he was telling me this.

As if he could read my mind, he looked back over his shoulder at me as he continued walking. "Now I know what you must be thinking, and I don't mean that in the figurative sense: 'Why are you telling me about this? What happens when something bad happens to the timeline? Where is...", he stopped walking for a second, tears beginning to form in his eyes. I grew a worried look on my face. What happened to him?!, I asked. Where is he?! He stopped sniffling, looking back at me.

"Your... your boyfriend's completely safe and sound.. He just discovered the popularity of the video rising up. For them, you will only be gone for a millisecond, if even. When we're done, I'll let you back with them.", he told me. Why couldn't you bring him with me?!, I asked. "He wouldn't make it well at all in this environment. Even if I helped him here, he wouldn't make it.", he replied. Why is that?, I asked.

"Well, the reason I brought up timelines in the first place, is because I've spent a good, long chunk of my existance here, researching them.", he explains, stopping in the middle of his tracks. He brought his hands out in front of him, palms relatively flattened as they spaced out. Then, suddenly, one of the stars begins to shake, flying in front of the Mystery Man's arms, revealing itself to be a long tube. He holds onto it, bringing it close to me so I could further inspect it. My eyes widened as I realized this was my whole life, pulled out like a worm, with it starting with me as a baby, all the way up until this very moment.

"This, is a 4th-dimensional form of your life.", he explained. "It's the only one of it's kind, among all of these timelines." Why's that?, I asked. "I.. I had never known where I was born, or how I got here, or why i'm the only one in this 4th-dimensional space. Your timeline seems to be the only one with all the answers to my past.", he told me. What makes you say that?, I ask. He replies, "I can't tell you right now, but it will all become clear to you, Mark..." He looked up at me, explaining, "It has become clear that I must protect you at all costs!"

"Not only just you, but...", he explains, trailing off as he grabs me, forcing me to look into his face. His face begins to blow off, almost as if it was made of sand, and a tough breeze just blew through. His face became more and more revealed, which was a face I couldn't grasp onto at first, but I quickly began to realize who the figure behind the mask was, causing my eyes to widen just as hard as before. It looked to be a much, much older Giko, almost like she had been out here for dozens, if not hundreds, if not thousands of years. "...But me, too.", she told me in her now raspy voice.

I feel my mouth beginning to open back up again, as well as my vocal chords coming back. "Oh, and Mark... Always, always check the news for me, okay?", she asked, waving me goodbye as I began to white out, winking at me while I drifted off. "W-Wait!", I yelled, "What happened to yo-"

The next millisecond, I was standing over at the desk in my hallway, looking down at the former cup of tea. I gasped, looking around the room. Every trace of the Mystery Man had disappeared, incuding the suitcase, handcuffs, and even his shoes that he left outside the door. I began to have the most intense headache of my life, so I sat down in my couch. Was it all a dream?, I thought to myself. After I had sat down, the guest bedroom door opened. Giko stumbled out of the room, asking me, "Is he gone already?"

My mind struggled to come up with any answers, before eventually, I replied, "I don't think so... I don't think he'll ever be gone..."