EKKO VII
"In all my years, I must confess, I have never encountered a problem like this," said Heimerdinger as he rubbed his bushy mustache. "I can't imagine how the Tridyminiumobulator could have possibly been finished given that it violates multiple laws of physics."
"Maybe you've been approaching it the wrong way," I said as I handed him my notes.
His large blue eyes scanned over the text and nearly jumped out of his head. "To call this unsafe would be the understatement of the century."
"It's the Zaunite way. If something doesn't work, we usually break it first."
"What would happen if you guys don't rebuild the time machine?" asked Caitlyn.
"Ah, good question! This is one of the classic paradoxes when discussing time travel. A cause is eliminated by its effect, thus preventing its cause and essentially becoming reverse causation."
"In Common please…"
"It's called the grandfather paradox," I explained. "Say a time-traveler goes back to the past and kills a younger version of their grandfather. The grandfather then wouldn't have any children, erasing the time-traveler's parents and, of course, the time-traveler, too. But then who would kill Grandpa?"
"Some physicists have theorized that even if you could travel back in time, you wouldn't be able to change how events unfolded significantly enough to alter the future. Applied to the grandfather paradox, this would mean that something would always get in the way of the time traveler's attempt to kill their grandfather," said Heimerdinger.
"But the future has already been altered. There are people alive currently that aren't alive in the future I saw. Doesn't that mean we're in a new timeline?"
"That is a possibility but I suppose it depends on how you define 'the future.' Is it a snapshot of the state of the entire world? Or is it perhaps a specific event? The time-traveler must be born but where they are born or when they are born may not be as important."
"So you're saying only certain events remain fixed while the circumstances surrounding these events are variable. How would we know what those key events are then?"
"We wouldn't. Not until –"
"Wait, is that Vi?" asked Caitlyn. Our gazes were down while talking to Heimerdinger but when we looked back up, we saw a fiery pink-haired woman trying to push past all the guards in front of the Kiramman residence while screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Ekko? Where's Ekko? I need to see him!"
"Vi!" Caitlyn ran ahead and calmed down her household servants. "It's okay, she's my friend. Can you give us a moment?"
We followed closely behind. "Vi? What are you doing here?"
"Ekko…the sanctuary…they…"
Her words were unintelligible as she tried to force ten different thoughts through a single sentence so Caitlyn grabbed her shoulder and had her catch her breath. "Hey, hey, slow down. Tell us what happened."
"Silco attacked. Powder…she was captured." My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. The image of her lifeless body on the bridge flashed in my head. Everything I did was all for naught. I should have never left her side.
"And everyone else?" asked Caitlyn when I couldn't say anything.
"Most of the Firelights are hurt but not dead thanks to Powder's distraction. The treehouse is a pile of ashes."
I tried to think of a plan but I couldn't put any coherent thoughts together. The only thing my mind could think of right now was the countless terrible things Silco could be doing to her. Fuck. Fuck! Even with all the warnings I had, I still couldn't protect her. It's no use. 'The past is already written. The ink is dry.' Now, I knew what those words meant. It was all some sort of sick joke. Storm clouds gathered overhead. It was going to rain again.
"Don't give up, my boy." Heimerdinger's voice pulled me out of my dark thoughts and I realized everyone was looking at me. They must have noticed something was wrong with my quiet demeanor. "We still don't know what the key event is. There is still time. We can save her."
"The professor is right," added Caitlyn. "Before you talked about your other selves mourning and burying Powder without even trying. Don't do the same."
"My sister needs you now, Ekko, more than ever. I can't save her on my own," said Vi.
They were right. Powder was hurting right now and I needed to go save her. Even if I was destined to fail, I still needed to try. If there was some higher power enjoying the show then I would play the clown for them. "We'll need weapons," I said finally. "If the Firelights can't fight then we'll need Hextech weapons to match the firepower of Silco's whole gang." I turned to Vi. "What happened to the gemstone back in our base?"
"Wengo told me Powder took it with her to distract all the chemtanks away."
"That's not like her. She wouldn't risk it falling into their hand if she knew she was going to be captured. It must have been a decoy, the real one is hidden somewhere only we would know."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because Silco would have just killed her if he had gotten what he wanted. The fact that he took her with him means something went wrong and I'm betting it's because Powder didn't have the gemstone on her."
"One gemstone won't be enough," said Caitlyn.
"There are three refined gemstones that can quickly be weaponized; one of them hidden by Powder and the other two with Councilor Talis." I turned to Caitlyn. "You're the only one who could possibly convince him so take Vi and try to get his support. Heimerdinger and I will go back and look for the hidden gemstone."
"Do we have time for all of this?" asked Vi.
"It's either we gear up or we run in with our fists. I can't imagine the latter working out for us."
"Fuck, alright, let's do this."
"We'll meet back up at the sanctuary, tonight."
"Got it, leave Jayce to us, we'll convince him."
After hearing what Vi said, I tried to steel myself for what I would see when I got back but nothing could have prepared me for seeing it with my own eyes. All the years and effort we poured into this place – gone. The beautiful oak tree now served as a bonfire, consuming every piece of memory that was attached to this place. The once-lush grass field was now tainted with metallic poisons left behind by the alchemical fire.
"Terrible…" said Heimerdinger.
"We'll persevere, we always do," I said before quickly ducking behind some cover and dragging the yordle with me. "Chemtanks." The juggernauts had returned to look for the gemstone. That was a good sign; it meant they hadn't found it yet. "Do you have a weapon?" I had expected him to maybe pack a small pistol in anticipation of a fight but instead, the professor pulled out a wrench. "Please tell me you brought a real weapon."
"Oho, my boy, the real weapon is up here," he said as he tapped his goofishly big head with the wrench. I watched as he took out a small kit of tools and within the blink of an eye, he transformed the loose parts into a functional turret. Before my mind could even process the magic trick I had just witnessed, he was already moving on to a set of micro-rockets and a stun grenade.
"I thought you were against violence."
"Violence will always exist. That's the reason why I support safeguarding technology against misuse. But don't worry, I assure you, none of these gadgets work without me."
"Good enough." I peeked over our cover and counted about a dozen chemtanks. "Alright, I'll go in first and you back me up."
"Wait," he said as he grabbed my arm, "there isn't much time to be wasted. My turrets are better utilized defensively. You go find the gemstone and I'll hold them off here."
"Are you sure you can handle it?" There was no tone of insult in my voice, only a confirmation, and when Heimerdinger responded with a nod, I dashed for the treehouse. The chemtanks quickly spotted me but true to his words, the turret fire kept them at bay.
"I prefer a battle of wits, but you're unarmed!"
I jumped on my hoverboard and flew to the top of the tree as fast as I could, pushing through the smoke and fire that reminded me of that fateful day at the old cannery. I searched high and low but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack inside a burning barn. The sound of fighting below added an extra layer of pressure and each passing second felt like a grain of sand that slipped through my fingers. "C'mon, Powder, where did you hide it?" Our workshop was my last hope and as I aggressively rummaged through the desks, a small disc-shaped resonator fell onto the floor.
A stethoscope.
'I'm sorry sir, but you only have 10 left to live.'
'10 what?'
'…9…8…'
I immediately dropped what I was doing and started looking for the fake stereo. To the outside eye, it was an ugly thing not worth a second look but I dove on it as if it was made of pure gold. "Please be in here," I whispered to myself. As I opened the small fridge door, my face was illuminated by a blue hue that could only come from a real gemstone. "YES! Powder, you genius." The sound of breaking glass interrupted my celebration. This room stored chemicals used in Powder's explosives and it was not built to withstand a large fire.
I pocketed the gemstone and ran for the exit but as I looked back one last time, I saw the prototype Zero Drive on the ground at the center of the room. It was something I had messed around with after I started having visions that yielded no results. But now, with Heimerdinger's Tridyminiumobulator, there was a chance it could work. At that moment, something within my gut told me I had to salvage it and in that split second of madness, I ran back into the room full of explosives. I picked up the gadget and right as I reached the door, the shockwave knocked me out and over the ledge.
I directed my body towards a branch to slow my fall before pulling out my hoverboard just in time to avoid falling to my death. The inertia made me tumble off my ride but I was lucky enough to get away without breaking anything. The world was still spinning as I stumbled onto my feet when I heard Heimerdinger's warning. "Watch out!" I instinctively rolled to the side and just barely avoided the chemtech greatsword that flew over my head. Adrenaline pumped in my veins as I laid my eyes on this monstrosity.
It combined body replacement and Shimmer in a way I had never seen before. Nylon tubes connected the back of its mask to its right arm and it swung the massive weapon around as if it were made of paper. No matter what I tried or how much damage it took, it simply refused to go down. A wrong block cost me my clockhand weapon and I was left unarmed with my back to the wall as I stared down the tip of its blade.
I reached into my pocket and the only gadget I had left was the time grenade. It would only buy me one or two seconds and after that, it would be checkmate. The green weapon smashed into the mural behind me and released a corrosive substance that made the stone melt. The monument that commemorated my fallen comrades crumbled to pieces and there was nothing I could do. The only reason I had survived this long was because I was able to think a few moves ahead of it. To beat it, I would need to be…
Something clicked inside my head.
This whole time I had thought about time travel as giant leaps but if I had just a few seconds – five or even four – this thing wouldn't be able to touch me. "Heimerdinger, send me the Tridyminiumobulator!" The professor didn't question my call and the moment he tossed me the device, I threw the time grenade at the berserker. Three. The countdown started but I had already mapped everything out. Two. The parts came together perfectly and I placed the Hextech gemstone inside. One. I took a deep breath and pulled the chain link.
The gem exploded into a vortex of shimmering dust, triggering eddies of temporal distortion. For a moment, I thought I had died in the explosion but I opened my eyes to see several splintered realities – and several "echo" versions of myself – staring back amid the fractured continua. It felt surreal as if I had stepped into a realm beyond time and space but then the hole within the fabric of reality started to mend itself. Like an hourglass that's been flipped on its head, time started to flow backward.
In the blink of an eye, the gemstone reformed itself as the thousands of tiny shattered crystals were sucked back into the Zero Drive and the world went back four seconds. The mural that had been smashed before my very eyes now proudly displayed the image of hope again. The chemtech barbarian had no idea what just happened and decided the best course of action would be to attack me the same way as before but this time I was ready for it. I parried the blow and maneuvered behind him so that he would face away from the wall.
From my peripheral view, I saw a time-delayed afterimage of myself from four seconds ago – an echo from my past that I could return to. Not only that but I also saw echoes of myself from other timelines that I had access to. I was no longer anchored to one present and I had no intentions of playing fair with the slowpoke in front of me. It looked as if I was glitching in and out of reality; blinking and dashing while breaking every rule of time and space physics. The chemtank tried to grab me but the only thing he could get a hold of was my afterimages.
"Too slow." I ripped out the tubes that contained the monster's precious lifeblood and without the chemicals sustaining it, the berserker was finally defeated.
"Amazing…" said Heimerdinger as he jogged over as fast as he could. "My boy, you have shattered time!"
"Pretty cool, huh?" I said with a smirk but as I took a step towards him, I felt my body keel over. The adrenaline was gone and what was left was a pain and tightness in my chest. My arms and legs felt numb and tingly and I had a throbbing headache.
"Whoa," said Heimerdinger as he caught me and helped me sit down.
"What's happening to me?"
"It looks like mana exhaustion; a symptom often experienced by mages after overusing powerful spells." He reached over and turned the Z-Drive off which made me feel like I could breathe again. "It appears the device drew on your mana pool to make up for the lack of energy. You'll recover with some rest. Just be careful not to overdo it next time."
"There's no time to rest." We both immediately turned to the source of the third voice with our weapons drawn and to both of our surprises, it was one of my echoes except he looked maybe a few years older.
"How is this possible? The Z-Drive is off," I asked.
"And how are you speaking to us?" added Heimerdinger.
"I don't have much time to explain. This timeline is doomed, we'll need to reset again."
"Doomed? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I stood up and got face to face with 'myself.' "I don't know what happened in your fucked up timeline but I ain't resetting shit."
"You do know," he said calmly as he met my stare head-on. "I know you've seen it – what a monster she is."
My breath was caught in my chest and I shook my head. "She's different in this one."
"Maybe but the Powder you knew is gone. If I'm here then that means Jinx is back too."
"What are you talking about?"
"When I reset for the first time, I wasn't the only one that time traveled back. Before you make your decision, you need to know what happened – what started all of this. My story – the story of the first Ekko."