The war is over; it finally passed, and they won. The people of all of Soland, Denborua, and Nuringham started to cheer and celebrate the death of the queen. Commoners, knights, and soldiers alike—the people now cry with joy instead of despair.
Mala and Priam drop the head of the queen and hug each other out of relief. The sun rises over the horizon, and the sky lights up with a vibrant light blue. The massive weight was lifted from both their shoulders, and they could finally start over. Andy smiles for them on the sidelines; it pleased him seeing the two so joyful. The two saw Andy standing at one of the corners of the stage; they gestured to him to approach them and celebrate along.
After the whole celebration, shaking hands with the people and sharing hugs here and there, Andy's smartwatch suddenly flickers and rings—it was a notification about a message from the company that started this project. It read;
"Hopefully this message reaches you, Smith. The machine is repaired and in the process of calibrating. We'll be sending you a passageway into our time to your set location in about an hour. It's recommended to return to the same spot you were at when you appeared there. We'll be seeing you then. Regards, [confidential institution name]."
"Damn, I need to go now," he thought to himself.
Andy padded down his pockets one more time to see if he had left anything. Smartwatch, knife, pistol—he was all set. As Andy was about to take his leave, Mala then called out to him.
"Brother Andy! Come! We will be having a big feast! We want you to join us!" he exclaimed.
Andy sighs with a rather troubled expression, "I'm sorry, I can't. I have to go back to my town; they need me back. They don't know what happened to me; I need to go home."
Mala noticed his expression; it's like he didn't want to go so soon. He knows the feeling, he didn't want Andy to go either, not yet, at least.
"Do you need to go so soon? You cannot stay for a bit longer," he asked.
Andy shakes his head in response.
Mala smiles—the expression is bittersweet. "I understand," Mala says.
Andy shakes his hand for one last time before starting his walk towards the forest. Mala follows a few feet behind him.
After about ten to fifteen minutes of walking, Mala suddenly spoke to the agent, briefly halting their walk.
"Hey..." Mala says, "Thank you. Thanks for... you know, what you've done for us."
Andy nodded and chuckled a little as he responded, "No problem, man."
"Is there anything I can do to repay you?" Mala asks. Andy thinks for a while, looking at his surroundings and himself.
"Well, before I go, I'll have a favor to ask you," he says. Mala listens intently—his eyes widened slightly as ears perked up.
"Don't write about me, okay? Promise me that," Andy says.
This confuses Mala, hearing a rather counterintuitive request. He thought to himself: After being a major part of a war, why would Andy not want to have a memorial after him? The favor was a bit strange, so to speak. He asks, "Why?"
Andy turns his back. "Just trust me. Keep me in mind though," he explains, rather vaguely and also playfully.
Mala nodded in agreement; he wanted to keep this promise regardless of its oddity.
"Okay then," he says, "Goodbye, Andy. Good luck for your future; we'll now start to build ours."
Andy gave his greetings about his leave and then started walking away, waving at Mala as he walked. Andy pondered as he travelled—a time that was so desperate, now tasting freedom and serenity. The environment looked more vibrant to him, the grass looked greener, and the sun seemed to be brighter—maybe this was just him seeing green again after days of looking at gray stone.
As Andy walked, finding the place where he started his journey, his smartwatch rang. This was the first and only call he got on this journey. He answers his stopwatch; a familiar voice was on the other end—it was the head scientist, Will. Hearing this voice again gave Andy a bit of a conflicting feeling; it was relieving for the most part, but it also left a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth. Regardless of however he felt, he responds to him.
"Hey, Andy. I'm so sorry that you got stuck there for a while!" said Will.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm still alive at least," Andy scoffs as he says this.
"That's good. We are still calibrating the Voyager. Are you at the location you need to be?" the scientist asked.
Andy was walking as he was talking on the call. "I'm on the way," he answered.
Andy passes by countless amounts of trees, he hung up the call and continued his walk.
He sees a patch of dead trees; charred branches and tree bark were scattered across the grass.
"I think this place is it," he says to himself. "I'll just wait, I guess."
Andy sat down to wait, laying his back against one of the dead trees around. He waited for thirty minutes, almost falling asleep. A bright glow then appeared; it was the passageway the message told him about.
"About time," he says, getting up from the ground.
Andy approaches this glowing passageway—it creates a deep, resonant hum. Andy reaches his hand out, reaching into this door. His hand disappears into the light; it also felt a bit cold inside. He then steps through the portal, closing his eyes due to its brightness.
Once he completely went through the portal, the bright light dissipated from his eyes. He opened them, seeing the laboratory again. He was also presented with the sight and sound of cheering scientists and engineers—cheering to the fact that Andy got back safe. Scientist Will also greeted him with a hug.
"Glad you're back, man," the scientist said, patting Andy in the back. Andy chuckles a bit out of relief.
"Same here," he answered.
"Well, you must be tired. I'll give you the day to rest up. You can tell me what you saw tomorrow," said Will, taking off Andy's smartwatch.
"Sorry that I didn't record much," Andy says as Will takes his watch.
"It's fine; we can discuss that over coffee," the scientist responds.
After meeting everyone and seeing the building again, it felt like a breath of fresh air to him. Andy closed out and went home. When he opened his door, he was happy to see everything was right where he left it. Andy then took a nap, which lasted about three hours.
About a week later, he had this random curiosity. He thought about what actually changed, Andy basically changed a relatively major part of history, so he was curious about what's different now. Nothing felt different; maybe the universe destined events in time to have only one future, who knows. Andy decided to go to his local museum; maybe something is different there. He walked around, seeing if there's anything new—passing by pottery, some skeleton models, some statues, weathered arrowheads, and other stuff he didn't really recognize.
He then walked into a section of the building, coming across a portrait of Mala. The expression on his face shows triumph and bravery, unlike the first time they met, when he was more reserved. His outfit was new as well; the fabric was white and woven in patterns that Andy hadn't seen before. There was a tag made of brass under the portrait; it read, "Mala Caius, The Leader of the Deningham Revolution."
He walked to another portrait; it was Priam this time. His expression was similar to Mala's, showing determination and pride. He wore his knightly armor and held the same sword he had used when executing the now-former queen. This portrait, too, had a brass tag under it; it read, "Priam Esurio, Head Knight of the Royal Guard."
There was a set of other portraits beside these, it was paintings of all the places he went to during his time in the past. The brass tags under it said,
"The Village of Nuringham,"
"The Town of Denborua,"
"The District of Deningham (formally called Soland, The Kingdom of Solia)."
Andy looked at these portraits, thinking to himself with a smile on his face, "Thank you, Mala. Thank you, Priam. I hope they were happy with you guys around."