Alex reclined on the sleek leather couch of the penthouse, the room dimly lit by city lights filtering through expansive glass walls. He glanced at his new aPhone, when he unlocked it a digital interface that sprang to life before him—a translucent screen hovering in the air, alive with soft light and faint flickers. Suddenly, the screen flashed, dimming momentarily as the screen turned red and a new message appeared in bold, ghostly letters:
Alex paused, squinting at his digital screen as a message appeared, its words flickering with an eerie insistence: "Fill the void, someone important was taken out of this timeline."
He felt a strange chill. The words seemed to pulse, leaving an odd weight in his mind, like the memory of a half-remembered dream that didn't belong to him. But before he could dwell on it, a familiar face materialized in the screen's corner—Kofi, arms crossed, brows furrowed in shock.
Kofi's expression was a rare mix of confusion and something closer to fear. "What the hell, Alex? Where did that message come from?"
Alex shrugged, his fingers hovering uncertainly over the screen. "I thought maybe it was you messing with me," he said, trying to sound lighthearted. But deep down, he knew this wasn't a joke.
Kofi's eyes darted to the screen, then back to Alex, his gaze sharp and searching. "You don't get it, do you? This…this isn't normal. I felt something the moment that message showed up."
"Felt something?" Alex asked, unsettled.
Kofi's response was uncharacteristically hesitant, almost as if he were struggling to put words to an instinct he didn't quite understand. "Yeah, like… it's as if something brushed against the edge of my awareness when that message came through. Whatever it is, it's not some random hack or signal. It's connected to something… deeper."
The words hung between them, and Alex felt that strange weight again. A slight pressure settled at the back of his mind, stirring faint echoes of emotions he couldn't place—faint, distant, like memories pressed into a part of him he rarely accessed.
He brushed off the feeling and focused on Kofi. "What about the actual message?" Alex asked, though something about the phrasing had already planted itself deep within him. Fill the void. The words seemed to resonate, almost like a thought he had half-formed on his own.
"Alex… you're not gonna like this," Kofi said, his voice low, stripped of its usual sarcasm. He studied Alex for a beat, then continued, "I felt it when that message came through. I knew right away who was removed from the timeline."
Alex tilted his head, his heart pounding faster. "What do you mean 'who'?" he asked, already dreading the answer.
Kofi's gaze turned piercing. "It's Victor. Victor Devereux."
The name hit Alex like a punch, the weight of it stirring memories of every encounter he'd had with Victor. "Victor?" he repeated, half in disbelief. "But he was—"
Kofi held up a hand, cutting him off. "Pull up a news article," he instructed, his tone urgent. "Quick!"
Alex hesitated, then summoned his digital screen and typed Victor's name into the search bar. Almost instantly, a headline appeared, stark and chilling against the otherwise mundane news feed: "Victor Devereux Killed in Prison Brawl."
He stared at the words, the finality sinking in. Victor, gone? A part of him couldn't believe it—Victor had seemed untouchable, an inescapable presence in every corridor of power Alex had ever walked. But the article confirmed it: the man who had once been a force of control and manipulation was now just another casualty in a prison fight.
The headline blurred as Alex processed the implications. "Does this have anything to do with how Victor was… supposed to do things. Innovate. Create new tech. He was going to change everything. I never thought he was that essential that those innovations won't take place without him"
Kofi's voice was firm, his expression unyielding. "And now he won't. Victor was one of the main catalysts for moving Earth's technology forward. He was a dangerous man, no doubt, but he was also… essential."
Alex's mind raced. The inventions, the advancements Victor would have pushed were now lost, gone with him into the past. "So what happens now?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Kofi's gaze was unwavering. "You already know what happens. That void his absence creates? It's on you to fill it."
The message's words echoed in Alex's mind: Fill the void. He felt the enormity of it settle on his shoulders, the task growing heavier with each passing second.
"But…why me? And if I don't step in, what happens to the future?" he asked, feeling the weight of a thousand untold consequences bearing down on him.
Kofi's expression darkened. "It'll fall behind. Earth will lose out on advancements that would have shaped everything—medicine, communications, energy. It'll be a world held back by missed potential."
Alex took a slow, deep breath. It wasn't a choice, not really. Victor's removal had left a hole, a void he couldn't ignore. And if this was the cost of his journey through time, then it was one he'd have to face, whether he was ready or not.
Before either of them could speak again, a strange energy rippled through the room, a pulsing, electric hum that prickled along Alex's skin. The air thickened, charged with a peculiar tension. It was as if space itself had shifted—warping, twisting—and then came the storm.
A force Alex couldn't see but could feel seemed to swallow them both, wrenching them from reality and plunging them into a swirling, cosmic maelstrom. He could feel it tearing at the edges of his mind, clawing at his consciousness with the relentless pressure of a storm that didn't belong in any place or time.
Colors swirled around them—blues, purples, and strange hues that seemed to echo into infinity. Fleeting images, fractured memories, timelines in conflict—they flashed before him, so overwhelming that Alex's head felt like it was about to split open.
Kofi was yelling something, but the words were lost in the storm's roar. And then everything went black.
When Alex came to, he was lying on the floor, the world steady but heavy, like a gravity pressing down on him. He tried to move, but a pounding headache made him wince. As his vision cleared, he saw Kofi standing before him—not as his usual avatar but something transformed, emanating an intensity that Alex had never seen before. The playful glint in his eye was gone, replaced by a look of unyielding seriousness. His presence seemed more solid, his gaze sharper.
Kofi's voice, too, was different. "Alex, get up." It was a command, direct and urgent, and there was an edge to it that brooked no argument.
Alex forced himself to sit, clutching his head as the remnants of the headache lingered. "What… just happened?" he managed, his voice barely above a whisper.
"A temporal storm. It only affects travelers like us. A rare one, but it's never a good sign." Kofi's eyes bore into Alex's. "It means the Chain is forcing us to move. And more of these will come if we don't start filling Victor's void."
The words cut through Alex's haze. The storm, the message—it all pointed back to Victor, who was supposed to be here, altering history and pushing technology forward. Now, his absence had disrupted some cosmic balance, leaving an empty space demanding to be filled.
"But… how? I don't even know where to start," Alex stammered, still reeling from the storm's aftermath.
Kofi's expression remained hard, almost unrecognizably severe. "That's the burden of being here, Alex. Victor was taken out of this timeline, and the impact on the future is already in motion. The universe—the Chain—it's not waiting around. The longer you hesitate, the harder it's going to hit. It's not giving you a choice anymore."
Alex swallowed, the weight of Kofi's words sinking in. "So, we… have to take his place? Fill in what he would have done?"
Kofi nodded, his gaze unwavering. "It's on you now. If you don't step up, the world loses what he would've brought. And I'll be here, but remember, time isn't going to wait. That storm? It was just the first."
Kofi's words left no room for doubt. With every second that passed, the Chain was tightening, demanding he take action.