Chereads / Shackles of Time and Space / Chapter 3 - The fall

Chapter 3 - The fall

On a foggy night in Major Leonia, two men in their carriage were making their way out of the city through the eastern gate. One of the men was tall and skinny sitting in the back of the carriage which was covered by a tattered cloth. The other man who was driving the carriage was a few centimeters shorter than the average man in Kalrodia, but he was well built with bulging muscles. After bribing the guards with the usual amount, they headed straight towards The Great Chasm to meet with their employer. They had received clear instructions to bring him the merchandise immediately after acquiring it, without stopping for anything.

After about three hours of traveling without incident, they were nearing the designated spot. Soon the pair saw the giant scar running for kilometers through the land. Not long after that, they noticed a rough looking man wearing a dark green trench coat and smoking a cigar. The rough looking man was standing right next to the chasm, staring down into the abyss below.

Noticing the approaching carriage the man signaled with his right hand. A signal which the carriage driver then returned with his left hand. Seeing this the rough looking man let out a deep breath.

"You're on time today."

The driver tipped up his hat.

"Yep, no complications today." 

 Hearing this, the rough man grinned.

"Well then, let's have a look at today's catch."

The driver beckoned for his partner to bring out the merchandise. Seeing this, the tall man in the back lifted the tattered cloth covering the carriage and picked up one of the heavy objects inside. He then carried it on his shoulder over to the rough man. Seeing the small girl brought before him the rough man gave the pair of kidnappers an approving look.

"This one will sell nicely, I can already think of three of my clients who would be very interested. Since she is in such good condition, I'll give you fifty thousand dinarie for this one. Anything else you've brought me?"

Giving the driver a nod the tall man went back to the cart and collected the second merchandise for the night. Looking at this one the rough man grimaced.

"What did you do to this one? His face is a bloody mess."

The driver scratched the back of his head.

"We had to make sure we weren't noticed, so I decided to knock him out cold with my club. You know, so he wouldn't struggle too much and cause complications."

The rough man furrowed his brows.

"I see, well I can't sell him. His face is too badly damaged for any of my clients, though I'll give you fifteen thousand for his watch."

Giving the rough man a quick nod the driver sighed.

"Deal, but what do we do with him then?"

The rough man raised an eyebrow.

"That's why we're out here dumbass. Just throw him down into the chasm and no one will be able to find the body."

The driver gave his partner a nervous glance.

"Okay, just get it over with." 

Hearing his partner give him the go-ahead. The tall man picked up the young man and walked over to the edge of the cliff. Hesitating for a few seconds, he then threw the body down into the darkness below.

***

Feeling a sense of weightlessness Jacob opened his eyes. Immediately noticing the burning pain radiating through his entire body. Feeling the wind rush past him he quickly noticed that he was falling, but looking around all he could see was darkness. 

'What the fuck is happening?'

Remembering about what had just happened he gritted his teeth both in anger and because of the pain.

'God dammit! THOSE FUCKERS TOOK EMILY!' 

Realizing that there was nothing he could do about that fact, he turned his attention to his current predicament. 

As he turned his head left and right, despair slowly grew in his heart. There was simply nothing there and by extension, nothing he could do. He could only continue falling to his death!

Faced with the inevitability of death Jacob felt something he hadn't felt in a while, fear. Jacob had never been truly afraid before, since ever since he was just ten years old he had always rationalized himself out of it.

Suddenly he heard a voice, but rather than coming from his surroundings the voice whispered inside his head.

[It seems fate has brought you to me. Tell me mortal, do you wish to live?]

'What kind of question is that, of course I want to live!'

"Yes, I want to live."

[Then enter a contract with me. I will grant you power so that you can survive and you will restore the authority of time and space.]

Jacob was confused as to what this meant, but currently he didn't have time to think about that.

"I accept."

After he spoke those words, he felt a foreign power surge through his vein and spread throughout his entire body and with it came an excruciating pain. It felt like every cell in his body was on fire as this power settled deep within him. 

Jacob screamed in agony, for what felt like hours as he continued to fall. Just as the pain began to subside he hit the bottom with a loud and everything went black.

Waking up with a splitting headache and feeling the rocky ground scrape against his bare skin, Jacob successfully sat up. 

'At least I'm not dead.'

Taking a look at his surroundings all he could see were spiky rock formations and a couple hundred loose rocks. He was quite surprised at being able to see anything at all. There was no source of light in sight, but everything in his surroundings was clear as day.

Feeling the new power flowing through his body, he already had some kind of innate understanding of what it could do. 

'I can control time!'

Feeling excited about the possibilities of this newfound power he stood up. As he did he noticed that his body felt lighter than usual. He could also feel energy flowing through his muscles that had not been there before. 

'I guess I've become physically stronger as well.' 

Wanting to test his new powers as quickly as possible Jacob picked up a small rock, which would fit in his palm. Which he quickly found and he then immediately started experimenting. 

Feeling the weight of the stone in his hand he tossed it into the air and focused on the power within him. He did this a few times, testing out a few theories he had about his powers.

What he found out was that he could extend the time it took for the rock to fall back to his hand, which reduced the impact it had on his hand. But when he tried fully stopping it in time he found that it was impossible. 

He could also reduce the time it took for the rock to fall back into his hand, which gave him a very pretty bruise on his right palm. 

'This should be quite useful once I find the bastards who took my sister.'

He thought with a grin.

After all the excitement had worn off he noticed something crucial. He was hungry, very hungry! It felt as if he hadn't eaten in weeks but there was no way he had been unconscious for that long.

'How the hell am I supposed to find something to eat down here. Down here it's just me, rocks and more rocks!'

'I guess I'll just go some random direction and hope I find something I can eat along the way.'

Taking his trusty rock with him, Jacob started walking in a random direction and behind him hidden by the rock formations a shadow followed.