Do you ever feel like you're in the wrong place at the wrong time? Do you ever feel that time moves forward, yet you have a constant sense of stagnation?
Maybe that feeling is influenced by a deep-seated desire to stay in the past rather than move forward. But do we, as humans, have the willpower and resolve to truly let go of the past and embrace the future?
Her eyes were so blue, so bright, yet so distant - the same eyes that once looked at him with guilt and hate, now filled with love and compassion. For a moment, I thought I caught a glimpse of what could have been. Having my previous friend back after believing I lost her to this persona of Jinx, I truly thought she was gone forever. If I had stayed, I could have had a future with everything I ever wanted: the people I treat like family, those I couldn't protect, and the people I... cared for. The regret of not staying eats me alive, gnawing at me from the inside.
But the call of Zaun, my home, is even stronger. The regret of leaving this paradise behind haunts me. Maybe, just maybe, I could make my original Zaun just like this one. To turn Zaun into a paradise, even if it wouldn't be the same without the people I've lost.
I can't give up the chance for a second try. I only needed time—time to see if fixing Zaun is possible, which it is now—to undo the mistakes I made when I gave up on it before. I'll do it.
"Ekko, my boy," I heard Professor Heimerdinger say.
I looked over. We were inside a powered laboratory—an explosive workspace in another time.
"I must say that since I've met you, lad, I've truly lived," the short yordle said to me.
I was shocked by his words, not understanding for a moment.
"What?" I retorted, only for their meaning to hit me like a heavy iron sledgehammer.
The sudden realization struck me, but I was too late.
"Back in a wink!" the small yet wise and mindful yordle said to me.
I knew yordles lived for a long time, but I wouldn't. The thought of losing him, like everyone else I cared about, gnawed at me.
"No! Heimerdinger, wait! Wait!"
It happened too fast—the array of runes around my body, the acceleration of arcane energy that allowed me to access the arcane realm and travel back to where I had been.
That had been the plan all along, but why wasn't Heimerdinger, who was in the same situation as me, joining? It was Piltover and Zaun; our homes. I couldn't go back without my mentor, my friend. I needed him with me.
But it was too late. Once Heimerdinger connected the two cords together, a sudden surge of arcane power pulsed through the laboratory. I felt my skin, body, and soul being torn apart, separating into two. As I watched, Heimerdinger—just outside the ring of the hex accelerator—vanished. He disintegrated into powder.
I wanted to turn back time—just four seconds—to bring him back. But the device was connected to the amplification acceleration. This Z-Drive's purpose was change not to go back in time, but to travel through time, its nature had been changed, since it had been amplified by the hex acceleration array device surrounding his body.
Most importantly, Heimerdinger was the one responsible for uniting Zaun and Piltover within this timeline. Without him, the events that brought the two cities together never occurred. In this timeline, the union of Zaun and Piltover into a single nation would never become a reality.
It had always been Heimerdinger's vision. Imagine what he could have achieved in our original timeline—the miracles he could have created would have been legendary.
Yet time after time, I've never been able to save anyone I cared about.
Heimerdinger's form turned to powder before my eyes. Speaking of powder, amidst the chaos, I heard footsteps from upstairs. Despite my body splitting between two existences and the surrounding mayhem, my mind automatically focused on those steps—so familiar, yet so haunting. It was something I had always wanted but could never truly grasp to the point that I had to let go…twice in both times!
The sound of footsteps sounded faster, like they were in a rush.
Before I could see that figure, I felt my body split. The body that I inhabited while staying in this timeline fell to the ground, fainted, breathing which made me relieved.
The figure that went down the stairs was much taller in this timeline compared to my original world, but her face and eyes were the same. Her hair was bright blue, shorter, and softer, like powder, keeping a style similar to how she had it while she was young.
She wore a black leather jacket with a white dress, her hair wasn't tied up in buns, nor was it braided, instead, it was loose, unlike her mind which was more stable within this timeline, to the point where she was able to focus more on the people around her than her own imagination. She was able to love others instead of hating herself.
She rushed toward the figure of Ekko—his body but not my body. She lifted the other version of me, which I wished was me.
Only then, when she checked that her Ekko was fine, did she have the time to look up and see what was beyond.
Her eyes flashed with shock, and I couldn't identify what else was in those eyes. She has always had a complex stare, but they were focused.
The arcane energy around me, which looked like a living cancer taking magical form, pulsed around my original body, holding the Z-Drive which I took inspiration from this alternative universe's project. I wanted something to remember this world by, so I named this time loop device after something that reminded him of this world, he remembered this world's Ekko project name for the festival was named Z-Drive.
I was finally going home, what I had been wishing for since I got here. Yet my arm reached out, wanting to hold on to her one last time, but the arcane absorbed what's left of my existence before I could say anything.
But I didn't want to say anything. Looking at her was enough. That stare gave him hope that Zaun was worth fixing and worth protecting.
I remember when she called me the boy savior, yet she, even if she was different, was the one that saved me.I am regretful but I was thankful for what happen to me , the arcane shown me a different purpose.