I kicked the door to the first room, it barely opened but enough to get inside, it seemed like someone barricaded it with a dresser, but the dresser was already mostly destroyed, no wonder it had little effect. This ring material or Teanial as Kenneth called it, was important, we could bring back Sam, even rewind to when things were still fixable, but would it really be in some random apartment room? I thought of something before I searched the room, those journals that Raymond gave to Sam...I took a read before, Lee from the future, supposedly made these rings by taking from New Min, there were ten rings though...I looked out the window of the room.

"Lee's house...Lee's house..." Soon in the corner of my eye, I saw it, his house wasn't far, but the Zeeks would already be here before I make it back. I looked down at my sword, I opened the window and looked at the house. "How'd it go again, just grab it like this?" I one-handed the sword, the way I was holding it felt weird and uncomfortable, I raised it then threw it in the direction of the house. "This better work" I threw my right hand to the left of me, closing it into a fist, for a millisecond it felt like I blacked out but as my vision came back, I was midair in the area where I threw my sword. Before I could even react, I landed on my left arm, after bracing for impact, it felt warm but didn't hurt. I used my right arm to help myself stand, when I turned around I saw I was decently far from the dorms, I looked down at my left arm, blood was trickling out, I was only able to see it since that part of my uniform ripped, most likely I landed on something. I knelt down and picked up the torn piece from my outfit and wrapped it around my arm as a bandage, it wouldn't last long but it was something.

I looked back in the direction of the house, I was a lot closer to it than I thought I would be, not only that, the lights were on, Could it be Lee? The guy is stubborn so it would make sense, but how would he make it here, especially since he was alone, and his arm and leg...jeez he's one stupid guy...if it was him, that was the major part, if he was the one that was inside, I know someone is inside since any power would've been dead at this point...I resummoned my sword and reversed it so the blade was behind me. I crept towards the house, grabbing onto the door handle. I turned the handle and opened the door, the place seemed fine, most things weren't broken, and from what I remember, nothing was moved...but some things were open when I knew they were closed before the apocalypse.

"L.." I was going to shout for Lee, but how would I know it was him? Regardless there was no one down here, maybe they were upstairs, or already left. I walked around the dusty and worn building I made it to the stairs, ready to be attacked from anywhere I stepped on the first step, there was no creaking, no noise, the silence was getting to me, unlike the dorms there wasn't an alarm or footsteps from the others...wait, damn it! I forgot about them, but, I'm already here, I might as well finish searching the place. I soon made it up the stairs without making any noise or at least none that I could notice easily. As I scanned the place I saw an open door, I slowly walked towards it and stood at the side of the doorway, and readied my sword, if it was Lee then it would be fine, after all, I'm just hitting the guy with the hilt of my sword. I waited until I heard footsteps moving along the room, soon they were at the door. Taking the opportunity I swung the hilt of my sword at whoever it was, I heard the hilt colliding with something and someone's groan, I turned the corner and looked at the guy.

"MmH!" The guy held his face in pain, soon he looked up at me with anger, but it soon changed to confusion "C-Crystal!?" It wasn't Lee or anybody I didn't know

"Neal? You're still alive!?" I wasn't mocking him, more so out of genuine curiosity, was I going insane? "Yo-You were gone fo-" I hadn't even realized it yet, but he was motioning his hand back and forth near his neck, motioning me to be quiet, he pointed at the window. I stayed on my guard but still looked out the window, I started to notice that the light the alarm gave off, and the alarm itself had stopped

"The Zeeks might be aroun- oh, umm those thi-

"Yeah, we know" That was it, this meant that Neal was with Teal and the others.

"ah...um, t-this is awkward"

"No TTS? No PTS? Anything!?" Neal looked genuinely sorry

"I-I wanted to, but back then Teal wasn't the leader, and I guess...sooner or later I just forgot." I didn't forgive nor hate Neal, but that excuse was the only thing I could accept right now, at the moment I only looked at the building

"Take two" I flipped my sword so it was back to how it was before.

"Hold on what're you doing?"

"Teleporting? I guess you can call it that...Neal, I won't tell anyone you were here, otherwise, the others may hate you, so come up with a better excuse as to why you weren't here" I opened the window and threw my sword back towards the building, making the same motion I was doing the first time. I think I heard Neal about to say something, but it was too late. As I blacked out and reawakened I immediately threw my sword to the floor, making the motion mid-air, once more I blacked out and awoke on the floor. It seemed like my idea worked, and yet, it felt draining, I felt utterly exhausted, I know I wasn't trained in magic at all but, was it really that bad to use magic? Right as I stood up I felt tugging at my arm, I went with the tugging while resummoning my sword but soon saw that it was Kenneth moving me along

"I don't know where you went but you sure as hell shouldn't have returned!" Kenneth must've looked for me after our time ran out. I looked back at the building and saw more than twenty Zeeks

"Where are the others!?" Kenneth let me go as I started running with him

"I was looking for you and saw them, I told them to run immediately, so probably back at their sky city" I saw something in his back

"D-"

"Teanial? no, a tracker for it? Yes, it was nowhere near the dorms!" From his voice, it was more panic, than anger, most likely signaling that Teal didn't betray us, and yet, I still didn't fully trust her "We're meant to meet them on the outskirts, but I don't intend to stay past our time limit"

"We're going after it? Just us?" I didn't have to turn around to know that the Zeeks were behind us

"I can go solo if you don't want to, but we can't delay anything any longer"

"What about Matt?" I could tell Kenneth was thinking

"With where they're going, they'll catch up with the train and can get on it if they want, meaning Matt will be fine"

"Right, Lee can just warp him onto the train" Kenneth's face started to show more panic and a bit of guilt now. "What?"

"Lee isn't the only one that can warp right?"

"Well, I just learned it, although, I'm nowhere near mastering it in combat" I looked around for a place to go into, we'd have to at least try and lose them.

"..." He continued to stay silent...hold on, this doesn't make sense, the sniper firing at the person before...but then Kenneth was brought into teal's office almost immediately... Kenneth summoned a firecracker and tossed it, allowing us to run into a building.

"Kenneth..."

"Yes?" His voice was anxious, he was way more at hiding secrets back then, than he is now.

"Is Lee still on the train?"

"Of course, he is" Kenneth's voice was less anxious, but still full of guilt.

"Where did you snipe that person then?"

"In the building" This guy...

"He isn't on the train is he?"

"No..." Kenneth confirmed my suspicion, goddamn it Lee. Kenneth sat down and pulled up his hud

"What're you looking at?" Without him saying anything, he split his hud, one for him to continue, and another for me to look at...huh, didn't know you could do that. Kenneth seemed to be looking at all of our stats, most importantly Lee's, and I could see why.

Name: Lee A(!*$&!)# (An error huh? Seems odd, I mean, we know what his last name is so why distort it?)

Role: Bravo Team Leader/DPS/DT Protector

LVL 72 (About right)

HP: 2,500/3,000

MP: 280/200 (...280 and 200...)

"It isn't just that" Kenneth talked as I continued looking "Nicholai, thanks to her medical magic, is able to see something else, she called me on PTS and showed me"

New meter added by Nicholai Broker

Corruption 95% (.....h-how did it go that far? He doesn't even seem that corrupted, his veins are fine, he didn't have a fever or anything of the sort, and he certainly ain't insa-...symptoms for many things are subjective, some people have them, some don't...Lee wears long sleeves all the time...how would I actually know if his veins were normal? Not to mention, I don't think I've ever seen Lee bleed, maybe his blood was also purple!)

"Nicholai guessed that he had about a day, which mea-

"Our time to finish this just became shorter" I cut Kenneth off, I already knew what he was going to say. "Kenneth, we're going after Lee first, then the Teanial"

"Exactly...my idea" He stood up, using the wall to support him, I haven't even realized how tired he looked, I mean, he didn't have bags under his eyes, but it was more of a sad tired. "First though, how will Matt get on the train, and the others as well?"

"We can still stop the train, but that would cut our time from three days down to one, but since we already have one day, we can just stop the train." I looked outside the building, the Zeeks, from the looks of it, were gone

"Right, hooking onto it while it's moving is also an idea they could try, though it's more of a risk" I looked over at Kenneth

"Ken, It's Matt, he'll handle risky stuff fine, after all, weren't you the one who told me that he rides the turret section of a humvee?" I shrugged while talking, emphasizing my voice more.

"err...Actually, that is true to be fair" He readjusted his back, leaning on the wall I was, while I moved forward. I put my left arm on the doorway into the building and looked around, the left and right of us were also clear.

"Crystal, what happened to your arm?" Thanks to Kenneth I looked at my left arm, the "bandage" was coated in blood, I wasn't bleeding that badly right? What did I even land on? I Zeek's spike? I doubt it but...that was always a risk.

"I tried teleporting and fell, twice technically." I slowly walked out the building, looking at the building we exited to see if they were smart, and went on the walls, waiting for us to come out, luckily, that wasn't the case.

"You know...I had an idea, if you wanna hear it."

"Go for it" I kept walking, maybe he was still at the location where he provided overwatch.

"Why don't you just wear the ring and time travel?" I stopped and looked at him "Think about it, you two are related, so, maybe you'd be able to use the ring's power as well?"

"Kenneth, I'm not corrupt-

"Maybe you don't have to be, I mean, Lee was corrupted on his first day of being a DT so maybe those rings can work without being corrupted." I didn't care if I could or not, so many issues could appear if I do it

"You of all people should know, considering you and Nicholai monitor him, you know that Lee talks to the past one, now imagine if I just appear!" I realized how loud I was being and decided to quiet down. I kept walking as Kenneth continued to try and persuade me.

"Crystal, I get that, and I don't want to leave Lee either, but at the very least, you have to agree on this, if Lee can't go back in his state, then the last person who can is you, you may not even need the ring since you're younger and have more magic, you don't have to be trained in magic to learn it"

"Fine, I get it. If, and only IF Lee can't do it, and we're leaving it at that" Kenneth stopped talking after that, he probably accepted my answer, I didn't even wanna look in his direction. Time travel...it, seems terrible, I could only imagine what it's like, especially if it gets in the wrong hands, then, someone can just try again and again until they get it right...Damn it, I'm gonna have to do it, aren't I?

"Here" Kenneth came over and stood by my side, holding up a map, not using his hud, but a physical one.

"Where'd you get this?" As I asked Kenneth turned around and pointed, when I looked, I saw that the building we were in was one that had books in it...I don't think that explains why it has a map in it. We turned back around as I looked at the map

"This is what you need to look at" Kenneth pointed at a certain point on the map, it had a purple mark on it

"What is it?" It wasn't some sort of stain, so it's not like it meant Lee was here.

"Raymond told us about these marks, you see, it's right outside Eaxura so it was made a long time ago, considering the map has it marked, they thought it was no-

"I asked what it was!"

"Right, it's what corruptors go to, there's one in every dimension, and if you get rid of it, another will appear, so it was pointless to try and get rid of it in Eaxura, they still tried though"

"So, Lee might be there?" I summoned my hud...err, how did it go again? I hovered my hand over the map and all of a sudden a transparent version of it appeared "uhhhh"

"Swing it towards your hud" I looked at Kenneth, he was making a swinging motion with one hand, I mimicked it, and then all the marks on the physical one, appeared on mine. "Let's see if he's there before we look anywhere else"

"I just had a thought"

"And it is?" Kenneth was walking ahead of me, looking around the corner everytime we hit a crossroad

"We just left Matt alone with someone who's kinda psychotic...was that really a great idea?"

"...probably...you said it yourself, he'll be fine" I hadn't realized then, but Kenneth seemed a lot more relaxed than he normally is, most of the time I get the feeling that he's some sort of genius but...I guess he acts like this as well.

New Time: 2 days until extraction, 1 day until Lee's corruption

The time appeared in front of my face, I assume Kenneth added that last part

"Guess it hit midnight...sure looks like it is" Even though Eaxura was in eternal darkness, it still became darker when it gets beyond 11 PM, it isn't noticeable at first, but when something ambushes you, you'll realize how dark it became.

"I guess it did..." We were both walking through the dark streets.

"I'm not liking this..." It felt like some horror movie, and with how smart those Zeeks are getting, they might use the lighting to their advantage.

"Just keep walking" While Kenneth was acting serious and tried to be brave, he still summoned his spear for defense, as I summoned my sword. If I could recall, Zeeks can't see, at least some of them can't.

"Kenneth, do you have something I could throw?" Seemingly following my request, he changed his weapon to his bow, it seemed weird and futuristic, the thing doesn't even use arrows, or at least from what it looks like. He pulls a chamber and a bullet flies out, I catch it, tossing it up in the air and catching it.

"What are you going to do?" He whispered, he most likely knew what I was going to try.

"Draw them out" I tossed the bullet, hitting one of the broken bulbs in the street lamp, it caused more glass to fall out, making a loud sharp noise.

"Nice ar-" Kenneth's compliment was caught off when we heard loud crashing in the distance.

"Car explosion?"

"It's been too long for a car to be exploding, not to mention, car? We can teleport, why would we use a car?"

"I never said it was your car idiot!" The crashes were getting louder. Kenneth turned his bow back into his spear and I re-readied myself. We waited as the crashing got louder, we didn't have to wait long though.

"Crystal!" I didn't see what he was calling out for, there wasn't anything on the streets, I kept looking around and I saw it, a massive arm leaning on the twentieth floor of a building. Another crash sounded off as a massive and tall creature showed itself

"What the hell? We can't fight that!"

(TTS is active currently)

Lee - "Hey! Guys! Above you!" Lee? But I thought, no that doesn't matter right now. I looked around and saw him, he wasn't that high up, but enough so I had to squint in order to see him "Get up here!"

Kenneth - "Lee? Where were you?"

"Oh really Ken, you knew where he was, at least at first" I repositioned myself, ready to throw my sword, if Kenneth needed help then I could just come back down, but he's smart right? So there shouldn't be an issue.

Lee - "Crystal? What're you doing?"

Crystal - "RIght, he doesn't know, well, this'll be a good surprise." I threw my sword, and when it reached the building I did the motion, teleporting to it. When I came to and the blackout ended I noticed, I was close, but not enough to grab on, goddamn it, perspective sucks! I got ready to throw my sword again, then I realized how fast I was falling, did I not notice how high up I went? But, last I saw it wasn't that high up! With a shaking hand, I threw my sword, I wasn't even paying attention to where as long as it hit somewhere, I did the motion and blacked out. My vision came back, I flipped over, still lying down, I was beyond tired.

"Nice surprise" I turned my head and saw Lee, we were somehow on the roof. No, that wasn't the important part, Lee looked more energetic, normally after a while he'd walk with some sort of cane, but now he seemed perfectly fine, even the look of being tired was gone, not even just that, his entire outfit was different with purple flowing through it...did he do something with corruption?

"Ho-

"You spoke using TTS, I'm assuming I wasn't meant to hear that" Stupid magic, why won't you work when I want you to? I saw Kenneth in my peripheral vision. "Come on, we need to get back to the train" Lee extended his hand to me, I grabbed it and he pulled me back on my feet.

"Hold on Lee, w-what is going on? That thing and you!? And the Teanial as we-

"Here" Lee threw a bag on the ground "There's your Teanial" I thought it would be two bags, maybe it was, but Lee still had a bag on his back...I guess it could be what he really came here for, his personal stuff. "I'll explain..." He gestured at himself "this..."

"You better" I taunted the guy and turned around, the thing was still around, and yet it hadn't noticed us, is it still blind? I could only imagine how many of its own kind it stepped on.

"I will, for now though, we need to leave. Kenneth, you should be able to use Dave to help you escape right?" Lee had his sword ready, from what I could guess, we were teleporting.

"Yeah, I should be able to" Kenneth summoned Da- hold on, why did he not use him before? I don't understand Lee's team whatsoever.

"Crystal, you clearly can warp, so let's get to it" Lee threw his sword in the direction of the train, and like that he was gone. I waited a bit, making sure Kenneth would be fine. He nodded which I could only assume meant he was fine. I adjusted my sword and threw it, following Lee, every time I did it, it felt like I was being stabbed in the lungs. "Stop" After a few teleportations, Lee stopped me

"Wh-what...is it?" It was pretty obvious what the issue was.

"You're heaving Crystal, you sure you can continue to warp?" I sat down while Lee talked

"I...I don't know anymore...how're you fine?" Lee looked a bit annoyed at my question. I looked down at the floor, well we were on a building, so I guess a different word would've worked better

"Well, let's see, I'm about twice your age, I've been doing this longer, and I'm more magic potent than you...here" I looked up at Lee and saw him holding out a vial.

"What's this?" I took the vial, looking it over, most of the labels were in some language I couldn't understand.

"You know how in some video games there are items that can restore magic?" I hadn't really played that many games but I nodded regardless. "Well, that's what this basically is"

"Is this even safe?" I popped off the cap.

"Yeah, I had this when I was younger, you shouldn't have issues" Shouldn't..."You didn't even have to open the cap, just crush the vial" His stupid ideas always surprise me, but what do I know. I stood up, putting the cap back on.

"If I get glass shards in my arm" I warned Lee before putting the vial in my palm. I took a deep breath in, closing my hand, but instead of feeling pain, I felt refreshed. I looked at my hand, the vial was gone.

"Told ya, Ether...is helpful you know..." Lee sat down on the edge of the building, that pause though...it didn't feel right "Train ain't that much farther, better keep up!" He leaped off, throwing his sword...I would never be able to do that...even if I knew I could warp. Standing near the edge, I threw my sword, we continued warping across rooftops, mostly keeping off the floor. A part of me felt worried, I didn't see Kenneth at all, I know we were ahead of him, but warping does need a few seconds before it can be used again, a short cooldown, but it should've been enough for him to catch up to us. "Something wrong?" I looked around and didn't see anything, no figure, no voice besides Lee's.

"Where's Kenneth?" As I talked, Lee walked past me, most likely looking for him...hey... "Lee"

"Hmm?" Lee looked at me, there was a giant red stain on his arm it wasn't there just a second ago...I'm sure of it

"Y-Your arm..." He looked at his arm, he wasn't surprised, nor confused, more understanding if anything.

"Ahh...don't worry about it...It was bound to happen one timeline or another" he cut a piece of his coat off and wrapped it around his arm like a bandage "Come on Crystal, if I'm right then I need to go into the past asap" he turned back around towards the train, but before he could take a step he fell down, I ran over to him, trying to support in any way I could. I saw his face, this time around, he was surprised

"Lee..." His face went from surprise to guilt shortly after

"Oh...that's how it is" He sat down, he wrapped his left hand around his right, twisting the ring he had on. "I'll...just do it here...this is a one-way trip anyways, no point trying to be safe about it" He was breathing heavily, the only thing he looked at was his ring. I could hear some sort of propellor behind us, when I looked over at the noise I saw Kenneth and Dave in the air. When they were above the building we were on, they lowered down and Kenneth let go of Dave, falling to the ground.

"Why is it that every time we meet again, you're always in worse condition?" Kenneth sat on the other side of Lee.

"Heh, I was always known for bad luck" The two were casually joking...I guess i could understand...but it was like they were ignoring reality...like time-traveling could fix everything...I...I think I know why Lee got over Sam's death so fast...Even so...how do you know that you can prevent anything?

"That's with video games...and cooking every now and again..." After Kenneth's remark, it was silence, the only thing I could hear was the wind and distant gunfire. Lee took off his ring and gave it to Kenneth, as a result, he started working on its repairs. "This is one wa-...you already know this..." Due to the ring's size, it didn't take long, and it was already repaired. "You ready Lee?" The ring had this glow to it, just being near it made me feel sick yet energized, I couldn't even imagine how putting it on must feel.

"Don't get a choice do I?" Kenneth placed the ring on his hand, Lee stared at it for a while before putting it on. His face showed pain, yet he didn't make any noise...must've not wanted any Zeeks to show up, even if there's no going back.

It didn't take long for a wave of nausea to wash over me, bringing me to my knees, I felt like I was going to throw up, but soon, darkness...there was no light, no voices, no pain.

The only thing I could see was a flicker, as a drop of red hit the floor

(Apocalypse Timeline FInish.)