"He doesn't know that you are a girl?" My dad sounded less outrageous that before when I told him I was meeting a guy.

"Well, it is kind of complex." I don't know if I should tell him about the whole deal of time travel and all.

"You have been gone for five months Alisa and now you are back home with a guy? What am I suppose to understand with this?" He was getting into father mode now.

"Can we talk about this when Mel is around?" She was the reason behind all this. Least she could do is explain dad about this.

"I am not letting this pass easily Alisha. I have serious enemies that could have killed you. And I couldn't sleep for days. I started drinking too much till Mel informed me that she talked to you and you are fine. I know I have been too harsh about you being a part of the gang but you should know that is not because I want a son or something. It is because you are most important to me and I don't want you to get hurt."

His words brought tears to my eyes and made me realise the dilemma I was in. I had feelings for a man from another time while Dad here cannot bear to live without me.

We reached the house and I hurried out to enter to alert Elias and Mel before. But as soon as I opened the door I encountered complete darkness. There was pin drop silence in the house and for some reason, I felt scared and uneasy. Dad followed me a few seconds later.

"Where is Mel?" He asked in a worried tone.

Did a time travel thing happened while I was gone? This can't be. Elias can't be gone like this? I started growing short of breath and before I could even realise I was sobbing.

"Alisha? What's wrong?" Dad immediately turned his attention to the crying me who he knew didn't cry at easily.

"E-Elias." I sobbed out his name, my mind already listing the methods I could get him back.

Unlike my blank and stupid brain, my dad did the intelligent thing and called Mel.

"Hello, Mel where are you?" He asked and I stopped sobbing to hear every single he word he was saying.

"Who is this?" My dad's voice turned hateful.

"Don't you dare." He growled out the words and I knew he was angry.

"What is it, Dad?" I asked when I saw him pinching the bridge of the nose.

"Someone attacked and took away that boy of yours. He has been shot." As soon as he said that I experienced powerlessness for the first time.

My leg gave away and I stumbled down. I would have hit the ground had it not been for my dad.

"Alisha. He is fine. Just shot in the leg." My dad said but his voice was fuzzy somewhere in the back of my head.

"We need to get him back alive," I begged him and he nodded fervently to calm me down.

"I need him alive dad." I didn't even realise I was crying hard.

"We will get him back." My dad repeated the words stroking my head in a consoling manner.

"I need him," I said it more like a thought to myself.

He will be safe as long as I am protecting him. The words of that future seeing dude echoed in my head and I picked up a gun which I left at home before running. Dad didn't stop me because he must have seen my hopelessness turn into pure vengeance.

***

Our gang's doctor accompanied to the scene. We still didn't know the reason behind the whole kidnapping Mel deal but they just messed with the wrong deal. I killed bloody assassins for this guy, I was going to send these filthy people to hell.

I almost jumped out of the car even before it completely stopped.

The empty factory that was dark and silent. But as soon as I was out in open I was surrounded by at least ten men in the mask and so was my dad. My dad did call the back-up but for now, it was just us two. Unlike the men in older time, these ones had guns so the only advantage I had the dagger in my boot which I always carried.

As soon as they shot I ducked down and threw my dagger at the nearest man. He fell down and I reached out to make him my human shield. That wall made me invincible for the moment as I shot down few with my gun and picked up the guns now useless for dead men around. I didn't know I could feel this angry.

I was ruthless in anger and I didn't hesitate to kill anyone who blocked my path right then.

Mel was found first. She was unconscious when I found her.

"Mel." I shook her gently and after a while of struggling, she opened her eyes.

"Where is Elias?" I asked feeling my heart thudding to loudly for my comfort.

"He is on one of the upper floors." She answered.

Apparently, Mel was fine, she just fainted because of some drug and she was dehydrated. Dad helped her to move to a safer point. Our backup arrived but I was still searching for Elias.

"Who are these people?" I asked Dad.

"Rival Gang." He said in a grim tone.

"We have too many, please be more specific," I asked as we killed few more to check the second floor for Elias.

"Mel's husband is the leader." He said and I stopped in shock for a moment.

"Yeah, long story short. Mel's husband is a malicious man who kills people for fun and he breaks all the gang rules. He is kind of weird. Some say he is a magician but of course that can't be true." I had no idea how to react to this.

"Umm... I hear someone talking there." I said and moved to the last room on the second floor.

I saw a man's back and he was shouting at someone. Suddenly he pulled out a gun and shot the man kneeling in front of him. He turned and I gasped out loud on seeing his face. He was actually Mel's husband, Kirk.

"Matthew," Dad called out to the man and he turned to look at us.

My dad signalled me to stay hidden and I did.

"Where is the boy you took from our home?" My dad's tone was one that sent shivers down his enemy.

But Matthew or future Kirk laughed dryly, "He got shot because of you. My son got shot because of you. What was he doing at your place?"

Son? He did not call Elias his son.

"Son?" My dad asked surprised too.

"Yes, my son who is studying abroad or so I thought." He looked really angry.

So he was not Elias' enemy, instead, he cared for him. But was there a future Elias as well?

"Kirk," I called out and entered the room surprising both him and dad.

"What did you just call me?" He asked his eyes wide in shock.

"You offered me a way out Kirk," I said playing the bluff card here.

And my eyes finally found the unconscious Elias being treated by some men and it felt like I could breathe again. Tears of relief trickled down my eyes.

"What game is Mel playing?" He asked me with a frown but no anger.

I created a scenario in my head and solved it like a puzzle. Mel's husband was over the edge killer and drug lord. She wanted to be with him but our gangs were rivals enough to kill each other. Was she planning a Romeo and Juliet with me and Elias?

Sending me back in time might have helped Elias become a great King but now the case was different. Why did Mel want to help Elias from the past?

"If someone from past dies do they die in future in well?" I asked the absurd theory not waiting for my dad's reaction.

"If they are connected through magic or something equally powerful." Matthew was not being a jerk for a second.

"You did not send your son to study abroad, did you?"I asked feeling I was getting somewhere here.

"No, he killed him in rage. He is my son and he killed him. I had to do something." Mel's enraged voice shocked us all.

Matthew the drug lord slightly terrified of Mel then.

"Mel, you did not mess with time, did you?" He asked, the look of terror so clear in his eyes.

"I found his last presence in 1735 and connected to a mirror soul in future. Something that will keep him alive in both times." She said stepping closer to Matthew.

I have never seen Mel this way, I have never feared her but now I did.

She looked furious and unstoppable as she glared at her husband and it was a mother's rage.

Why did she send me to the past?

"My past self-alerted me to the new dangers around him so I decided to connect him to this world with more than magic, something equally powerful and that is her." She pointed at me and her gaze softened.

"Me?" I asked at loss of words.

"I have seen you train since you were young Alisha and there no one better who could protect my son. But most importantly, I wanted to bind him with the power of love. You could be his anchor in the future." She explained with a sly smile she had when her plan was successful.

"Are there two Elias then?" I asked a tiny bit confused.

Mel laughed now, warmly like she always did.

"No, the one from the present died at his hands. I just found another one in past and connected him through magic when he was in his mother's womb. And everyone thinks that Queen could do magic!"

"Mel, how can you do this stuff?" I asked the most important question.

"Because I can."

"Okay, then why is the Kirk in past is Elias' guardian?" Clearly, she was not in the mood to answer.

"Because my past self-made him into a good man."

This was too much to handle for me. Mel was weird, her husband was weird. I had no clue was what going on or even if this all was real. But I got the part that Mel loved Elias like her own son and wanted her alive and well. It was not about setting the history right or keeping a future King safe.

It was just for her personal reason that I was sent back in time and acted as a freaking bodyguard, fought too many people and stayed away from my dad for so long.

"Esmeliene? Who are you ?" I asked feeling a little betrayal from the woman who I now considered like a mother.

She could travel in time, dabbled in magic and could even heal fatal wounds.

"Don't worry love, you are my hidden card. I will not harm you." And she gave me a sweet smile.

"Oh, by the way, I am more popularly known as Hecate."

Something heavy dropped into my stomach because if I remember well, Hecate was the goddess of magic and she was not that kind.