Fragments Of Time Novels & Stories

I smiled mockingly and said softly, "Go ahead. Your children need you." Alex didn't even look back at me once. He fled in panic, the wind from his movement brushing across my face. I sat alone in the darkness, neither turning on the lights nor crying. I knew Alex might never marry Brooke. But he would be called away by her again and again, because of those children. I had blended over a thousand fragrances. Top notes, middle notes, base notes, each layer distinct yet harmoniously unified. But my life had been forcibly invaded by a discordant, cheap odor.

she informed. “Will it take you too long to fix it?” I asked. She then mentally calculated the estimated time before saying, “About 5 to 10 minutes, Sir. But if I find an error in the system, it may take days. Is that alright with you?” she said. [What choice do I have? I just want this misunderstanding to end. I don’t want to acknowledge that I’m going insane because of something so trivial,] I thought. “It’s fine. You can start now,” I permitted her, and the lady went ahead.

The cake he'd surprised me with in the morning before we left to work had brought tears to my eyes and the surprise he was planning for later was uncalled for, really. Kayden had given me a second chance of making everything right and I was not going to screw it up. I was still trying to pick up the pieces of my shattered life and piece them back together, five years later. I may have fallen to the ground but I trusted myself to get up too. "... Isla?" An irritated voice snapped me from my reverie and I turned around to meet Maeve's signature frown. She raked her manicured fingers in her hair which was too blonde to be true and stepped closer, her expensive perfume suffocating me.

It was the news report from the year I won the award, and the edges were already frayed from wear and tear. A gust of wind swept past, and the dandelions disintegrated and began to drift toward the Camford River, like a late snowfall. I held the crystal dome and walked back to my office. Behind me, I heard the sound of David giggling. I did not look back, but I knew that there was a figure standing at a safe distance and watching me. Some stories did not have to have a happy ending. Like the ripples on the Karnell River, there were some things that could never come together again.

With small hands pressed on the glass, she moved forward into the mirror. "You weren't supposed to pick a path and win the game." A pause. "You made the decision, so the door won't open," she added. "When you remember why you sealed it, it will open." The mirror wavered. The kid was gone. And the world's fissures started to scream. Like glass, time broke. Not broken, but revolted. The heavens throbbed. The stars turned around. Like paper, buildings folded in on themselves. Timelines that had long since crumbled screamed.

--- I extract the fragment in forty minutes. It is easier than Cael. Not easy — easier. The power from the coronation has more dexterity now, more precision, like a hand learning to hold something small without crushing it. I find the fragment, I feel its edges, I pull carefully and steadily and when it tries to flee I am ready for it. I contain it.

I ask, my breath hitching. " Then we edge," he promises. "And we stay there until I figure it out." He turns back to the screens. He cracks his knuckles. "Timer starts now," the fragment announces. Alex starts typing. Clack-clack-clack. I wait. The toy inside me is silent, a heavy presence. The leather of the chair is cool against my bare skin, sticking slightly to my thighs. "Got one," Alex mutters. "Fragment 12 isolated." Pulse.

Twenty-two years of accumulated life condensed into fragments and the lived reality of the present and no framework for connecting the two. "I stopped trying to connect them," she said. "After the first year. I just — stopped. I let the fragments be fragments. I let the present be the present. And I waited." "For what?" Nyla said. "For someone to come," she said. "I didn't know who. I just knew that the fragments were not only for me. That I had come back carrying something that was meant to go somewhere." She looked at Nyla. "And then I read the profile. The Ellison piece. And I understood where it was meant to go."

The god of times words echo in my mind, urging me to embrace the truth and learn from it. As the scene plays out, I see a glimmer of understanding dawn within me. I realize that my failures were not just moments of weakness, but opportunities for growth and transformation. With this newfound clarity, I reach out and grasp the threads of time, weaving them together to mend the fractures within my soul.

"Time is a river, flowing from the past to the present, shaping the future. It is a tapestry woven by the choices of every being." The Time Oracle nodded. "Correct. To unravel time's mysteries, you must understand its threads. I shall grant you a glimpse into the past, the present, and the myriad possibilities of the future."