The Great Time Kingdoms: Journey Into the past

Joshua was seriously starting to think school was overrated, which he thought was impossible because he went to the best Temporal Studies High School in the Three Great Time Kingdoms.

He’d just come from Temporal History class AKA ‘The most boring class in School’, when a frizzy blond haired boy stumbled into the corridor and crashed into him. The boy’s eyes widened significantly as he stood there and gawked at Josh. He opened his mouth slightly, then immediately closed it again. He gulped, “Sorry, my bad.” he mumbled under his breath, then quickly rushed past Joshua.

“Sorry, my mistake..” The boy said.

Man, he hated the way people always treated him like a popstar. The boy wore the Level Three badge, but Joshua didn’t recognize him, though trying to remember everyone in Tempus High was futile, at least his face should ring a bell. He pushed aside the thought.

“It’s okay, man.” Joshua Said.

The boy nodded and walked off quickly. Joshua looked at his reflection in his locker, he hadn’t realized he was scowling. He straightened up and smiled a little, he couldn’t let one little occurrence upset him.

“Yo, Joshy, what’s up.” He recognized the voice as his best friend, Liam. He turned to see his two best friends walking towards him, he hadn’t seen them in their last class.

“You know Josh doesn’t like you calling him that.” said his other best friend, Annie. She preferred being called Annie although her name was actually Stephanie.

“Hi.” He said.

When they got to him he noticed they looked particularly different today. Liam looked tan as usual with his long blond hair, blue eyes, well built stature and his normal mortal surfer dude swag but his hair was tied which he only did for special occasions. Annie was dark skinned like him, she had long curly black hair, athletic body and her hazel eyes sparkled today, but something was different about her. He just couldn’t guess what.

“Uhh, Annie, you look a little different today.” He said, without thinking.

“Yeah, I’m using my contact lenses today instead of glasses” She said as she blushed.

Of course, Annie had amber eyes not hazel like him and she wasn’t wearing her glasses. He felt bad that he’d missed such a big detail, ADHD or no he should know his friends enough to have noticed that.

“Mhmm, I figured, so what’s the big event that made you guys deck up?” He said with an awkward smile, eager to change the topic.

“You seriously forgot the chairman of the board is coming to school today.” Liam said. “But don’t worry, ‘Mr. Perfect’ here is always dressed perfectly.”

“Oh, I forgot, it’s no big deal to me.” He said.

“Time tickers! It is, big brain.” Annie Said.

“What do you mean?” He said

“The Chairman is coming to speak to the highest class, Level Five, and you’re the captain of our Level.” Annie said.

“Ohh, I see.” He said grinning. “So, I’m going as Captain”

He pulled out his Level Captain badge from his bag and fixed it on his blazer. Just then the bell rang signifying that students must go to their next class.

" We better go to our next class, we have that together, right.” Annie said.

" Yeah”

Together, they walked to their next class.

Josh didn’t understand why everything had to start with the word Temporal.

His next class was Temporal Safety, he didn’t have any particular problem with it except that he was in a foul mood today and it reminded him of things he didn’t like. Another thing he would change when he achieved his lifelong goal, becoming Chairman of the board of Time.

He lived in a place that was tied to the time of the mortal world, which meant they had to handle temporal anomalies and they had to do it secretly so regular people wouldn’t know of their existence.

He was half way through the class and Mr. Davis was just talking about tactical escape routes when a boy with a Level Two badge barged into the class.

“The Chairman has summoned everyone in Level Five to the conference room” The boy said loudly.

“Why so suddenly?” Mr. Davis asked

“I don’t know, I was just told to announce it”

“Okay everyone, you heard him. ” Mr. Davis said to the class. “Single file, no pushing and look presentable”

The class packed up their stuff and marched to the conference room, naturally he was in front with Annie beside him.

“Why do you think we were summoned like that”

“I don’t know.” she said.

“I hope it’s nothing serious” He said as he pulled open the door for her.

“Yeah, I hope so too, but maybe we need a little action, right.”

He didn’t respond, he was too busy glaring at the Chairman. The big fella made him look puny and Josh was tall for a fifteen year old. The Chairman was tall and fit with brown hair in crew cut style and several scratches on his face, he looked strict and powerful like a human army officer. He noticed the Chairman was missing an arm, he was pretty sure that had happened on a mission, but he wondered what would’ve done that. The conference room had white painted walls covered with several paintings, the chairs were black and grey and the front of the room behind a podium was where the Chairman stood.

As he and his classmates took their seats, the Chairman spoke.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice, but the situation is dire.” He said with a serious expression. “For those who don’t know, I am Chairman Claus”

“The issue we have discovered is very dangerous to us and the human world.” He said. “It’s something that you must be ready to put your life on the line to fix.”

Josh looked around him trying to see if he was the only one who was catching the drift of this summons. The Chairman had decided to take people from Level Five instead of waiting for the experienced ones to return. He hadn’t even realized that the Chairman was saying his name.

“Joshua Fernandez,” The Chairman Said in a military voice. “I am using this opportunity to test the strength of this Level, I will select the best student as the leader.”

“You are free to select two other people for your squad and I will accept as long as they are up to the average standard.”

“Umm..” Josh said in his own best military voice. “Yes Sir, I accept the position of leader”

“Who do you pick for your squad, Fernandez?” The chairman said.

This was a simple question, he looked around. Annie was beside him and Liam was two rows behind them with his girlfriend, Vanessa. He glanced at both of them and when they nodded he spoke.

“I choose Stephanie Jackson and Liam Wordsworth for my three man squad.”

“Do both of you accept this?”

“Yes sir.” Annie said

“Yeah.” Liam said casually

“So, it’s settled then.” He said. “All three of you, stay behind after the meeting”

The Chairman continued to say that every other student would get their chance at a mission too, if the need arose.

“Okay students, you can return to your daily activities.” The Chairman said.

Joshua, Annie and Liam stayed behind as asked. When everyone had left they walked to meet Chairman Claus.

“I’m guessing you know why I asked you to wait behind?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Josh said. “You want to give us the details of the mission.”

“Yes, our intelligence has discovered several unlicensed time travelers going to a particular day in the past, all at once”

“So we’re dealing with a group of people.” Annie noticed.

“Yes, Mrs. Jackson. That is the reason this mission is going to be a difficult task.”

“Then why didn’t you call for field operating TimeKeepers?” Liam asked.

“Because they are all at the keeper convention in Mirai, the capital of The Kingdom of the Future and it would take too long to get here”

“I want the three of you to know this is a life threatening task, your job is to find out where exactly those anomalies are and why they’re there.” He continued.

“Do we proceed to fix the problem?” Josh asked.

“No, report to HQ once you have achieved this and we’ll tell you whether to act or not.” He explained. “You will be travelling to the capital of the Kingdom of the Past, Parelthón, before you will be able to go into the past.”

“That means we’ll have to journey all the way there before we can even start the mission?” Annie asked

“Sort of, your mission actually starts with the journey.” He said. “And the journey starts tomorrow morning”

Josh was bewildered, how could he just summon them and say sorry but I’m butting into your lives with an emergency mission and sending you off to a dangerous fate tomorrow morning like it was nothing.

“It can’t be so early, you just told us.”

“Yes, but the mission cannot be delayed.” He said, looking at his watch. “Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Wordsworth, you can take your leave. I have to speak to your leader privately.”

“Okay.” Annie said

She touched his arm as her and Liam left. “Don’t worry, just remember he’s the Chairman.” She whispered.

He was sure Annie knew him better than anyone, he was ready to give this man a piece of his mind for sending them off so quickly. He couldn’t do that now that she told him not to.

“Ok” He responded. When Annie and Liam were out the door, Chairman Claus spoke.

“Captain Fernandez, do you understand your duties as leader of this mission?”

“Yes sir” He answered.

“On this mission you will have to make tactical decisions.” He said. “If you cannot handle a situation you must run, even if your comrade is in danger.”

Josh was shocked that he was hearing this from a fellow leader, and such an important one.

“How can you tell me to flee when my friend is in danger?” He asked. “That’s abandoning someone in need. In Temporal Rescues class I learnt that you have to save wounded comrades.”

“But in Temporal Tactics class you were taught to choose the best and most reasonable option as a leader, weren’t you?” He responded with his own question. “Don’t forget I also schooled in Tempus High.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Josh asked.

“Because I know that your family produces the best leaders.” He said. “Yet, all of them seem to not be able to flee a helpless situation”

He knew where this discussion was going and he didn’t want to go there, but he had to remain respectful and listen.

“The first Captain Fernandez, your father, perished to this flaw along with the person he was trying to save. As a result you never met him.”

“I know, you don’t have to remind me.” Josh grumbled angrily.

“I’m sorry I put it so harshly but you must understand that a leader’s number one priority is making sure he can bring back as many comrades while succeeding on the mission.”

He couldn’t understand where this man was coming from. If his father had died trying to save a comrade then that was a noble way to go.

“On a happier note, if you succeed on your mission, you and your friends will officially be TimeKeepers.”

“Okay, can I go now?”

“Yes.” He said. ” And Joshua, don’t take it against me for telling you this, your father was my comrade and I was on his last mission. I don’t want you to end up the same.”

Joshua stormed out of the room not angry at Chairman Claus but at himself for allowing it to get to him.