Prelude
“This had better be good. I had to take the day off for this.”
“I wouldn’t have asked you to come down for nothing. Come on, be a friend!”
James huffed. “A bit ironic isn’t it, coming from you?”
Justin bit his tongue.
“You said this was a high school, right?” said James as they approached the concrete building.
“Well, it’s a middle and high school combined.”
“And they fit in here? It’s tiny. And it looks like a fortress!”
“Wait until you see what’s inside.”
He reached in his pockets and dug out the keys. The infinite blackness of the night was kept at bay only by the narrow beam of Justin’s flashlight. With his free hand he unlocked the door and held it open for James.
“I don’t think so. You first!” demanded James.
Justin sighed and entered. James followed nervously, concerned they would be caught. Justin shined the light down the hallway straight ahead. The red lockers reflected back. He gestured to the doorway ahead to their left which led to a landing.
“Down there.”
Justin sped down the stairs with James quietly tiptoeing behind.
“Oh, come on, James. No one’s going to hear you. Besides, I’m the one that’s going to get in trouble.”
“Do you know what trespassing is, Justin? I’ll give you a clue. It’s what I’m doing right now.”
Justin ignored this. “You see anything weird here?”
James took note of the illuminated hallway. “There’s no lockers. It’s just concrete. What’s down here?”
“There’s a furnace room halfway down. At the end is the boy and girl’s locker rooms.”
James gave a sideways glance as they resumed their walk. “That makes no sense. Why’s it so long, then?”
“Don’t know. That’s not why I brought you here, though. It’s in the furnace room.”
James’s skepticism was replaced by apprehension. “This won’t kill me, will it?”
After a moment of thought, Justin replied timidly, “No.”
James was uninspired.
Sure enough, there was a single door to their right with the label “FURNACE ROOM” written on it. They entered and the door closed behind them.
“It looks normal to me,” said James. In the middle of the room were two metal contraptions with fans connected to vents that went to the ceiling. “Where’s the light switch?”
“There’s no light switch.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me right. You need to go to the table over here—” he moved to a small table in the corner, where a desk lamp sat. He pushed the switch, and a faint yellow emitted, barely illuminating the room. “Let’s keep walking.”
“Um. I can see everything in the room from here. It looks like a normal furnace room to me.”
“Just follow me.” Justin walked forward. Squinting, James perceived an entranceway outlined by the flashlight beam.
“What?” he whispered. Creeping forward, James felt something funny. It was like his brain was being gently tickled. He put this sensation aside.
Justin waited by the door. A black stairwell descending to a lower level was revealed. “I’m going to turn off the flashlight now.”
“Wait, no!” To his shock, they did not become overwhelmed by darkness. On the contrary, a faint blue hue was faintly visible down the stairwell. James hid behind Justin’s figure as they cautiously walked down. The tingling feeling became stronger but was quickly buried in lieu of what they found. James’s eyes widened in astonishment. The source of the blue hue was revealed—a glowing arch.
“Justin.”
“Here it is,” said Justin without fanfare.
“What am I looking at?” The arch was made of a shiny, metallic white. Slightly angled to the stairs, it stood proudly over 8 feet tall. Inside the Arc was total darkness, a black abyss. James thought it might be like a veil or curtain, only needing to be pushed aside. The floor walls of the room were a deep black, so that only their faces reflected the soft light radiating from it. In the far corner was a black table with some pencils on it.
“This, my friend, is a time machine.”
James scowled. “Now’s not the time to be funny. What is it, seriously?”
“Why don’t you see for yourself? Go through it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Like this.” Justin lifted his leg and marched straight into the darkness within. James’s eyes instinctively watched for him to show up on the other side but did a double take when nothing showed. After a few moments of blank shock, Justin finally sprung out the other side of the veil.
“I just saw a wholly mammoth!” he exclaimed.
James was thunderstruck at his vanishing. “What? How? What?”
“Back in time. You really need to see for yourself.” Justin walked over to him. James sputtered.
“What just happened?!”
“Come on. Just do what I did. Walk through. You’ll be transported back in time, but you’ll see the Arc behind you. Just enter for half a second and then jump back through it. Just long enough to prove I was telling the truth!”
“What—no! I’m getting the heck out of here!”
“I don’t think so.” Justin suddenly slammed into him.
“Gah!”
Justin groaned as he more or less hurled James into the void. The room went silent. Justin watched the other side for James’s imminent reappearance. Seconds passed.
“Ahh!” The human form of James emerged from the Arc and collapsed to the ground, unleashing a barrage of profane curses. Justin smirked. He waited for him to regain his composure and asked,
“So, what did you see?”
“I don’t know! I was in the middle of the desert! There were people with swords around me! They were on camels! They screamed when they saw me. Justin, what happened?”
“You just went back in time, my friend! How does it feel?”
“I feel sick.”
“So did I! I still do! You see why I asked you to come visit?”
“This isn’t a time machine. It’s impossible.”
“Go through a second time, then.”
James shuddered. “No. I’m fine where I am.”
“Oh, come on. Let’s have some fun.”
“No. No. No no no no—” James continued his stream of no’s and paced around the room in circles. In the meantime, his tingling sensation had escalated into a sort of pleasurable fuzziness.
“Do you admit I was right?”
“Oh, screw off! We just found a time machine! We have to go to the cops, or something!”
“I say we make this our little secret.”
“Secret? Justin, there’s a time machine here! It didn’t just show up here on its own! Someone made it, and I’m betting they didn’t just forget about it. And what is that feeling?”
Justin frowned. “You feel it too?”
“Yes! Like—warm and fuzzy. Like someone is hugging me.”
“It must be something this object does. It draws you in. Maybe it’s magic. But I thought about who made this. Why would they just let us go through over and over?”
“How am I supposed to know? I’m getting the cops!”
“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” came a third voice.
They both screamed. On the top of the stairwell was a bespectacled old man wearing khaki pants and a red sweater. His hair was frayed as though he’d been electrified. What drew their attention the most, however, was the pistol he had aimed at them.
“Who are you two, may I ask?”
“Who are you?” exclaimed Justin. They both spread out their arms defensively.
The man considered this as he elegantly walked down the stairs. “An interested party.”
“Hold on a second.” Justin squinted and bent forward. “No way. It can’t be. Professor Thompson?”
The man smiled slightly. “Indeed. You must have had me.”
“Yes! You taught one of my math classes in college! I heard you had a nervous breakdown during one of your lectures.”
“You know this guy?” James whispered.
“He can hear you, James. And technically, yes. I never talked with him, though.”
“What brings you here, then?” asked the professor. Staring at the gun he brandished, they were quick to respond.
“I’m Justin. I’m a janitor here.”
The Professor looked relieved. “Ah! Naturally!” He suddenly frowned. “Why are you the first janitor to discover this?”
“No idea.”
“Justin, when was the first time you entered through the Arc?
“Yesterday.”
The Professor’s eyes narrowed while he tightened the grip on his gun. “There were multiple intrusions through the Arc the past two weeks.”
“You mind putting the gun away?” requested James.
“I’m not finished with it, nor you. Why are you here? Are you a janitor too?”
“He’s my friend,” said Justin quickly.
“That’s nice. You might as well have a party here.”
The Professor, his gun at the ready, moved past them to investigate the Arc. He tenderly touched the metallic surface with his free hand.
“I suggest you never play with this thing again. It—bewitches you. Do not go to the cops, either.You can’t trust—”
WHAP.
James screamed. “What did you just do?!”
Justin’s flashlight fell from his hand as he stood above the unconscious body of his former lecturer, breathing heavily. “He threatened us!”
“How?”
“He said he wasn’t finished with us.”
“That doesn’t mean he was going to kill us!”
“Couldn’t take the chance.”
“Great. Now I’m an accessory to assault. Let’s leave.”
Justin gazed at the Arc dreamily. “Why leave so soon? We just got here.”
“Because this is way out of our league! I’ll carry the professor out. He might need a doctor.” He dragged the body towards the stairs. Justin remained still.
“Do you feel that, James?”
“What?”
“Happiness.”
“Yeah, I do. From the object. It scares me.”
“I think I’d like to go inside. Just one more time.”
“Oh, I don’t think so! We need to get him medical care.”
Justin grinned at the glowing arch. “Just one more time.” He lurched forward.
“No!” yelled James as he tried to pull him back.
“Get—off—!”
James realized that he was unable to hold him and changed tactics. Gulping before the black abyss in front of them, he joined Justin in their new adventure.
*****
The previous darkness contrasted with the morning sun. Their senses were attacked in every way—the colors, the sounds, the textures, and most of all—the odors. They were teleported to the middle of a narrow city street, the ground full of muck and sewage. It was less dirt and more mud. Chickens scuttled about in the distance. The timber houses were tightly packed and the second stories jettied out. The structures would have been scenic if they weren’t so dirty and worn. Surrounding them was a hoard of town-dwellers wearing the stereotypical medieval garb. All wore tunics of various drab colors, though those of the women were looser.
The citizens screamed and backed away.
Justin was shaken from his trance.
“James? What did I just do?”
“You were a total moron.”
“Huh. Let’s go back.”
A middle-aged man in front of them shouted, “They have arrived!”
James and Justin stared.
“Just as our Lord foretold! We must bring them to him!”
“Justin, let’s get out of here!” hissed James.
Justin was intrigued. “Who do you think has arrived?”
“Men of God! You have come to return our Lord to Heaven! We will show you!”
“James,” said Justin. “These people don’t look as surprised as they should.”
In fact, the citizens of the town were gazing at them calmly, a serene glint in their eyes. The man shouting, on the other hand, looked downright ecstatic.
“We have no time to waste!” the man insisted. “Our Lord says there’s only a window of time.”
“They know who we are? Obviously I need to get to the bottom of this.”
James was terrified. “I don’t like this. Not one bit.”
“Excuse me, sir!” Justin shouted. “What’s your name?”
“Cunrad, Man of God! Now come, we must hurry!”
“I have to see what they’re talking about,” whispered Justin. He then shouted, “We shall come!”
James was distraught. “Are you nuts?”
“Guess we’ll see.”
Cunrad led them down the narrow dirt road. It was in fact so narrow it could be best described as an alley.
“What is the matter? Is there foul air?” Cunrad asked them. They were both holding their nose.
“You can’t smell it?” replied Justin. “Yes. Where we come from, the air is pure.”
“Ah, to my shame, Man of God!”
“Their words don’t match their lips,” said James under his breath.
“Yeah. Strange.”
The town must have been very densely populated, for they had reached their destination in only two minutes. A stone edifice towered above them. On the roof two spirals rose above the corners. An elaborately decorated window was between the street and the roof.
“This is a church!” announced Justin. It was not large enough to be considered a cathedral, but it was more impressive than the average parish.
Cunrad stared at him. “Of course it’s a church. What did you expect? A mosque?” He turned to the heavy wooden double-door and banged an iron ring that hung down against the wood. Scarcely a second later the doors burst open to reveal a man covered in chainmail and a metal helmet that protected his head and nose. He brandished a rather dull and short sword. Glancing briefly at Cunrad, his eyes locked on the two strangers in front of him.
“They’re here!” he proclaimed. “Bring them in!”
Now James wondered how they could have possibly been expected. He followed the less anxious Justin, who in turn followed the armored man, inside. The interior was shown to be as cramped and narrow as the rest of the town. The addition of the pews forced Justin and James to spend most of their concentration avoiding each other’s feet. At the very end were two stone steps leading up to the platform, and in front of the altar was a tall, cushioned wooden chair. They halted at the last aisle of pews.
Cunrad was disheartened. “Where is he, Ortolf?”
“Our Lord has some political matters to take care of,” explained Ortolf. “You of course are familiar with his orders should he be absent.”
“I am. In the meantime, we must plan a farewell celebration!”
“Excuse me!” interjected James. “What on earth do you have planned for us?”
“I don’t understand …” replied a confused Cunrad.
“What did you bring us here for?”
Ortolf was impatient. “We did not bring you! You brought yourselves! Our Lord has strict orders for where you must be held. Follow me.” He motioned to a narrow spiral of stairs to their right which led to a basement. “Cunrad, make sure they obey.”
Cunrad took his position behind them. Justin and James realized they were under guard.
“Oh, I don’t think so!” exclaimed James. “We’re leaving!”
“Of course you will leave,” assured Cunrad. “But we must hold you down here.”
“No! We’re leaving now. Right, Justin?”
Ortolf stopped his march and whipped around with his sword. He snarled, “We have orders. If you will not help our Lord, then what reason should you be alive?”
Cowed, they complacently followed him to the basement cellar. It was a miniscule shelter which fit only one disturbing feature—a jail cell.
“No!” squealed James.
“This is not fair!” protested Justin.
“It will only be a few hours,” stated Ortolf. “Our Lord will return. I shall keep an eye on you. No talking. Cunrad will inform me of his arrival.”
They were shoved into the cell and locked inside. Cunrad sped back upstairs while Ortolf slumped to the floor. He studied them with great interest, particularly Justin. Justin, who was Korean American, interpreted this as racism. For the first hour, James paced back and forth in his cell while Justin sat on the stone ground regretting his prior actions. After this, James angrily sat himself on the wall opposite Justin and cried in his arms. Justin looked away, feeling guilty. Finally, Cunrad sprinted down the stairs.
“He has arrived!”
Ortolf jolted up and unlocked the cells. He marched them up the stairs. The duo was amazed at the bizarre man who stood at the altar. He wore a loose, white-gray cloak with golden lining on the sides. His head was completely bald and shone from the reflection in the windows, while nose mouth and nose protruded out slightly. Most shocking of all was the scepter in his arms. The shaft was silver with a gold tint, but on the top glowed an orb with white light like the sun. This naturally drew their attention. He gave them the widest grin that was humanly possible, revealing yellow abnormally large teeth.
“Hello, hello! I have been long awaiting you!”
Despite his beaming exhilaration, his expression seemed forced, as though this was the first time he had ever smiled. His face was weary and cold and thoroughly uncanny. It was both youthful and wrinkled, jaded while innocent. Staring into his blue eyes, chills went down James’s spine. They could’ve passed for normal eyes, but there was something off. James could not put his finger on it. Ortolf lightly pressed the sword to his back to nudge them forward.
“Who are you and what do you want?” demanded James.
The man ignored him and asked, “Which country are you from?”
“The United States,” replied Justin smugly, not expecting him to be familiar with their home country.
The man’s grin grew wider. “Which year?”
“Um, what?”
“Which year are you from?”
“OK, this is ridiculous,” asserted James. “How do you know about us?”
“I know everything, my children! I am God!” Cunrad and Ortolf nodded eagerly in agreement. “Now tell me which year! Hold on.” He stared at Justin’s face. “Never mind, this is perfect!” He cackled. “No more questions. Now, return with me to your world. My dear Cunrad, show me where they came from!”
“Yes, sir! The rite will be complete.”
The man smirked. “Of course. The ‘rite.’”
“You’re from our time, aren’t you?” reasoned James.
He laughed. “Your time? What’s that? Come on. Cunrad will lead the way. I shall be behind you.”
Justin leaned into James and whispered, “We can’t let this psycho get to the present.”
“I know!”
“NO WHISPERS!” screeched a furious Ortolf.
“We’ll have to distract him …” James started, but Justin was already miles ahead.
“Hey, Scepter Guy!” yelled Justin. “Your mama so fat that she has two watches, one for each time zone she’s in.”
The Scepter Guy was puzzled. “Your mama? Is this a riddle?”
“What are you, stupid?”
This got the Scepter Guy riled up, and any ambiguity in his facial expressions gave way to outright rage.
“Stupid? You dare? I will have you killed! To the gallows for you!”
“You’re psychotic.”
He let out a roar and pointed the scepter at them. Ortolf and Cunrad squealed and flew aside. Taking the hint, Justin and James followed suit. A bolt of white light shot out from the orb and impacted the ground they had been standing. An explosion of rubble sailed out, but more significant was the fire.
James moaned in pain on the ground; his arm injured. He was quickly grabbed by Justin.
“We have to get out of here!”
Ortolf was ready with his sword. “I think not!” Looking past them, he changed course and dashed down the spiral stairs. Scepter Guy shot another blast of energy at them, but Justin and James were already sprinting down the thin space of pews against the wall. Another blast hit the wall behind them.
“WHAT STRATEGY WAS THAT?” screamed James as they bolted out the wooden doors.
“SHUT UP AND RUN!”
Fortunately, it was not difficult retracing their steps along the single street. However, the Scepter Guy was on to them. His animalistic snarl was heard dozens of feet behind. They soon had the Arc in view, and their sprinting closed the distance rapidly. Glancing back at the Scepter Guy, they witnessed him toss his scepter to the side and hurtle towards them on all-fours. The deranged man suddenly began closing on them with a terrifying pace.
“SAME TIME!” shouted Justin. “HOLD MY HAND!”
They screamed as they barrelled through the black abyss, their foe inches behind. Falling to the black, concrete floor, they whipped around to ensure that he did not tag along. They breathed a sigh of relief. After a minute of resting on the ground, they stood themselves up. James inspected his clothes.
“Look! They’re all tattered from the blast! And my arm hurts!”
“Yeah. What was that all about?”
James, noting his friend’s comparably intact clothes, was furious at this nonchalant response. “This is all your fault!” he shouted angrily.
“My fault?” scorned Justin. “Now, how do you spin that?”
“You’re kidding me, right? Well, for starters, you insulted him, getting him all ticked. Something I would expect from you, really.”
“I wanted him to get so angry he’d shoot the scepter at us! It was a brilliant plan when you think about it. I needed to get that dude with the sword off our backs. It worked, didn’t it?”
“You didn’t even know his scepter had that ability, you were just winging it. We’re lucky. We should be dead.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” he repeated.
James mused. “I’m not only considering the first few things at that place you did, but all the cracked-up things you’ve done. For example, convincing me to check out this God-forsaken thing in the first place.”
Justin clenched his teeth. Neither he nor James were in a lively mood. “You could’ve said no!”
“Uh huh. Well, if you must know—”
“Hold on! Where’s the professor?”
They surveyed the room.
“He must have regained consciousness,” figured Justin. “See? He didn’t need a doctor.”
“We’ve been gone for hours. Classes might start soon. Let’s make a break for it and sort everything out later. I’m in no mood to wait around.”
Justin was satisfied by this proposal. “Agreed.”
It was completely dark, other than the soft turquoise glow radiating from the Arc. Both stared at the glowing object, reluctant to leave just yet. There was an allure to the Arc’s light, almost supernatural. They felt a warm and fuzzy feeling in their stomach in the presence of its soft light.
Justin was amazed that such a mysterious and powerful object would be in this seemingly trivial building. He wondered how it was created, who created it, why it seemed abandoned, and … and … what on earth happened to them?
Justin’s attention was drawn when he saw a hand pop from the Arc. Justin gasped. He rubbed his eyes and squinted. Looking again, he saw nothing but the black veil.
“What?” asked James, following Justin’s gaze.
“Uh, nothing, I guess,” said Justin. He then grudgingly began turning towards the doorway, but once again the hand, caked in mud, popped out.
Justin had half his mouth open in unbelieving awe and said, “James… there’s a hand—it just popped out from the, uh, portal thing.”
James, who had been glancing back and forth from the Arc to Justin, wondering what the matter was, began to fear for his friend. “Justin,” he said tentatively. “I think you’re hallucinating. I don’t see anything through the Arc.”
Justin then saw a whole arm thrust out. He knew he wasn’t hallucinating. “Come over here,” he called to James.
James walked to Justin and gasped. James couldn’t glimpse the arm from the side of the Arc he was at, but it was undeniable now from Justin’s point of view. It was their worst fear—the arm was dressed in a loose, formerly grayish-white sleeve that was soiled from muck. James gasped. “I am definitely leaving … now. You should too.”
James sprinted up the stairs and into the furnace room. He realized they might not escape him in the long corridors. Justin stood behind him, and they looked back when a loud crash hit the floor downstairs and a fit of maniacal laughter ensued.
Justin motioned to the desk in the corner. “Quick, under here!” he whispered, dutifully turning off the lamp.
They quickly scuttled under the desk. The room was dark enough that the intruder couldn’t see them … hopefully. The Scepter Guy scurried up the stairs, offering a brief glimpse of his mud-soaked legs and scepter before bursting out the furnace room and scampering down the hallway.
Justin whimpered and said, “James?”
“I know. This is not good.”
