Velocity [Season II]

Chapter 80 - The Great Speedster War Part 1: The Doomsday Clock

Future Romaine's POV

April 24, 2023

(Somewhere Beyond Space and Time)

I found myself wandering on an infinitely dark plane, giving me deja vu of visions I've had years ago, only this one felt more real.

I turned around, laying my eyes upon a gigantic clock suspended in the air. It was then that a transparent grid then manifested on the surface I was standing on, spreading out as far as I could see.

On the area I was standing, there was a blue dot on the grid. And looking up forming a large circle, there were seven colored dots in total, including the one I was standing on; all being the colors of the rainbow.

Suddenly, the green dot that was directly to my right light up, spurring forth a large green column of light, revealing a long missed companion.

"Prince?" I muttered, "I haven't seen you in years."

"And I haven't seen you in a dozen lifetimes." He responded, "Pleasure seeing you again Romaine."

He looked...different in a way. I mean granted he was about 3 years older than last time but that wasn't the only thing different about him.

"So I take it you were summoned here by the doomsday clock?" He questioned

"Doomsday Clock? Is that what this is?"

"Indeed. My father's most prized possession at his time of rule."

"What do you mean?"

"The Grandfather of Time. During his reign he treasured the Doomsday Clock, and the realm of the grid itself for that matter; he was fascinated by the power of fate itself, and how he could never control it."

"I see. So what is all of this?"

"A realm, transcending all of time and space itself. My people named it the Grid Realm; notably due to its peculiar pattern as I'm sure you've noticed. This must be your first time connecting to the grid."

"It is. And what about these colored markers we're standing on?"

"I trust you already know that you've been chosen by fate to be what is known as a coordinate?"

"Yeah, Mal read a prophecy about that 3 years ago when I was in Kloe's world."

"Good. You know that at least. Well what you don't know is that there are actually seven coordinates; each from a separate universe joined by this realm."

"So then each of these 'dots' are actually coordinates. Which means you're one too."

"Precisely. And each coordinate represents something different."

"As in like, friendship and stuff?"

"It's not that cliché as in the comic books, but something of the sort. Your coordinate, blue, represents Truth or Loyalty. The person chosen by fate to bear this must seek to liberate the truth by all means."

"The truth...but what is the truth?" 

"I have no idea, though you were given this role for a reason."

"Well what about yours, green?"

"The Coordinate of Balance, chosen to correct the flow of fate, should it ever be tampered with."

"So your job is to just even the odds?"

"My job, is to correct any disturbances made to the course of fate itself by any entity."

"And the others? What do they do?"

"Yellow, The Coordinate of Hope. Borne by our old friend Alisa. The Coordinate of Hope serves to be a light for those in the darkness, and is essential towards renewal."

"And another one is Kloe."

"Yes, I met the little girl recently; The Coordinate of Vision, Violet. The Coordinate of Vision serves to bring change to reality, helping to shape it as intended."

"Interesting. So that makes four of us. And the others?"

"A young lad whose world I visited a day ago, Trevar Villarreal. He's the Coordinate of Integrity, Indigo. The Coordinate of Integrity carries the lives and hope of many on their backs, and won't give up on the truth."

"Sounds like once you're chosen by fate, you don't have much of a choice how you live."

"You can easily choose to deny your destiny, but then again if you were going to do so you wouldn't have been chosen in the first place."

"I guess that makes sense."

"The last two are the Coordinates of Humanity, Orange and Passion, Red. Orange is a youngster named Zachery Parker, though the Coordinate of Passion is yet to be chosen."

Looking back at the coordinates on the grid, I noticed that they were all ordered the same as the colors of the rainbow.

"Together these seven points of fate combine to form a harmonic circle, which one could argue represents fate itself."

"Ok, I get all that; but what about the doomsday clock then? What purpose does it serve?"

"The Doomsday Clock is an indirect monitor of fate itself. It records all apocalyptic events happening throughout all of time in every single universe, then counts down until the nearest event."

"Ohh, I see."

Looking up at the clock's face, the time being shown was 23:55.

"11:55?" I questioned

"I see you can't even read the clock." he sighed, "It reads '5 Minutes to Midnight'. 'Midnight' signifying the end of the world."

"Wait seriously? Why didn't you say that when we got here? We've been wasting time in here!"

"This realm transcends space and time, remember? No time has passed since we entered here. And the time shown on the clock isn't a literal measure of time, rather a representation of how soon the incoming disaster is."

"Ok well how do I stop it?"

"Well presumably the apocalypse is taking place in your universe since you were the only one summoned by the clock."

"So if I was the only one summoned here then what are you doing here?"

"I simply came here to help inform you of the situation. I am the current Grandfather of Time after all."

"Grandfather of Time?!"

"Unimportant details, you should probably get back to your world now and stop the impending apocalypse."

"Right...but what or should I say who is causing it?"

"You already know who it is. Now go stop him."

"Right. Well thank you, Prince, or should I say 'Grandfather'."

"No, I would much rather you not call me Grandfather. Thank you."

"Well thanks anyways."

"My pleasure. Until we meet again, Loyalty."

A bright column of blue light lit up on where I was, transporting me back to my world.

I jumped up out of my sleep, finding myself in my bed. I was confused by the whole situation, wondering if it was all just a dream.

"What's wrong hun?" Cas questioned from beside me, clearly dazed

I must've woken her up with my antics.

"Cas..." I muttered, "I think we're about to see the end of the world."

"The end of the world?" she questioned, "Caused by what?"

"Not what...who."

Realizing that my hands were shaking, I tightly clenched them, not wanting to utter his name.

"Black Zero." I gravely uttered