Ten duelling sessions later, I was able to last a full hour against the Emperor in combat. Every part of my body ached, my third arm would lie limp when not in use instead of staying erect like it used to. At nights, I'd fall asleep the second my head touched the pillow, and I was awake before anyone else, already practicing in my private room (provided by the Army).
However, every mission we went on ended in one of two ways- either Blemat and Morfus finished the technical parts of the mission and we returned home in peace, or a foolish alien was unfortunate enough to attack us, in which case I and X-58 quickly decimated them. Well, I say "I and X-58". It was more of a competition, really. I'd try to kill them before he could get to them, and if I blew a single alien up, he'd leave the rest for me to handle. However, if he got to them before me, he'd destroy them before I could do anything at all.
Life progressed smoothly in those few months after X-58 joined us, with my weekly sessions keeping me challenged physically and the occasional hunt we were sent on kept me mentally stimulated. There was, of course, the enigma of X-58 himself to solve.
On one of our Category-Alpha missions, we were sent back in time 5,000 years to one of the Royal Households of that time. After prolonged deliberation and complicated calculations, the Time Council had decided that the Royal Household of Pacavul could be saved from its end. Now, this is a quite long story and, therefore, instead of narrating it, I will let you see a documentary on it made by people far more qualified in these matters than me.
He switched the camera on the recorder off, and tapped on the record, swiping here and clicking there. Soon, a recording began to play.
A family tree appeared, containing at least 50 generations, broadest in the middle, and then steadily tapering until it converged on the last person of that generation- Queen Agriosa Pacavul. The narrator began speaking.
"The Royal Household of Pacavul was one of the noblest Households in that period, the period we know as The Fifth Break, or for viewers unacquainted with the term, the fifth such period when all technological and spiritual progress had slowed down, and there was a general period of hopelessness in the land.
"During this period of despair, it was the Household of Pacavul that tried its level best to pull us out of that period, in the process giving a boost to the ruling Royal Household of today, the House of Kyvasinitos to which Emperor Anax belongs. They promoted learning and the arts, but gave undue importance to the pursuit of money, sacrificing knowledge at the altar of wealth.
"In the year 4500-pre-TTL, this noble lineage had dwindled due to the fertility problems of its women and the impotency of its men. Quite a lot of inbreeding had also occurred, rendering the children of such unions unfit to rule. As a result, there was only one surviving member of this Household, the noble Queen Agriosa. She ruled over the Sterilis Galaxy as the representative of the ancestor of Emperor Anax, Emperor Arodeilax.
"And she was indeed a worthy liege of the kingdom, for it was under her that the Fifth Bloom occurred. Again, for the viewers unacquainted with this terminology, this was the fifth of the periods that saw a remarkably fast growth in technological and spiritual arenas, but it was also a period that saw a lot of war and bloodshed.
"Her greatness is what made her death so tragic, for not only was it the end of such a noble Household, it was also the murder of a woman who was equal parts beautiful (if the accounts of the kings of that period are to be trusted), talented, ferocious and an able ruler.
"It happened on the evening of Day 13, Half-Year One, 4523-pre-TTL. The Queen was taking a stroll in the garden, thinking deeply about the problems the Sterilis Galaxy was facing with respect to the broken-down technology. She suddenly had an idea, and instantly jotted down a few points, and sent them to the chief engineer at the Planetary-Core Manufacturing Plant at the center of the Sterilis Galaxy. This was to be the last of her decisions, as soon after...
"A man appeared in the middle of the garden. He was the product of an illegitimate marriage between the Queen's uncle and a rogue Runner. He claimed that, as the last male member of the lineage, and as the oldest one too, the throne was rightfully his. The Queen vehemently denied this preposterous assumption, and was just about to call the guards, when the man pulled an annihilator out.
"He shot her in the head twice, obliterating her head and ensuring no chance of survival. Soon after, the guards caught him and subjected him to some of the most gruesome tortures of the day, but the damage had been done. The dynasty had come to an end.
This, then, is the woeful tale of the Royal Household of Pacavul."
Melsur tapped on the recorder a few more times, switching the camera on and stopping the recording.
I believe that explained the history of the Royal Household of Pacavul quite succinctly. Now comes the question, what was our task? Simple. Take the man out of the equation in a way that the present isn't changed irreparably, before he could kill the Queen. This task promised to be extremely challenging, but then again.. it had been trusted to the best of the best, yours truly.
And so we set out, with me in my special baby while Blemat used a simple pod, and Morfus moved in his white storm, and X-58 in his black storm. I-
Suddenly, he heard a crashing outside his room. He switched the recorder off and went to investigate. "Who's there?" he asked. He heard no response, and sent out a black storm that engulfed the entire house. After 5 minutes of relentless battering by the storm, during which no mortal would've had a chance, he withdrew the storm within himself and walked back into the room.
YOU ARE READING
When I Met Myself
Science Fiction"Time Travel's always been dangerous. That's what Prof. Victor said when he created the first time machine, ages ago. They didn't heed him then. They didn't heed him now. If only they had... this would never have happened. I would never have met mys...
