Time's Never Expendable

Prologue: A Cliché Beginning

She walked through the dank alleyways of Atommul as if she belonged in the city. Trying to blend in, no doubt, but excessively succeeding, sticking out like a sore thumb.

A dirty hooded robe that hid her face? Some stains on tattered boots? I can't believe that someone would think that wearing trashy pieces of clothing like that might make her unnoticed by muggers. She could handle herself, but not knowing the streets of Atommul is a huge disadvantage.

How do I know she's a 'she'? That under that thick, brown cloak hides a delicate figure with red hair who knows nothing of this polluted pit called a city? Well, I already tried saving her about one... two... three... four...

Fifty times? To be honest, I lost track around twenty-seven.

Counting how many times I had to go back and find another way to save this out-of-place girl is the last thing on my mind. Making sure she – and myself in the process – stay alive concerns me more. But I haven't been able to find a solution where we both come out of this unscathed.

The situation:

So, I was sitting on one of the rooftops of Atommul, admiring the smog of gaseous garbage and chemicals clouding the sky, when suddenly I saw this hooded figure walking below me. Didn't belong here, they would be gone in minutes.

Not moments later, five men came out of the shadows carrying guns, knives, the like. Knew it. Another soul sucked up by these backstreets.

I saw them skirmish. The hooded figure took out four of the five attackers at least. They used some sort of refracting magic. Light and darkness bent around them to their will, attacking the ambushers. As I said, though, the hooded figure took out only four of them.

The fifth one managed to sneak around and stab him – her?

Yeah, her.

When she fell to the ground, gasping for life, her hood came off. Long, red hair tumbled out from under it and I could see her face. A girl. Not bad looking either.

As the last member of the muggers stood over her, finger on the trigger of his gun, I jumped into action. Before he could finish her, I pressed the glowing button on my gauntlet, activating the Timegrasper. Thankfully my sixth instinct told me to turn it on the moment I saw the shadowy figures of the muggers hiding in the corners of the alleyway. My left hand thrust into the roof, literally grabbing onto the rooftop I stood on not five minutes ago and pulling me through to the past.

She could thank me for my initiative and fast-thinking later.

Much later, might I add.

The first attempt at trying to save this girl went as well as expected.

I took out one of the muggers by jumping right on top of him. Easy. Still in shock from my sudden appearance, I took out another one of the muggers with a quick blink on top of him and a dagger through his stomach. From there, everything fell apart. One echoing gunshot later and the other three muggers had me at their mercy. The damsel could probably handle the rest, but I would be dead long before I could get any help.

So, redo.

Pressing the glowing button again, I came back to my spot atop the building.

From there I repeated my actions, except I blinked over to the mugger with the gun aimed at me. Seemed to work. But this time, all three muggers came at me at once.

Great.

One knife wound later and I forcibly retreated to square one. Maybe the girl could come to her senses this time and help? Wishful thinking.

Try number twelve.

I manage to take three of the muggers out. Had to change up my strategy.

I jumped down in the middle of them, catching them all off-guard. I blinked to one, injuring him. Then, I fired a sphere of magic from my gauntlet in his direction, finishing him off and crippling the guy behind him. One dead, one out of the game. Seemed like I might have been able to pull that one off.

Parrying the knife that I knew was coming for me behind my back, I struck down another of the muggers.

Three down, two to go.

These ones had to be the leaders of the group. They were smart.

One had managed to sneak around the girl and hold her hostage. The other held me at gunpoint. Now I know I could have avoided this, but it looked like that would happen in another timeline. I pushed the Timegrasper's button again and returned to the rooftop.

Number twenty-seven?

Yeah, twenty-seven.

I took out three of the muggers, but four of them go down. Redhead finally tuned into the fight and took out one of her attackers.

Out of the shadows came the fifth mugger, knife at the girl's back, and I was too far away to stop him. Well, I knew what was about to happen.

Back to the rooftop.

My spot now.

Repeat...

She died.

...repeat...

One of us was fatally wounded.

...repeat.

Success?

All the muggers dead? Check.

Both of us alive? Check.

Great. I was finally getting somewhere. Turning around to receive my praise, she trapped me in one of her light-magic-cage-thingies.

Then she left, running away like I was about to go after her next. I finally saved her and she turned on me, escaped, and left me without any answers.

Well, I had all the time in the world, right? I knew how to win the fight, I just needed to make sure she didn't escape.

Now, I stare down at this scene for hopefully the last time. Mistake after mistake after mistake led me to this point. It isn't like anything had changed, this is how I always manage to win my fights. It's how I've managed to stay alive on the streets of Atommul for all these years.

People never want to make mistakes, they think that's how you fail. Well, mistakes are acceptable consequences in everyday life.

After all, making a mistake is the first step towards success.

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It's a start, but nowhere near an ending. This is one of two of my pet projects right now that I want to showcase to you wonderful readers and editors to see what kind of feedback I can get. For the time being, I will be publishing this entire story on Wattpad as I write new chapters. Most of these chapters have been put through preliminary edits, but little else. Feel free to leave whatever comments you want.

Twenty-four chapters are ready to go as of the release of this prologue. A chapter will be released weekly on Fridays until the book is finished or I have caught up with the chapters.

Otherwise, enjoy and thank you for reading one of my pet projects.

Peace,

nickdaman6