Dating Father Time's Daughter (Book 1)

Chapter 20: Awaken My Scythe 'The Hands of Time' (3/3)

His work was far from finished.

With Inertia's life safely restored, Joe could finally swallow the lump of sadness clogging his throat and clear the way for a different emotion: anger. Joe was never the type to get angry at others. Normally, his moments of irritation and indignation were directed inwards.

For that reason, Joe expressed an unusual amount of self-loathing. Now, however, Joe's anger didn't strike the man in the mirror; his anger bounced off of the mirror, and catapulted towards a different target: the Seasons. What they did to Inertia was unforgivable, and Joe was going to tell them that in more than words.

The anger that boiled inside of Joe tensed his muscles, caused his legs to shake, and sent goosebumps all over his skin. He walked past the recovering Inertia, and kept his eyes locked on the forest-prison ahead of him. The rectangular structure was a metaphor for the boxes that unfairly limited the distances and heights people could go in this world.

He wanted to tear it down.

Every vine. Every branch. Every tree.

Out of the hedges emerged Spring. A wicked scowl covered her face and her long vine fingers dragged across the sand. She torpidly inched towards Joe.

Spring wasn't planning to rush. She was going to take her time torturing Joe until he bled out on the beach. For years, she dreamed about exacting revenge on the humans for their soiling of her planet, and finally, with Dexter's permission, she could kill a human with impunity.

In a way, Joe was nothing more than a sign to Spring. He was the signification of centuries of human waste and pollution. She saw him as a parasite and she was the exterminator.

But Joe was no parasite and he wasn't afraid of Spring. He took a bold step in her direction, which momentarily amazed Spring. Then he took another step, and Spring's amazement shifted into abhorrence at his audacity.

"Are you surrendering my little parasite?" asked Spring.

"I'm sick and tired of you Seasons hurting people. Inertia didn't do anything to you. My classmates didn't do anything either. What is wrong with all of you?" replied Joe.

The distance between the two gradually shortened.

"Aren't you afraid to die? You should be running in the opposite direction. I guess fear has wiped away the last of your senses. This happens often in the wild" said Spring.

An orange energy swirled in the palm of Joe's right hand. The only emotion he felt was anger. Here Spring stood feeling absolutely no remorse for what she did to Inertia. Joe realized that she was going to continue to hurt innocent people. Inertia was only the first, and not the last, of her many victims.

It dawned on Spring that Joe was not backing down, which caused her eye to twitch.

"You're going to wish you ran away! Aaahhhh!" screamed Spring.

A barrage of vines tore out of the sand and shot directly at Joe. The vines wrapped around his body until no trace of Joe was visible. The vegetal coffin squeezed around Joe for half a second before it exploded into a million different pieces flying in a million different directions.

A double-ended scythe rested comfortably in Joe's right hand. The scythe had a beautifully sharp downward curve and the blade was so diaphanous it could serve as a mirror too. A long black rod with a slight curve in the center connected the two blades. Fascinatingly, Joe's scythe resembled the little hand and the big hand of a clock at 6:05.

"N-no way... when did you get a scythe?!" asked Spring.

Joe marveled at the dazzling weapon he held in his hand. The remaining shreds of vines littered around his feet were clear evidence of the weapon's power... of his power. Joe briefly turned towards Inertia, and then faced Spring and nodded his head.