Chambers

"Five minutes is way too short." Ace paused, looking at Cleo. "What if I mess up? I don't even know what I am supposed to be doing."

"That is all the time you have. You cannot miss this program in the castle," it said, flying to his face. "You need to make your grand entrance. You need to show that you are not to be messed with."

"But ... Wouldn't that be like Ajax? I thought I was supposed to avoid turning into a second version of that boy."

"It would." It nodded. "But not if you are able to change this past."

"Give me a briefing or something." Ace huffed. "I don't know what I am supposed to be doing in that kingdom and why I levelled it."

"Why do I have to tell you?" It tilted its head to him. "You are in the body that did it, ask it."

"How am I supposed to ask it??"

"Try to think back." It said, patting his forehead with its paws. "It is somewhere there."

"I need to unlock it first." He pushed the little paws away. "Like some kind of level."

"Maybe going there will help to unlock it." It shrugged. "Look, I am not omniscient or omnipotent. I have no idea what is going to happen if you do something or the other.

"Except if it has something to do with the path already taken, I know it by heart and can tell you what will happen even in my sleep.

"But that is about all I can be certain of. This is just the best option that I have to help you in changing this repetitive cycle."

"You are so dedicated." Ace chuckled. "Fine, you make a good point. I guess. Not like I have an option."

He whispered the last sentence but Cleo was able to hear it, though it did not say anything as it continued to fly ahead.

"Are you ready then?" It said, looking at him.

"Fine." Ace said, rolling his eyes at the fox. "I am going to be in pain once again, aren't I?"

Cleo looked at him with a slight smile on its face, "Uhhhh …"

"Just don't say anything." He shook his head dismissively at the fox, tossing the potion in his hands in the air.

It spun before it fell on the ground, crashing and breaking to pieces as light, thin smoke rose from the broken pieces and spread all around them.

The next thing Ace knew, he was blinking away the smoke and everything around him turned dim. Almost as if the forest was not dark enough, this place was even darker than before.

Where am I? He thought to himself but also hoped that Cleo could hear him.

The king's chambers. Cleo's voice made his heart leapt then deflate once again. Well, more like outside the king's chambers. His door is behind you.

"What do you mean, 'king's chambers'?" He asked, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. "I thought I was supposed to be at the kingdom."

"There was a system error." Cleo sighed, appearing in front of his face. "You were supposed to be brought to the time when you were negotiating with the king from the kingdom your father sent you to."

"But?"

"You were sent here. The systems are glitching out slightly. Must be from the continuous change of storyline." It chuckled. "But that is a good thing … maybe."

"Shouldn't I be dead by now then? The system seems to know that something is amiss and I would be seen as a parasite or something."

"Well, you were programmed into the system. So you don't have to worry about that. It knows you as part of the system now so you wouldn't be seen as a parasite." It smiled brightly at the boy but he couldn't help feel a little bit unsettled.

"Now what?" he asked, finally able to see more than little specks of light all around the hallway.

The place was so dim it seemed like someone placed a curtain thick enough to make sure there is no source of light to enter the place.

Even the little bit of light in the room is hardly enough to be able to see properly through.

He did notice that it was a hallway covered in paintings of people he did not recognise and words that were almost illegible because of the light, or lack thereof.

"I am trying to reroute you." It said, closing its eyes as its entire body began to vibrate before stopping. "Yeah, that is not happening."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ace asked, raising an eyebrow as a chilly wind seemed to blow through the hallway. "What am is supposed to do now then??"

"Calm down." Cleo rubbed its head with its paws. "Maybe you can try to make the most use of your situation."

"How?"

"I don't know, chat up with your father or something?" Cleo shrugged before flying up. "I will see what I can do with the system."

As soon as Cleo disappeared, Ace looked at the large, iron doors in front of him, gulping.

He was never one to be close to his parents, let alone his father.

Even back in this old life, he always remembered his father as someone that he could never get along with. '

The faint memories that he had of this man, not his face though, they were always riddled with fear.

He had never met the man prior to everything that happened and he worried that he would not be able to act in the way he should be acting.

The doors seemed to loom larger and larger the more he stared at it, making him feel smaller as the seconds passed.

He wrung his hands and swallowed his saliva trying to ease the nerves in his body that seemed to be wanting to jump around for some reason.

Maybe, I can escape talking to him? He thought, turning around to look at the dimly lit hallway that seemed to stretch for miles leading into darkness.

Then again, maybe not. He turned back to the door as it slowly pried open.

If he thought he felt scared and nervous before, he felt it tenfold now. Cold air rushed to his body making him shiver, his teeth chattered and his hands trembled.

The knees that supported him so well before felt like they were going to give way any minute and he had to force himself to stand up straight.

To walk into that room like that would be to sentence himself to his own death, which he was already doing enough of.

For some reason, this reminded him of a story.

About a demon wolf and a child.

A child entered the den, never to come out again. People do not know what happened in the den.

Many wanted to check it out, just to see if the boy was alive or not. Just so that they could provide some solace for the boy's family.

This occurrence was something that happened out of the blue, shocking everyone.

The den had been a passageway for the common folk. It prevented them from having to go through the dangerous forest, not knowing if they would make it out alive or not.

Then, they began to hear voices, one day. Those voices demanded a sacrifice to be able to use the den.

"You gain much from this but we gain nothing. If you wish to continue to use this path, you will have to offer us a meal."

After they said that, the den closed up.

"Come only when you have a sacrifice."

The people did not wish to agree and decided to just try to walk through the forest. Many lives were lost those couple of days and the people finally had a council.

They decided that they could sacrifice the old people, just to be able to keep the little village alive.

Some protest but most agreed, their population was dwindling already so why not try to save the few.

That went on for a while but there are only so many old people in the village and, in the end, they were all gone.

The people worried about what they would do from then on.

The den closed again and the people were left to fend for themselves once again.

They held a meeting in deciding what they should do. While the meeting went on, a child walked up to the entrance of the den.

His mother, and some other people around the area, watched in horror as the den opened up and the boy walked in.

The den never closed after that day and there was no more need for a sacrifice as the voices seemed to disappear completely.

The villagers looked everywhere for the body of the boy, maybe some of his remains but nothing was left. It was almost like he did not exist and, everything they went through those months were only a figment of their imagination.

Ace gulped as he looked at the darkness in the room, air getting colder the longer he stood there.

Unlike the boy, both will not be able to happen to him. He will either disappear completely like he never existed or he will be able to make a change.

He doesn't know why he feels that way, he just does. And his gut tells him to trust that.

Both cannot happen at the same time. Bummer.