CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
"Go back...you mean you'll go back in time, using your abilities? None of this will have happened?" asked the Earth.
"I mean I'll take you with me," said the Time Demon. "My abilities are such that I can travel back in time into my own body, or I can take anyway else I desire back into their body too...and though I haven't done it I will be able to physically manifest in that time period..."
"Why would you?"asked the Earth. Chloe was staring at the thing that was the Earth, sitting on its broke throne. She was listening, trying to understand all that was being said.
The Time Demon smiled. "You figured me out then. You know I need you. Think back, Squid God. Think back to all our previoius encounters. Except you can't remember them, because I reset the timeline every time. But that creates paradoxes. The further back I travel, the bigger the paradox. The harder the strain on me. I've stretched myself as far as I can, but it seems my paradox-correcting ability will only let me travel back as far as a few thousands years. Nothing, when measured in our lifetime. Remember that time you plotted to kill me? You spent decades building an army to trap me in an enchanted net. Putting everything into play."
"No, I don't remember that," said the Earth.
"Because I reset the timline!" laughed the Time Demon. "But I only had to go back a hundred years or so to foil you that time. Yet now I've spent hundreds of millions of years in that box. I can't travel back far enough to be free of it. That is...unless I hitch a ride on you."
"So I can go back to before...and remember everything?" asked the Earth.
"Yes," said the Time Demon. "You will remember all that has happened, as though it happened. Because for you, it did."
"But if I was taken back to the time when you were free, before the Starwhale imprisoned you and took you to space...that was before everything. Before the Squidinator. I'd be...I wouldn't be me..."
"Weren't you listening? You can go back to wherever you want. Because I'm hitching a ride on you, I can physically appear in that time, even though there will be another me imprisoned in the Starwhale's box."
"Won't that cause a paradox? A huge one? A time and space ripping paradox that could end the universe?" aske dthe Earth. Chloe wanted to speak now but held her tongue.
"All I have to do is travel to the future again and free myself from the box, then send myself back in time to repeat the process. A never-ending loop that I'll finally be free of. Free of the Starwhale, free to roam..."
"And I can go back and plan how to kill the Starwhale. Build a greater army of ink-eyes. Be a fair and just ruler. Then finally kill that fucking Starwhale."
"Sure, do what you want," said the Time Demon. "I don't give a fuck. By the way, I'll need your human too. Keeping her sentient all these years was a smart move. I'll be able to travel back in time more accurately with two brains instead of one."
"You can't have me," said Chloe, piping up. "You can't fucking have me."
"Hello, Chloe," said the Earth, sadly. "I'm afraid you have no choice. But don't worry. We'll go back to a time when your mother was still alive. She can join us! I'll make you commander of my armies, Chloe. I'll make you like a God. I realise now I have mistreated me..."
"Mistreated ME?" spat out Chloe. "You fucking monster, you've killed everyone. EVERYONE. And you want to do it all over again. For revenge. You kept me alive because, what, back when you had a penis you wanted to bone me? I don't deserve to live with everyone else dead. I have the worst case of survivor's guilt ever but I feel one thing ever stronger: hatred of you."
"It won't be like it was before!" said the Earth. "I can change. I can change..."
"You can't," she said. "The only way you can change...is to go back to when you were still human and kill yourself."
"Then someone else would take the Squid God," said the Earth. "Someone worse than me."
"Then go back to when the Squid God was in you, when you were in that underground prison where I found you and kill yourself there or have me do it. If there's anything in you that feels guilt, that feels...anything, do THAT."
"I...but..."
"You know, all I have is time," said the Time Demon, interrupting. "But even I don't want to wait around forever. What's it to be? You going to stay here, the free of us together floating through space?"
"No," said the Earth.
"Then what time period do you want to go to?" asked the Time Demon? The Earth looked at Chloe.
"Like she said, " it said. And Chloe smiled for the first time in millions of years.
"Thank you," she said. And then the Time Demon touched them both and everything went white.
"I mean I'll take you with me," said the Time Demon. "My abilities are such that I can travel back in time into my own body, or I can take anyway else I desire back into their body too...and though I haven't done it I will be able to physically manifest in that time period..."
"Why would you?"asked the Earth. Chloe was staring at the thing that was the Earth, sitting on its broke throne. She was listening, trying to understand all that was being said.
The Time Demon smiled. "You figured me out then. You know I need you. Think back, Squid God. Think back to all our previoius encounters. Except you can't remember them, because I reset the timeline every time. But that creates paradoxes. The further back I travel, the bigger the paradox. The harder the strain on me. I've stretched myself as far as I can, but it seems my paradox-correcting ability will only let me travel back as far as a few thousands years. Nothing, when measured in our lifetime. Remember that time you plotted to kill me? You spent decades building an army to trap me in an enchanted net. Putting everything into play."
"No, I don't remember that," said the Earth.
"Because I reset the timline!" laughed the Time Demon. "But I only had to go back a hundred years or so to foil you that time. Yet now I've spent hundreds of millions of years in that box. I can't travel back far enough to be free of it. That is...unless I hitch a ride on you."
"So I can go back to before...and remember everything?" asked the Earth.
"Yes," said the Time Demon. "You will remember all that has happened, as though it happened. Because for you, it did."
"But if I was taken back to the time when you were free, before the Starwhale imprisoned you and took you to space...that was before everything. Before the Squidinator. I'd be...I wouldn't be me..."
"Weren't you listening? You can go back to wherever you want. Because I'm hitching a ride on you, I can physically appear in that time, even though there will be another me imprisoned in the Starwhale's box."
"Won't that cause a paradox? A huge one? A time and space ripping paradox that could end the universe?" aske dthe Earth. Chloe wanted to speak now but held her tongue.
"All I have to do is travel to the future again and free myself from the box, then send myself back in time to repeat the process. A never-ending loop that I'll finally be free of. Free of the Starwhale, free to roam..."
"And I can go back and plan how to kill the Starwhale. Build a greater army of ink-eyes. Be a fair and just ruler. Then finally kill that fucking Starwhale."
"Sure, do what you want," said the Time Demon. "I don't give a fuck. By the way, I'll need your human too. Keeping her sentient all these years was a smart move. I'll be able to travel back in time more accurately with two brains instead of one."
"You can't have me," said Chloe, piping up. "You can't fucking have me."
"Hello, Chloe," said the Earth, sadly. "I'm afraid you have no choice. But don't worry. We'll go back to a time when your mother was still alive. She can join us! I'll make you commander of my armies, Chloe. I'll make you like a God. I realise now I have mistreated me..."
"Mistreated ME?" spat out Chloe. "You fucking monster, you've killed everyone. EVERYONE. And you want to do it all over again. For revenge. You kept me alive because, what, back when you had a penis you wanted to bone me? I don't deserve to live with everyone else dead. I have the worst case of survivor's guilt ever but I feel one thing ever stronger: hatred of you."
"It won't be like it was before!" said the Earth. "I can change. I can change..."
"You can't," she said. "The only way you can change...is to go back to when you were still human and kill yourself."
"Then someone else would take the Squid God," said the Earth. "Someone worse than me."
"Then go back to when the Squid God was in you, when you were in that underground prison where I found you and kill yourself there or have me do it. If there's anything in you that feels guilt, that feels...anything, do THAT."
"I...but..."
"You know, all I have is time," said the Time Demon, interrupting. "But even I don't want to wait around forever. What's it to be? You going to stay here, the free of us together floating through space?"
"No," said the Earth.
"Then what time period do you want to go to?" asked the Time Demon? The Earth looked at Chloe.
"Like she said, " it said. And Chloe smiled for the first time in millions of years.
"Thank you," she said. And then the Time Demon touched them both and everything went white.