The wind roared loudly, like the ignition of a rocket roaring in angry frustration. Blackness suddenly shifted to a blurry gray as his eyes fluttered open, startled back to reality.
He hastily sat up, his head spinning from sitting up too quickly, his confused mind trying to grasp a hold of what was going on. People were running past him, away from something. His head throbbed as sounds became crisp, pulsing in time with the frantic footfall from the stampeding crowd. He winced in agony, burrowing his head in his palms, his eardrums pulsing in pain. Balance came back to him as his ears grew used to the rhythmic stomping of the stampede, and he braved standing up. Wobbling to his shaky feet, no one seemed to notice his confusion in their own chaos. Luuk. Luuk. Luuk. For some reason, the only thing he could remember was own name bounced around his achy head.
Suddenly, a hard shoulder against into him, forcing him to face left. The woman continued fleeing without apologizing, efficiently knocking him back to his senses.
With a gasp of realization, Luuk whipped his head back towards the center of town. The vortex was only growing larger. Its black fingers, flowing with sharp snaps of electricity, reached out further into the dirty, old kingdom with as much calm as a Sunday afternoon despite the obvious havoc it caused. It tore color and life from the bland world surrounding Luuk, stealing wheelbarrows, devouring stacks of hay, swallowing children and anything else it could carry, including his breath.
The bawling victims whirled away into the deafening vortex, disappearing into a mysterious lapse of time, never to come back.
This dimension was imploding into itself like a soufflé at a rock concert.
He had dawdled here for too long… How could he let this happen?
A baby’s helpless cry echoed over the loud rumble of the electric vortex.
All of this chaos, how could he have let it come this far?
A child screamed as she flew right by him, the tears trailing behind her splattering on his stunned face. Like an off switch, her cries suddenly stopped…
He had traveled here with his invention, a clever little watch which could allow him to traverse through different dimensions and rob life force at the touch of a button. He called it a Totch, and used it to visited many realms in hopes to find the other Luuks in each world. The others might have different names, different faces, different genders, and different lives, but they had all shared the same thread of life years. The thread just spanned through hundreds of different dimensions. His greedy goal was to take it from all the others who he shared the thread of life with. But he had to be quick about it, the delicate balance of each dimension could never handle two of the same life forces for too long.
But the Luuk of this dimension was clever. She knew he would come for her; she saw him with her psychic powers. She blackmailed him, commanding he do something for her before she could give up her share of life years, or risk beheading at her command. She was a princess in this land.
And yet, she asked for something so simple: a smile. She only wanted to know what happiness felt like.
This vile dimension he had entered was completely opposite of his sparkling, chrome filled, perfect world. This world was filthy, laboring, un-sanitized, and strove on the unhappiness of a single person. They strove in her unhappiness. There were rumors of calamity if she were to ever feel joy. So the villagers made it their own personal duty to jeer and humiliate the proud and noble princess whenever they had the chance. It baffled Luuk to no end, how awful these disgusting peasants were to such a beautiful woman.
And what Luuk couldn’t have known was how long making her happy would take. He should have just bolted the moment she proposed a bargain, there were plenty of other life years to take in other realms.
He just never counted on her slowly becoming the source of his own true happiness. The more time he spent trying to make her happy, the more he learned about her morals, her family, and her kind and serious nature. He took note of every twinkle in her eye, of the softness of her skin, of the meaning behind every twitch of her face. He never cared to know more about anyone but himself before.
Luuk gulped at the vortex that stood before him. This was his fault. This dimension was going vanish because of his selfishness. He single-handedly caused the disappearance of a realm. But the only thing on his anxious mind was: Where was she?
He searched frantically, ignoring the thunderous roar of the vortex and the terrified shrieks of the townspeople. Things soared by his head, narrowly missing him by inches. He couldn’t make out a thing in this pandemonium.
A familiar chord struck his ear, a faint cry he had grown so fond of.
“Avanna?!” he yelled out, following the memorable, sweet sound. He easily walked around despite the strong vacuum of the winds, knowing the oncoming vortex would never take him captive. “Avanna!!” he called again as he searched for her, every syllable laced with urgency.
He spotted her dainty, silver hair soaring uncontrollably in the wind and he doggedly dashed to her side, dodging the airborne debris. She had anchored herself between a rock and a sturdy stone building, her face hidden behind her hands.
“This will not save them, will it, sweet Luuk?” she asked, lifting her swollen eyes from her palms. She was filling her soul with sorrow, the only way she knew how to help her people.
Luuk sighed, but didn’t answer as he kneeled before the tear-worn princess, trying desperately to ignore the coming gale. Listening to the horrified screams of her people only made the helpless princesses cower deeper in her hole.
“All of this is my fault…” she muttered with venomous self-loathing. “I am the creator of this havoc.”
“Don’t get all mental on me Ava!” Luuk scolded harshly as he held out a hand to her. “Come on, let’s just ditch this history lesson and shoot for another dimension! We’ll be fine!”
The Princess gazed at his hand as if he had just offered her black magic in backwards Latin. “Please try not to be so daft, Luuk. My people will die without me.” Her tone was firm despite the tears strolling down her ruby cheeks.
“Your peeps will die with or without you, so let’s book it!” Luuk hollered, because he was sick of her noble attitude. “Come with me and you’ll never have to cry a day in your life ever again, I swear. You can smile and laugh and just be happy at nobody else’s expense. Just come with me Ava, please!” he begged, his throat clenching.
Princess Avanna stared at his outreached hand before holding it tightly with both of her own. “If I have ever felt true happiness, it would be thanks to you, sweet Luuk. I am sure I would feel it in any dimension as long as I am with you,” she confessed bravely, causing Luuk’s heart to skip a beat. “But I have been born into this world, and I have been tasked with the duty to protect those within in.” Suddenly, she jolted upwards, daring the forceful winds to defy her. Her long hair whipped around in a frenzy before she could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet. The wind had taken her challenge, lifting her from her sanctuary, pulling the gem encrusted tiara from her forehead, tugging at the silks of her gown. Her eyes grew wide in surprise at the strength of the wind.
Luuk reflexively snatched her slender hand, keeping her from being whisked away into nothing. “What the fuck are you doing?! You can’t leave like this!” he yelled over the wind, knowing exactly what she was trying to do.
“Luuk, you have to let go,” she commanded with her soothing voice, her tears pulling away from her face towards the vortex. “This is the only option. I have to save my people.”
“Fuck those people! I need to save you!”
Avanna smiled at the dear man, forcing his heart to leap into his throat. Like the captivating stare of a puma, her smile was a beautiful omen of misfortune and disaster.
He desperately shook his head. “Don’t you dare smile at me, Ava. There is no way in future’s chrome that I am letting you go.” Luuk plead, tears stinging at his eyes.
“I could never leave you, dear Luuk. I will never leave you.” With her free hand, she placed a firm hold on the face of his Totch.
“Wait, Avanna, what the fucking hell are you doing?!” Luuk screeched, finally tearing his tearing eyes from her smiling face.
“Carrying on with our deal,” she answered in a calm manner. “You have completed your side of the bargain by allowing me to experience happiness, so now I will hold up my side.”
“AVANNA!”
“I made a promise, Luuk, and I intend to keep it.” she silenced him with a stunning glare before trying to figure out the many buttons on the machine that was more than foreign to her.
With hasty fingers, Luuk shut off the machine, almost losing his grasp on the princess. “Listen, forget the deal, okay? Trash it, it was a stupid idea and I don’t care about it any more.”
Avanna pursed her lips at him, questioning him with her stare. “This is what you had worked so tirelessly for—”
“No! I wasn’t working for none of that!” Luuk blurted, his cheeks burning. “I’ve worked hard for you, Ava. I could gain a million life years today, but I know all of it would be lifeless and empty without you. I really, honest-to-chrome, like you, and I need you to come with me. I don't know what else to say, Ava, I just don't know what to do without you now that I know you exist. I can’t let you go! Not any more!” Luuk confessed, feeling like his heart was in his throat.
The Princess bit on her bottom lip, the warmth disappearing from her calming gaze.
Luuk’s gaze sank to the ground, trying hard not to puke in front of her. He knew it. She could never love a commoner. From a future dimension or not, he was still dirt to her…
But he tried to swallow the pain of the reject, despite how large of a lump it might be. He had to be strong for her in a time like this, so she couldn't see him cry.
The sudden beeping of the Totch drew him back to the princess. She had figured out how to turn it on, and, so long as he was holding on to her, the machine would steal her life years.
Luuk gasped in disbelief. Knowing he would never let her go, the princess took advantage of his feelings and did exactly what he begged her not to do. “Ava.”
“Thank you, Luuk.” Though she was thanking him, her sheepish smile was apologetic. The strength in her grasp grew weaker, and the fullness of her cheeked slowly began to prune.
Tears finally made their march down Luuk’s blushing cheeks as his body went numb. His insides felt like they were sinking to his shoes, and the rest of the world disappeared. What had he done?
She smiled wider, trying with all of her might to hold on to her dearest friend as her fingers went cold and weak, and the stars vanished from her eyes. “Thank you…” she whispered again, her tone brittle and frail, his ears unused to the feebleness of it.
The tears tickled down the skin of his neck, leaving behind a trail of goose bumps. How could he steal the life force of the only life he wanted to leave untouched?
Finally, her grasp went limp, and the soft flesh of her fingers turned to rough leather.
Luuk let her thinning hand slip through his, knowing there was no use in trying to keep her emptied body. Her skin had faded to an ashy grey, but he could still make out the rosy lips of her beaming smile.
He shut his eyes before he could watch her disappear into the vortex, willing the tears to stop. The collar of his shirt was soaked in his saltiness. The wind halted as suddenly as it came. The world was finally still again, and he choked down a sob before slamming on the Totch, uncaring of where it would send him next. Uncaring of whatever happened to the world he had just abandoned. Uncaring of whatever happened to her world now that she was no longer in it...
He checked the amount of years collected in his Totch, where Avanna’s share of the thread of life was greedily being wasted on him.
1,271,995 years left…
ns3.15.204.106da2
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