The Constant Part 1

Hello. Before we get started with the short story, I just wanted to give say a few words and give some background. The prompt that I wanted to write today's short story on originated in an Instagram post that I can no longer find. The gist of what they said was to imagine a story of a time traveler, where they encounter an immortal person. And the growth of their relationship from acquaintances, to rivals, to who knows? I thought it would be such an interesting story, so I've been thinking about how to write it out. There are a few angles I could approach for it. First of all, from whose perspective could I write the story. On one hand, it might be more direct and easier to understand through the eyes of the immortal, as time is still linear for them and they encounter the time traveler at various points in their life, something still draws me to writing the story of the time traveler, who mets with the immortal at various times and sees the unchanging form. What starts off as irritation eventually turns into something more as they try to discover more about the person in front of them. So yah, that's the angle that I'll be writing from. IF you don't agree with me, please feel free to write your own story and dm it to me. I would be happy to read through any other interpretations of this idea.

Anyways, apart from that just wanted to wish you all a merry christmas. Regardless of the fact that I'm stuck inside my room, just like many of my peers around the world I am sure, I still think that we should all come together during this time and simply enjoy being alive and amongst our loved ones. It is a real treasure to be here, and I thank each and every one of you for reading my works and being her with me. But ok no more background, let's get started with the story

***

What's the first place you would ever go if the whole expanse of human history, nay the whole expanse of existing history was at your fingertips. Like a wet paintbrush dipped over a blank canvas, greedy to spread your influence over the unknowing world, where would you want to first spread your illustrations. Where would you want the world of stories to be replaced with the real thing. For me, the first place I wanted to go was ancient greece.

For years, I'd imagined sailing through the greek isles. staring awestruck at the bright tapestries and statues in Athens, exploring the nestled port of Piraeus, and simply taking in the wonders of the time. Ancient Greece was a time filled with so much culture, exploration, and developments. It could be credited with birthing the first ideas of democracy, cartography, medicine, even geometry.

For years, I'd been laughed at for my ideas. I'd been laughed at while at university for my bold ideas on a device that could enable the user to time travel. My colleagues in Jupyter Labs considered my designs crazy, and myself deranged. I was laughed out of every investor meeting I ever tried to partake in. But I didn't let that stop me. I spent years building my own machine. I worked for any of the parts that I could afford, the others, I simply stole from the right people. In their eyes it could be looked at as unethical, but I knew my work would change the world.

And 4 years later, at the age of 24, I my work was finally complete. The silver device was no bigger than a CD, a rounded silver disk with a screen to input some information that would be necessary to begin the jumps, the longitude and latitude (or estimated location if need be), followed by the exact year. They were all inputted into the set BC and AD format, where everything in the future simply being calculated as how many years off of the current year (2024).

With everything set, I readied myself for the first jump. I had already planned the type I would jump into 450 BC. I chose to jump into Ancient Greece during the Peloponessian war for a specific reason, I wasn't completely mad. With most of the city states caught up in the war, there were many ways to travel across the states without too many eyebrows being raised. All I had to do was wear some neutral clothing, then act like a trader of some sort.

As the minutes of my clock continued to tick forwards, I looked into the mirror to survey what I was wearing, I had combed back my dark hair, and warn the closest thing to an ancient greek chiton, a loose pair of shorts and a loose cotton shirt that I had left open slightly. It wasn't perfect, but would hopefully work until I found some actual greek clothes. My dark skin was hopefully in line with most of Greece, so I wouldn't be looked at too closely.

I hesitated again as I held onto the silver disk, then shook my head. If I didn't do this now, I would remain uncertain and just skip it. So without thinking another moment, I twisted the disk clockwise. Immediately I felt a sucking sound as I felt myself being pushed forwards.

Then suddenly, I felt the air dramatically change, from the stuffy feeling in my office to the fresh and clean smell of the sea. I looked around. I was standing in a courtyard, with huge columns all around me that supported a raised platform. There was a square hole in the middle that let me see the stars. There were so many out there, with hardly any light hiding it from the night sky. It was breathtaking, and for a moment I forgot where I was as I took it all in.

Then it all unpleasantly came back to me as I heard a shout. Instantly, the whole courtyard was filled with light. I could hear many voices around me, and unfortunately, due to the universal translator that everyone in the world had been administered with in my time, I knew exactly what they wanted with me.

Rough hands of guards wearing blue highlighted robes and armor, with huge helmets that almost completely blocked their faces, grabbed me and dragged me up the marble stairs towards the biggest looking structure in the immediate vicinity. I was dragged face to face with an important looking many with dark hair, and a huge bushy beard that looked like an animal eating his face. On his right stood a few people, who seemed significantly younger than him. There was a man with dark hair, who was jutting his chest out like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread (trust me sliced bananas are much better), followed by three girls with similarly colored dark hair, and a small toddler gripping the hand of the youngest girl. The younger two girls were staring at their father in apprehension, but what caught my eye was how intently the older girl was staring at me. That immediately got me sweating. If she saw me as an outsider, someone who looked different, what would they do to me. I had already heard about the horrible ways in which ancient greeks had been killed, I didn't want to join those impressive ranks. I opened up my mouth to talk my way out of this as I reached into my pocket to grab the silver disk and hopefully get the hell out of here, when a few things happened at once. One of the guards behind me swung his leg out, catching my leg and making me crash down in pain. At the same time, the eldest girl started saying something, but I was in so much pain that I couldn't even hear. Her dad frowned, almost as if he didn't approve of her idea, but she waved her hands back at him before he finally relented.

"Stand", he ordered to me, and I meekly stood up, my hand still in my pocket holding onto the silver disk like it was a life line, which to be honest it probably was.

"I am sorry-", I began. before the king cut me off.

"My daughter Diana", he indicated towards the oldest girl next to him, who nodded "has indicated that you are the very same many who saved her life from bandits a few years ago. As such, it would be highly disrespectful to the gods if we killed you, nor could you even be a spy. As such-" and his eyes glittered as he spoke, "you are free to go wherever you please in Thebes."

Well that answered the the question of where in gods green earth I could be. I bowed as low as I possibly could, unsure if they still really did that, before straightening up, "We'' I'll be on my way then." I said as I started heading back the way I came.

"Wait", I heard a voice behind me as my heart sank. This is where I would die.

Instead I saw the eldest girl facing me. She was wearing a loose white dress that slipped off of her shoulders, and twisted in various places as it went down her body. "To thank you properly, I would love to give you a tour of the island." she said, ever so calmly and softly as she turned to face her father, who gave her a nod of approval.

I huffed, but gave her a nod back. What was the worst that could happen.

As soon as we had left the main enclosure, and were walking near the courtyard where I'd first appeared, she twisted to look at me again, her eyebrows raised, "Have we met each other?"

I chuckled at that. "Probably not, I can't say I've been around too much."

"You have a weird way to talk", she whispered, looking straight at me. Almost as if she'd known me for so long.

I backed a way a little bit, quite unsure about this random greek princess I'd met like 5 seconds ago who was seemingly staring into my soul.

"I'm just a traveler", I said a bit too cautiously.

She cocked her head at me, "Where have you been?"

"Oh...uh...all sorts of places you probably have never hear-"

"Have you ever been to Egypt?", she interrupted me.

"Egypt....no I definitely haven't."

"Well then that's strange...", she stopped walking at that, "since I've been speaking that language since we left the great hall and you haven't even noticed as we kept talking."

I mentally cursed at the stupid universal translator that wouldn't even alert me when it switched languages. But I couldn't waver in my resolve. Wavering could mean my death.

I stuck to a neutral expression on my face, "How does a greek princess happen to know ancient Eg- err Egyptian?"

She had a stormy look on her face, "You should know..."

We stared at each other for a few more moments. Her expression was quite confusing to understand. But mostly I was looking at her eyes, a mix of gray and light blue. It held immeasurable knowledge in it, such that could only be accumulated in a lifetime. I was able to read something through her eyes, a look of wariness certainly, but also something else.

Recognition.

I didn’t know how or where she had recognized me, but I was certain that was the expression I noticed on her face. But I feigned ignorance as we walked to a huge balcony overlooking the beautiful city of Thebes. The Ancient Greek architecture was really remarkable to look at. Whenever people thought of that architecture, they always imagined bland white structures. That was so far from the truth. Ancient Greece was colorful, with brightly colored statues lining each end of the streets, and multicolored shacks decorating each area.

“It’s so…”

”Beautiful”, said Diana from next to me.

I couldn’t help but agree, and I sighed I contentment.

Suddenly, I remembered a line that Diana’s father the King had said to me earlier.

”Why did your father say that I saved your life many years ago?”

Diana didn’t look at me, and instead continued to gaze out at the city, “When I was younger, many many years ago, something happened to me. You just remind me of someone dear to me from back then.”

”Did you grow up here in Thebes?”, I asked her, my curiosity getting the better of my cautiousness.

”In a different Thebes…”, Diana said, almost wistfully.

Before I could ask her what she meant, I heard shouting in the distance underneath us.

Diana cursed, and pulled me back away from the balcony as arrows soared right above, past where my head had been a moment before, “Athenian soldiers! It’s a raid.”

This freaked me out, and I tumbled and fell to the floor as Diana started running back towards the castle, in the opposite directions from the guards, who were pulling out their bows to return fire.

I gasped and lurched away from the fighting. I was clearly in over my head.

I needed to get out of here.

I got up and started running to the far end of the grounds, away from prying eyes, “Traveler!”, I heard behind me.

I turned around and saw Diana above me, holding a bow in her hand. She looked at me for a moment, wildly heading away from the fighting, “You…You’re running away?”

Despite myself, I felt shame, “This isn’t my fight Diana, I’m sorry I have to go.”

Her faced hardened, “Then go…may the gods curse you for your cowardice Traveler.”

She turned and started running away, towards the shouts and screams.

For a moment I was frozen in shock. I wanted to join the fight so badly, but I also knew that I couldn’t interfere with the skirmish. Changing the past could lead to disastrous consequences, especially if I joined a fight like this. I wanted to minimally interfere with the environment, so I knew I had to get out of here right this way. But I didn’t feel right leaving that to be my last words to the Greek Princess.

“My name…is Magnus!”, I yelled at her retreating figure, although I couldn’t be sure she’d heard me.

I stood on the ledge at the far end of the castle, and started fidgeting with my time device as I calibrated it to take me home.

As I Was twisting the knobs, I felt the hair on the back of my neck suddenly stand up.

I heard the whistle first, before a massive explosion of fire blasted me from the ledge, straight towards the rocks below. As the rocks came up to meet me I desperately squeezed the device. At the last possible moment, as I could almost feel the rocks slicing into me, I felt a huge sucking sound as I was pulled back into the current of time.

Then before I could even process the change, I suddenly felt overwhelming suffocation, as dark water materialized around me, crushing me.

***

End of Part 1. I’m not gonna have too many parts with this story, maybe like one or two more, but I’d really like to see where I can go with this. Out of quarantine, and finally writing this on a beach. Life is good.

​- A