Chronicles of Time
Chapter 7
The weight of the World

Finally managing to open his eyes, Alex finds himself among a large group of strangers, creatures both human, animal, and one that looks to be an uneven mix of both, that he’d never seen before. Slowly but surely they were trying to set up a camp of some sort, they had managed to get a small fire pit going and a small pile of lumber to burn in it; he looked around, watching them work together in an uneasy truce waiting for him to wake, and indeed the moment one of the two young girls with pink hair noticed him stirring the whole of the party cluttered around him, all talking at once and all in a tongue foreign to him. He held up his hands trying to get them to clam down and shut up, but it did no good till one boy, with jet black hair finally shouted at the rest of the group resulting in the weird half dog half human man in the red coat like garb to approach him and nearly mash his forehead into the boys, the resulting argument nearly starting a fight; only broken up with the slightly older girl in the school outfit and long black hair said something resulting the man in red being smashed into the ground.

Looking on at the circus unfolding before him with absolutely no clue what anyone was saying prompted the fox to sit up, and instantly clutched at his chest. A strange heaviness hit him like a ton of bricks, and all in one swift motion he fell forward a little to what his natural range of motion would allow as he gasped for breath, wheezing and holding his chest, he had never felt pain like this, it was completely foreign to him, however slowly but surely it passed. Once again he sat up this time from being bent over in pain to look at the group, noting something strange as he looked at them. It was a bazaar type of thing it was almost like he knew them, or felt like he did, but he knew he’d never met any of them before. It wasn’t till the hedgehog put his hand on his shoulder try rub his back that he figured out what it was, It was almost as if enlightenment itself had dawned on him he suddenly felt weightless, and looked around the others where gone, he was alone floating in a white void of absolute nothingness till a window of some kind opened up and inside something was happening he saw the hedgehog meeting up with a young fox who was fixing up his plane, the two begin to talk however he is unable to make out the words, it was still in the strange tongue however the name clung to his ears as the hedgehog was speaking to the young boy of a fox saying as he offered the fox his hand,

“the name’s Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog.”

Looking on at the strange event unfolding before him, Alex mutters the name 

“Sonic” 

and suddenly more windows opened at a rapid fire pace; events, memories, people, places. It was that moment he realized, this hedgehog’s soul shone with a light all to familiar to his own, how he wasn’t sure but it was at that moment he realized this sonic as he called himself was surely a hero.

He suddenly snaps out of his trance, everyone looking at him with a note of concern. Then turning to the blue blur in question the fox says,

“sonic”

The hedgehog in question smiles then says, quickly running his thumb alongside the side of his black nose,

“Sonic the hedgehog.”

Turning to another, the human boy in the bright orange outfit Alex stretched out his hand to try and touch him, the boy in question flinched at first but the reassurances of the girl next to him made him stay still. Alex reached his hand and pressed it against his forehead, and instantly found himself once again in the white void, watching another window open. Within sat the boy, the girl with pink hair, and the second boy with black hair. They were talking to a man with white hair and wearing a mask over his mouth and jaw. The boy then says going on and on once again in the language he didn’t understand till the boy said, 

“my Name is Naruto Uzumaki.”

Moments later after going on and on about something called ramen he goes on to say,

 “and my future dream is to be the greatest hokage, then everybody in the village will stop disrespecting me and treat me like a somebody, somebody important.”

Its after this moment that like before, more windows start to open and just like before they seemed to be his memories; battles, people he met, his struggles, his determination, his despair, but then in an instant something changes, what he sees is not a memory, the Naruto in this vision is older, and people are tossing him into the air cheering and chanting his name. It dawns on him at that moment it’s a glance into the future, this boy is destined to become a hero.

~~~~

Finally snapping out of the trance Alex retracts his hand, saying the boys name he responds with a goofy grin saying,

“yup that’s me, believe it, Naruto Uzumaki ”

Finally he was able to bring himself to his feet, the heaviness that he felt weighing him down was nearly gone, still lingering in the back of his mind but he was able to push it aside for now. Still as of yet unable to talk to the humans and others of the group first thing he did was take a look around, it was nearly barren around the makeshift camp, just trees and rocks, not even a sign of animal life. He wasn’t sure what was going, and the group followed after his every step clearly they wanted something from him but what could he do. There is a few moments of still quiet calmness before something catches his ears a slight giggling. Turning back to the camp site stands a figure, short, wearing a long flowing black hooded cloak. The figure tosses a stone at him and catches him square between the eyes, the figure then laughs and says in his tongue,

“tlamas ji so toroko tat rakas  [catch me if you can slow poke]”

The hooded figure then bolts heading for the tree line forcing Alex to chase after, this person knew his language and obviously knew something. He rushes after the figure forcing the group of people to follow after him, the hedgehog trying to use his speed, only succeeding in tripping and making the whole of the group fall over and get behind.

~~~~

Following the figure deeper into the forest he nearly loses said figure a few times, but a laugh following by the figure waving its hand at him calls him back to the trail. This goes on for some time till he reaches a cave of some sorts, watching the hooded figure hurry in he decides to follow after and enters the cave hearing the group of people not to far behind himself. Going deeper into the cave brings solid darkness till there is a light seen, a torch perhaps. Finally catching up to the hooded figure he asks aloud, the figure turning to see him,

“who are you, where are we, what do you know?”

The figure giggles then says finally letting the tone of a feminine voice out as she says,

“were you always this clueless, its almost cute seeing this side of you, almost nonexistent is the divine that knows everything.”

He makes a move to get closer however the second he does she jumps, performing a back flip and landing on a ledge almost thirty feet up. Now exposed from the underside of the cloak is a long almost strawberry red foxes tail, her feet also exposed just enough for him to confirm that the figure was a fox, of his breed no less. Looking up at the figure who had now taken it upon herself to sit on a ledge now waving her feet back and forth in a childish manner as Alex asked aloud,

“Just who are you, why are you hiding under that cloak.”

She giggles once again responding as another figure walked up next to her,

“wouldn’t you like to know, but I can’t tell you so . . . .”

She reaches up to her face and pulls down her left eye lid then sticks out her tongue at him. Looking up at a second figure, wearing an almost identical hooded cloak, only this one stark white, the young female says,

“kind of hopeless don’t you think, are you sure this is all worth the risk?? After all if we get busted you’re not the only one going to be in trouble you know I did bring you hear after all.”

The white hooded figure nods then says in a deep tone of voice which is slightly distorted almost knowingly so to the point it was obvious to Alex that this figure was changing his voice,

“it is necessary, it has already happened once, it must happen this time to, even now this same discussion has already taken place hundreds of times.”

The young female sighs then leans backwards a little as the figure hidden in the white cloak looks on. Alex asks looking up to the pair of hooded figures,

“what’s going on here, who are you two?”

The little one says looking down at him,

“I just said we can’t tell you pay attention.”

He was about to protest however Alex then collapses, grabbing onto his chest once again, the heaviness setting in once again this time worse then before. Looking up to the two he manages to ask,

“wha . . . What is this pain, this heaviness?”

The taller one states looking down on him,

“the weight of the world, it is a heavy burden to bear it has placed upon your shoulders same as before and same as the next but heavy all the same.”

He grips his chest once again saying as he did,

“the what? Can you stop speaking in riddles?”

The hooded figure says looking down on him again,

“its no riddle, its latterly the weight of the world. Remember long time ago the world went boom then you tried to remake it but failed.”

It was a hazy memory but he did remember, not only the world being destroyed but his attempt to rebuild it with the help of both the dark being and the light being. As Alex begins to recall the events on a moment so far in the past the taller figure says,

“you failed then, you didn’t finish the task and as such this world, this plane of existence, can’t support mortal life it will devour them, that heaviness you feel is the weight of the mortals outside this cave surviving on your soul energy, your very essence.”

Alex slumps to his knees almost unable to lift his head asking,

“it hurts, badly, . . . . How long can I stay like this?”

The white hooded figure then says standing no less then six feet from him, the female figure seen behind him holding out her hands for some reason, the very figure saying to the taller one,

“I can’t keep this up for long, wrap this up big brother.”

The taller figure nods looking back to the young female who looked to be struggling with some kind of burden, but Alex was instantly called back to the taller figure who had just bit open his thumb on his right hand then instantly producing an orb from under his cloak. It clicked in his mind instantly, this was the same orb from his past attempt to rebuild, the figure drawing some kind of marking onto the orb with his blood the figure then says,

“I’m breaking a great many rules just being here but it is necessary, you can’t survive being so young and not truly awakened to your power to bare the weight of the world, and only a god can help you reform this world properly to support mortal life.” 

Finishing what ever it was he was drawing on the orb he then tosses it to Alex who manages to catch it despite the rolling waves of pain breaking on his body. Holding the orb like he did in the past it begins to glow just like the last time, however this time it felt different the orb wasn’t draining him but he was already weak enough and its light started to dim rapidly. A grimace took to the unseen face of the taller figure, then turning to his counter part and says,

“brace yourself little sis, I’ve got to get closer he’s lost to much already.”

She nods and bites into her palm then clasping her hands together producing an almost visible barrier around the taller fox who reaches out and places his hand on the orb only inches from Alex’s hands, then unclasping the first button on his cloak something unexpected happens, a golden light filled the cave and from the figures back sprouted luminescent golden wings seemingly composed of pure energy. He barely has time to look at the orb which erupts into a white light then cracking and scattering to the far winds. The golden light then fades and so to does the wings fading into nothingness as the figure re buttons his cloak. Instantly the heaviness was gone obliterated completely and looking up he saw the white hooded figure walking towards the female, the girl in question having slumped down to her knees. The tall figure then says looking down to the little one,

“alright sis, lets get going my job here is done, for now.”

She nods, gets up and the with a flick of both her wrist snaps her fingers on both hands calling up some kind of portal. Looking back to Alex the tall figure says getting ready to enter the portal,

“do yourself a favor, when you get here make sure she moves faster, this didn’t happen last time, lets not let it happen again.”

Afterwards setting his right hand on the little ones shoulders, they enter the portal, the figure in question lowering her hood as they did, giving Alex a view of who was underneath, his little sister. As the portal closed he put two and two together and instantly realized that the white figure must have been himself. Once sealed the cave goes quiet and dark, now alone he laughs then says looking up and once again holding the reforming orb which was emitting the same golden glow as before,

“perhaps I should keep myself from becoming such an ass, didn’t think I could do it alone huh.”

Holding the orb he laughs again then says,

“I was right, I’m spen . . . .”

He collapses, still clutching the orb which was still glowing gold, but for now sleep claimed him once again however this time, it was a restful sleep a peaceful sleep, and inside himself he knew that this was only the beginning.”

~End of Chapter~

Epilogue

Holding tight the orb in his hand, The much older Alex stands at the edge of a cliff, over looking some city. He states glancing into the orb’s surface before pocketing it in his cloak then says,

“The weight of the world, never before has there been a more terrible burden, our ancestors must have been crazy to utilize themselves as the very means to bind mortal life to existence; in the end we‘ll never out run having to be the sole pillar that props up life as these mortals know it, all I‘ve done is buy you time.”

The orb now safely tucked away under his cloak he states, 

“this orb is both a gift and a curse my younger self, use it wisely for the weight of the world is not to be toyed with.”

Looking down to Sara still wrapped in the black hooded cloak and now eating an ice cream cone he watches as she asks,

“are you trying to tell everyone that the orb is called the weight of the world or are you just being emo again?”

He bops her head then in a flash steals her ice cream, the young fox then throwing a tantrum as he says in a mocking tone as he eats the ice cream,

“oh I’m sorry did you want to eat this ice cream or are you just being a brat again?”

He continues to toy with her as everything fades to black. 
