A soft ray of sunlight hit Brown’s eyelids. He lay motionless in his warm bed, his chest slowly rising up, then back down again. He was dreaming of hearing a familiar song, playing right in his ear but without a source.
A shadow intercepted the light, looming over the boy. The figure leaned in and gently shook his body, bundled in covers. Suddenly, Brown awoke. Chel was the first thing he saw.
The feminine shadow moved back to give Brown room to sit up. His blurry, sleepy vision eventually found his best friend sitting on his own bed next to him, excitedly tying his shoes. The phone on his nightstand was playing the exact song he heard from his dream.
Shareef don’t like it,
Rockin’ the Casbah, rock the Casbah!
Shareef don’t like it,
Rockin’ the Casbah, rock the Casbah!
The considerably more awake of the two boys looked up. “Rise and shine, Brownie!”
The riser-and-shiner rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, opening up the strange world around him once again. He read his alarm clock. 8:01am. “Saki, what are you doing up so early? You hate mornings.”
“It’s Leap Day, dude!” He beamed, Chel bringing herself back to her master.
“…And?”
“And, I have a date with Pearl today! Do you realize how epic it is to have a date on a day that doesn’t exist every three out of four years?”
“Nope. Can’t relate,” Brown got out of his bed. He walked into the shared closet, coming out moments later with a change of clothes and his usual striped shirt.
Just as the duo finished dressing, there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” Brown said.
He opened the door, and there stood his taller, buffer third roommate with his indigo hair slicked back and his leather jacket scuffed and well-worn.
“Just the guy I need to see,” Xander commented, handing Brown a small note. The recipient took the paper, unfolding it to read the message inside.
Hallo, Brown! If convenient, come to my lab as soon as possible. As thanks for your service as my former lab assistant, I would like for you to witness my newest revolutionary creation! If inconvenient, come anyway.
-The one and only, Dr. Ernst
“He couldn’t come himself, huh?” Brown stuffed the note in his pocket.
“Like I’d be concerned about that. I got five bucks out of this little errand, so it’s a win for everyone. Now move.”
Brown stepped out of his way, and Xander nonchalantly marched inside. He failed to acknowledge Saki, crashing face-down on his bed instead. Saki scoffed.
“Fine,” he said, “I didn’t wanna talk to you either, Xander.”
The sarcastic quip fell on sleeping ears.
“Ugh, whatever,” Saki gathered his things and exited the room. “Brown, lock the door behind me. I’m gonna be late for my date. Catch you later, dude!”
“Yeah,” Brown replied, walking out of the dorm behind Saki and locking the door, “I have somewhere to be, too. See you around.
The boys headed separate ways. Brown reread the note in the hall.
This is bizarre, Brown thought. Doc just laid me off, and now he wants me back as a guest? Whatever it is, it’s gotta be either real important, or real stupid. Knowing him, I’d rather not answer that.
His train of thought screeched to a grinding halt as he bumped into Lucas in the hall.
“You know, this hurt as much as it hurt reading it happen-” Lucas said, rubbing his shoulder that was violently bumped. The books he was carrying fell onto the floor, which elicited an annoyed grunt out of the blond.
Brown staggered back from the impact. “Lucas? Where did you come from? And what the hell are you talking about?” he questioned, dusting off his shirt.
Lucas crouched down to grab his books in haste. “As much as I would like to tell you about the birds and the bees, I have biology class to get to so.. How about we talk later aight?”
“Isn’t biology just… birds and bees anyway?” He muttered to himself, then raising his voice to answer his colleague. “Yeah. I gotta head out for something myself. See ya.”
“Cool. Try to not blow up campus property again, will you?” With that, he was on his way, disappearing down the stairs of the dorm building. Brown rolled his eyes and found his own exit.
The boy checked his Doctor’s note one last time. This was the place. And it brought back even more memories than he imagined. Good and bad ones. It was a breath of fresh air to see the place was actually organized and clean; just mere weeks ago, it was a warzone. Literally.
“Ah, Brown! You’re finally here! You kept our guests vaiting!”
There, at the entrance of the lab, the bandaged genius stood. A somewhat familiar scene behind him: a huge contraption covered in sheets.
“Guests?” He cocked his head. “You mean I’m not the only one you brought?”
“Absolutely not! For zis creation of mine, I just had to invite ze duo of so-called divinity to bask in my REALITY BENDING GENIUS!”
Looking to the side, he spotted the towering dragon. She was quite hard to miss considering he almost tripped on her tail while entering the lab. To her side stood her fuzzy Satan-like companion, excitedly waving to the boy.
“Howdy Brown!” They greeted him as they flew into his face, shaking his hand with both of their paw-like hands. “It’s good to see you! It feels like it’s been forever! How have you been?”
The mortal felt his entire body shake as Nova took his hand. It was as if he was turned into jelly for a moment. The sensation left him with tingles.
“I’ve been managing,” Brown answered, withdrawing his hand from the shake.
“That is good to hear, considering the events of the past few weeks.” Skyber added from her corner of the lab, glaring down at the boy with a half smirk. “You have proven yourself a quite sturdy man. It’s commendable. But now that you are here, let’s get to business.”
Skyber raised herself from the wall, her arms crossed beneath her winged cape as her tail retracted and coiled unto her leg. “What is it that you wanted to show us, doctor?”
“AH, YES!” the doctor elated. “Come forth, everyone! It is time to vitness my newest invention…”
Reaching his hands over the sheet, he dramatically pulled it off to reveal a large tube like contraption that reached to the ceiling with a glass slide door revealing it’s inner chamber. Massive tubes of liquid and thick wires connected to the machine reached behind the walls, taking their resources from beyond the room—it must look really awkward from the outside. Its size alongside the enormous goddess made the entire lab feel incredibly small.
“…ze ZEITGEIST 3000!” The doctor threw his hands to emphasize the machine, presenting it like it was the second coming of Christ.
Skyber and Brown stood in silence, Brown in confusion and Skyber in impatience. Nova on the other hand was already completely sold on it.
“Oh, oh!” They jumped up and down excitedly and their wings fluttered, making it look like they hovered in the air for a few moments. “What does it do?! What happened to the other two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine ZEITGEISTs??”
“I’m more concerned about what this machine of yours does,” Skyber said, raising an indifferent brow.
“Yes, yes, I’m getting to zat!” The Doctor walked closer to the large machine, gesturing towards the main components. “With zis contraption, you are able to re-enter ze past! The vims of time are finally at humanity’s command! HAHAHA!”
Nova looked with starry eyes at the doctor and the machine that could potentially blast humanity to the next era of technology. They had an “O” stuck to their mouth like a child entering a candy store for the first time. Although, Skyber didn’t share that enthusiasm.
“Please,” Skyber placed her claws her hips, looking down at the doctor. “The concept of time is just that. A concept. The actual process of getting back to the ‘past’ is a delicate procedure even I had trouble doing in my godhood days. I had to physically take everything in existence and push it backwards. I doubt this metal toothpaste tube could even come close to achieving such things.”
“Vell, you see, my friend,” Ernst explained, “you mustn’t underestimate ze power of science! And, you may never know vhat’s truly possible until you test it yourself! Now, with zat being said,” he adjusted one of his glowing red goggle lenses fixed atop his eyes, “are zhere any volunteers?”
The goddess eyed the very fragile looking glass door and the inner chamber.”I doubt I’ll make it through the door. Human contraptions are not usually dragon friendly.”
“Hmm, I see…” the scientist rubbed his chin, reconsidering his method of getting the dragoness in his invention in the first place. “Vell, I always have one trusted companion!”
As his goggles veered toward Brown, he had already stepped back. “Count me out, Doc. Last time I stepped into one of your machines, we almost died. Sorry, man.”
“Oh! I’ll do it!” Nova peeped from between Skyber and Brown, their head popping in between the two. “I love sci-fi! And now I get to be in one!”
“Ah, good, good! I zhought I almost had to vaste more of my science fund on zhat blue haired brute again! Come now, let us practice TIMETWISTING! And of course, zhere is no rush, because ve have all zhe time in the vorld! Haha!”
Nova pumped their fists. “WOO! Timetwisting!!”
As the fluffball entered the machine with the guidance of Ernst, Skyber and Brown shot each other a worried glance.
“Good grief…” Skyber muttered under her breath as the door to the machine closed. Nova was standing inside the chamber with their safety goggles, waving to the two as Ernst handed them each a pair of their own goggles. Brown hastily equipped his pair while Skyber placed them on the table. There was no risk for her due to her lack of eyes.
“Now! Prepare to make, experience, and explore history!” The doctor dramatically pressed a large red button, and the machine began to anticlimactically whir lowly. “Ah… yes, yes, it needs to warm up a little bit. BUT IN A MINUTE! WE’LL MAKE HISTORY! HAHA!!”
”..ahuh. Sorry to cut your speech short doctor, but you failed to explain what this machine actually does to transport the user back in time,” said Skyber as she went to stand beside the doctor, examining the machine as it whirred and prepared. “For all we know it could just end up being a light show.”
“Oh, zon’t vorry, my dragonoid friend! Let me explain: ve cannot physically travel back in time! No no, zat vould be impossible!”
Since when is anything Doc makes possible by any human standard? Brown thought to himself.
Ernst continued. “Instead, once you step inside ze Zeitgeist, ze amazing power of science vill transport only your consciousness back to any period of time I set it to! As you can see, I have calibrated ze settings to send zis fine specimen’s mind back exactly one hour from now! While zheir body remains safe inside zis chamber, zhey’ll perceive time as it once was for zat exact duration!”
Brown interjected. “Wait… so by sending only the consciousness back in time, that would mean nothing is actually changing… all you could really be able to do is experience the past while your body’s stuck in the present. So it’s not really time travel, more of a—”
The goddess’ eyes widened, her heart dropping to her shoes. “STOP THE MACHINE RIGHT NOW!” Skyber suddenly yelled as she grabbed the doctor by his shoulders. “THE ONLY THING SEPARATING NOVA AND THE BLOODY VOID IS THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS! REMOVING THAT FOR EVEN A MOMENT COULD KILL US ALL!”
Ernst was shaken so violently that it looked as if his head was about to tear off from the excessive bobbling. “VELL! It seems someone can’t appreciate my creative genius! But fine, I’ll have it shut off in a moment!”
As the doctor turned back around, it was too late. The machine had finally warmed up, and begun its work. Clouds of steam and smoke exhausted from all openings, wires and pipes shook about, and the very foundation of the laboratory trembled like a rumbling earthquake. After a mere two seconds, the machine stopped, and broke down. The chamber door opened (or shattered, rather), and Nova quietly stepped outside.
Their usually vibrant and colorful fur appeared much worse for wear. The green and cyan had washed away to duller shades of themselves, and the white circles for their eyes had dark circles underneath. Even their smile had dropped.
“Nova!” Skyber yelped, running to her dear devil and dropping to her knees to be at eye level with them. Brown followed shortly behind.
“I got so worried… how fortunate we are that you are still here, but… you look so…” Skyber looked at Nova in horror, as Brown could tell the goddess was holding back her tears. Though, her sadness was short lived, as a familiar heat of rage began to emit from the dragon as her fist trembled.
“Hey, Nova?” Brown tried. “You doing okay?”
Before Skyber could even begin to unleash her fury toward the doctor’s incompetence, Nova spoke meekly.
“Skyber… I don’t feel so good-“ Nova could barely finish their sentence before turning their head from Skyber to not sneeze on her. But instead, they accidentally sneezed on Brown. A puff of particles like stardust flew all over the unfortunate boy like a Splats prank gone wrong.
“Oh my God, what is… what is… this..” Brown mustered, an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion consuming him. All he wanted to do was to lay down his head for another five minutes, but.. how? It was only nine in the morning. He couldn’t hold off any longer, his eyes closed by themselves.