Howl of Time

Sweat dripped down my face as I frantically attempted to maintain the system. I had been working decades alone to perfect the technology that will help me go back, back to those days before the catastrophe that wreaked havoc upon our world.

My parents, my younger brothers, my girlfriend, all perished the day the world nearly ended, along with 99.9% of the population. Out of 7 billion people in the world, a little less than 7 million people managed to survive the devastation.

Constant errors occurred as I tried to regulate the temporal anomaly. Sparks flew around me as I attempted to correct each error, panic defined on my face. The system I painstakingly created based on technology and magic I copied from other worlds, beginning to fail spectacularly.

[WARNING. CRITICAL ENERGY OVERLOAD DETECTED. TEMPORAL ANOMALY UNSTABLE. UNABLE TO FIND CORRECT ADDRESS. IMMEDIATE SHUT DOWN ADVISED.]

"Fuck!!!" I managed to get the device to work, (albeit with some faulty components) but I couldn't pinpoint what point in time the anomaly was connected to. If I tried to jump through now theres a chance I could end up after the events I wanted to change or even prior to my own birth, leaving me as a wandering soul with no physical body.

(I really don't want to have to relive all those tragedies nor do I want to be a ghost. But with the way things are going I'll likely die here unable to stabilize the anomally.)

"Yup. This world will likely collapse once the anomaly detonates. I guess its sink or swim." I hobbled my tired and aged body to the anima chamber. Not having much time left I quickly got in and launched the sequence.

[TEN SECONDS FOR SOUL DIFFUSION. HAVE A PLEASANT TRIP. 10, 9, 8,...] (Damn why did I make the V.I. so god damned annoying.)

[4, 3, 2, 1, 0.]

I closed my eyes as the countdown hit zero. Fire had spread within my lab, and the temporal anomaly buzzed violently. I felt a prickling sensation on my skin but becoming numb immediately after, my mind going blank as I left my physical body. Any longer and I would have been torn apart along with the rest of my lab, followed by the world. A soundless void enveloped me and I lost consciousness...