Where It All Ends

Joe saw the vastness of the timelines since the beginning of time to the endless possible futures of every living species in all of the universes. They appeared to him like endless veins creeping in every decision one species makes. Be it humans, animals, supernatural beings living in parallel worlds within the 3rd dimension, even aliens. All life forms that exist and is affected by time Joe can see them all. All their possible choices and where those choices could lead them to. The vibrations of every thought produces energy to create decisions and these decisions then create new realities. These  discoveries left Joe astonished of how life is actually happening.

"So, you can see them now??" The old Joe excitedly ran towards Joe as he noticed him finally moving after years of meditation.

"Yes! I can see them, can you see them too?? They're all around us. Look!" Joe couldn't contain his happiness as he gazed into the living timelines crawling in front of him.

"Well..." The old Joe chuckled.

"I really wish I could." A moment of silence transpired after he replied.

"What if you could? What would you do first?" Joe asked.

"Uuuhhmm, you know." The old Joe took his time.

"...Fix all these. Get things back to the perfect timeline. Job's done." Then he continued.

Joe looked at him a little bit longer.

"Really? Lemme ask you again, what would you do if you can do it all?" Joe asked again but now it's clearer.

"What? I-I just said--- fine. You got me. You really are me." The old Joe said.

"Well, basically." Joe chuckled softly.

"I wanna at least know what life I have lived before I got here, man. I mean, all these time existing alone for eons watching species living their lives with friends, family, comrades, you know? All those smiles and get-togethers. Those priceless moments. That one question that lingers at the back of my mind. Have I ever got a chance to be that happy in my life back then?" Finally, the old Joe spilled the juice.

Joe walked towards him and held on to his right shoulder.

Suddenly, like a movie, the Life of the Old Joe played right in front of him. His real name is Jonathan Mizagi. His mom. His dad. Yes, Jonathan lived in Japan. His mom and dad never broken up. He had an amazing childhood. He also had a younger sister too but from the same dad. They were both born and raised in Japan but they're visiting the Philippines every year. A tragedy in Japan took place and took the lives of Jonathan's family. He was forced to migrate to the Philippines and lived with the relatives of his mom. In the first year, he was very welcomed but as the years passed their treatment of him changed. He was treated like an errand boy. He excelled in school unlike his cousins. Because of this, he was smart-shamed by his own blood. But luckily, it was also at this time that Jonathan met his best friend Edwin Zellwinger at school. Like Joe and Edward, they too were a fantastic team. The Zellwingers here aren't rich. They're a middle class family. Jonathan and Edwin graduated top of their classes and found decent and high paying jobs. Jonathan formally bid his goodbyes to his relatives and continued living alone. But unlike Ed who met the love of his life early in the persona of Leonna Marie, Jonathan met his Ariel. In his timeline, she was Abegail. Another Ariel who tore the heart of another Joe. Edwin took Jonathan for a hike in the woods to ease Jonathan's pain but then an accident happened...

Jonathan fell from a steep vertical. Luckily, he didn't die. He was found by local villagers and was immediately brought to their village nurse who took good care of him for days. Her name was Jillian. The woman Jonathan would eventually marry, have beautiful and smart kids, and grow old with.

"It seems like you've had a pretty good life than I did, Jonathan." Joe said.

Jonathan couldn't stop his tears from falling and just hugged Joe tightly.

"Thank you, man. Thank you." Jonathan said.

Suddenly, Jonathan started to glow from the inside.

"Wh-what's happenning to you??" Joe panicked.

"Looks like this is the end of the road for me." Jonathan replied.

"What end??"

"I'm not fit to become a guardian anymore. Knowing my life on the timeline, my judgements would then be biased." Jonathan explained.

"Why didn't you tell me?? Or stopped me??"

"Because I didn't want you to stop. This is my choice Joe." Jonathan's body started to peel like bright flower petals dissolving in the air.

Joe then understood that it was Jonathan's plan all along. He wanted to rest knowing he had a great life in the living world and Joe respected it.

"It's been an honor, Joe Madrid."

"The honor is mine, Jonathan Mizagi."

And just like that...

Jonathan's existence disapeared.

Joe took a deep breath and looked around all the lives that are now depending on him.

Without further ado, he started tracking the perfect timeline with his new found ability. Due to the hefty amount of time that had passed and the endless possible futures Joseph's mistake had created, finding it became a lot harder. It's finding a needle in a haystack larger than planet Earth.

While scanning he saw versions of himself living different lives. Curious, he ventured into one of them. His name was Jin, like Joe he grew up without a father figure. But luckily, Jin had the luxury of keeping his family alive, unlike other the other versions. But it came with a price, Jin survived a brain surgery and had to live cautiously all his life. His body is prone to sickness and is often weak. Despite all these, Jin kept a positive outlook in life. He wasn't a genius like most of them but he's smart enough to graduate and get a decent job as an IT. He's not rich. He's earning just enough to get by but he was thankful. He also had met his best friend Ed, but for some reasons, life happened and they parted ways. He also met his version of Ariel, like any other Ariel she also was a lesson for him. He took the long road alone and learned the hardest lessons on that lonely road until he met the girl that changed his outlook in life. Her name was Jellian, a teacher, a very smart individual who stayed with Jin through thick and thin. They had a small and happy family and grew old together.

As he continued watching a few versions of him, he found it amusing to see how his life could really be different in many different ways. Even though he may seem to be the greatest version of them all, the fact that some of them lived with their families, found true love, had babies, and grew happy and old  couldn't help but make him feel happy and lonely at the same time.

"Well, at least I get to have these bits of happiness in my other selves" He tearfully said.

Joe carefully scanned timelines of every species hoping to find a clue to its whereabouts but so far none has come into surface. It's all linked to imperfections.

At this point, it has been a Millennia since Joe started fixing the timelines but he has not made even a single progress ever since. Every timeline he had found was imperfect.

Until one brilliant idea came into his mind...

"Cassandra"

He quickly scanned through his own timeline. Using both the stone's power and his ability to swim through timelines, he may have a better chance of finding the perfect timeline. But he needs to be extra careful, he needs to do this without his past self knowing that he borrowed Cassandra for a while or he may create a different future for himself and erase his existence in the fourth dimension instantly which has no guardian at the moment. In the event that no version of Joseph exists in the 4th dimension, the 4th dimension will then collapse! The hope of finally fixing the imperfect timelines will be gone forever. Leaving only a cycle of chaos in all life forms.

"Found it!" Joe immediately opened a portal from the fourth to the third dimension.

He decided to use Cassandra's stone on the times his past self hibernated her. This is the reason why Cassandra hated Joe so much for hibernating her. Because the future Joe is always using the stone's power in the 4th dimension but Cassandra has no memory of it only the feeling of too much exhaustion.

He grabbed the stone and closed his eyes and yes. That's how it worked. This is how Joseph exactly did it. All other timelines disappeared and only one timeline was left. It wasn't growing but it glows...

But a moment later a growing and living timeline appeared beside the perfect timeline...

Joe examined the timeline. He couldn't believe what he saw with his own eyes. It was a timeline almost exactly the same as his but everything went to his favor. Everything went right. His family lives. The world is in harmony and so was nature. He gets to marry Ariel. His friend Ed is happily married to Leonna. These were exactly what he wanted. The life he would die to live for.

His hands reached out for that timeline branch.

He is ready and is totally convinced that this is the right choice.

But suddenly.

Another hand stopped him from doing so.

"Let go!" He shouted but the hand was too strong that he couldn't reach for that branch of reality.

"You're making a mistake"

"Who are you!?"

"My name is Joseph, I am you."

And just like that Joe snapped out and was back in front of the two timelines.

"Joseph? But why stop me?"

Joe wondered and dugged deeper but this time he's not indulging. He looked into what would happen to existence if he would choose that retrofit perfect world.

Chaos.

Even more of it.

He then realized that this was exactly what Joseph also saw when he reached that certain point. The 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦 which Eden ate. Joseph thought that by choosing the perfect world of his perception would also give everyone a perfect life. But that wasn't the case, that's why Joseph's existence stayed at that point to warn the next him of his mistake.

"He wasn't selfish after all. I get it now." Joe said to himself.

Curious, Joe peeped into the stationary perfect timeline. To his surprise, it was also his timeline but the reason why it's pruned and stationary is still unknown.

He looked even further and yet he saw an ordinary world. There was nothing 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 about it but it is the only one that glows of all the timelines. Not only is this timeline stationary but his other version did something distinct from any other versions of him.

It's a decision his past self will make in this branch of time that he had never seen done by any other versions of him.

He took a deep breath.

"Hmm, so this should be it and these is the price I'm gonna pay."

"I'm the richest man in the world. Who else is gonna pay it but me? Let's do it."

Joe reached for the stationary but glowing timeline...

His index finger touched it.

Everything went blurry and random...

Colors exploding everywhere...

Then there was black...

And...

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"Damn, I love the ending but now I don't have anything to watch" a disappointing part of watching a series; the ending. No matter how good it is or how well it was written, the fact that there's no "next episode" to tap on makes me feel sick.

Now what? back to Facebook? Back to reality. Back to the broke me. To the problems I am trying to solve and forget at the same time. Am I really solving any of these? Or am I just facing the repercussions of the doubts I subject myself in?

It was February of 2021...

So, I turned to scrolling into other people's lives. Stalking with their complete permissions. A power Mr. Zuckerberg has given to every Facebook account holder in this world. I'm seeing quite a lot. I'm entertained. My wasted time is not so wasted after all. I've seen smiles that are so genuine, they're contagious. I hope they do live on in real life too, not just in photos. Memes that makes my day no matter how baffling it is. Despair that one shares to everyone in the feed but never really shares it entirely. Some just love the attention the crowd gives them. Some tend to dip into sadness and get trapped before knowing they are. I hate to break it, but these people are 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 the pain. Poor creatures. I wish I could do more than just tapping and holding that LIKE button and sliding that held the surface to the Sad faced emoji.

"You are such a crybaby when you finish your series"

A reply to MyDay I just made...

It's Ariel. A girl from my list of friends. Someone I knew so little about. Someone I had no initial interests with. Although she's pretty, I never really looked her up. I was so busy with life that I forgot that flirting was actually a word.

Months earlier, I happened to notice her reacting and commenting on some of my posts. Then lately, I felt a surge of interest. I felt that she's kinda into me or maybe we're just on the same channel. Dry Humor. Memes. I don't know.

But nope.

I'm too busy playing games and stuff. Love? Dates? Chats? Not my kind of thing right now. So nope...

√√seen 10:44am

"He's not into me. Fine." Ariel realized. She let it go and continued with her day.

Both never had the chance to contact each other again.

Months later, the Madrid family died in a tragedy...

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This was the end of the glowing and stationary timeline.

But as every end exist...

A new beginning...

Forms ...

[𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙴𝙽𝙳]