The Price of the Future (Part 2).

"Do you think I haven't known all these years where you were and what you were doing? You are greatly mistaken. It was I who allowed you to play your childhood games to save the world, I created a space for you, in which you could breathe and dream, while the rest of the world has long sunk into the abyss of death." Marcus sat down in an armchair, leaned back, and crossed his legs. Even now, weakened and wrinkled, he exuded an aura of suppression and superiority.

"Nature set a goal to get rid of pests that flooded the planet, and successfully managed to achieve it. Why do you think your blood is a panacea for all diseases? What makes you different from others?"

"I don't know," Nick whispered. This question has tormented him from the first day when the unusual abilities of his plasma were discovered.

"She doesn't seem to have told you, right, young lady?" Marcus looked behind the young man, Nick turned around and saw Ashley standing next to Simon.

Her hair was disheveled, her face was pale, her eyes were wan. She was looking somewhere into the void, as if she didn't see Nick at all.

"What did you do to her?!"

"I just showed her the truth, just like I showed it to you. What can I do if it turned out to be such a shock for the girl?" Marcus shrugged, not a bit of regret was in his voice.

"Oh you!" Nick could not take a step, as he again lay on the floor, "Bastard! Fight honestly! If you are so omnipotent, why are you playing so dirty?!" Not only did Marcus deprive him of his abilities by injection, but he also used electronic handcuffs without hesitation.

"What is the point of playing honestly if the outcome is the same? I don't have much time to please your ego," Marcus answered indifferently, the opinion of others on his methods was an empty sound for the man. "Come," he commanded, and Ashley dutifully followed toward the man.

"Have you thought about my offer?"

The girl nodded her head, Marcus looked into her eyes, finding in them a silent confirmation of her determination. "I'm sorry," the man said barely audibly and held out his hand. "You know how to open it, don't you? I told you what words activate it."

Ashley grabbed the pendant from Marcus's palm and turned to Nick. Her eyes froze on his eyes for a second, after which she lowered her head and concentrated on the pendant.

"Ash, what's going on? What are you doing?" Nick noticed a small thing in the hands of a girl, for some reason it seemed familiar to him. A growing alarm appeared in his subconscious, he did not know what it meant, but was sure that Ashley should have stopped.

The pendant in the girl's hands snapped and the room lit up with a cold blue light. A few words in an uknown language flashed from her lips, the language which Nick had never heard, but he understood their meaning the very second she uttered the first sound.

"Open the gates of time."

The pendant flied up and hovered over the girl. The air around it became viscous, like a thick liquid.

Nick's hands went cold, his heart began to beat fast, his breath caught in a lump in his throat. He opened his mouth to cry out, but his voice was gone.

"I, Ashley Stein, as the intended partner of the descendant of the Teser family time keeper," the girl looked at the frightened Nick and smiled, a tear rolled down her cheek, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Ask to open the gates of the past. In return, I give back my future."

No. Awareness of what was happening, like thunder, struck Nick. "Ashley, no! NO WAY!! DONT TOUCH IT!"

The girl raised her hand and touched the stone in the center of the pendant.

Rays of blue light, like ribbons, enveloped her body, hiding her beneath them. Nick rushed to the girl, but the air was as thick as quicksand.

"I love you," Ashley whispered, but the young man did not hear her words. He held out his hand to grab the girl, but managed to catch only the tips of her fingers.

The light completely absorbed her body, and the next second the girl's silhouette was scattered in small sparks falling like snowflakes on Nick's outstretched hand.

The young man fell to the floor, the air, which until then it was impossible to even inhale, became empty. Nick felt as empty as if his soul had died with Ashley.

But his body was saying otherwise. With the next breath, he felt an increasing heat in his heart, followed by stitching pain, his muscles cramped with spasms, from which he wanted to scream.

All he wanted at that moment was to die with her.

What was the point of further existence if he had no one and nothing left? Neither the world in which he could live with her, nor her, for the sake of whom he breathed every day?

"Do you feel pain now?" a calm voice sounded over Nick as if nothing had happened. The young man raised his eyes and looked with hatred at the man who robbed him of everything that was valuable in his life.

His parents, beloved woman, family, friends. His present and his future.

Marcus rested his cheek on his fist and grinned, "You are saying you wanted to play honestly? Give it a try. Although I personally doubt that you will succeed. It's a pity that the sacrifice of your... what was her name...," the man tapped his chin with his index finger, trying to recall the girl's name as if she were some sort of minor element, "Ashley, right? I'm afraid her sacrifice was in vain."

Nick rose from the floor, overcoming the pain that pierced his body like sharp knives. He never felt like it, like half of his being was simply cut off in an instant.

"You will regret it, Marcus Taubert. I will come for you and you will regret that you lived in this world at all," Nick's voice was firm and confident, his look was calm and fixed. Even if he had no more reason to live, to let this man live, as if nothing had happened, he could not. This monster did not deserve life.

"Do you hate me? Hah, you will need hatred if you decide to stand in my way," Marcus laughed, ignoring Nick's gaze, craving his blood, "Come on, let's see if you have enough strength, Sean Nicholas Anderson. I do not mind checking, life in this world has lost all meaning anyway. Your dad couldn't stand it, but what about you?"

"I am not my father." Nick straightened up and looked at the pendant in the air above the young man's head. The blue light of the stone gave way to warm white.

"But you won't know about it anymore," Nick raised his hand, grabbed the pendant and slammed it.

A white flash momentarily blinded Marcus, but the next second the room turned gray again as usual. The man got up from his chair and went to the place where Nick had just stood.

"Master!" Simon rushed to Marcus when he staggered and fell to his knees. "I'll bring the medicine now!"

"No need to do that, everything is fine. Help me sit down," the man with the help of an assistant returned to his seat and sighed heavily. His time was running out.

The flash, which was supposed to happen soon, would be the last not only for him, but for almost everyone who was still alive.

"Sir, were you not too cruel with the boy? Why didn't you tell him how it really happened? Maybe he could help to fix it?" Simon spent his whole life next to this man and knew him better than Marcus himself.

"No. Sean must have a good reason to stop me, otherwise he won't win, and all this will be pointless."

"Um, sir, look!" Simon held out his hand, the skin on his palm began to become covered with spots that made it transparent.

Marcus looked at his old assistant, then at his own hands. In the soul of the man it became calm and easy. He had been waiting for this moment for more than a century.

"Apparently, this is how time is dying," the man smiled and patted Simon on the shoulder, "Thank you, Brian."

"Master, for forty years you have not called me by my real name. I am glad. It was an honor to serve you," Simon bowed and silently left the room. He knew that his Master wanted to be alone with his thoughts in his last minute of life.

Marcus looked around, the space around was becoming empty, as if covered in shards, like a cracked glass. One of his hands became transparent, the man touched his face, and realized that he no longer felt his body.

He closed his eyes, took a last deep breath and smiled. Finally, his soul could be free.

"Amelia, it looks like you won."

…

The first thing Nick felt when he came to his senses was freshness. The air has never been so fresh and clean. He opened his eyes and saw the sky. Blue and clear, like the eyes of his beloved Ashley.

The young man turned his head, the warm rays of the sun were playing on the water surface of a pond located nearby. Green grass touched Nick's cheek, he squeezed his palms and felt soft ground under his fingers.

What it is? Did he go to heaven? The last thing he remembered was a long white corridor in which the guy wandered like in a maze, until he was kicked out of there by an unknown force.

"Who are you?" A pleasant female voice interrupted his thoughts, Nick turned his head to the other side and saw a girl, her dark hair fell below her waist, her brown eyes were carefully studying every feature of him as if he was under a microscope. An unusually shaped bracelet shimmered on her wrist under the sun.

"And who are you? Where am I?"

The girl frowned, obviously she didn't want to get the question answered by the question.

"Do you know the name Amelia Teser?"

"Um, this is my grandmother," Nick answered and the girl's eyes widened in surprise.

"G-grandmother?!" she asked, but from Nick's facial expressions she realized that he was absolutely serious. The girl slapped herself in the face and sighed helplessly, "God, I will definitely turn gray with your family ahead of time."

She squatted down next to the guy, extended her hand and smiled, "My name is Lina Jones. Sounds like you have something to tell me, don't you, Sean?"