Inevitable Fate (Part 1).

Nick closed the door of the room, walked over to the bed and fell onto it. He felt a strange lightness. The inner tension that accompanied him from the moment he arrived in this world went away, leaving a pleasant emptiness.

The emptiness that he could fill with emotions, feelings and memories he chose.

He knew that his world was dying, and probably even already died, given the terrible pictures that Marcus of the future showed him before the guy stepped into the corridor of time. Maybe Ashley also understood this, so she made such a choice and sacrificed herself?

Nick rolled onto his side, put his hands under his head and closed his eyes. In his memory, over and over again he replayed the last seconds of their meeting, the words that the girl said, her look. No, she did not regret her decision. It was her choice, and no one forced her.

The guy pulled his hand out from under his cheek and looked at the pair of wedding rings that he still held in his hand. These decorations were with him all his adult life, as a memory of his parents. Then, having turned into a pendant, they were a reminder of the lost home, the world, the girl whom he had never really kissed. Truly, with all the passion and love that filled his heart from the very thought of her.

He could not give her the gift he wanted, but now he was happy that he was able to give this pendant to little Ashley in the hope that the little one would be happy and find the life that his Ashley once dreamed about - a crazy inventor with a charming smile and a contentious temper... A bright, expressive, alluring supernova flash that illuminated his universe with her appearance.

Nick took his phone out of his pocket and activated the program, "Alice, start the 3D projection of media files."

[Attention. The battery needs recharging. The use of volumetric projection is energy consuming,] the electronic assistant notified.

"Activate," Nick repeated the command.

[Activating. Loading of 3D projection is completed.]

Nick lay on his back and stared into the space in front of him. The projection of the screen unfolded in front of him as a volumetric display.

"Nick! Look! What an alarm clock I made for you! Now just try to oversleep the lecture!" The girl was demonstrating her latest invention, and Nicholas chuckled, remembering how he almost hurt his nose, falling out of bed because of this flying alarm clock.

Ashley's face in the projection shone with such happiness, as if she had solved another mystery of the universe. Nick raised his hand and touched the image. Fingers touched the lines of the girl's face, so similar to the real, and went right through.

[Attention. Ten seconds left until the battery is completely discharged,] a voice announced overlapping the girl's voice.

"So, do you like it?"

"Very much," the guy whispered in a hoarse voice, answering a video call recording, which he no longer remembered why he had made.

"Oh, come on! Don't grumble, otherwise I'll make an android next time so that she wakes you up with a frying pan over your head instead of an alarm clock," Ashley replied with displeasure.

A smile crossed his lips. Well, yes, at that moment he was not very happy with the new invention, for which he was a test rabbit. Now he would agree to anything, just to hear her say "look what I did!" again. A tear rolled down Nick's cheek.

[Three seconds left until the battery is completely discharged.]

"I'll go to show it to Armand, I think he'll like it too," Ashley waved her hand, "Stop lying in bed! Get up already! We are waiting for you at the base! Bye!"

"Goodbye."

The projection disappeared, the phone screen went blank. That's it. There was nothing left to remind Nick of his world except his own memories.

He closed his eyes, feeling beads of moisture roll down his cheeks.

Stop lying in bed! Get up! Ashley's last words echoed in his mind like a silent order. Nick sat up and wiped his face.

That's it. Enough.

He picked up the pendant with rings, unbuttoned the clasp and fastened the chain around his neck. They were with him again, as they had been for many years before, but now they meant something completely different. Trust, hope, the beginning of something else.

Ashley's sacrifice shouldn't be in vain. She won't be offended if Nick decides to spend his time not on hatred, but on something else.

The guy grinned. Perhaps he had one worthwhile task for sure! To teach little Sean how to seduce one sweet blonde girl who has an explosive personality.

The guy knew what "trials" awaited young Anderson in the future, and could act as a mentor for personal matters. To take care of his upbringing - he could start by teaching him to keep things in order in the house, then follow his studies so that Sean does not shirk and does not miss lessons, as Nick did in childhood.

Definitely, the boy needs to study mathematics, Ashley will definitely appreciate it. Nick winced at the thought, but love requires sacrifice.

And he also knew all the potential boyfriends who hit on the girl, starting in the sixth grade of school.

The guy rubbed his palms. The plan looked very well! It remained to enlist Sean's sympaties and the victory would be theirs!

"Now we will do this!" he decided, intending to visit Sean's room. Nick got out of bed and mechanically put the discharged phone in his pocket.

Remembering that there was no more sense from the device, Nick pulled out the gadget, and along with it the pendant was pulled out of his pocket.

The one which was an inseparable with the wedding rings that hung around his neck before.

Nick threw the phone back and ran his fingers over the pendant. It was an exact copy of Amelia's pendant.

But it was his own pendant. The one with which Ashley opened the corridor of time. But there was no longer any power in it, it was an ordinary decoration.

As soon as Nick was in this time, the "Heart of Infinity" - a beautiful blue jewel of unknown origin that was inside the pendant, disappeared, spending all its magical powers.

This pendant no longer felt the energy like Amelia's pendant Elena now had. Nick felt the difference very well. His pendant did not exude as much power as the one he held in his hands half an hour earlier. It was completely different with the one he was holding in his hands now.

What? An unpleasant shiver went through the guy's body. No, probably it only seemed to be, Nick reassured himself, but his own feelings proved the opposite.

He spun the side wheels on the pendant, driving away dark thoughts, his heart clutched with foreboding.

The lid clicked and a light blue glow emerged from underneath.

"Oh no, no, let it only seem to me," whispered Nick.

With trembling fingers, he opened the pendant, and his heart sank somewhere down.

Inside the pendant, a jewel shimmered with a cold blue light.

A painful groan escaped Nick's lips. How? How is this possible?! How the hell did this pendant end up in his hands, although Marcus and his parents should have had it?!

Icy sweat broke out on his back, lifting the hair on the back of his head in horror.

Did he change the original pendant for his own?! But how is this possible? Nick clearly remembered entering David's office, taking the pendant, thinking about something, then Marcus called out to him.

Wait. What was he thinking about? There was emptiness in his head, a piece of memory of what was happening with him within a few minutes afterwards was ripped out, as if it did not even exist.

Nick shrugged. It seemed to him that something sticky and invisible began touching his body, like the tentacles of an octopus examining its prey.

He must urgently warn Elena! They took the wrong pendant with them, they took an empty useless thing!

Nick took a step towards the door, the walls of the room floated before his eyes, the floor swayed, and the guy fell down without feeling a blow.

"What's happening?" he croaked, his voice switched to a barely audible wheeze, his body felt as if it did not belong to him, as if he had been injected with a shock dose of anesthesia.

Was it really his death? But according to calculations, there were still two or three days!

Armand! He had to teleport to the living room and give the pendant to Armand, contact Marcus, he will be able to... Black spots blinked in front of Nick's eyes, plunging his consciousness into darkness more and more.

He tried to concentrate, but none of his abilities responded. Neither teleportation nor Lina's mental call.

'Calm down... Stop...'

The words in an unfamiliar voice, like an order, sounded in Nick's head. The guy's body was numb with uncontrolled terror.

'No need to resist. Your destiny was determined long before you were born.'

Nick was scratching the floor with his nails, in vain attempts to move an inch, but the solid surface turned into quicksand - the strength was leaving him, and each movement only plunged his body more into darkness.

That won't go. Somewhere in the subcortex of his consciousness, he was sure that if he now lost control, then irreparable would happen.

A dart. Another one. Two meters to the door seemed like an unattainable distance.

'Stop. You know it is useless. You know that. '

Fear. Panic. Pain. Despair.

Yes, he knows. He already felt it. Did it. Fifteen years ago.

Lost pictures of memory with a sharp blade cut the heart, burned the soul, leaving dead ash behind.

"No, please, I don't want to. Not that…," Nick pleaded, but instead of a voice, hoarse sobs could only be heard.

He will not bear it a second time. Better to die than to do that.

Darkness filled his consciousness, he no longer saw where to move. He only knew that there was a door ahead. All that remained was to reach for the handle and open it.

"Please, somebody... Anybody... Help... I don't want... Anybody..."

An echo of consciousness flared up and died out in the darkness. The hand stretched out in silent begging for help trembled and fell to the floor a few centimeters from the door.