21 - "Fate's Crossroads: A Quest Through the Ages"

In the year 2020, on June 21, after three years of unrelenting hard work, Swayam eventually completed the formula written on the Monolith. He successfully created the medicine that would transform vampires and werewolves back into humans.

With the help of the medicine, although they would become humans once more, the remarkable abilities of werewolves and vampires would still remain accessible to them.

***

During this duration, he even fostered a profound connection with Vale, strengthening their relationship significantly.

***

Now, when the moment had arrived to enable vampires to walk beneath the sunlight. Yet, a new dilemma loomed before him – who would be the first to undergo this transformation? It seemed everyone harbored a fear of approaching Swayam, let alone offering assistance.

While King Gabriel was a potential ally who could have been asked for help, the thought oddly slipped from his mind, almost as if some unseen force were deliberately obscuring it.

Upon learning about her better half's concerns, Vale insisted on being the first to undergo the transformation using her husband's medicine. She did so not only out of love and determination but also because she feared that if she didn't, Swayam might attempt the experiment on himself, risking an unfortunate accident.

***

As Vale had feared, their hopes took a dark turn. The moment Swayam initiated the Time Machine, with Vale seated inside it, disaster struck. The machine malfunctioned catastrophically, and in an instant, Vale appeared to have been vaporized.

A horrified silence hung in the air as the machine's eerie hum ceased abruptly. Swayam, his eyes wide with disbelief and terror, stared at the empty space where his beloved Vale had been just moments before.

Panic set in, and he frantically examined the Time Machine's controls, desperately trying to reverse whatever had gone wrong. But the damage seemed irreversible. He knew that tinkering further with the device might only compound the catastrophe.

***

Blaming himself for Vale's tragic fate, Swayam isolated himself in Vale's room, shutting out the world for nearly a month. His grief was all-encompassing, a heavy cloud that hung over his every thought and movement.

During this time, Windy, a close friend who had supported them through thick and thin, did everything in her power to help Swayam heal. She proposed a daring idea – to use the Time Machine once more, this time to travel back to the day they had inadvertently caused Vale's disappearance. The plan was to prevent their past selves from initiating the fateful experiment in a desperate bid to change the course of events.

With a glimmer of hope rekindled, Swayam cast aside his guilt and doubts. Determination etched across his face, he swiftly adjusted the Time Machine's settings to transport them back to that fateful day.

As the Time Machine hummed to life, and the temporal vortex began to swirl, Windy's insistence was unwavering. She couldn't shake the blame she placed upon herself for not preventing Vale's recklessness that day. Determined to make amends, she stood resolute, ready to accompany Swayam on this journey through time to stop the experiment.

***

On August 30, 2020, with determination coursing through their veins, Swayam and Windy initiated the Time Machine once again. The date loomed before them as both a chance to rewrite history and a daunting test of their resolve.

Their hearts pounding with anticipation, they activated the Time Machine once more. However, fate had a different plan in store. Just as they were about to succeed, a malfunction in the Time Machine's final moments sent them hurtling not to their intended destination, but back in time to the year 1020.

Tears still fresh on their cheeks, they couldn't believe their ears when a familiar voice emanated from the left seat of the Time Machine. Their gaze fell upon Vale, sitting beside them in the unfamiliar surroundings of the year 1020.

Confusion swirled within Swayam as he turned to Vale, his voice trembling as he posed the question that had haunted him for so long, "What happened to you when we attempted to make you human?"

"I don't know what happened either," Vale replied, her eyes reflecting the same bewilderment that gripped Swayam. "But I found myself trapped inside the Time Machine." The mystery of Vale's disappearance and reappearance deepened, leaving them with more questions than answers in this enigmatic journey through time.

As Swayam grappled with this newfound revelation, a torrent of questions surged through his mind. Could it truly be possible to imprison one's essence within a device? And more perplexing still, why did Vale appear unharmed and how had she come to be ensnared within the Time Machine in the first place? The enigma deepened, leaving them on the precipice of a journey through time that held secrets beyond their wildest imagination.

Amidst the whirlwind of questions occupying Swayam's mind, a sudden, thunderous commotion echoed up from the base of the hill. He swiftly turned his gaze downward, where a stark and astonishing sight awaited him – a formidable vampire army and an equally imposing werewolf army, locked in a tense standoff. The perplexing enigma they had encountered was about to become entwined with an even greater mystery, as the stage was set for an otherworldly conflict.

As the tension between the vampire and werewolf armies intensified, Vale's eyes widened with a sudden revelation. Memories from her inexplicable time within the Time Machine resurfaced, a haunting voice echoing in her mind – a voice that had persistently chanted, "You have to stop the war if you want to know more."

Now, faced with the surreal sight before them, it seemed the key to unlocking the mysteries of their temporal journey lay in preventing this impending clash between two supernatural forces. The enigmatic pieces of their journey were falling into place, yet the answers they sought remained shrouded in uncertainty.

Upon hearing Vale's revelation and recognizing the urgency of the situation, Swayam swiftly devised a plan. He implored Vale and Windy to embark on a mission to their ancestors, beseeching them to intervene and halt the impending war between the vampires and werewolves.

With a sense of purpose ignited by the mysterious message and the weight of their journey through time, Vale and Windy set forth on a quest that held the fate of both the past and the future in its balance.

***