James Newman had a decent life. He was forty at the time, with a loving wife and two great children, a steady job in Chicago and a house not too far from the train station in Naperville. He never admitted to hating his life, and couldn't even bring himself to saying that, but at the same time, he felt something was missing from his life.
James got up every morning at 06:00, made a cup of coffee and breakfast for four. Sometimes it was just some dry cereal and he'd leave the milk out for his wife and kids. Other times, he'd make four plates of pancakes or omelets and leave their plates in the microwave to stay warm. He'd drive to the train station, take the train into Union Station, work from 08:00 to 17:00, be home before the sun set, and watch Seinfeld or The Simpsons with the kids. This was his routine, more or less, every day, for the last six years. After a while, it took a toll on him. He just wanted something different.
One night, he thought he got his wish.
It was just past midnight and the kids had gone to bed. James headed out to the shed to smoke a cigarette when he heard a crashing noise from behind the pool he set up for his kids. He looked around and found what appeared to be a figure in gleaming white armor on the ground. Quickly, the figure got up and pointed at him. "You, human! I am Darth Vader, an extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan!"
James was not amused. "Get out of my yard!" he shouted, pointing a lit cigarette at the figure.
The figure removed its helmet, revealing a human face clad in completely white flesh with black hair and blue eyes. "Nah, I'm just kidding. The name's Lou! Lou Cyprus!"
Lou spoke with a high-pitched, grating shout, with a hint of enthusiasm to his voice. He held out a massive, metallic hand. "W--what are you?" James asked.
"Aw, forget about me! What are you? Just sittin' around, lighting cigarettes to get through your day. You need a little-somthin'!"
"Wha--"
"You wanna come with me? I'm a time traveler!"
Time travel? Was it possible? James had no idea if this man was telling the truth, lying to cover his own errors, or James had simply passed out in the yard. But whatever it was, his deal sounded a lot more interesting than filing paperwork and dealing with slow computer and dial-up modems. And besides, he could always come back to his house in the suburb in the quiet evening of the 20th of August, 1997. James shook Lou's hand, and suddenly found himself in a courtyard.
"First stop, the middle ages!" Lou said as he drew a shortsword and dropped it into the ground in front of James.
James spent a few hours in the woods with Lou, fighting wolves and bandits, collecting bounties in the village and giving to the poor. After the sun set, Lou held out his hand again, and the two of them went to a war in the late 1800s. Lou gave James a modern handgun, which outclassed anyone on the battlefield due to two hundred years of advancement. He felt a little bad about possibly ending lives, but Lou assured him that the changes he makes to the past will be reversed once he leaves. They then hit up the 2020s and got to fight new cybernetic punks Lou called "worthless Techies". As the two of them advanced forward in time, James found himself squaring off against more dangerous threats, yet always coming out on top. At the same time, the future was not anything like he imagined. Everything got a bit darker, and more and more neon tones seemed to be used.
"Wow there, pencil pusher, you sure have a firing arm on ya. I'm a bit of a roving journeyman myself, always looking for the biggest and baddest, and you'd fit right in. Want to meet the crew?"
"Y... you mean it?"
"Yep! Some of those schmucks couldn't even hit a guy from 100 yards, and you were doing that with a pistol! And with all that sweet gear you've got from today, you'd have an arsenal that'd make 'em all cry! Tesla cannon, silver sword, trench knife... nothing else like that collection!"623Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6zEiBFu1F
James agreed to meet Lou's crew, and they shook on their deal. Days, weeks, months, years, centuries, eons, all flying by in an instant, suddenly, the flashing came to a stop and Lou stepped forward into a dark void, lined with just a blue grid. Red and blue neon towers dotted the barren landscape. "Welcome... to the End of Time!!"
"The End of Time?" James asked as Lou suddenly changed from being clad in white armor to a green and white striped suit.
"Yep. I own my own little personal second of the universe that I can do whatever I want with. When you join me here, it never ends, and my band of mercs duke it out for some fun and profit. It's like... It's like a bet at the bar, but a lot more fun!"
Lou opened his mouth and a horrible, ethereal noise permeated the void. Suddenly, about a dozen or so people materialized in front of Lou and James. They all wore outlandish outfits and carried some impressive, but strange, weaponry. "Dude, Lou brought another! And check out that sick Tesla Cannon! hey, is that thing ported?"
"You better believe it!" Lou interjected, showing off the cuts into the cannon's barrel.
"Dude, I'll trade the Bulk Cannon here for one of those babies! Deal?"623Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyepFn3oDBq
"Look, it's been nice to meet you all and whatnot, but I want to get back to my family. Lou, thank you for the day, now if we can--"
"Oh, did you forget how time works, buddy?"
"What?"
"Yeah, as it turns out, you can only move forward in time. Because my personal second is the end of reality, I could push past it back to the beginning of existence, but you aren't a time traveler!"
"So I'm stuck here? For how long?"
"Forever! To fight for me, earn your glory, and become king of mercs!"
"But... but there's gotta be another way!"
"Yeah--yeah, I guess there is! Listen, you want to go back to pathetic little 1997 and see your mortal family and give up living forever, regenerating from energy and being built for unending battles just to make some kids not cry and burn your throat out. I don't blame you. But, eh... it'll cost ya. Bring me the heart from a Goliath and then we'll speak! Oh, and if you don't know what one of those is, Danny or Mordecai will fill you in. Good luck!"
And with that, Lou vanished. James found himself stuck in an unfamiliar place, in an unfamiliar time, with unfamiliar people, and his only ticket out was going to be through these twisted mercs. They were nice to him, when they were on his team or in-between games. They taught him the ropes and showed him how to awaken and destroy the Goliath, and before he knew it, he had been spending millions of credits earned during battles to upgrade the guns he was given by Lou, and wondered if he really, really missed the depressive life he had left behind what felt like a millennium ago. Did they really miss him? He'd be back soon, right where he left off, and things would be right again. But he wasn't going to get that heart unless he made sure the Cyberrifle's stock was compensating for its own recoil, and the Tesla Cannon's batteries were liquid cooled and its grip padded.
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