The sun had already set when we arrived at Mark’s neighbourhood, and the streets were far from empty. People were strolling peacefully now that the heat of the day had begun to dissipate, and some were even on their way to meet up with someone. It had been two years since Mark had moved there, and while both Jason and I had visited him on several occasions, something about how he called us over seemed quite strange.

“Why do you think he called us here?” Jason asked, as if he was able to read my mind. “Whatever it is, I just hope it’s worth it! I was really looking forward to eating that pizza we were preparing!”

As luck would have it, Jason had come over to my apartment to discuss something, and we were in the middle of preparing the aforementioned pizza when Mark called, asking us to come over as quickly as possible, without offering any other explanation. Even though we often exchanged messages with him, it had been a while since we had seen each other in person.

“I have no idea. But knowing him, it could be anything,” I replied.

After several meters, we eventually reached his street, but there was no need for us to walk up to his building. Mark was waiting for us under a streetlight and was beckoning to us. Before we could greet him, he said “quickly, there is something weird in my car that I have to show you,” and he started walking away without any further explanation. We followed.

“Say, since when did Mark have such a long hair, and even a ponytail?” Jason asked me. He was right, I couldn’t recall ever seeing Mark like that, and the way he was behaving was completely different from the person we knew.

He walked fast, stopping only for a moment to verify that we were behind him. Eventually, he reached the train station that was next to his neighbourhood and, without a word, he went in and through the ticket gates. We assumed that was the shortest way to reach the parking, where his car would be, and I was thankful I had loaded some tickets into my travel card early that morning. Otherwise, I’m not so sure Mark would have waited for us to get the proper tickets to go through the gates. Though it felt like a waste to use a ticket just to go through a gate and then exit through the one in front of it.

This side of the station had a downwards escalator that led to some sort of open mall plaza with shops organized in several levels. It was a popular meeting spot because it had many different shops and restaurants with terraces. As we went down the escalator, we could see a group of people chatting whilst eating ice-cream. Overlooking the whole open area was a screen that showed the upcoming trains and their respective platforms. Mark had stopped in the middle of the “plaza” and, after looking at us, went towards the toilet sign.

“Hmm, in fact I also need to go to the toilet,” Jason said. “Be right back!”

I sat by a small fountain and looked around. Suddenly, the lighting of the area had changed to a much darker tone and people started running away. Confused, I looked up at the screen that had been showing the upcoming trains and noticed that its contents had changed. It was now displaying a couple of pictures under the title “WANTED”. My picture and Jason’s.

“What!?” I shouted, looking at the text underneath the pictures. “What do you mean wanted for murder!? We haven’t done anything like that, this must be a misunderstanding!” But no one was there to hear me. As people were fleeing the area, guards and police officers started to come in, armed with rifles that seemed to be aiming at me.

I raised my hands. “Wait! This is a misunderstanding!”

Someone in front of me shot. Yet, the bullet seemed to be shining as it flew at the same speed as a person walking. I could somehow dodge it without any effort, waiting for a second shot that never came. Instead, the police surrounded the area entirely, aiming at me from the distance without making any sound or movement, like they were waiting for something.

After a moment, I started hearing footsteps approaching from behind, where the toilets were located. I turned around to see Jason carrying something in his hands and advancing whilst looking at it, oblivious to what was happening.

“Dude! That toilet has video game vending machines!!” he exclaimed. He was so busy that he didn’t notice police suddenly aiming at him. I ran towards him, as fast as my legs would allow, and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to the ground.

Click. I could hear the triggers being pulled.

Instinctively, I extended my right hand reaching out to the empty space in front of me. As I moved my hand, the air shifted, like a ripple on a pond that was magnified with each movement until it reached the people aiming at us. When it did, they were thrown backwards into the air, pushed by this unknown force.

I turned to Jason. “Quickly, we have to leave before they recover!” He nodded and started running towards the exit at the other end of the plaza. Preparing to follow after him, I noticed an old man with a walking stick looking at me near one of the benches of the plaza. He was calling for me, and gesturing towards a strange orb-like object on top of the bench. Completely ignoring my surroundings, I went towards the man and, without a word, I picked the orb from the bench.

It shone with a pale gray light and it was warm to the touch. I wanted to ask the old man what that strange object was, but when I turned around he had completely disappeared. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the orb was displaying some sort of image and it didn’t take me long to realize I was looking at myself in the plaza, looking at the orb, the present. Whenever I turned the orb, the image would shift, instead revealing past events, so I wondered if I could somehow control the flow of time with it. If so, I could definitely fix this whole situation.

The more I turned the orb, the more I saw into the past, but I never noticed the deep black puddle that had begun to form at my feet. I only had eyes for the orb and what it was showing, as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist. Eventually, the orb stopped showing anything altogether. Where there had been a pale light inside the orb, now there was nothing but a dark void.

Until she appeared.

A woman whose face I couldn’t discern at the beginning due to being covered in shadows, wearing white and black silk robes. When her face finally appeared from withing the shadows enveloping her, she looked normal, like any other person you’d find on the street. Yet, her face became distorted into a grimace and started laughing in an eery way.

“Are you sure about what you are trying to do?” she asked. “You will gain power, but will you be able to handle the weight of your actions?”

What was she talking about? I wanted to ask her, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“You know, beings like us only greet our equals.” She started laughing again, as I heard the word “hello” repeat infinitely and with different tones. I got scared and dropped the orb on the ground, returning to my reality.

The armed men had disappeared and, in their place, three hooded figures were approaching from in front of me. They didn’t seem to be armed, but something about them made me feel uncomfortable. They were dangerous. Surely enough, they started running towards me and with every step I could feel the ripples in the air that I had felt before, meaning they were at least capable of the same feat I had performed earlier.

Without prior warning, the three of them started attacking me at the same time with perfect coordination. I could barely manage to dodge them so it became clear to me that I didn’t stand a chance against them in the long term. There was only one thing I could do: flee as fast as I could. When an opening appeared, I jumped with all my strength. It felt like the gravity and air resistance had somehow ceased to exist, and I managed to land outside the train station. No doubt they would be following me, so I started running and jumping through the streets: the balconies were but stepping stones for me, and the external pipes at the corners of some buildings helped me to make sharp turns without losing momentum.

During one of these turns I managed to check behind me. Two of my pursuers had fallen behind, but the one remaining was much faster than them and was quickly reducing the distance between us. As I jumped through a large avenue, I could feel his hand reaching out to grab me. Instead of continuing forward, when I stepped on the next balcony I shifted my weight and propelled myself directly to the street to my left. The hooded figure had too much momentum, so he couldn’t stop on time to follow after me, giving me some advantage and extra time.

In front of me there were no more streets of buildings, but train tracks and several trains that had seemingly been parked there for the night. I landed in between several trains and managed to open the door of one of them, with the intention of hiding inside. However, it seemed somewhat obvious, so I left the door open and hid over the train instead, taking advantage of the lack of lights in the area.

Shortly after, the three hooded figures arrived and walked towards the train door I had left open. “He can’t have gone far.” They got on the train to inspect it in the opposite direction to where I was hiding. I was trying to not make a sound, but the train started vibrating and making sounds of its own.

They had apparently decided to start the train to turn the lights on, so I had to swiftly jump from the train and hide under another one, further away. The three men talked, though I couldn’t hear what they were saying, until they finally left. I waited for several minutes until I was sure there was no one else around and came out of hiding.

I stood in silence while I caught my breath, and looked into the night sky with a serious expression. “It won’t let it end like this.”