Game of Chase - Game Start
Skylar woke up to a scene he hadn’t experienced in years.
He was on his back, lying snugly among plush layers of pillows and silky blankets. Above his head was a ceiling covered in thousands of tiny, lightly glowing stars. Skylar knew that the sky painted by these stars was the sky from when he was born.
The room was larger than he remembered it, or maybe he’d just gotten used to the cramped settlements he’d been surviving in for the past three years.
In the end, nothing made sense.
He shouldn’t be in this room. He shouldn’t be able to be in this room.
His childhood home, the White Sky Manor, had been reduced to ashes and rubble. This room, with its luxurious beddings and costly decorations, had long since ceased to exist.
Skylar sat up with a pillow in arm and clutched it tightly. While taking in every inch of surroundings with an intense gaze, he didn’t want to wake up from this dream.
A light knock felt like an explosion reverberating through the room. A long-forgotten bell of a voice called out.
“Skylar, dear, I’m coming in.”
As if in slow motion, Skylar’s mind could barely process the woman walking in.
Dark hair, almost black like the darkest chocolate, and kind, cerulean eyes. She lacked the white streaks and crow’s feet Skylar knew she should have from when he last saw her.
His mother frowned as she sat at the edge of the bed and reached for his forehead. “Skylar, have you fallen sick?”
Skylar could barely nod in his dazed state. He must be sick.
“You don’t feel warm,” she murmured to herself. “I thought you wanted to pick Sonja and Sora up from the airport. You’re always so excited to see them. Did you stay up all night? You shouldn’t exhaust yourself like that.”
The airport? Sonja often traveled, but Skylar could only recall Sora going out of the city with Sonja once in his entire life.
“Today is?” Skylar barely managed to ask.
“You must be really exhausted,” his mother sighed. “No helping it. I’ll call Sonja and let him know to come straight home. I won’t let Sora bully you when he gets back.” She carefully pushed Skylar onto his back and tucked him in.
Skylar released his grip on the pillow to tug onto his mother’s sleeve. “Today?”
She laughed lightly. Deciding to amuse his delirious state, she said, “March 17. The year is 2084.” She loosened her son’s fingers from her sleeve. “I’ll go give Sonja a call now. I’ll be right back with soup. Rest now, dear.”
She closed the door behind her.
One moment later. Another. And another...
Skylar finally processed the situation as he pinched himself from the nth time, enough to draw blood this time.
He stared blankly at the red droplets pooling out of the tiny injury.
Holy fuck. This wasn’t a dream, and he wasn’t a cold corpse either.
He actually went back in time.
It worked? It worked. He was so certain that the project was just a complete waste, but those bastards actually managed to revert time. Wow.
He scratched at his wrist, trying to feel out the microchip the mad scientists had shoved in there. His nails easily dug out the chip from right underneath his skin. It actually worked. Their first attempt actually worked!
Skylar was so certain he’d walked straight to his grave, but here he was.
He smirked as he crushed the microchip between his fingers. Surely, they would just assume their first attempt was a failure. The first attempt is always a failure.
He would grasp this new future with an iron fist.
He looked back at the clock above the headboard. 7:12 AM.
Sora and Sonja should be boarding their jet now.
Sora would be kidnapped before he could step onto the terminal. Sonja would chase them down. He’d lose them anyway. He’d cancel the flight and spend the next few months pursuing Sora and the kidnappers. Eventually, Sonja would go missing too.
Meanwhile, Solara and Skylar Davit were waiting at home, utterly oblivious to the chaos soon to come.
Skylar couldn’t give a fuck about them, but his mother would fall ill from the stress of losing her two oldest children. He wouldn’t let that happen.
Another knock on the door.
But first, breakfast with his mother.
