The Sandbox: Time Loop Stories
#1 of Time Loop Stories
my first chapter in a story series that I'm hoping to make a regular thing though given that these are just random snippets, I don't think that I'll be able to give anyone a steady time table between chapters.
1,1: Exposition, What a show. Exposition, Here we go, Exposition, now we know. Dump on lots of info so everyone knows the plot!
1.2: And this is why you should avoid politics, also he had it coming.
1.3: Always remember to wear a shirt when getting an offer to join a Wizarding School.
1.1
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Journal entry: Date: May 1987.
I can't believe it. I've somehow been transported into the past. At first i thought it was a horrible cruel fate as I had lived my life. Had a somewhat decent life, and I was going to die happy and old, but no. Here I am waking up for the first time back when I was five years old. Will be 6 (again) this November.
I am however not alone as it seems my twin sister Jessica also remembers everything prior to waking up at age five like myself. Though she seems to have memories of an entire year after I had died. I guess we've been for whatever reason given a second chance. A chance to do things differently and correct mistakes made and take opportunities previously missed. My sister wants to try to take the opportunity to become a cop this time around. I suppose I should make plans of my own, but I've never really had to plan much of anything. Suppose I'll try for college and see where it goes from there. But that's not for many many years in the future. For now i'll just enjoy being a kid again. And right now I have a water gun loaded down with a lot of ice and water with Jessica's name on it. Ooh! I think I hear her getting out of the shower now!
Follow up:
Note to self, do not try to soak a recently-cleaned and super strength-endowed twin sister with ice water. Tis not a good idea as it tends to cause unnecessary remodeling to the house. I'm also grounded for a month after I get out of the hospital.
Strange, though. Last time around she only had super endurance with no super strength. This time around she appears to have both. An interesting change. I'd like to do more research on that but I'm only five years old and don't have access to any of my old machinery that I used in my previous life. I suppose I could just build them again but I doubt either of my parents would let a five year old anywhere near power tools.
Follow up:
That's not fair! Now she can also fly?! And all I got was super intelligence! The same super power I had in the last timeline! So not fair! T_T
Journal snippet: July 4th, 1988.
Supercharging the fireworks equals bad idea. Grounded for the rest of july.
Journal snippet: December 12th, 1989.
OMG! I have mind powers!
Journal snippet: December 25th, 1989
I got a computer for Christmas. My parents wanted to help me set it up so they went to go find the instructions, but by the time they got back I had already assembled it and was logging in. They seem further impressed that I got it to beep Carol of the Bells through the sound card. I love my Commodore Sixty-four. Jessica got a Nintendo Entertainment System. So jealous...
Journal snippet: March 3rd, 1991
Our youngest sister Esmeralda was born today. Mom looked so weak but oh-so-very happy, and our baby sister looked healthy. It's in this light, seeing her swaddled up in mom's arms, I can't help but wonder and fear about the future that's due to happen for her.
Maybe I can change that. Maybe their death can be avoided, maybe I can make things right with Esmeralda so that she doesn't have to lead a life without them... I will make things right.
Final Journal entry (Audio file mp3 format): May 31st, 2000
(Male voice) I tried, heaven knows I tried to warn them. I told them everything I could about the future and what it held but I failed. They didn't believe a word of it and so our parents left a month ago. Their mission was compromised and that familiar military marine appeared on our doorstep, carrying that all too familiar letter with his apologies.
I begged them not to go but there's no going back now. Damnit! It's not fair! WHY GOD?! ...I guess, what's done is done, and now Jessica and I are currently preparing for what's going to happen tonight after little Esmeralda goes to sleep...
(Female voice) Asalis, you ready?
(Male voice sighs audibly) Computer, save and close journal entry.
* * *
The cream colored lop humanoid rabbit by the name of Esmeralda Jenkins tossed and turned in her sleep. Nothing made sense anymore in her mind. Everything had fallen apart the day that man appeared on their doorstep with news about their parents death.
From a very early age she had known that she and her siblings were different from everyone else. They may have been born to two human parents but they themselves clearly did not look human. Her older brother Asalis tried to explain that it was the result of genetic modification that the government did to their parents that resulted in their particular birth. She didn't entirely understand it but that didn't make it any easier. The kids at school all laughed and made fun of her. They teased her and called her names, and in some cases threw things at her. Yet through it all she had a safe haven. With a family that loved her and parents that would take care of her. She felt safe and secure knowing that they were there. And now suddenly they were gone. That night she sobbed herself to sleep and began to dream, yet her slumber was not a peaceful one.
In Esmeralda's dreams she was in a corridor, running, trying to reach her parents at the other end yet no matter how hard she tried she couldn't' get any closer. She struggled and strained but something would grab and claw at her body to restrain her movements, something almost burning to the touch, she could feel its warm breath on the nape of her neck. She chanced to glance behind her and was instantly repulsed at what she saw. Fear crept through her body as she saw what appeared to be a demon of unidentifiable species. Its head appeared to be that of an elk skull without its skin and broken and cracked horns. It's body twisted and gnarled as it clawed at her body. Its jaw oozed with fire that licked at her fur.
The creature soon gripped at her chest about where poor Esmeralda's heart would be and started to squeeze soon followed by a burning sensation that quickly spread quickly through her body. She couldn't help herself as she let out a blood-curdling scream that followed her into wakefulness, but as she soon learned that's not all that followed her to the waking world as there, standing before her, was the creature.
Esmeralda let out another blood-curdling scream of fright just before the door burst open and in rushed Jessica. It was then in this moment that time appeared to stop and a new sensation flooded into the cream-colored lop's mind. New thoughts filled her mind, almost alien yet familiar. It was as if an entire lifetimes worth of memories was being shoved into her head in the span of a blink of an eye. Each one carrying bits and pieces of a whole new personality that slowly merged with hers. Then once everything was in place, Zeek Awoke on a much higher level of understanding.
It was in this moment that Esmeralda looked up just in time to see her now very much alive older sister Jessica suplex a demon through the windowed wall of her bedroom out into the front yard. Her now equally alive brother Asalis quickly rushed over in an attempt to comfort her. Her past memories soon came crashing like waves to the forefront of her mind. She was in the past at the most pivotal point of her entire life. The day she discovered that she had a superpower after all. This was the night that she discovered she could use Magic.
With vigor in her eyes she quickly pried herself from her brothers grasp and ran through the hole in the wall. She could see her sister wrestling with the demon but this time it appeared that things weren't going Jessica's way. This time the demon was much stronger and appeared to be mopping the floor with her older green-furred sibling.
The demon let out a deep tormenting laugh as it raised it's hand. A ball of energy started to form from a tiny pin prick but grew to twice the size of its hand, aimed straight at the prone and injured prey. However just before it could deal the final blow it heard the worlds "Celestial Blade" cry out and seconds later a blade of pure light pierced it from behind bringing any further actions to an abrupt halt. With apparent dread on its bony face the creature looked down to see the tip of the light sword poking out from it's chest before it exploded in a bright crimson ball burst of flames and ash. For a moment no one said a word as a bewildered twin rabbit duo and a very angry cream-furred lop with a summoned spell blade in her grasp could do nothing but contemplate over what just transpired. With a few calming breaths Esmeralda dispelled the blade and turned to face her older brother whom stepped through the gaping hole in the wall of their home.
"Zeek?" he asked with confusion on his voice. "Is that you? Do you remember everything from our lives back before time reset somehow?"
Esmeralda had to quirk an eyebrow at this new bit of information. She had encountered temporal events since she started her journey down the path of magic, but to find that her own sibblings had been sent back in time as well really threw her thought processes for a loop. Something about this situation suddenly didn't sit right with her. "Yeah, it's me." she replied. "I guess we can officially write magic off as the cause of this time travel based incident?"
"I wouldn't mind knowing what the hell is going on." Jessica fumed as she picked herself up off the floor. "That was not the original demon I faced off against last time. And now you suddenly remember the old timeline?"
"Perhaps I can answer that." The trio turned to face the source of the voice. Standing there the middle of their lawn was a woman wearing a long flowing forest green gown tied at the waist by a thin silver laced rope. "The name's Danu. I'm the mother goddess of healing, abundance, love, wisdom and creativity. I am also goddess of rivers and water and the ebb and flow of inspiration."
"This isn't the twelfth century." Jessica interrupted. While attempting to beat the dirt and mud out of her pants.
"Actually Danu's origin go as far back-" Asalis started but was quickly silenced by an enraged glare from his sister that sent a cold shiver that pierced him to the core of his soul like thousands of tiny daggers.
"Shut up bucky, and I swear to God, if you start quoting that show, I'm going to throttle you." Jessica turned to face the goddess once more. "I've just got news of my parents death, then had to fight a hell spawn and now my youngest sister suddenly remembers everything after 9 years of hoping like hell that she wouldn't be like us. Now I want some answers, and if I have to start bashing your face in to get them, I won't hesitate."
Danu simply smiled and waved her hand, a green holographic panel appeared in front of her, brimming with seemingly unintelligible text. She raised a hand and tapped the panel just as Jessica started a sprint straight at the goddess only for the green furred rabbit girl to be halted in place by an unseen force.
"What?! I can't move!" Jessica exclaimed. "The hell did you do to me?!"
Danu simply smiled and exhaled softly before regarding the trio once more. "As I was saying. I am Goddess Danu and I am your world's admin. That means I am responsible for the well-being of this world and its active anchors, meaning you three." She looked at each one in turn before continuing. "Now, if there are no further interruptions, I will continue with my explanation, starting at the beginning, but I warn you that it is a very long one, so you may as well get comfortable." The Goddess waved her hand at the hole in the house for it to disappear as if it had never been damaged in the first place. Next, she turned her gaze to the female rabbit twin and released her with a press on the display.
Jessica caught herself in mid tumble, sighed deeply, and half-stamped to the front door of their house. "I'm going inside!" She growled as she approached the front door.
Once everyone was inside and the humanoid rabbit trio seated in the living room, Danu brought up her holographic display once more and tapped at it for a brief moment before images started to appear on the two sided display. "What I have to say is going to be a long one but I have prepared a visual aid to go along with my tale to hopefully make understanding a bit easier." with that, she tapped the display and the screen divided into multiple moving images of random places as if they were simply prerecorded camera feeds on some of them, while others appeared to be random images from multiple different television shows.
"This is a visual representation of the greater multiverse as you may come to understand it. Every reality that you can think of, as well as many things such as your favorite tv shows and videogames are each held in their own separate realities." Danu began. The images soon started to zoom out showing even more images as it did so, until they were tiny pin pricks too small to identify anymore yet it kept zooming out even further. Eventually it panned back enough to reveal a two dimensional representation of a giant tree. "This is the Tree of Yggdrasil in which all of these said realities are held within, and it is up to us Admins to help keep it maintained and stable."
"And who are the Admins?" Zeek asked.
"That would be every deity in every religion you've ever heard of and many of which i'm sure you haven't." Danu explained. "Both in the fictional shows you watch in addition to any and all mythologies you've probably heard about in your schools, and so many more yet to be revealed to you in the greater multiverse."
"And you all maintain these realities held within this great tree?" Asalis asked with piqued interest.
"That's correct." Danu answered. The image soon changed to the image of a black circle with a question mark in the center impacting into the tree followed by a large chunk of the tree trunk being taken out. "However the tree suffered damage from an unknown source and this has led to the destabilization of all realities within the great tree.. Many were ultimately lost as a result of the collisions. Others were heavily corrupted and are still in repair. To prevent the rest of the realities from being wiped from existence, we had to put most of the immediately endangered ones in suspension until they could be worked on properly, while the rest, like this reality for example, had to be put on a temporal loop to keep them stable. From here they continue repeating events over and over again until the repairs to Yggdrasil are complete.
"So that's why Jessica and I woke up at age five, and Zeek several years later?" Asalis asked once more to receive a nod from the Goddess in answer.
"If the realities aren't put on repeat then we risk losing them entirely." She looked up from her console to meet their eyes directly. "The ones that are currently still suspended are the ones closest to the damage and are thus far too risky to even attempt working on. We've lost quite a few of them when we tried to set them looping."
"So where do you fit in?" Jessica asked, the skepticism prominent in her voice.
"I am your unique world's Admin." Danu answered honestly. "I oversee this and many other worlds and ensure that they continue to run smoothly while aiding in Yggdrasil's repairs wherever I can."
"Alright, I'm following so far but.." Asalis shifted position on the couch he was seated on. "I'm curious by what you meant when you said this world was 'Unique'."
"I'm glad you asked." Danu smiled. "Your world is actually a very special one as it was created based on a concept for a game that never came to actual fruition. It was intended to be a kind of sandbox world. One where you could literally do and become anything your heart's desired. The game would then changed based upon those choices and decisions made. From what kind of breakfast you pick for the morning, to what future career you want to set for the rest of the game. Unfortunately no such technology exists anywhere in the many multiverses within Yggdrasil strong enough to house a concept such as this..."
"Except for the Tree of Yggdrasil itself." Asalis finished.
"Correct." Danu replied.
"So what exactly does this mean for us?" Zeek asked. "Where do we go from here?"
"Well, let me answer those question with another question." Danu's smile grew. "Where would you like to go? What would you like to do, or become? The choices and their answers are completely yours to discover."
"Interesting proposal and opener..." Jessica spoke up. "But I'm willing to bet that this isn't the only reason why you consider it so unique?"
"You would be correct in that assumption." Danu dispersed the holographic display before her. "In all of the multiverse of worlds that are currently looping, yours to date is the only one that spans from roughly the beginning of one's life and does not end until the last anchor's life has expired, whether it is from natural causes, unnatural, or something else entirely. This includes both native and visiting anchors to this world."
"Wait, visiting anchors?" Zeek and Asalis both asked in unison.
"Oh dear me!" Danu exclaimed while placing a hand on her cheek in shock. "I almost forgot to tell you the most important parts about being in the loops." her hands waved once more and the display once again returned, this time showing two neon green lines running parallel to one another." Let's say these lines represent two separate realities. When running as they should they do not normally associate with one another, however.." The two lines then swerved together merging at a point. "Occasionally in some resets for the loops, two or more realities will merge into one in an event we like to call a Crossover." The display then changed to a world with two groups of bubble people which stood as a generic representation of those two worlds inhabitants. "When that happens, you get elements of both worlds combined into one, as well as the two worlds anchors and native loopers inhabiting the same reality at once, but also.." the image soon changed to one of an individual wearing an orange gi fighting a very stretchy pirate, and a man in a red gi with blue hair fighting in some sort of arena. "These three anchors that you see on the display are actually each from a separate reality. However there are times when instead of the two worlds combining, the visiting anchors are instead sent to another anchor's world. There are many more kinds of examples but regardless of how it actually occurs, when elements of two different dimensions combine it is called a Crossover." Danu closed the console and returned her attention to the trio before her once more with a knowing and eager grin on her face. "So I ask you three once more: What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? When do you want to do it? The choices are in your hands."
"Why do I feel like we just went through some kind of tutorial?" Jessica remarked, not masking the confusion in her voice. This of course sent everyone else into a roar of riotous laughter.
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1.2
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"So what did we learn?" Jessica asked with her arms folded, glaring at her twin brother through the bars of the jail cell he was locked inside of.
"That I probably should have stayed a State Senator and not gone for Presidency of the United States." Asalis answered back sheepishly. "Kinda funny though in retrospect."
"Funny?!" Jessica spat, the irritation evident in her voice. "By acts of sheer incompetence you accidentally started World War Three!"
"Hey I also got them to agree to not nuke the world and work out a more peaceful solution." Asalis protested.
"By begging and crying your eyes out publicly across the world on live television proving in their eyes just how much of a fucking retard you really are as President!" Jessica screamed in counter.
"Yeah I kinda deserved that impeachment." Asalis sighed in resignation while scratching the back of his head in a nervous tic. "Still ya gotta love the VP I chose."
"Yes, our current president not only cleaned up your mess but is also now being heralded as the bringer of the new golden age for the United states with reforms and laws that are currently undoing decades of economic damage to the states that were started long before you or I were even born." Jessica clasped her hands tightly around the bars now, glaring daggers at her brother. "I suspect that was your real plan all along. Now stop changing the subject!"
Asalis sighed once more. "I just saw that a lady had left her purse on the table and I was trying to be a good samaritan and return it to her. How was I supposed to know they were trying to shoot a film."
"The camera crews were standing right there!" Jessica raged at her sibling. "I know for a fact that you're not that oblivious!"
"But the rest of the public doesn't." Asalis smiled as he laid down on the pull down bed he had previously been sitting on, and placed both his hands behind his head. "So when are they gonna let me out of here?"
"As soon as someone posts your bail of well over nine hundred thousand dollars in damages and lost film time." Jessica replied not missing a beat before she walked off with a mischievous grin on her lapine muzzle.
"How much!?" Asalis exclaimed as he bolted straight to the bars to cry after her sister. "You can't be serious about leaving me here!" His sister however did not reply as she disappeared around the corner. "This jokes' not funny! Jessica!"
"That's Police Officer Jenkins to you." She finally called back from around the corner, followed by the loud clang of another barred door that slid and locked into place. "Good night!" she half sang, her fading foot steps solidified in Asalis' mind that she had absolutely no intention of helping him out of this mess what so ever.
"Fumets." was about the only thing he could think to say in this moment as he plopped back down on the only bed in the cell.
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1.3
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Esmeralda was having an absolutely wonderful dream. She wasn't sure how she knew it was a dream or what the particular dream was even about, but what she did know was that she was thoroughly enjoying herself. So It was completely without much surprise or want that in this moment of sheer bliss that reality decided that it should butt in and utterly ruin this truly wonderful moment for no other reason than the fact that it wanted to. Or at least that's the best explanation Zeek's mind could come up with as to why something was now continually scratching, tapping and otherwise making a complete ruckus outside her bedroom window.
Zeek attempted to drown out the annoying sounds by stuffing her pillow tightly against her head, but that only succeeded in making whatever was causing the ruckus to try even harder to get her attention. The next thing to follow was a very loud *WHUMP* against the wall which caused the poor girl to bolt upright in sudden fright from the startlingly loud sound. \ **WHUMP* * it went again, drawing her attention back to the window once more.
Now fully awake and very much enraged, she threw off the covers, stamped angrily to the window, and threw open the shutters. Now it was due to her rage and frustration that a certain very important fact failed to register with her brain. Said simple fact as it turned out was that she often prefers to sleep in the nude, and thus in her anger addled neglect she failed to put anything on before opening the tall window. So as she threw open the shutters and leaned out the window to deal with the noise was at that moment when several of the neighborhood residents, whom happened to be in their front lawn tending to their gardens, mowing the lawn, or whatever it is one did on the in front of their homes on a summer weekend, were all now privy to a fully exposed though still completely fur covered view of an eighteen year old naked humanoid rabbit. Fortunately for you the reader there was a conveniently placed lawn table umbrella blocking your view of anything particularly naughty because I just felt like pointing that out for no reason other than to make you think of that image.
None of this registered in Esmeralda's mind however as she was now confronted with a very confusing yet curious scene of an owl carrying a sealed letter in it's talons that only had the words For Esmeralda Jenkins written on the front. The owl of course made a couple gestures of its head that Zeek quickly interpreted and held out her hands below the furiously flapping owl. She was thus rewarded when the owl dropped the letter into her awaiting palms and promptly flew off with it's task now completed.
As the letter floated to a rest on the floor if one happened to be there and chance to glance down at the discarded letter one could see it's contents which read as follows.
Dear Esmeralda Jenkins
You are hereby cordially invited to join us here at the wizarding school of Ilvermorny. Should you choose to attend our school we can provide you with the best in scholarly magical pursuits and hopefully help you in learning what it is to be a member of the wizarding world. Whatever your decision, you need only write a responding letter and seal it with the wax seal which we have included within the enclosed envelope. Shortly thereafter it will be picked up via one of our messenger owls and delivered back to us.
We hope to see you in August!
Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine
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