Chapter 1

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                     “Do you think this will look good?” Her voice was nervous as I peeked around the corner, taking in her outfit that she so carefully chose. Light blue jeans that sit close to her waist, flaring just slightly at the bottom. Her brown leather boots peaking out from the flare of her jeans, and a light cotton shirt that was covered with sunflower patterns. Her face remained untouched, no make-up in sight. At least not yet.

                    “I do,” I responded, the toothbrush still in my mouth as I wiggled my eyebrows at her.

                    “Stop,” She giggled, covering her mouth with her hand, “I am being serious! It’s a big moment for us,” she reminded me, the laughter and joy still obvious in her voice.

                    “Well,” I paused, only to spit the toothpaste out, “I think you look absolutely stunning, as you always do,” there was no response from her as I rinsed my face off. She was nervous because today was a big day, a big surprise to her family was impending. 

                    “I hope they are happy for us,” a soft voice as I walked into the bedroom, where she stared at the ring on her hand. Her nails were perfectly manicured, she wanted everything to be as perfect as possible, everything from her hair to her nails, and to her toes that matched the deep maroon color she had picked out.

                    “If they aren’t, I will understand, but I truly hope for your sake they will be,” I took her hand, kissing next to the gemstone she had asked for. A black and silver ring, that showed our soul bond, our marriage to each other. Her family was weary of me from the start, so we chose to elope. Maybe it was the right thing to do, maybe it wasn’t, but it certainly felt right in the moment.

                    “Yeah,” her soft was voice as her eyes didn’t stray away from her ring. I wrapped my arms around her tightly and kissed the top of her head.

                    “I love you,” I whispered into her hair, and she relaxed into me.

“I love you too.”

                    Her parent’s house was all too familiar, yet strikingly cold to me. It seemed warm enough, pictures hanging of their children, of their life achievements, family gatherings and even pets. The massive ceilings stark white made it feel too big, too empty. The carpets perfectly cleaned, lines from the vacuum from earlier in the day were even still visible in some spots. Warm, yet cold. Family, and yet they couldn’t feel further from family to me. Even when looking at the pictures, there was only one that I was included in. It was from the first family gathering Elizabeth invited me to, she was smiling brightly in the picture and I looked uncomfortable in it. Her bright eyes and light hair had been falling into my face, which isn’t what was uncomfortable for me, but the moments of her mom hesitating when Elizabeth asked her to take the picture stuck hard, and it was evident on my face.

                    Her three older brothers were all successful and driven, a doctor, a lawyer, an architect. Needless to say they were highly educated, and they took after their parents. Her father, a well-known psychologist. He had made countless breakthroughs on overcoming addiction and wrote multiple books on how to raise successful children. Her mother, she was successful due to long term family investments and businesses on her side before they were ever married. She had told me about them once but had kept them vague, as old money in this world typically does. I wasn’t sure that half of their practices weren’t illegal.

                    Elizabeth, my wife – that thought would forever bring a smile to my face – my wife, was a free spirit. She dropped out of university to pursue art and woodworking. While she wasn’t great at woodworking, she was at art, design and creating beauty. She started a business herself with a fellow friend who was talented at woodworking but struggled with design. Together they created pieces that were incredible. With both of them working long nights and with Elizabeth putting her entire heart into it, the business became successful. It just wasn’t successful in the way her parents wanted, so they didn’t approve of it. One of the times they began to berate her for the business, they asked for my help in tearing her down. I refused to tear her down, and only built up her talent and made sure to speak of how proud I was of her. That may have been the breaking point where they decided that they certainly wouldn’t approve of me either.

                    “Benjamin,” her mother interrupted my thought as I found myself staring at a portrait of their overly obese cat, named by Elizabeth, that was lovingly called ‘Chunks’. Chunks was a big boy.

                    “I apologize,” I said out loud, putting my left hand into my pocket. Elizabeth had gone forward through the home without me to warn her parents I was there too, “I was lost in thought.”

                    “She hasn’t told us yet,” her mother’s voice was warm, but I knew that was only going to last so long, and I turned to meet her. She was beautiful, her and Elizabeth held so many of the same features, “But I saw the ring the moment she walked in.”

                    “I hope you won’t be too angry with me,” I spoke honestly, “I love her and can’t imagine not being with her. She makes this world better.., and she makes me better.”
 “I always wanted to be more like her,” her mother admitted, her bright blue eyes glancing to where my hand was in my pocket, “Carefree, independent, adventurous. We knew she wouldn’t fall in line like her brothers or follow either of our footsteps, she loved the world around her and showed interest in everything that needed to be created by hand. Then you came into her life, and she became alive like nothing I had ever seen before.”

                    I stayed quiet as she continued, “You encouraged her, support her where her father and I wouldn’t – where we couldn’t. She needed to have a better future than getting her hands dirty and creating furniture for other people,” She paused, her eyes becoming icy as she looked at me from head to toe. It made me feel as if she could read all my secrets, like I was naked in front of her, “There is a darkness about you, one I am familiar with.”

                    “I’m not sure what you mean,” I knew confusion crossed my face, which was a lie. She knew it was too.

                    “You’ve had blood on your hands, haven’t you?” She locked eyes with me refusing to break the eye contact with me, “It isn’t like my family hasn’t been this wealthy for as long as we have without a darker history. I wanted her to stay away from someone like you, someone with no family to speak of and no records to find. I’ve tried and failed many times to find out exactly who you are.”

                    “I’ve told you,” I sighed, these weren’t the first accusations she has made against me, but they were the most detailed. She wasn’t completely wrong, I was war-torn, I had blood on my hands, but there was no darkness in me, I only fought for good – what I considered good, “I am Benjamin Lovell. I was adopted when I was two years old by my great uncle because my parents passed away in an accident. I have never laid my hands on another human.” Not lies, not fully.

                    “I will find out about..,” her voice trailed off and her eyes went glossy. Her focus was no longer on me, or anything in this room. It was almost as if her consciousness left her mind. It hadn’t, though. This wasn’t a dazed look, this was time halting around us. This was something else.

I glanced around the room quickly – something else had changed as time stood still. What was it? There were no noticeable differences, but the air around was thicker. The hair on my arms stood up and the energy had changed in the room. Fading images around me, changing, morphing. The room felt like it was spinning as I tried to make it stop, but this was stronger than I was. This power was creating a different reality around me. I felt like I was going to puke as it spun faster around me, and then I heard the scream.

                    “Benjamin!” My feet were moving before a thought could pass, glass shattered and the room around me warped. Full time manipulation.

                    “Elizabeth!” I yelled out as I felt something tackle me to the ground – not something, someone. The air escaped my lungs as we hit the wall. I struggled with regaining air as I tried to fight them off me, “Elizabeth!”

                    “Benjamin!” Another scream, a crash and her pushing through the door down the hallway from me. Seeing her gave me the strength to push my attacker off me for a moment. I ran towards her only to be caught mid stride and thrown to the ground. The crack my ribs made as I hit the ground made it obvious that my they broke under my own weight from the force I was thrown with.

                    I looked up to see a man behind her, unmasked but blurry to my eyes. I tried to focus, they were using techniques I had seen many times, but I was caught so off guard. We had always been safe here; I didn’t fear anything. I don’t know if I can overcome this fast enough.

                    The man grabbed her waist before lifting her off the ground and pulling her back. He opened a portal as she kicked against him, throwing her weight to get free. A small slip of his arms because of her kicking and she was able to bite down hard, drawing blood from his arm. He yelled out and it gave me enough of a chance to summon my own magic, using air around us to force the other man off me. A small spell, one of the few I could summon without further help or more concentration.

                    I ran to Elizabeth, seeing my own blood on my hands. I must have hit glass to cause these cuts. I grabbed her close to my body, my blood getting on her clothes as I looked over her quickly, “You’ll have to run, I’ll hold them off, I promise.”

                    “Benjamin, who are they? Why are they here?” She cried as we stumbled down the hall together, my body shielding hers, but the sinking feeling in my gut told me all I needed to know about how this would turn out.

                    “I don’t know, I don’t,” and I didn’t. My gasps of air, the pain from my ribs. Was my lung punctured?

                    Before we could even get to the front door the man who had been after me appeared in front of us. I hesitated for a moment too long trying to think, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. He used that to his advantage and hit me in the head, causing me to fall back with Elizabeth. She fell on top of me – the pain from the weight landing on my ribs made my vision go white. My breath failed.

The screams were muffled, my vision was white and blurry, but I could still feel the power around me. The ability to manipulate time was rare, it took centuries of training and a millennium to master. I didn’t know anyone else could, other than me and my mentor.

                    “Benjamin! Wake up!” It sounded distance, slow fading, “Benjamin!”

My eyes focused enough to see her be lifted off me, the men holding each of her arms as they walked towards the portal that was opened just a few seconds before. She was still fighting hard against them, screaming for me to help. I forced myself onto my feet, but they were slow, and my body stumbled as I reached out towards her. I couldn’t breathe.

                    “Find me,” she cried as she fought to get an arm free, the tears ran down her face, fear in her eyes. She was pleading.

                    “I will,” I replied, still reaching towards her as I attempted to move faster. The pounding in my head and lack of oxygen caused me to collapse as I reached for her. Panic. Uncertainty. I looked up at her again, I could feel the blood running down my face as we made eye contact for the last time. Her voice faded as the portal closed behind them.

                    “Find me…,” 

                    “I will.”