Baqi

I look towards the glass doors of 399. "I'm ready." I hug my friend, Emma.
"I'll call you after I walk out behind you, Baqi. Safe travels!" Emma replies, tears shining in her eyes.
"Love you, Emma. Remember that." I whisper back, kissing her on the cheek.
She gives me a light shove. "Go on, then. This is your moment. I want to see you go back, and then I'll join you. Hopefully my phone works! It would be a shame if we had to wait for it to charge."
I laugh it off as I walk through the door.
 
...
I did not expect to start falling.
Levels begin to ascend past me, uncrumpling from beneath and wrinkling into nothing but point upon elapsing me.
I cascade through a mass of familiarity, my newfound home winking in and out of existence before my eyes. 11, 1, 399 all wax and wane before my eyes.
Layers of time and space overlap and fold everywhere, as a sempiternal, paradoxical wind howls in the inter-space around me.
Glimpses of people and events flashed before my eyes. Omnipotents and Potents alike merge into an unremitting sector of my mind, the vision carving itself into my head, and I come to a sudden cognisance.
There is a lot more than it seems to be.
And then I reach the bottom.
 
I hit the ground with a thump. How am I not dead?
Getting up regardless, I observe my surroundings. A solemn tree stands besides me, and the sky is littered with lifeless stars. 
 
Ironic that the last thing that I will most likely see will be similar to the place that I had thought I would return to, isn't it?
It just wants to torment me one final time. It can have the last laugh. I'm done with this shit.
I sit beneath the tree, on my own, waiting for my death.
The soulless sand remains stationary underneath the unsought, reticent sky.
 
 "Baqi." 
 A voice reverberates through my consciousness, sliding between my memories.
 "Wh-who are you?" 
 "I am The Clocksmith, a being almost like you. I am what some call an Avatar, a sort of God." 
 "Are you real?" I whisper beneath my breath. 
 "Yes, Baqi. I am not a hallucination. I am here to offer you a chance." 
 "Continue. I'm going to die here anyways." 
 "Your fall from 399 was not meant to happen. You stumbled across a gap within The Backrooms, falling past space and time entirely. You have reached Termination, the end of everything. You are going to die soon, as you know."
...
"I can help you. While I myself cannot transport you, you can do so for yourself. You may grasp survival; you may flow along Time itself to get back to where you were with no repercussions. However, allowing you to swim back through the river of Time will mean that you must become my Champion. I cannot trust anyone with the ability that I may grant to you, and so I would wish for you to work with me." 
 "Sure." I instantly replied. 
 "You answered that quickly... I sense a loved one is motivating you to continue."
 "I hope that you do not come to rue this." 
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Made by Char.
Unedited Image by Ross Peebles.
Category:Person of Interest
Category:Tales
Category:The Clocksmith