Book 1

## Chapter 1

Ice bear gazed up at the night sky, twinkling stars like glitter poured onto a sheet of black. She sighed, her voice echoing off the cavernous mountains of Antarctica. She was all alone there, as her parents had died in quicksand a year back. It was 2144, and Ice bear had just turned 16 that day. But how could she celebrate when she was all alone?

She had lived a bitter life, the harsh winds of Antarctica battering against her soul and the empty feeling of loneliness spreading throughout her body. A shooting star flashed across the dark night sky. It was beautiful, streaking a bright golden against the black, and Ice bear couldn’t help making a wish. “I wish I could time travel, then I could have my family back,” she whispered. Then her eyes grew heavy, and she slowly dozed off into a peaceful sleep…

But suddenly, she felt like she was being carried away, but it was probably just a dream. That happened sometimes, when her dreams felt like reality.

Rays of iridescent sunlight seeped through her eyelids, forcing them open. She slowly fluttered open her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them. But when her eyes focused and the scenery came into focus and took shape, Ice was flabbergasted. Instead of the snowy land of  her home, blurry smudges sharpened into clear crystal structures arching over the floating islands that stretched towards the horizon. She looked down, and a white fluffy cloud shifted into focus, bits of mist condensing or blowing away every now and then. Mist creeped through the floating islands and swallowed most of the scenery, making it feel mysterious, but at the same time, ethereal.

Her cloud floated closer to the islands, and as the mist parted for her, she saw movement on the islands, and a big, glowing number above the crystal arches.

Some people were scattered across the island, their indistinct chatter filling the empty quiet void. This place was nowhere she’s ever been to, and it seemed there was no way of getting out. All around her was the glowing sky and the milky colours shifting every now and then, like a flowy nebula. Ice bear decided to focus on the glowing numbers above the arches, realising they all had four digits. Was it supposed to represent the year that moment happened? Were all the people and things on the island supposed to be part of moments of time?

That’s when she realised. In every single island, across the entire expanse of the void, was an extremely familiar figure. Her. It was like millions of reflections, each of them reflecting her image, but all at a different age. These moments in time were all moments of her life only.

She watched the island that said “2132”. There were two spritely figures bouncing down the hill to a picnic site, sitting down there together, and watching the sun slowly dip below the horizon. They hugged each other, and when they turned around, Ice bear saw their faces. She gasped.

The taller bear was her, but she was a mere 4 year old back then. The figure that young Ice bear was hugging, his face was blurred and smudged. No matter how she looked at him, she could not focus on his face. Could that have meant that his face had been washed from her memory, fading some more every time she looked at him? True, she hadn’t seen him in 8 years, but there was no way she could forget who he was. He was, her long lost brother, Hop bear. Warm tears streamed down her cheeks and rolled down her fur as the memory played out some more, for he was no longer there with her. He had been kidnapped when she was 8, and she had tried her best to forget about him to drown away the grief and guilt at the kidnapping.

Ice bear sobbed, and couldn’t help but choke out, “Hey! Hop bear! I’ve missed you so much!!” But the smaller figure just kept laughing with his sister, aware only of his present, only of the blissful moment he was surrounded by. As far as he was concerned, a 16 year old Ice bear didn’t exist. Only a 4 year old Ice bear did.

“They can’t hear you,” a musty voice called from behind her. Ice bear jumped, fear spiking throughout her body, hairs standing one by one in a brief shiver. She saw someone concealed by a white, smoky bubble and raised her eyebrows curiously. “I prefer staying in this bubble,” he said, almost on cue. “I’m the guardian of time, but you can call me the GOT.”

Ice backed away, the current surge of information overwhelming her. Did he say guardian of time?

As if detecting her puzzlement, he added, “Of course, how could I forget! Welcome Ice bear, this place is called time.”

## Chapter 2

Time? Time was a place?? And how did he know her name? How did she get here? What was a GOT? When reality splashed across her senses, a wave of panic and questions rushed through her. She stared at the GOT, at a loss for words. She had so many questions, she had no idea where to start.

“I-I-” she stuttered, not quite knowing how to finish that sentence.

“It’s okay, Ice bear. I know you’ve always wanted to time travel, and today, your wish has finally come true.” Well, she had wished for that last night…

“You see, I've been watching over you for many years, hoping for the right time to show you this. And when you wished that wish on your birthday last night, I felt like I should make it come true. After all, Ice bear, I've noticed you’re special. Remember that time last year? You were getting attacked by a wolf, and you got pushed off a cliff? How do you think you survived?”

Ice bear thought for a while. All she remembered was getting a huge headache as she was falling off the cliff until she blacked out. Then she reappeared back in her house, completely unscathed. How?

“You have unique abilities to save yourself, Ice bear. I can help you with what you need.”

“But.. why only now?”

“Because, on your 16th birthday, the time portal opens for visitors to come in. I have no idea why it’s like that, but only when a new heir to guard the time portal is born does this portal open after 16 years. It was some rule that the previous guardian of time set.”

Heir? Did that mean she was the GOT’s daughter???

“Not heir like daughter, I meant like the next eligible bear that comes along with special abilities, that can be the next guardian; just like the old GOT. But he was the first guardian to invent time,” GOT said, as if reading her mind.

“Don’t worry, Ice bear, I’ll tell you everything you need as soon as you grab this ring.”

A ring floated into her hands, glistening gold in the unnatural sunlight. When she grabbed it, a frenzy of information rushed through her mind, lots of images and whispers and strange new rules about how to time travel. Immediately, Ice bear understood how to time travel. When the headache from the information rush subsided, she was so excited to try it out.

“Wait!” GOT exclaimed just before she was about to time travel. Remember that any time you want to return here, all you have to do is to grab the ring, close your eyes and picture this place.”

Ice bear shrugged, the information rush had already taught her that, but it felt like he was warning her…

“Also, Ice bear, never forget, you need to be careful with time travel. It can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and a wrong move has deadly consequences.”

Fear prickled Ice bear’s senses as she stared uneasily at the ring. She was ready, she was gonna time travel. She already knew what to get back that she once had…

## Chapter 3

The first thing she was gonna do was to get her parents back. From the information the ring had given her, she now knew how to time travel. All she had to do was imagine a place, date and time, and the ring would whisk her away to that memory.

She stared at the ring, and forced the memory she’d buried deep into her mind to resurface.

Her 10 year old self, running around happily around the most famous quicksand spot in Egypt, named “quicksand of O’deadly”. Her parents, watching in the crowd as an Egyptian tour guide told them about how dangerous the quicksand spot was, and even demonstrated it by dropping someone’s wallet in it.

“Hey! My wallet!!!!” a random guy yelled. He was wearing a brown t-shirt that said “HUMANS ARE EVIL”. After the alien abduction of humans and their domesticated pets in 2079, the animals had taken over the world, no longer needing to cower in the shadows or meet in their secret underground cities, hoping the humans wouldn’t slaughter them…

Ice bear was in fact, quite impressed with how it swallowed up that guy’s wallet in 2 seconds flat. She laughed as the guy started running in circles like a headless chicken. But the laughter was short-lived. It was already too late- the last thing she heard were the blood curdling screams of her parents as they fell into O’deadly. Within 2 seconds, it had swallowed them and engulfed the tops of their heads, nothing left of them.

It was a horrible tragedy that day, Ice bear stared at the quicksand spot, tears rolling down her cheeks. She knelt before her parents final resting place, her muscles giving way as she collapsed on her knees and sobbed and sobbed. She tried to call for help, but no one cared. Then she remembered, her parents had told her before, that if she was without them, she needed to find the nearest express train home.

So, Ice bear picked up some of the stray 50 dollar notes that fell out from the random guy's wallet, and took the egypt express train back to Antarctica. Sure, it was a long 29 hour ride, but when she got back home, all she was feeling was an aching feeling of loneliness, that has only gotten stronger with every day she lived.

Ice forced herself out of the flashback. She glared at the ring, getting ready. Old memories came together and tore open the cracks in her heart, but she couldn’t stop. Not if she wanted her parents back. Closing her eyes, she allowed the memory of them in the quicksand spot to spread and develop, until she remembered the exact moment in time and the exact place. Then, her eyes opened again, gleaming with silver sparkles as a golden bubble wrapped around her and warped the scenery. The scenery blurred and distorted and swirls of silver and gold obscured her vision as a date appeared on the bubble: 31 May 2144, Antarctica and it started counting down all the way until it reached 2 December 2138, Egypt. The swirls turned yellow and faded away, revealing the current scenery.

Her parents were about to go on their trip to Egypt, where they had been killed. Her bubble arrived right at the moment where they were looking at the quicksand of O’deadly. Thanks to the information the ring gave her, she knew that the time travel bubble is invisible to all the people who belong in the timeline. But as soon as she stepped out of the bubble, she would be visible, so she had to be careful. She pushed her way through the crowd around the quicksand, and saw her parents. They were watching the quicksand in awe with their daughter, her. Then, she noticed a hooded figure. The hooded figure stared at Ice bear's parents. He gingerly walked up to them, and with one great push, he pushed them straight towards the quicksand.

“NOOOOOO!!!!” Ice bear screamed, lunging for her parents. They were just about to fall into the sand when she managed to grab onto their fur, and using all her strength, pulled them away from the desert. They crashed onto the soft yellow sand and grains of sand spread across the ground after they fell backwards.

Her parents, still in shock, stared at Ice bear for a long time. “Thank you young bear,” they said as she helped them up. Ice bear nodded, staring at her parents. Happy memories flooded her mind as she looked at her once cheerful life. Just then, she noticed the hooded figure glaring at her. She really had to go now. Besides, the ring had told her not to spend too much time outside your timeline, if not you could really mess up the future. A warm tear streamed down ice bear's cheek as she stepped away from them and walked into her bubble, grasping the ring. But the hooded figure kept staring at her. Wait- weren’t people in this timeline not able to see the bubble? Unless…

Before she could observe the hooded figure any more, the bubble whisked her away from there.

She thought of what had happened just now. So her parents didn’t die in a tragic accident, someone had actually murdered them!!!! HE’S SO EVIL, Ice thought.

Ice bear was shocked, all this time she thought it was an accident. And to think the killer had been right under her nose!

She shook the thought from her mind. *It’s ok, everything's been fixed now. I won’t need to worry…*

When the bubble brought her back to 31 May 2144, the scenery looked so different. Her igloo stood in front of her, and it was a huge, towering mansion. She stepped inside and stared at the breathtaking sight. She stepped on the smooth, shiny, blue crystal floor as she walked, gasping in awe. An ice chandelier hung from the ceiling, right in front of a huge spiral staircase. Ice bear observed that there were many photo frames on the snowy white walls and on the furniture, and in every photo- her. They all had her and her parents in them, just all at different ages. This was definitely her house. She stepped onto the soft, white wool carpet in the centre of the living room, where a glass coffee table sat above it, adorned with lavender in a vase. Then, she saw 2 bears stroll into the room.

“Mom! Dad!” Ice bear screamed, running towards them. She jumped up and wrapped them in a tight hug, starting to cry. “I’ve missed you so much.”

She was so happy that they were alive again!!!!

“Um Ice bear, we just saw you 1 minute ago, how can you miss us?” They asked. Ice bear also knew from the ring that her past self that belonged to this timeline would be merged with her, and she’d get all the memories. Hmm, well she wasn’t feeling any memo-

“OWWWWWW!” Ice bear screamed as she clutched her head. *Yep, here come the memories*, she thought. Suddenly, she now possessed the memories of her previous timeline, as well as this one. It was as if the Ice bear of the current timeline had merged into her body, and now they shared a conscience.

“Are you okay?” asked her mother, Free bear, anxiously.

“Oh, I’m fine. It was just a little headache.”

“A HEADACHE?? OH NO, THIS IS TERRIBLE! WE NEED TO BRING YOU TO THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW BEFORE YOU DIE!!” Cold bear, her very paranoid dad screamed.

Ice bear rolled her eyes and laughed.

“Dad, I’m fine, it’s just a small headache.”

So, Ice bear had to spend about 30 minutes trying to convince her dad that it wasn’t the end of the world before he begrudgingly agreed.

The pale moonlight bathed the snow outside in a dim, icy glow. Glints of snow reflected the light every now and then in a majestic way, making it seem like a twinkling white beach, every grain a sparkling crystal. Ice bear crawled into her sprawling canopy bed and sank into the silky covers, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. Finally, I have my life back, she thought as she drifted off into a peaceful dreamless sleep.

Bluish rays of sunlight streamed through the pale blue crystal walls in her room and the warmth seeping through her house slowly brought ice bear out of her sleep. She rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes and yawned, stretching her arms and legs. She slowly got out of bed and got ready, because today was a big day. Her new memories had just sunken in, and she knew that today, her parents were moving houses.

“We wanna live in LA!” Ice bear’s parents exclaimed.

They had started packing at 3 in the morning, and had just finished. Now, they were gonna move!!

The moving vans had already carried away all their things, and now all they had to do was to find their new house. Ice bear turned on an app on her phone called CHEAP LANDLORDS and hired a landlord named George. He wore a red hat and had a moustache and looked like he was in his 70s. Thanks to genetic engineering, bears could now live to up to 150 years, and George was still considered middle-aged. Then, she sent a message to George:

*Dear George,*

*My parents and I want to move to LA. Could you help us find a nice house there, that's very cold? Thank you!*

*Ice bear*

“It’s hot in LA,” Ice bear explained to her parents.

Now the express landlord service in 2144 helped her buy a nice bungalow that overlooked a forest in LA. It was a huge, very cold estate, complete with an indoor waterfall and a fish pond that surrounded the house, and 5 floors, with a basement. There was a jacuzzi, swimming pool, cinema… all that stuff. Since her parents ran a very successful business called FANCY PILLOWS, they made lots of money from selling pillows and were multi-billionaires. So, they could afford a 70 million dollar house.

They booked plane tickets to LA and while Ice bear sat on the plane with her parents, she stared out the window and couldn’t help but wonder what her new life would be like…

The plane arrived at LA Airport at 10 am, and Ice bear excitedly rushed out of the plane. Her parents chased after her wearily. They took a taxi, and when they reached their new house, Ice bear was flabbergasted.

A beautiful mansion stood in front of her. It was mostly made of glass and through one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, Ice bear could see a huge living room with a gigantic flatscreen TV, a large platform overlooking the living room, and an elevator at the end of the platform, situated after a small flight of steps. Ice bear looked up and saw a huge triangular balcony jutting out of the 5th floor, with silvery streams of water cascading down each side of it, and into a fish pond. Ice bear hopped across the smooth rectangular stepping stones above the pond in between the waterfall as the sound of crashing water filled her ears and drops of cold water splashed on her cheeks. The crisp smell of pine trees in the forest filled Ice bear's nostrils as a gentle breeze blew by, stroking her fur gently.

She excitedly ran towards the Olympic size swimming pool and their cold tub. She was certainly overheated from the hot LA weather, and sank into the cold tub, icy water creeping up her spine. “This is the life,” she whispered.

While her parents chatted with landlord George and paid for the house, Ice bear decided to explore their massive house. She stood on the balcony and stared at the city in the distance. If only her long lost brother could’ve shared this life with her…

She told her parents she was gonna go to explore the city and started to trek through the woods. She gasped when the hot air hit her fur. “Yep, I definitely need ice-cream.”

She stared at the massive city with lots of buildings, all the radiant colours of each building mixing in her eyes to form a beautiful rainbow of streets, houses and shops. The bustling noises of the city and indistinct chatter buzzed in her ears as she walked around. Suddenly, Ice bear remembered her ring.

“Wait… wasn’t there a famous ice-cream shop here 10 years ago?”

She decided to use her ring to time travel. She thought of the date, exactly 10 years ago, and the bubble appeared around her to bring her back to 2134. “Hey I’m really getting the hang of this!” Ice bear thought triumphantly.

Ice bear gasped as she reappeared in front of the ice cream shop. It was HUGE! After getting some banana split ice-cream, she time travelled back home effortlessly, still licking her ice-cream. When she came back home, she realised George and her parents were still chatting. She walked into her new house, where boxes with all her things in it were strewn all over the smooth marble floor. Setting the aircon to -10 degrees, ice bear sat down on the plush sofa and ate her ice-cream leisurely.

When she finished her ice-cream, she went outside to see if George was still there with her parents. Sure enough, he was. Her parents had politely excused themselves to go to the toilet (surely because they couldn’t listen to him talk any longer), but George was still standing there, waiting for them. He had already been chatting for an hour! This George guy really didn’t know when to stop talking! Then, Ice bear had a mischievous idea. She was gonna use her ring to fast forward 1 more hour, surely he’d be done by then!

So, she whipped out the ring, the sparkly gold thing shimmering in the sunlight. But then, it caught George’s eye.

“Hey!! I WANT THAT RING!” George screamed, pointing at Ice bear’s ring. The ring was rumoured among everyone to have time-travel abilities…but since she was the only one who earned the right to use it, she had to protect it from others.

Fear rushed through Ice bear’s body and she grasped the ring, dashing away hoping to escape George.

## Chapter 4

However, George didn’t hesitate to chase Ice bear, yelling, “GIMME THE RING!!!” Ice bear panicked, adrenaline coursing through her veins, channelling her energy to her legs to run as fast as she could. She whipped out the ring, and since she didn’t have enough time to think of a plan to get rid of him, she randomly blurted out, “Ring! Quick! Bring me to uhhhh Bangladesh before George was born!” The ring obeyed Ice bear and whirred to life, and a bright white light clouded her vision as a bubble formed around her and whisked her away to Bangladesh, 2074. Once there, she bent over, panting. George must have seen her time travel to get ice-cream with the ring and realised it had powers!

“GOT!!!!!!” she called. “HELP ME!”

She didn’t really expect him to appear, but he did. A splash of mist appeared and when it cleared, she saw a very bored looking bubble. Ice bear didn’t even know bubbles could look that bored.

“GOT!” Ice was so thankful. “Can you alter timelines? George is going to steal my ring if he’s still there…who knows, maybe he won’t leave until he gets his hands on it!”

The GOT’s bubble shifted and his musty voice said, “Ice bear, altering timelines is dangerous.”

“Please!” Ice bear said. “What other way is there to stop George?”

The GOT went silent. Then he finally said, “You’re sure he’s evil? Then why don’t you bring him here? Then he’ll be far away from you.”

Ice bear considered that for a moment. “No, he can always track us down.” An image of George riding a plane back to them appeared in her mind and she shuddered.

“So the ring’s in danger,” The GOT murmured to himself. It sounded like he was trying to decide what to do, pulled in two different directions. “I would do anything to protect it,” he said finally. “And it definitely belongs with you, the heir to time.”

Ice bear watched him hopefully.

The GOT’s bubble drifted up and down slowly. “Fine. I will alter the timeline to make George born somewhere else...maybe here…but then you’d have a new landlord.”

Ice bear was so relieved. “Okay, great. Just make sure the new landlord isn’t evil,” she teased.

“But remember, this is only for emergencies. Changing the timeline is hard. You have to concentrate and work out every tiny detail or time might collapse.” The GOT waited for Ice bear to nod, and then his bubble went still.

Vibrations rumbled in Ice bear’s fur. Then she realised…the ring was glowing! It shone a deep blue as time readjusted itself, shifting and changing events.

After a few seconds the rumbling faded and the GOT was done. “Phew,” he gasped. “That was hard. Ice bear, you should be getting your memories of the new landlord right about now…”

A rush of sounds filled Ice bear’s brain, but not nearly as overwhelming as when she had gotten her parents back. When her head cleared she looked up and…saw a young George with his mom happily shopping in the streets. So it had worked! George had been born in Bangladesh after all!

“Thank you so much, GOT!” Ice exclaimed. The GOT’s bubble bobbed in acknowledgement. “At least the ring is safe.” With that, he disappeared as quickly as he came.

Now that was done. “Take me back to 2144,” Ice bear told the ring. A swirl of colour wrapped around her as it brought her back to 2144.

Ice bear opened her eyes, and got ready to walk home. However, when the scenery cleared and she was just about to step out of the bubble, she realised that the scenery was completely alien. This didn’t look like LA…

Ice bear panicked, walking around the place frantically. Tons of people wandered the streets, and it was way more crowded and noisy and hot than LA. It was already night time here, although ice bear remembered that before she went to get rid of George it was still early afternoon. How could it be night time now? Unless…

This wasn’t LA.

She paced nervously, wondering how it was possible for this to happen. She glanced down at her ring. The date read in white glowing letters: 31 May 2144. Ice bear was confused. What could’ve possibly happened. Then, it hit her like a slap across the face. What if- sending George to Bangladesh screwed up the timeline so much that… this was the present now?

But, if it were, she would’ve gotten all the new memories of the current timeline. So… what? Ice bear had a million questions and no answers. Fear soaked into her senses as reality splashed in. What would she do now? Maybe she could ask someone if they’d seen her parents? She tapped a random guy’s shoulder.

“Excuse me, have you seen my parents? Their names are Free bear and cold bear,” Ice asked, her eyes brimming with hope.

The bear looked at her with a confused expression, like he couldn’t understand what she had just said.

He replied, “আপনি কি বললেন ?  আমি বুঝতে পারিনি.”

“What?”

It seemed that he was speaking a different language. She realised then, that she couldn’t tell what anyone was saying here. I’M IN TROUBLE, she thought, fear cutting off her circulation and suffocating her.

She clutched her head in fear as she tried to think about what she was supposed to do now. But then suddenly, as she was walking, a floating hologram signboard came into view. On it, there were glowing blue letters scrawled across it.

It said:

WELCOME TO BANGLADESH!

“OHHHH!” Ice bear screamed in realisation. “OF COURSE! I FORGOT TO SAY THE PLACE I WANTED TO TRAVEL TO, SO I ENDED UP IN PRESENT DAY BANGLADESH!!!”

She slapped her forehead and laughed, thinking how silly she was. But in the process, she accidentally dropped her ring.

“SERIOUSLY??” she screamed. She flung her arms in the air. Wow, she had to be less clumsy.

She chased after the ring as it skidded across the floor, until it was out of sight.

“Uh oh...” she trailed off.

She couldn’t lose the ring… it was extremely important and was her only way home! Now what would she do? Was she gonna stay in Bangladesh forever?

“GOT? Are you there? I need help!!!” Ice bear tried to call for the GOT. The GOT glittered into view in his smoky bubble and told her, “I think you need to figure this out by yourself!!!!”

Something about the way the GOT said that made Ice bear wonder if what was about to happen next would change her life.

Since the GOT wanted to figure it out herself, she decided to try to think of another way…

She cautiously stepped towards the dark alley, trying not to imagine what monsters lurked there. Just then, she saw a gold sparkle in the darkness. Step by step, she got closer to the alley. Until the dark corridor that was blanketed by darkness was right in front of her. She reached her hand out towards the sparkle, only to see that a dark figure was emerging from the shadows. Ice bear gasped in shock, reeling away. A new wave of panic flooded her senses as the figure got closer and closer, until it stopped where the shadows ended. It reached out a paw, and on it, the ring!

*Oh no! He’s gonna steal that for sure and I’ll be dead!*

But then, the figure started to talk.

“Hey! You dropped your bagel!” The figure said.

Not with a scary person voice, but with a sweet, high pitched voice that sounded horribly familiar…

She just couldn’t place it.

That was, until he stepped out of the shadows, and out emerged a white bear.

A rush of fragmented memories swarmed together as something clicked in place.

Although much older, she recognised that bear right away. She knew for sure who he was. He was…

Her long-lost brother, Hop bear.