When Time Collides ★ [2] ✔

A Time of Healing - Part Two

Buildings caught alight. Fire roared through the city. Screams of fear and panic erupted into the night. People tore through the streets—parents dragging their children to safety, men trying to juggle belongings, escaping the lick of flames. A man on fire bolted past. A horse galloped away with its tail aflame. Bodies, burned and charred, lay on the streets. The giant wooden horse was alight.

I watched, horrified, as the people of Troy tried to flee their fiery homes.

Such carnage. Such destruction. And the pain...it was unbearable, the stench of fear heavy in the air. I'd only seen this much devastation once—during World War II. But this...this was cruel. This didn't need to happen.

"Let it burn!" My eyes fell on a man, a Greek leader, standing in the square nearby. He wore a wicked grin of accomplishment. "Let Troy burn!"

My eyes flicked to Andi. The expression of silent agony she wore shattered my heart. Terrible feelings ate at me. My curiosity had forced her to watch her home burn to the ground for a second time.

She soundlessly wandered through a portal and I followed.

We were outside the city. Miles ahead of us, Troy burned, fire against an unforgiving black night sky. A group of Trojans stood around us, crying out in pain and misery.

"Could you have saved them?" I asked.

Andi swallowed before replying. "No. The Fall of Troy is a fixed point in time. I can't change that." She looked to the ground. "I wanted to, though. I would give anything to save them. My father was murdered this night. My brother died months before. Many loved ones perished to make insufferable tyrants feel powerful." Her brow furrowed in sorrow. "This was all out of spite of a selfish and bitter king. It was not worth it. None of it."

"Why couldn't you save them?" I tried dangerously.

"Because it's against the rules of time. Saving them would create a paradox, potentially destroying the future. If I wasn't restricted, I would've saved them a long time. I would've saved a lot of people I couldn't during my travels. But I can't."