Love Lost in Time

He ran out, jubilant to be free of whatever had been affecting him. He ran all the way to the big cabin, opened the door, and stepped through. He turned around to shut it, and when he turned back around again, he saw sand. The same sand as he'd seen from the elevator.

Chapter 11

"Fuck," he said.

"Hey there!" he heard someone say.

He looked around, and it was a few moments before he could process what he was seeing, largely because he was distracted by analyzing what had just occurred: The speaker was not speaking English, yet he understood them. What was the language? Finally, he focused on the figure some yards off, and walked toward them. As he approached through the heat haze, he understood it was an old man in robes and head wrapping, sitting under a cloth canopy. As he walked, he noticed there were several women, and at least one figure he couldn't make out, behind the single curtain at the back of the old man, but he lost sight of them as his path took him beyond where he could see them any longer.

"Where am I?" asked Jay of the old man.

"Sumer, friend, welcome!" answered the old man.

Jay's head was so messed up from all the erratic change that he could barely even be shocked, let alone properly process that he was now somewhere around seven thousand years in the past.

The old man waved to a seat and Jay sat down. "What is happening to me?" he asked, since it seemed like the old man knew him somehow. He realized he was speaking Sumerian, too, and effortlessly.

"You've come loose in time. The same thing happened to me when I was your age. We are the same, you and I. The goddess of time called you here, just as she did me." said the old man.

"The goddess of time?" responded Jay incredulously.

"Absolutely. The ten sorceresses summoned you into being, just like they did me. They made us as slaves. Think about it, you remember many lifetimes with them, always a sex slave to them, do you not?"

Jay thought for a moment. He did suddenly understand that he had a huge amount of knowledge of the women, or, he thought now, the sorceresses. Yet, he didn't remember ever feeling like a slave. He remembered always being deeply loved by them, and himself loving them in return. He remembered that they played games with him, and would have to coax him into cooperating with them in lifetimes where he for some reason or other didn't want to.

He remembered the countless times they'd explained what he was to him, and that they always waited until the time was right, because when they'd tried too early he had sometimes gotten bent out of shape. It was a delicate process. And, now, it hit him that everything made sense about the reverse gangbang! They needed him to fuck them a lot. He'd refused to, so they had to figure out a way to get him to do it all at once.

Images of the empty cabin flashed through his mind, and how he had assumed the women had each left due to him being angry with them. Now, though, he realized they had left because they thought he might freak out if he saw them being a decade younger the next morning!

"Are you thirsty?" asked the old man, breaking in on Jay's revelatory thinking. "You might need a drink to keep your throat from getting dry. It is very hot today. We can talk more after you've slaked your thirst."

The old man rapped on the post holding the canopy up. A few minutes later, one of them appeared with a cup of water, and handed it to Jay. He nodded his thanks, and the woman disappeared behind the curtain again. Jay drank it down.

The old man smiled, and said, "The women do whatever I say. See, the goddess gave me my freedom from the sorceresses, but I maintain my power over women. I am able, now, to be free, and to live a normal lifespan here, surrounding by all the women I could ever want."

Jay was disturbed by the old man's decadence, and bizarre behavior, and position in life. He also noticed that the man seemed to be too well layered in robes for this temperature. Something about that was deeply unsettling, though he couldn't put his finger on why. He tried to shake it off, and focus on the conversation.

"So, why is living in the ancient past better than constantly being renewed by the sorceresses?" asked Jay.

"Because you are a slave! This is freedom! Think about it, you are bound to them to make THEM immortal, yet they give you only the lifespan of one year at a time. The goddess will offer you the opportunity to live out your entire life, bound to no one."

Jay was starting to wonder if he was right. Was he a slave? "Where can I find this goddess?" he asked.

The old man just pointed and smiled. Jay followed with his eyes and saw a temple in the distance. He stood up and walked towards it. As he trudged through the sand he started to feel hotter and hotter. Grains of sand whipped at his face as they were kicked up by the wind. He tried to clear his mind.

Finally he reached the temple, and went inside. A beautiful woman sat inside, on something resembling a cross between a throne and an altar. She beckoned to him. She was similar in features to the ten women, but looked more severe.

"Welcome, my dear," she said. "I want to offer you your freedom."

Jay stopped in front of her, and said, "What if I don't want to be free?"

"Then you can hope that your being loose in time brings you back to your women before the next moon."

Jay remembered then, if the women didn't perform the ritual by New Year's Day, he would die.

"Time is still moving? I'll still die at years end?" he asked.

"Nothing can stop time, not for you, since you are universal energy, except completely freezing time entirely." She poured a liquid into a cup from a clay vessel. It caught Jay's eye. It looked like the night sky, studded with stars, but in liquid form. She drained the glass, and said, "This is the water of time. If you drink it, you will be free, just like your new friend out there."

Jay considered it, but also was starting to become suspicious. This all seemed too convenient. Why would a goddess of time want anything to do with him?

"I need to think on it," he said.

"Very well." she replied.

Chapter 12

Jay left what he now understood was the temple of time, and walked toward the city on the horizon. Once there, his ancient memories started to unfold, and he remembered where the sorceresses had lived. He walked through the people on the street, found the building, and went inside. There were many strange objects, covered in cuneiform, all over the interior. He picked up several, and set them down. Nothing seemed useful. But then he saw a small mirror. He picked it up and looked at himself. He looked the same as ever. He thought of the old man, and wondered if he really wanted to trade his eternal youth for freedom. As he looked, though, the mirror clouded, and he realized he was looking at the old man, not himself! This disturbed him, but he felt that the mirror was important, so he put it in his pocket.

He left the temple, and walked back to the old man outside of town.

"Hello, friend." said the old man. He then began telling Jay about the town, and how nice it was to live in this time.

Jay asked him several questions, hoping to be convinced as to what he should do, one way or the other. They talked for a while, and then, on a whim, as they were discussing the goddess, Jay looked in the mirror, and saw the goddess. He realized that the mirror showed him whoever he thought about. He noticed she was talking and gesturing. When he looked back up at the old man, he realized that the gestures and words matched exactly! She was using him as a puppet! Jay stood up, disturbed, and accidentally knocked over his chair. It fell on the old man's robe, and pulled it down slightly from his neck for just a moment. Jay saw putrefying flesh there. This old man, he realized, was dead. That is why he was wrapped in so many layers; the layers hid his dead skin.

Jay stormed back through the sand and into the temple. After walking up to the goddess again, he said, "What are you trying to do? I've seen your trickery! Why would a goddess need to use such tricks?"

She just laughed in reply, and then said, "Believe whatever you want, it means nothing to me. I simply want to help you. You either die in a few days, or drink. No, there is no other spirit of water manifest as a human. You are the only one. More than one would be impossible. I was merely using what had been the old man to help you see your chains!"

Jay realized she had him over a barrel. He had been defeated. He suspected she had been the one to bring him here in the first place, and so she probably would benefit somehow from this process. He stormed out again, and went back to the sorceresses dwelling, and slept there that night.

Chapter 13

In the morning, he'd made up his mind. He walked to the temple and up to the goddess. "I want to drink the waters of time," he said. He'd considered that there probably was something nefarious going on, and he couldn't trust this "goddess," but he had no other choice.

"Then come to me," she said. She spread her legs, and lifted her robe, exposing her pussy.

"I have to please you before you'll give me the water?" he asked.

"No, if you drank the water straight, you'd not be able to control its effects at all! There is no telling what would happen to you! You must drink it from me. Only I can drink it, and control what it does." She poured herself another glass of the awe inspiring liquid, set the bottle aside, and drank what was in the cup.

Jay walked forward, and got on his knees. The goddess started to rub her clit with one hand and beckoned him closer to her pussy with the other. Jay was suddenly filled with rage. He felt used by the sorceresses, and fooled, and he didn't trust this goddess. He was done playing games with this woman. In a moment of mad rage, he grabbed the bottle from where she had set it, and drank it down.

"No!" she screamed, but her voice trailed off into nothingness. Everything became grey, and slowed down. Jay looked around. Time was frozen. The "goddess" he now decided was no goddess at all, since she was frozen, too. The only thing that wasn't was him.

He was horrified, but also oddly relieved. He certainly wouldn't die, now, since his time limit had been extended infinitely. He touched the "goddess." Immediately where he touched her became bright again. The brightness then spread over her body, and she was unfrozen. She pulled a knife out of her robes and stabbed at him. He took several steps back, and the grey descended over her, and froze her again.

He went behind her throne, and found a door hidden in the wall. It led into a hall that had seven portals on each side. As he looked into them, he noticed each one contained a painting. They looked photo realistic, but seemed to be oil paintings. In one, he saw the women he knew, but then he noticed there was an eleventh woman. He leaned in and looked closer. It was the "goddess!" She was one of the women! She was the eleventh sorceress! As he looked, the oil started to run, and the painting became fluid. It started to play out past events.

He saw the women fighting with the goddess. He heard them arguing.

"We can use him once and for all!" shouted the goddess.

"No! We all love him! We will not let you do it!" returned the one he knew as Alma. There was venom in her voice.

He watched their argument unfold, and he began to understand that they had all taken part in summoning him into being, but the ten had fallen in love with him, and had decided to be with him, despite this meaning their immortality would never be complete, and fully permanent, as it would always be dependent on him. The eleventh, "the goddess" had wanted to sacrifice him, in order to be permanently immortal. She would not budge, and made clear she would try to perform the ritual without the consent of the others. For this, she was abandoned by the other sorceresses, and left alone, to live out her normal lifespan, and eventually die. This, while the others moved on, and would live forever with the beautiful combination of universal element, and human, which was the man that they loved.

The painting became still again. He started to feel guilty for doubting his women, and walked around to the other paintings. One showed the goddess performing some kind of ritual in front of a large bowl of water. Reflected in the water was the mouth of a cave. It dawned on Jay that this was how the cave became a tool to make him come loose in time! The goddess had brought him out of time in order for him to end up here, where she planned to trick him into drinking her, which would have drained all of his energy, making her permanently immortal, but killing him in the process.

He was enraged again, but this emotion was replaced by some satisfaction that he'd made the right choice. Yet, he also realized he was trapped in frozen time. He had to get free, and he had to get back to his women!

Chapter 14

Time lost all meaning. Jay wondered if he'd spent hundreds of years in frozen time, or a few days. He really didn't know. He wandered around, experimenting with different things. He discovered that anything he touched became unfrozen, but froze again after he moved away from it. He explored the city, and the temple of time. He tinkered with all of the devices and spell books he could find there, as well as in the dwelling of the sorceresses. Yet, nothing helped. He was trapped.

At one point, he climbed a large tower. Once he was at the top, he looked out over the grey, frozen time wastes. Bitterness struck him, and, noticing a loose block, he started kicking it, over and over. Eventually the block came loose, and fell out. The top part of the tower he was in started to collapse, and tumble. Jay was so apathetic, and dazed from his experience that he just stared, blankly, as the stone room, and he himself fell down toward the temple of time. He saw the stones begin to crush the temple, and then, as the parts he was still inside of began to make contact, everything went black.

Chapter 15

Jay opened his eyes, and he was in darkness. He felt around with his hands, wondering how he'd survived being crushed by the falling tower. He felt stone walls, and figured he must be inside the temple of time. Yet, how was this possible, since it had been destroyed? He felt around, and started inching along one wall. Eventually he saw light at the end of a corridor, and began quickly walking toward it, while still touching the wall to help guide him.

All at once, the he reached the light and leapt through an opening. He was outside, and somehow alive! He noticed it was very cool, though, and he felt a breeze. There was no wind in the time wastes, so something had changed. Delight welled up in him. Had he changed something by accidentally destroying the temple, and probably the eleventh sorceress, too?

He walked around some, but couldn't figure out what he was seeing, as it was very dark. "Fuck!" he shouted, after accidentally kicking a large object. He reached out and touched it. It was a fallen pine tree! He was out of the desert! He wondered where he was, and when he was, now.

After stumbling around for quite some time, he saw a light in the distance. He walked toward it, and realized it was coming from a window, far away. He kept moving, and it dawned on him, like the beautiful morning dawns on anyone lost in the darkness, that what he was looking at was the cabin. He was home! But when was he? It may be back in the 70's, when the cabin was first built, he realized, or even a hundred years in the future.

Jay walked up to the front door, and stood there, taking a deep breath, and feeling great trepidation for a moment. The clouds rolled away, and the silver-blue moonlight spilled onto him, as he stood there, breathing deeply. Then, he opened the door to the cabin. He saw all of his beautiful women there, sitting on the couches. They were all exactly as he'd left them: eating tapas, drinking wine, and lounging in their underwear. They clearly had no idea what had happened.

"Where did you go, darling?" asked Neha as Jay walked over and sat with them.

He told them about the eleventh sorceress, and everything that had happened. They were blown away.

"That witch! I can't believe she figured out how to manipulate the waters of time to bring you to her!" said Alma.

"All that matters is you're here with us, now, sweet darling," added Leela.

Jay sat back on the couch, and let the women fawn over him. They rubbed his shoulders, caressed him, fed him bits of food and wine, and generally tried to get him to feel safe, and comfortable again after his ordeal. He felt so in love with them, and laughed at himself for having even considered believing that they were merely selfishly using him as a slave for their own mortality. He realized that he was bound to them, yes, but they, equally, to him. They had made the irrevocable choice to spend eternity with him six thousand years ago, when they could have chosen to kill him, and do without this symbiotic relationship. They loved him, eternally.

Chapter 16

New Year's Eve rolled around, and the women prepared the ritual. They set up their symbols on the floor of the cabin after moving all of the furniture aside, lighted the candles, and painted their naked bodies with the necessary glyphs. Jay knew what to do, since the time events had unlocked all of his memories for him. He knelt in the middle of the circle of them, and closed his eyes. They performed the ritual. He watched their glistening bodies, and the candles as they dimmed. The room got so cold that he could see their breath, as well as his own. Then the ink started to run off of their bodies, and to run on the floor, toward him, and finally the ink crept up his body, and started to glow. He started to disappear, as he was overcome by the ink, and finally, began to slip into oblivion.

The last thought he had, before nothingness completely overtook him, was a memory of something the women said to him from time to time over the millennia. He heard it as clearly as if one of them was saying it now: "I love you. We all love you. We need you. We will always be here for you, sweet darling. Never be afraid. You will never be alone."