It started as a sort of my own version of The Butterfly Effect, but right now I'm not sure where it will end up. I know what's going to happen in the end, but the road there might take me places I didn't know existed.
I made a bookcover already and ditched the title The Legacy of Mary Zuu for the spur-of-the-moment title that came up while I was busy writing the backtext of the book, so now the probable title will be:
Then Came Mary
SYNOPSIS:
Mary gives Yaan a cup of coffee on a rainy day, and ever since that day destiny seems to have made up it's mind to bring those two together. At first it's a bitter sweet union. Mary doesn't really care that much, because life with Yaan is such an adventure she could never go back to her boring life. Yaan is mostly disturbed by Mary's presence, but then realizes he's not only disturbed, he is in love as well. Things get complicated when Yaan is supposed to finish his assignment - to edit people who didn't fit in out of the timeline. He has a list with the names of people that shouldn't exist. He never showed that list to Mary, not even when she asked him to. There's only one reason why, and that's the same reason he's decided to disobey all rules about time he ever knew. It's because the last name on that list is Mary's.
The earth was in for a big shift - at least according to the time wranglers - and some people were standing in the way. Not in the evil-powerful-want-to-destroy-the-world-or-own-it way. More like their vibrations weren’t in harmony with the shift, and if they’re not edited, the shift will phase out and not happen. The time wranglers had many times tried to harmonize all human’s vibrations, but their success had been so infinitesimal it could almost be seen as a failure. That’s when they had started looking for other ways to dealing with un-harmonized humans and someone had come up with the thought that if someone could travel in time to the moment they were born, or though of in the first place, and change some parameter; time of birth, parent, place of birth - anything - then they maybe would harmonize more with the shift.
Turns out they were wrong. Nature has a way of dealing with unwanted tampering and a change of birthdate or birthplace didn’t matter at all. Change of parents lead to the disappearance of the un-harmonized person, and so the problem didn’t exist in the first place. But all parents can’t be fooled into a sudden change of partner and so a more drastic approach was needed. That’s where Yaan came in.
With his ability to move through the shadows of spacetime he was perfect for the job. Yaan scurried across the road in the rain. What had turned into a slight drizzle was now like someone up there were pouring out their bath water on earth. The water drizzled down his neck and chilled his back. He just longed to be home. A block later a car passed him and splashed more water on his already wet boots. With a sour look Yaan thought of editing the driver, but then got hold of himself and realized it didn’t matter. He was already as wet as he could ever be, but he could see his door some hundreds of meters in front of him. An old lady was walking towards him with an umbrella so low over her head she couldn’t see much more than the pavement where she put her feet.
“Oh, excuse me, young man, didn’t see you.” She muttered when she almost walked straight into him.
“No problem, madame.” Yaan said and avoided having his eyes poked out by the umbrella. As the lady passed he had a sudden feeling that this time the assignment wouldn’t be anything like before. He would actually be deleting hundreds of humans. People who had kids, people who had parents, loved ones, people who cared about society. Normal people who were just unfortunate to have the wrong resonance. He shook his head and headed up the stairs to his door. Yaan turned around. Now something was going to happen. He watched as the old lady made her way slowly across the road and then the car came, out of nowhere. The road glittered in the headlights, making the raindrops look like small diamonds that scattered as they hit the ground. He turned away when he heard the car’s breaks scream in agony and as he closed the door behind him he heard the car door open and the drivers desperate screams for help almost drowned out by the hammering of the rain.
The help wasn’t Yaan’s to give. He could have stopped the lady and talked to her for some seconds. It wouldn’t have taken much if his time or energy. That would have prevented much agony. But that would have been breaking the laws, and Yaan couldn’t afford that. He shrugged off his coat and picked up a hanger from the floor. The rain was making a sort of rhythmic noise when it hammered on the roof and windows. Much like the clatter of dozens of females walking across marble floor with high heels.
-----------------------
“Lucifer!” Yaan gasped as he regained himself. He so didn’t need this.
“Yaan! Nice to see you! Long time since… what have you been up to?” Lucifer was dressed as a successful businessman. Not only was he handsome and healthy looking, he was also sporting a diamond ear-stud as well as a black silk tie. His pinstriped suit was tailored and made his shoulder look broader than they were. All in all, Lucifer made Yaan very self conscious and shabby looking with his tattered coat and worn out shoes. Lucifer’s shoes were so polished you could almost see your reflection in them.
“Lucifer, I don’t really have time for this!” Yaan tried to push past him, but Lucifer grabbed his arm.
“Don’t follow her! Let her make up her own destiny!”
“I can’t do that!” Yaan hissed and ripped his arm away from Lucifer’s grasp. “It’s against the laws!”
“I think it’s not, especially during special circumstances.”
“What circumstances?” Yaan didn’t always get everything his brother said. In some aspects they were so identical it was hard to tell who was who, but in others they were as different as black and white.
“Your list.”
“What’s with my list?”
“I bet you won’t do all the names on it.” With that Lucifer disappeared. Just like that. Into thin air, in front of several commuters who all looked dazzled. Yaan shook his head. He’d have to have a talk with the wranglers about constricting the travels, especially when some take off in the middle of a train station with tens of onlookers. Despite himself Yaan pulled out the pieces of paper that contained the list. It was so worn down it practically came apart at the foldings. He scanned through the list and then did a doubletake. The last name! He had to read it several times to be sure he had read it right. The last name! Oh, shit!
