SCRUM B3

  DATE: June 14, 2172

  "Bastian! Bastian. We took linear time for granted. We took the separation from waking life, dreams and memories for granted. We took having a shared reality for granted. We took having a reality at all for granted!"

  Since another lapse in the neuroembryology tech, a crying six-year-old Iker could not help but grab six-year-old Bastian's arm for dear life above the Felix estate's parapets in Bolsa Mágica. Neither of them ever wore their school uniforms in this timeline, and this piece of information came latently.

  "So... so the day has come. Or should I say the reset has come?" Bastian mumbled with fear.

  By the time the rest of the magical and virtual reality loaded around the two brothers, the panoramic and cartoonish city that surrounded the decadent chateau, Bastian's grave gaze met with Iker's gaze.

  "... what makes you say that?" Iker asked.

  "My future self told me that if your memories became jumbled at this age... we would have to go with the last... con... cont? Cun–"

  "Contingency plan," Iker interrupted.

  "Yea that," Bastian said. "That means every plan... every plan your future self... Fatima... Hunter... Uzi... Alice... my plans... they all failed. We are down to our last possible move. If we fail one more time... Ameen, your father, and Ember will win. Total oblivion."

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "... where's Alice? I remember her the most clearly," Iker requested.

  Bastian's sad eyes became a glare instantly. "There was no timeline where she could remain alive the same way and win. She has to remain dead."

  "... what?" Iker asked in horror.

  "But how about my parents?" Bastian asked, grabbing Iker by the collar of his hoodie. "Are you going to stop lying to me? Do my parents have to stay dead forever too? Tell me Iker! STOP LYING T–"

  WINDSOR, ONTARIO

  CANADA

  AUGUST 20, 2180

  Falling to unconsciousness, to sleep, or just simply adjoining the mind to a new body were not the only conditions to cause reality, memories, and time to devote themselves to fickleness.

  To the horror of fourteen-year-old Iker's waning sanity, a mere blink was enough.

  However, his conscious and unconscious knowledge of a life in crime came to him to throw his sanity a lifeline, and Iker took it with no question.

  And the location he spawned in... the rainy location was perfect to make a discreet deal. Aside from the time shenanigans Iker found himself in, this construction site was still rather archaic for the Byza syndicate, the most powerful syndicate on Earth.

  "Iker."

  The voice, it came from a man that was said to have the most expensive cybernetic body on Earth. Perhaps it was even the most expensive object in all of the Milky Way galaxy altogether, and it would not be surprising if that were to be true as Iker knew that the Byza don personally knew Alice Wami too.

  "Now that you have no reason to kill me..." Dominic Serapis added from the deep shadows of pipes stacked like a pyramid. "Let's have a chat."