Legend of Niyonika

Year 440 (Ch.6)

~Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater~

- Epictetus

Niyonika heaved a sigh, shaking her head slightly to force away the dreary memories invading her mind.

"It's not too late to request the mind wipe procedure you know." The system advised Niyonika, Niyonika frowned, rolling over to lay on her side and shutting her eyes.

"Why should I? Clearing the memories of my actions does not change the fact that I did them, rather it is a coward's delusion of escaping responsibility. I do not regret my decision in year 753, I did what was necessary to fulfill my duties as a time traveler and that is that." Niyonika replied her system. Niyonika's system was quiet for a while before it finally spoke.

"I do not disagree, however saying it is one thing and actually believing it is another thing entirely." Niyonika's system observed. Niyonika did not reply, she had no way to refute her system's words, although she did know that she had not had much of an option in year 753, sometimes she could not help but wonder if perhaps she could have done something more... something different.

"You have made up your mind to retire?" Niyonika's system asked after a while, Niyonika shrugged in response.

"Are you unwilling?" Niyonika asked, Niyonika's system was the most reverred system in the I.T.H.A, naturally it would be reluctant to give all that up.

"If you are, I could give you up." Niyonika offered reluctantly, the system was after all the I.T.H.A's creation and should naturally be returned back to the I.T.H.A on the event of Niyonika's retirement. Although Niyonika could not really imagine how she would cope without her system. Niyonika had received her system at a very tender age and after all this time, Niyonika's system had essentially become a part of her. Niyonika knew it would be difficult to give her system up but she would have to, the only way Niyonika could keep her system was in the case where the system actually wanted to be kept.

"Don't be silly, you couldn't get rid of me that easily even if you wanted to." Niyonika's system dismissed with a huff.

"Dipshit." Niyonika threw back but released a small smile even as she drifted off to sleep.

_______________

"Niyo, it's time to get up. Urgent message from the I.T.H.A. You are to report to duty immediately!" Jane's chirpy voice roused Niyonika from her slumber. Niyonika groaned as her eyes fluttered open, she had always been a light sleeper hence it didn't take much to awaken her. Niyonika glanced at her bedside clock, it was just a few minutes past midnight.

"What do they want this time?" Niyonika grumbled to herself as she headed to her washroom, showered and dressed in record time before leaving for the I.T.H.A.

____________

Niyonika stepped into the I.T.H.A and headed straight for the information hall. This was where time travellers were briefed on a timeline before a time jump. Although it was much too soon after her recently completed time jump, hardly over a day but Niyonika figured the only reason the I.T.H.A would summon her with such urgency was because they had a mission for her.

'Time traveller Niyonika, reporting for duty Sir." Niyonika announced formally as she stepped into the information hall, she was hardly surprised to see the heads of the institute along with three other time travellers assembled before a massive viewing screen. The information centre was also the center of control as well as the point from which the I.T.H.A closely monitored the different ancient timelines.

"Ah, Niyo, you arrived right on time, we were just about to begin the briefing." The head of the I.T.H.A said, beckoning on Niyo to move closer. Niyo walked up to them till she was facing the viewing screen like every other.

"This is year 440, one of the most important and worrisome timelines in the I.T.H.A, I'm certain we are all aware of why." The head of the I.T.H.A began as an image of a large expanse of land with towering mountains and lush greenery appeared on the viewing screen.

Niyonika stared quietly at the image, sorting through her memories of all their lectures on the various timelines in an attempt to recall what was so special about this year 440. After a while of quiet, Niyonika's eyes widened as it finally clicked.

"Year 440...if it is year 440, year 440 was the dynasty of the mad king!" Niyonika exclaimed, the other time travellers passed her surprised glances before nodding as they also recalled the significance of year 440.

Who wouldn't? The I.T.H.A had numerous timelines they presided over, however some of these timelines were especially fragile due to the events that had occurred within them, events of massive blood shed akin to a modern day mass g******e especially when such resulted from extremely trivial reasons.

One of such timelines was year 753 where emperor Hugh of Krino had executed countless innocent citizens based on a difference in opinion from his, another of such timelines was year 440...no, year 440 was on another level entirely, with a death count numbering in the millions, of all the fragile timelines, year 440 was unarguably the very worst of the worst.

"Indeed. Niyo is correct. Year 440 was precisely the dynasty of the mad king's tyranny." The head of the I.T.H.A affirmed, Niyonika raised a suspicious brow.

"Don't tell me we are to be assigned a mission to the mad king's dynasty?" Niyonika questioned suspiciously, the other time travellers once again exchanged glances, when the head of the I.T.H.A failed to immediately deny the assumption and instead remained quiet, it was clear that Niyonika had assumed correctly.

"Sir! That's a death sentence!" Jake, one of the time travelers exclaimed in outrage. He was another one of the most respected time travelers in the I.T.H.A, at the young age of 23, with a total count of 578 time jumps and a record of only 20 failures making his number of successfull time jumps 558, he came in at a close third to Dean's 710 time jumps at 24 with a record of 10 failures thus making 700 successfull time jumps which was ranked second and Niyonika's outstanding count of 999 successfull time jumps and zero failures at 18 which topped the rankings.

"Yes Sir, year 440 is termed an impossible timeline for a reason!" Another time traveler added, the other time travellers present echoed their agreement to Jake's words. Niyonika remained quiet, although she had never been one to speak much, in this situation, her silence was tacit agreement.

"Niyonika, what do you think?" The head of the I.T.H.A sought for Niyonika's opinion, the other time travellers looked to her for her input as well, their actions were hardly surprising, despite Niyonika's young age, with the count of 999 succesfull time jumps, Niyonika could be said to be the most experienced time traveler in the I.T.H.A's history.

"Jake is right Sir. Based on all information of year 440 available to us, year 440 is certain death. There is absolutely no possible means of making it out alive. The I.T.H.A regards it as the most fragile time line for a good reason, it is a time line none has dared tamper with up till now. Taking a look around me, excluding Dean who is presently on leave, I see the best time travelers the I.T.H.A has to offer. I assume the heads of the institute has decided that perhaps our combined effort in year 440 will be able to make a difference?" Niyonika observed, the head of institute did not deny, nodding his head in agreement to her question.

"Such a method would be effective if our ability to make a difference in year 440 was the concern, however it is not. Year 440 is well known for having absolutely no safe zones to time jump into, the mad king's entire dynasty was overcome with continuous blood shed ranging from tribal conflicts, to increased crime, each and every point is a war zone, hence one could time jump into any number of dangerous situations and without adequate preparation, the result can only be death."

" The issue here is not what difference our combined effort will make in year 440, the real issue is surviving even a day in the bloody dynasty of the mad king. I understand the I.T.H.A's desire to make a difference in such a disastrous timeline but there is no possible way to sugar coat the situation, year 440 is an impossible mission, it is as simple as that." Niyonika concluded seriously, as she spoke, the viewing screen shifted through various scenes of the death and c*****e in year 440. Niyonika had always been known for her objective method of assessment that had no regard for superiority in position.

"Exactly!" Jake echoed his support, the sudden decision of the heads of the I.T.H.A to interfere in a timeline they had conciously avoided for so long made absolutely no sense, what was more senseless was the fact that they were willing to put their very best at stake for such an impossible mission.

"The I.T.H.A has decided to do something about year 440 in anycase." The head of the I.T.H.A insisted sternly, he was not upset at Niyonika's blunt assessment, he was accustomed to her methods already, however as the head of the I.T.H.A, he still had to enforce his superiority, especially in a situation where the heads of the I.T.H.A had already made a decision on the issue.

"You all can go do something about it yourself then." Jake replied with a huff, Niyonika's lips twitched slightly but she swallowed down her amusement.

"Jake...watch your tone." The head of institute warned with a glare, Jake rolled his eyes but did not speak further.

"As I said, if it is year 440, impossible is the only answer... however, changing the events of year 440 is not a completely hopeless situation." Niyonika said after a while, all eyes in the room turned to her.

"You have a method?" The head of the institute asked eagerly, forgetting his glaring match with Jake. Niyonika nodded slightly, walking up to the viewing screen.

"We have only been looking at the obvious. Ending the madking's tyranny in his dynasty..." Niyonika began, before swiping her hands on the screen and shifting the dates to years back.

"However, the mad king's tyranny can also be prevented from taking place in the first place, all we need do is rewind...by this I precisely mean here." Niyonika said, stopping the viewing screen at an entirely different year.

"Year 415, 25 years prior to the mad king's dynasty and simultaneously two years before the mad king's birth." Niyonika said, all eyes were fixed intently on the viewing screen.

"Yes, yes...go on, tell us your plan." The head of institute encouraged.

"My suggestion is this, rather than year 440, we time jump to year 415, rather than a bloody dynasty, we time jump into a dynasty of peace, some years before the tyrant's birth, rather than execute the tyrant, our mission will be much more simple... prevent the tyrant from being born, rather than kill a mad king, all we need do is prevent a couple from meeting at all thereby preventing the birth of the tyrant...if this fails..." Niyonika trailed off, the head of the institute nodded eagerly, his eyes wide with excitement as there was finally a possible method of changing the events of year 440.

"If it fails...?" The head of institute asked with barely concealed excitement, it was unlikely such a well thought out plan would fail but in the case of unavoidable events, the hear of the institute was excited to know Niyonika had a backup plan.

"If it fails, plan B is just as easy... fast forward eleven years to year 426, precisely a year before the tragic death of the queen at the hands of the king before the little prince's very eyes that led to the little prince who had watched his father cut down his mother growing up to be the mad king. With full knowledge of the events that had led up to such tragedy, and time jumping to an entire year before the event occurs for adequate preparation, the mission would then be to prevent the circumstances that led up to the queen's death, another straight forward mission with a simple aim, save the queen. And as a backup, if the queen still somehow dies, I believe that would be the right time to finally kill the little prince and avoid future troubles." Niyonika concluded, the time travelers all nodded in understanding.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" The head of the I.T.H.A commended, nodding in approval The other time travellers also seemed not to have any arguments, risking your life to fulfill a mission and then fulfilling that very mission easily with minimum risk, certainly they would be satisfied with the latter.

"Then we must waste no more time, Niyo...who do you believe should go on this mission?" The head of the I.T.H.A asked, Niyonika shrugged.

"We should still follow the head's idea, we should all go. Hence at least one of us would be sure to complete the mission if others time jump into a difficult situation, after all one can never tell before hand the body one would be trasmigrated into." Niyonika said, everyone nodded in agreement.

"Then how do we begin?" The head of the I.T.H.A asked.

"First, we will need a complete briefing of all the major and minor events between the time frame of the fourty years from year 400 to 440, equipped with such detailed information we should be ready for anything." Niyonika said, the head of the I.T.H.A nodded in agreement.

""Then begin as Niyonika has directed, as soon as the briefing is over, you shall depart for the mission without delay... this time, the dilemma of year 440 must be appropriately resolved!" The head of the I.T.H.A ordered.

"Sir, yes Sir!" The time travelers echoed as they hurried to begin preparations.