Legend of Niyonika

'Niyo' The Great (Ch.3)

~What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous~

-Voltaire

Niyonika packed up her bag, throwing it over her shoulder, she pulled her waist length silver hair up into a pony tail before exiting her quarters and stepping into the blinding white hallways of the I.T.H.A, it bore a striking resemblance to a hospital and Niyonika had always lamented the I.T.H.A's taste in decor, for an institute with the highest technological advancement in 2099, it's decor was really too lacking, if there was any at all besides matching white walls and white floors, white elevators, white stairs, white tables, white chairs even the beddings they used here was white, their uniforms as well...it was truly unsettling.

"Yo! Niyo... leaving already?" A voice called up to her from one floor lower than the floor she was currently on, she recognized it to belong to Rex, an excellent tech genius in charge of upgrading the time traveling systems.

"Yeah Rex, have to get back to my apartment, it's been five days for you guys here but I just spent five years in some back water country in history, no technology whatsoever, I need a reality check and some stability only home can provide." Niyonika lamented, Rex chuckled, leaping up from the lower floor and navigating his way to hover beside her, several feet above the ground.

The aeroboots he wore was another one of the outstanding technological advancements of 2099. The invention of the aeroboots had liberated the human race from the hold of the force of gravity as they could now navigate through the air as easily as they walked on solid ground.

"Yeah...we heard. Five years! Damn Niyo, you're really something!" Rex commented chuckling, Niyo smiled slightly. It was indeed something not just any time traveler could achieve, this was due to the fact that the longer one stayed in a foreign timeline, the higher one's tendency to get attached, as such time traveling missions were made as brief as possible, a few weeks, months or a year at max. Only those considered to be the most excellent and most hard hearted time travelers were recruited to embark on missions that lasted over years. Thankfully time flowed much faster in foreign timelines than it did in reality, hence Niyonika had been in year 275 for five years but only a mere five days had passed by here.

Niyonika continued through the hallways, Rex floating besides her, bringing her up to speed on all that had happened in her absence. Niyonika nodded in response to the greetings, welcomes and congratulations of all the time travellers they passed by.

"So 999 out of 999 missions successfull, the only time traveler with zero recorded failures, Niyo the great!... what do you think your 1000th mission will be? Bearing in mind that you have declared your retirement after a thousand missions which might I add, we still have to discuss, retiring at eighteen is just not done. In anycase, what kind of mission do you think you will receive as your count 1000?" Rex asked curiously, Niyonika chuckled at Rex's usual dramatics before she seriously considered his question.

"I honestly have no idea what to expect, considering it's my last mission, I expect it to be one of great difficulty... however I can't really predict what the I.T.H.A heads will decide, but whatever it is, all I can do is prepare." Niyonika responded simply, Rex nodded in agreement.

"So...you truly plan on retiring after this mission?" Rex asked, Niyonika sighed quietly, thinking back to her restless sleep haunted with nightmares of different timelines, some she no longer even remembered still haunted her dreams, Niyonika was not certain for how much longer she could remain indifferent, remain unaffected, so she had decided to retire honorably before she made a mistake that she would not be able to correct, besides she had done more time jumps than even the oldest time travellers in the whole I.T.H.A.

"Yes Rex, I believe it will be for the best." Niyonika replied honestly.

"You're currently the highest paid time traveler in the whole damn world and you're just gonna up and leave...?" Rex asked in bafflement, you could leave it to Rex to always be concerned about the most irrelevant things.

"I have been the highest paid time traveler since I turned twelve Rex, the pay is not the issue, at this point, I have more money than I even know what to do with." Niyonika replied with a roll of her eyes, the pay from the institute was extremely generous considering the dangerous work and rarity of the time traveling gift, Niyonika made more money in a month than most people would be able to make in their entire life, even if five generations of her offsprings decide to remain idle and rely only on her money, Niyonika was still not truly sure they would be able to exhaust it.

"But still...why Niyo, time traveling is your natural gift, you're renowned throughout the world and you are so good at it, why give it up? There has to be a good reason." Rex insisted, Niyonika sighed quietly.

"It is precisely because I am renowned worldwide that I must give it up Rex, I am not who I used to be, the 'Niyo the great' the world knows is gone, I... I am loosing composure Rex." Niyonika replied, Rex's eyes widened in understanding even as Niyonika continued.

"It was so easy at first, just jump into the timeline and jump out, no attachments. I was labelled the best because I moved on from each timeline without the slightest hesitation, no feelings of remorse, pity, regret...'Niyo the great' with the heart of steel, no feelings whatsoever, but now Rex? Now I don't know anymore, in the last glimpse of Year 275, when the super computer requested permission to wipe all evidence of me from that timeline... I hesitated Rex, I... I did not want him to forget me, I wanted Daurgo to remember me, it was not love or anything like that, just the simple fact that I had grown attached to him, I respected him as a king, I cherished him as a friend, I was concerned for his well being, I felt guilty for playing with his feelings to achieve my mission... and this is not the first time Rex, it started not too long ago and it has only continued through the past couple of time jumps and it will not stop Rex, as much as I hate to admit it, I am becoming emotional Rex and that is the greatest flaw of any time traveler..." Niyonika explained, Rex sighed quietly, as much as he did not believe his steel hearted friend becoming emotional was a bad thing, he completely understood his friend's concerns.

"I understand Niyo. You have my support, you always will." Rex assured her, Niyonika passed him a grateful smile.

"I know Rex and believe me when I say it means the world to me." Niyonika replied gratefully, before stepping out of the I.T.H.A. into the bustling streets of year 2099.