Altering the Timeline

I slip off the airship as the crowd surges forward, letting the tide of excited students carry me past the initial gathering points. Ruby's voice rises somewhere behind me— "Oh wow, Yang, look at that statue!"— but I’m already moving away, scanning for privacy.

Beacon's campus sprawls before me in organized grandeur. Stone pathways branch between manicured lawns and flowering gardens. To my left, the main courtyard fills with arriving students clustering around luggage and weapons. To my right, a series of smaller courtyards offer quieter spaces between the administrative buildings.

I decide to choose right, walking with purpose until I find an alcove tucked behind a marble fountain depicting a Huntsman mid-swing against a stone Beowolf. The fountain's burbling water provides ambient noise, and the high hedges screen me from casual observation. Perfect.

"Status," I murmur, and the familiar blue screen materializes in the air before me.

The interface has evolved since the airship. Where before it showed only names and portraits, now it displays a comprehensive breakdown of my capabilities. My eyes scan the information hungrily. The descriptions scroll past in black text.

**POWERS UNLOCKED:**

**Corruption** (from Salem): With each intimate encounter, you can feel a partner's ethics decay and morals erode. The effect is gradual but cumulative. After multiple sessions, they'll begin prioritizing you above friends, studies, hobbies—everything. You become their sole focus. Your happiness becomes their paramount concern. They would do anything to make you smile. The effect intensifies dramatically with characters who are already corrupted.

My throat tightens reading that. It's... powerful. Dangerous. Exactly what I'd expect from Salem.

**In Control** (from Cinder Fall): People innately perceive you as a leader. Some will seek your approval, others will demonstrate their usefulness. When you flirt, characters experience lowered inhibitions and find it increasingly difficult to refuse your advances. Even devoted lesbians will eventually give in with sufficient persistence. Once intimate, partners readily follow your orders and carry them out obediently.

I remember Cinder on her knees, that mixture of relief and resentment in her amber eyes. This trait makes sense given what I’ve discovered about her.

**Impregnation** (from Summer Rose): You can now impregnate women through any method of semen delivery, regardless of biological factors. Your semen bypasses all birth control methods, overcomes infertility issues, and works regardless of ovulation cycles. Women carrying your child experience mild aphrodisiac effects that intensify progressively as they approach giving birth.

My hand instinctively moves to my abdomen. That's... significant. And slightly terrifying in its implications. And yet, it's also highly arousing. I swallow as I continue reviewing my powers.

**Milfs** (from Kali Belladonna): Mothers will desire to set you up with their daughters, gradually shifting from asking you to date their daughter to flirting with you themselves. After becoming sexually involved with you, they'll encourage their daughters to give you a chance.

I almost laugh at the irony. I’m already sleeping with Kali while promising to help find Blake. This power just made that situation infinitely more complex.

The screen shifts to a new section:

**COMBO POWERS UNLOCKED:**

**Team CoUGaR** (from selecting Salem, Summer Rose, and Kali Belladonna as pre-established relationships):

Before continuing to read, my breath catches. This one probably has significant implications.

The description unfolds: Three women you've selected will be regressed in age to eighteen. They'll retain their skills and memories, but the world will accept their newfound youth. They and their families will quickly adjust to the strangeness. The three women and you will be enrolled in Beacon Academy together. You will be guaranteed to form Team CUGR at the end of initiation.

But there's a critical note: **This Combo Power MUST be used before initiation. If not activated before initiation begins, this skill becomes permanently unusable.**

My mind races. Salem, Summer, and Kali—all regressed to eighteen, all on my team. Salem would continue her plans from within my team structure. Summer would be publicly alive again, which would have massive ripple effects on Ruby and Yang. Kali would be the same age as Blake, making their mother-daughter relationship incredibly strange.

The political implications alone are staggering. Ghira Belladonna's wife suddenly eighteen again? The world accepting it as normal?

I read the note again. Before initiation. I have less than twenty-four hours to decide whether to fundamentally alter the timeline of this world.

The fountain burbles behind me. Voices drift from the main courtyard—new students laughing, weapons clashing as people show off, the excited buzz of arrivals. None of them know what I’m contemplating. None of them can see this screen.

My finger hovers over the Team CoUGaR option. One tap would activate it. One tap would change everything.

I shake my head. First, I should activate the other Powers. Nodding to myself, I activate them one by one, feeling each settle into place like pieces of armor clicking into position. **Corruption** pulses through me— a dark, seductive power that promises to erode the morals of anyone I touch intimately. **In Control** wraps around my sense of presence like an invisible cloak of authority, making me feel taller, more commanding. **Impregnation** settles low in my belly with unsettling certainty. **Milfs** tingles across my skin like static electricity.

The sensations cascade through me in waves. I feel powerful. Dangerous. Ready.

Then I tap Team CoUGaR, and the world **changes**.

The fountain behind me stutters mid-burble. The distant voices from the main courtyard warp and distort like a record being rewound. The morning sunlight flickers— once, twice— and then stabilizes with a subtle shift in quality that I can't quite identify but definitely feel.

My Scroll vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out with trembling fingers to find three new messages that weren't there thirty seconds ago:

**From: Summer Rose**

"Can you believe this?! I'm 18 again! Just woke up this morning and BAM—youth! The doctors say it's some kind of miracle phenomenon. I feel AMAZING. Heading to Beacon for enrollment— see you there! xoxo"

**From: Kali Belladonna**

"Synn, something impossible has happened. I've regressed to 18 years old overnight. I haven’t told Ghira. I'm... I'm coming to Beacon. I don't understand what's happening but if you're there, I need to see you. Also—Blake might be there. We can search together now. Please respond."

**From: Unknown Number**

"How delightfully unexpected. I assume this is your doing somehow? Very well. I shall play along. Look for Selene Grimwald when you arrive at the ballroom tonight. We have much to discuss. —S"

My hands shake as I read the messages. It worked. It actually worked. Somewhere in Vale, Summer Rose has awakened in her eighteen-year-old body with all her memories intact. In Menagerie, Kali Belladonna stands before a mirror in shock, her mature features restored to youthful perfection while her husband suspects nothing. And Salem—ancient, immortal Salem—has felt the shift and adapted her plans accordingly.

The blue screen reappears with new text:

"TEAM COUGR ACTIVATED. SUMMER ROSE, KALI BELLADONNA, AND SALEM (AS SELENE GRIMWALD) WILL ARRIVE AT BEACON ACADEMY TODAY. THEY RETAIN ALL SKILLS, MEMORIES, AND ABILITIES. THE WORLD HAS ACCEPTED THEIR REGRESSION AS A MIRACULOUS BUT EXPLAINABLE PHENOMENON. FAMILY MEMBERS ARE ADJUSTING TO THE STRANGENESS. YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO FORM TEAM CUGR AFTER INITIATION TOMORROW."

"WARNING: TIMELINE SIGNIFICANTLY ALTERED. CONSEQUENCES UNKNOWN."

The screen fades, leaving me alone in the alcove with three text messages and the weight of what I've just done settling onto my shoulders. Ruby Rose's mother is alive and young again. Blake's mother will be her classmate. And Salem herself will be on my team, sleeping in my dorm, attending my classes, all while continuing her plans to destroy everything.

From the main courtyard, I hear Yang's laugh ring out over the general buzz of conversation. She has no idea that her stepmother just became the same age as her. Ruby doesn't know her mom will be walking through those gates today.

My Scroll vibrates again. Another message from Kali: "My airship lands in two hours. I'm terrified and excited and confused. Thank you for being there."

I slip the Scroll back into my pocket and take a steadying breath. The morning air tastes different somehow. Sharper. More electric. I've changed the fundamental structure of this world's timeline, and now I have to live with whatever comes next.