"Flash Fiction -- Riding the Continuum -- by Miriam E. Waters"

Riding the Continuum

by Miriam E. Waters

Abraham eased himself into the massive Metronome’s echo.  The clocklike device’s metered rhythm faded from his consciousness.  No longer shackled to its cadence, he left his fellow slaves to their regimented existence.  He followed his own creative meter as it opened the rush and he vaulted onto the tail of the time continuum.  His heart now beat in concert with the resonance of the regulated tick … tick … tick of the Metronome.  He was out of step with the others and their metered lives.  He tocked when they ticked.  He was free.

Eventually, the Red Dragon noticed Abraham’s desertion.  Ah, my clever clever lamb.  I didn’t see you hidden between my Metronome’s steady ticks.  Until now. You’d have eluded me forever, but the ripple created by your out of sync footfalls gave you away.  How shall I deal with your traitorous heart?

As if on cue, Abraham phased into the Red Dragon’s presence for a nanosecond, just long enough to incite a blush of anger, before he moved into the next echo.  For a heartbeat he was visible and then he was gone again. Fire burned the edges of the Red Dragon’s soul.

You little heathen. You won’t evade me for long.  I’ve the advantage of age and cunning, too big a challenge for a stray such as yourself.

Abandoning his throne, the Red Dragon dove into the time continuum in pursuit of Abraham.  He discovered traces of him in the recent past, the long-ago past, and even in the time before time.   Abraham continued to elude the Red Dragon.  He cloaked himself in the guise of a sower of seeds, a carpenter, a harlot, and mother of a large brood of children.  He changed his locale, gender, profession, and point along the continuum in his effort to escape his former overseer.  His enemy, however, was adept at mining the past for clues to Abraham’s whereabouts.  Eventually, the Red Dragon located his prey hidden in a forgotten moment.

Abraham, sensing the Red Dragon’s presence, surged into virgin territory, the distant future.  Blinded by his desire to capture Abraham, the Red Dragon followed him into the days not yet metered. 

The texture of the time continuum changed as it surged around the Red Dragon.  The foreign sounds of singing and laughter surrounded him like a cloud of smoke.  He could see a white city through the haze and was astonished to see his slaves dancing in the streets. The Red Dragon felt less substantial.  He was dismayed to discover he appeared to be fading into nothingness.

The Red Dragon abandoned his hunt for Abraham and attempted to reverse his trajectory along the continuum.  He heard a roaring wind and was pulled deeper into the City of the Future.  He felt a tug on his hind leg and looked down in time to see Abraham sink his teeth into him.  He felt the flesh tear away from his body.  He watched in horror as Abraham bit into his heart, mortally wounding him. 

The continuum rushed past him and he again heard the voices of the populace raised in triumph.  Abraham watched as the Red Dragon shook his great head and vanished in a wink.