Dear Brother

I gave up a portion of my life to save my little brother, only to lose him in the end. At least, that’s what I thought for the longest time. Until recently, I didn’t understand that we were still connected in some way. This is my story of loss, grief, and self abandonment. Only to be met with hope in the very end. My name is Oris Alheim and I have a lot to tell in this letter, so I will be as concise as possible for your own sake. In a world filled with genetic mutations, I may have one of the rarest and harshest gift of them all. I can travel back in time.

When I was thirteen, I obtained this gift, as we all do. I found out that I could go back to points in my own life. Well, I could travel back to when the power awoke as the very furthest, so almost my whole life. I abused this gift. Think about it. All of those mistakes. The times that you said something that you wish you didn’t. That test you didn’t do too well on and wished for a redo. All of this and more, I was able to change. I had perfect grades. The perfect social appearance. I was known to have done not a thing wrong, and yet I remember it all. All of the mistakes. All of the things I changed. None of that disappeared from my memory.

The biggest regret of them all is the main focus of this letter. My little brother also awakened a rare power. He was able track down people with just a picture. It was such a precise power that he was able to write down a weeks worth of the target’s schedule to the very minute. This created interest in certain groups that currently don’t exist. Groups that lived in the underground and used their abilities to hurt others. Groups of assassins that would have loved all of that information on their targets.

My brother was captured for the first time soon after his awakening. They used him night and day to write out schedules. They even attempted to train him to be an assassin by breaking his mind. Once I found out that he was missing, I jumped back in time to stop it from happening. Failure after failure caused him to be abducted over a hundred times. Frustrated, I found myself turning towards darker means of saving him. By taking out his attackers, I pushed back his abduction day.

That’s when I came up with a plan to save him for sure. Two more big jumps. That was all I needed. I wasn’t even thinking of the ramifications of this plan at the time. All I knew was that I needed to save my brother from the horrors of the underground. To do so, I would enter it myself and learn everything I needed to. Then I would go back again and take them all out before my brother’s awakening.

So that’s what I did. I jumped back as far as I could. To my thirteenth birthday. I had met a fair number of the members when I was fighting them so I waited until I found one. I explained my power and they trained me how to fight. They knew that even if I failed, I could just go back until I was successful. I had that perfect track record on all assignments. It wasn’t enough to be just an underling though. I needed to understand the entire structure and meet every single member.

I spent time gaining their trust, moving through their ranks. It was not easy at all. The organization went much deeper than I thought. I made more mistakes than I can count and went back far more times than I thought I would. I even led them to my brother after his awakening. We became the perfect duo and rose to the top of the organization. There was a point where I thought that we could live this way. We were together, at least.

That is when the unforeseen happened. My brother hit a limit. I couldn’t believe it. About twenty years into working for them, his gift stopped working. No one had ever heard of this but it happened. He, apparently, could only write a limited amount of schedules. Then they just threw him away. The organization was only interested in us if we were useful. They tried to take me out too, but that was seen as fairly impossible. I was so angry. That’s when I remembered why I tried to join. To take them all out and save my brother.

I went back for the very last time. Back to the beginning. I waited a few years the first time, but now I had lists of every current and future member, as well as their abilities. I memorized it all. All I needed was the free time. So I was met with a very hard decision. I needed to no longer exist. The first person I searched for was able to erase memories. That’s why it was so easy for them to commit crimes. Even if they got caught, they could just make it so that they weren’t remembered. I talked them into erasing me from my family’s memories. Once they did, I took them out.

My brother was five years younger than me so that was my time limit. I had five years to take them all out before his power awakened. I didn’t even need to use my ability. Let’s just say that they trained me very well in my last jump. I was far more skilled than anyone in the organization. I picked them off one by one all the way up to the leaders. Their very existence will never be known of outside of this letter because they were gone before they even began.

I could rest knowing that my brother was safe. He may not know who I am or that I even exist, but he would be safe and that is all that mattered. That is, until I realized that my mortality was running out. I had used my ability too much. I was only seventeen, and yet I had the mind of an old man. My clock was ticking and all I had done was save one person. The most important person, but still I needed to do something more.

I could no longer risk using my power, so I used my experience to start a detective agency. I only took out one underground organization but there were others that I was loosely aware of. Using my resources and knowledge, I pulled particular people to my side. I explained to them what will happen in the future and how to deal with it. It took no time at all to build this business and make it famous.

The Spelunkers is what we became known as and I was the shadow leader of it all. We would dive into the world of the underground to root out evil and save lives. I hand picked every member and hired all personnel. Then my brother’s name came across my desk. Oh, how the emotions came rushing back into my mind. I cried uncontrollably for hours. I pondered deeply about my next move.

Would I hire him? Would I ever tell this story? The answer to both was yes, but with restrictions. I hired him, but I limited his assignments. I was the only one that knew that his ability had a limit. I heard the complaints come through the face of leadership. I figured he would get over it. Then I thought about writing this story and getting it to him. Clearly I have written it. I am planning on telling leadership to give it to him in the case of my death. I will also do all of the legal work to give him my belongings and finances as my sole heir.

That is my story. How I saved my brother by giving him up, only to have him back in my life. At a distance, sure, but knowing that he was doing good and was safe filled me with such joy. With that, I want to move onto something more personal.

—

Hey Ellis,

I know this may be difficult to understand. Since you are reading this, I must already be gone. I want you to know how very proud I am of you. You chose to do good and save others not knowing that you were saved yourself. How fate must laugh at the pair of us. I’m sorry for not coming to you while I was still alive. My hands and heart are stained with so much blood. I couldn’t bring myself to show myself to you. Ellis, you need to be careful for the two of us. Your assignments are limited because your gift has a limit, like I said in the story. Please be careful. I have given you everything in my possession because this society is still very harsh. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to work after your gift runs out, so I wanted to provide for you this way.

This is a future I know nothing about so I want you stand tall. Continue to do good. Continue to stay safe. Live the life I could not. Also, I’m so sorry for not being there. The memory of me may not be there but I hope you can understand and receive this knowledge well.

I love you little brother,

Oris