Time/20: Shattered Fates is the first chapter to serve the Time/20 series written by Aldi. In this chapter, Al first met Dietrich, who was exiled to Indonesia after serving 20 years in prison for alleged homicide of his own family, and decided to help him lift his criminal status by proving his innocence.

Plot Summary

It was one year after Al was released from captivity in the solitary confinement for murdering 400 terrorists in a terrorist attack. He met Dietrich, who was begging at the sidewalks for foods and coin. After a short chat he learned that he was exiled to Indonesia as a dangerous criminal for alleged homicide. He had served 20 years in prison, while he's 28 years old at the moment.

Believing that Dietrich's name may be lifted after he hinted some clues about criminal framing, Al decided to help. The duo met Lena, a computer security expert who happened to know Al before he went to the solitary confinement. She provided them the tools to breach into the security database of Dietrich's country. They spent days rummaging through files until Al found a file about the Bellring family and its wizardry roots.

Al learned that Dietrich's family line was blessed with magic that may heal and destroy depending on the heart of the caster—whether its filled with comion or dread. In exchange, Dietrich found an archived newspaper article about Al's crazy murdering case. He learned what happened to Al and felt sympathy.

Believing to have gathered enough clues to expose Dietrich's innocence, Al filed a comprehensive article to Rahmi, his friend in the press. However, the day before his article was published, Rahmi was found dead in her office with a peculiar mark on her body. Al's article was nowhere to be found.

Al recognised the mark as a seal of CRISIS, an Islam-claiming terrorist group whose he had murdered in a rampage. The knife found next to Rahmi's body still had a price tag. By tracing the address, they found an abandoned pawn shop.

From the owner they learned that the shop had went bankrupt after so many items were lost due to thievery. The owner was planning to move but the police halted him after his knife was used in Rahmi's murder.

On their way back home, three masked men attacked the duo. After an intense fight with Al, they revealed to be Leory, Miftah, and Ikhwan, three of Al's former students in a Taekwondo club. He lost the battle with heavy injuries after being overwhelmed by the fact that they managed to disable and capture Dietrich.

The pawn shop owner evacuated Al and nursed him back to health. Al learned that the owner's best bet was that his goods were stolen by terrorists for their acts, knowing that the trio was often seen around his shop walking around. With this clue in mind, Al felt determined to save Dietrich from the clutches of CRISIS. The owner crafted him a pair of wooden fans as a form of trust.

Al, with impure rage beating on his chest, singlehandedly infiltrated a CRISIS hideout after discovering its coordinates with the help of some "trusted information sources". Routing 50 terrorists in his advance, he finally reached a wide room. Dietrich was tied on a stake at the centre of the room.

His attempts to save his friend was barred yet again by Leory, Miftah and Ikhwan. This time, they brought their boss along, Mahsyuri and Setiawan. Al, surprised by the facts that his black belt masters turned terrorists, argued about how pitiful they had become. It was later revealed that after Al's mass murder, the Taekwondo club disbanded after being deemed too dangerous and everyone hated him so much for it that they ed terrorist ranks out of revenge lust.

The trio brought Al away from the room, outside and to the front yard, where they battled furiously. Al won after reminding Leory about his desire to become an MMA Fighter, dropping Miftah unconscious and tapped to Ikhwan's feelings through convincing amidst battle. With 0 casualties, Al proceeded back inside, where he found that Dietrich was about to be offered as a sacrifice in a demonic necromantic ritual performed by Mahsyuri and Setiawan.

They revealed that CRISIS were the masterminds behind the Bellring family death. The organisation meant to use the family powers for their own goals by performing a necromancy ritual, offering required materials as sacrifices. The ritual was postponed for 20 years after the organisation found Dietrich not among the dead. When they found out Dietrich was exiled to Indonesia, Mahsyuri and Setiawan were entrusted to finish the ritual.

Al attempted freeing Dietrich but he was overpowered by his masters. It turned out the ritual had already started. Dietrich remained unconscious while losing blood from his body. The masters revealed that the only way to stop them was to kill them before the ritual completed, but they mocked Al's determination of not killing anyone ever again, calling him a "serial killing psychopath".

Al knew that if he killed them he would have broken his agreement with the president of not killing anyone but doing nothing would yield worse results. After a long thinking he decided to give his inner demon another chance.

Before they knew it, Al had Mahsyuri and Setiawan's head rolling on the ground. Somehow, the ritual went on despite lacking blood from Dietrich who was later revealed still alive despite losing many blood. The magic worked as Al saw Dietrich's body lifted to the air. He was surrounded by all the offerings and blood from Mahsyuri and Setiawan's body. As it all vanished, Dietrich's naked body fell on the ground. Strangely, his body hair turned green from head to toe.

He shouldered Dietrich outside. Leory and Ikhwan had been waiting with an ambulance already opening its doors.

The story ended with Dietrich, now Al's older brother, testifying in court revealing all the facts. Weeks later, his criminal status lifted and he gained the choice to choose a citizenship. He chose Indonesian citizenship over his own country, stating that he wanted a reboot of his now new life. The pawn shop owner moved to another town. Ikhwan part-timed as Leory's assistant in his newly found MMA school, and he invited Al as an honorary master to demonstrate some techniques to the young learners.

Aftermath

1. After the events in this story, Al and Dietrich made the public question about CRISIS's Islamic authenticity for they are found conducting planned necromancy for 20 years and more. Many attempted escape, some failed, some others managed to get outside with police help. They made mass media testimonials about their experience while in CRISIS. Their base in the middle east commented nothing about this.

2. Dietrich found himself capable of casting magical spells by channeling a mantra and focusing his mind. He began studying his family's legacy and experimented his powers. In his mind, he wanted to help Al live a normal life, or if its impossible, then he just want to live the rest of his days with his newly found brother.

3. Al was forgiven by the president after he heard what happened in the hideout.

4. Miftah, Leory and Ikhwan decided to start a nonprofit organisation that focused on ing and helping former CRISIS , as well as convincing the remaining CRISIS from the now disbanded Taekwondo club to escape. They named the organisation "Second Hope".

Notes

1. The manuscript of this chapter remained unpublished because of the author feeling too shy to publish it, and because he wanted important parts of the novel illustrated.

2. The author hinted that this might be better off becoming a manga or Anime instead of a novel.

Trivia

1. Al's name came from the first syllable of the author's name. Dietrich's name came from the second one.

2. Al had been asexual ever since he entered the confinement. Dietrich became an asexual after the ritual due to the costs of having a magical power.