"Erase Neuro," I commanded with as much force as I could muster despite Eliphas's protests.

Don't do it! he kept saying. You'll be no better than them! Just rescue their parents and teach them a lesson; don't use our power for evil!!

Too little, too late. The Numeron Code was already glowing and beginning to behave like it did in its black space, disassembling and reassembling while it floated in the air. It started spinning slowly and with purpose. Even though Eliphas protested so strongly before it activated, I couldn't help but smile in triumph. They deserved this. His protests were weak, anyway.

I sank to the ground, weak from the card extraction, and watched as the land mass disappeared into the fog. Soon, the card's work was done. It sank to the ground, now acting like a normal card instead of the ethereal one I knew. I picked it up and put it near my third eye. The card sank painlessly back in, and the eye closed once again.

"Um," Umbra uttered. "What happened?"

"I--" But something lurched inside me. Some kind of anger, deep and furious, rose up and threatened to explode.

~.~.~

Umbra watched as the being before him started glowing, turning different colors before ultimately separating into the two beings he met before. The armored one's eyes were blazing with anger; it made the young Etherian step back in fear.

"Why did you do it?" Eliphas hissed through clenched teeth. 

"Wouldn't you?" Don Thousand snapped back. "We were presented with an opportunity to erase them. Isn't that better for our world?"

"Yes, but--"

"And isn't it better that a power-hungry nation has been erased from history? That way, no one will be hurt again."

Eliphas felt his emotions quench once again as he thought deeper about the implications of Neuro being gone. No more mind control, no more kidnapping innocent people into being slaves, no more...well, no more Neuro. Maybe everything would work out.

"Shouldn't we be saving my parents?" Umbra piped up.

Eliphas and Don glanced back at Umbra, confusion furrowing their brows. "What do you mean?" Eliphas asked carefully. "Neuro is gone."

"Neuro? What's Neuro?"

Panicked thoughts raced through both Don and Eliphas's minds. Did this not solve the problem? If Neuro was gone now, what other country could possibly have become evil?

"What country did you say they were in?" Don Thousand asked.

"Wintra," Umbra replied. "Aren't we going there?" Urgency was clear in his voice, but the two deities were frozen to their places.

Wintra was the second most corrupt, wasn't it? Eliphas asked.

No, it was a peaceful one. Always kept to itself, Don replied. What could have caused this?

When you change history, you change everything. That's why we shouldn't have changed anything!

What do we do then!?

I don't know. How do we fix this?

They both shook their heads and joined hands.

~.~.~

Once I was back together, I wasted no time. Scooping Umbra into my arms, I took off in the general direction of Wintra. As far as I remembered, it was a permanently cold country, but it was beautiful nonetheless. I tried to think of why they would be the evil ones, but nothing came to mind. They were always so polite, so withdrawn.

Maybe they were hiding hidden evil.

Maybe so. Would the Numeron Code work a second time?

No. It didn't work the first. Save the parents, then see if I can erase them.

Would that be ethical?

It doesn't matter. Evil needs to be stopped, right?

But--

I shook my head. I didn't want to think about that right now. I had a mission, and I was going to carry it out. I'd think of what to do later.

Luckily, Wintra was just a quick flight away. I could feel the icy air after what felt like a few minutes; I allowed myself to enjoy the mild breeze before plunging into the icy depths of the country.

We landed in an icy valley, and while I was unaffected by the chilly bite, Umbra was shivering madly in my arms. With a wave of my hand, I formed a golden cloak around him using what seemed like the same material as my own clothes (it was only then that I noticed I was back to my normal self). 

"Where would they have taken your parents?" I asked the boy once he was outfitted with comfortable winter clothes. I set him down so I would have my hands free.

"To the capital, I think," Umbra replied uncertainly. "I don't know much about this place."

"Of course you wouldn't. They don't exactly tell children about obscure evil countries." Even so, I noticed he fidgeted a bit when I asked for information.

"Then how do you know so much about them?"

I stalled a bit and debated on whether or not I should tell Umbra that I was once part of the foreign ministers. Well, not exactly part of them, but I frequently attended the meetings. Was it a good idea to tell him that in a different timeline, I was an Etherian?

He already knows about my ability to manipulate time. May as well tell him, right?

"Um, mister?" Umbra called again.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked down at him. "I was once an Etherian," I confessed. "In a different time."

His confusion was clear with the way he scrunched his nose and crinkled his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I can manipulate time however I wish. I'm sure you saw how I..."

He doesn't remember Neuro. There's no way he could have seen me sink it or whatever I did to it.

"Well, there was once a country named Neuro," I explained. "We were standing in front of it seconds before you completely forgot about it. I erased it from history and from people's memories, it seems. Time just followed suit and replaced Neuro with Wintra."

"So...what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I've reversed time over and over again, and before one of those reversals, I attended the foreign ministers' meetings, the governmental meetings, and all of that. I was someone who saw the formation of Etheria from start to finish, so it only made sense for them to allow me into the meetings even if I didn't want to have any part of the governmental positions. That's how I know about them."

"Oh." Umbra twiddled his thumbs and looked around at the white world. "Do you think we'll be able to save them?"

I looked down at my hands, rubbing them together even though I didn't need it. "I don't know. The Wintra of my time wasn't like this. I don't know the mastermind, I don't know where their prisons are, and I don't know their mindset. Everything could be different."

The boy remained silent. I risked a glance down at him only to see his eyes moist with un-shed tears. A lump formed in my throat.

"But we'll do the best we can, okay?"

Umbra's gloomy expression morphed into a hopeful one again. "Okay!" He skipped on ahead of me.

I made to warn him to stay by me, but he looked so happy that I didn't have the heart to dampen his mood again. The deep bitterness I didn't know I still harbored lightened some.

I forgot how precious these people were.