Elise, the Alternate Universes, and the Time Paradox

∞ 3 - Behind the Arts

Dimitri and Elise stepped into the wondrous observatory.

"Welcome to my observatory. You've seen my library, and here is where I reach out into the cosmos."

Before Elise stood upon her a beautiful spacious room with seating that seemed to look like a theatre and a huge glass window that peered into the night sky. It was although the glass had a charm on it that made it zero in on the twinkling stars. The glass had a sheen on it that made it appear as if it has been lacquered. It was an iridescent blue shimmer. The room itself was a cold color, with bare minimum lighting, so as to supposed to focus on the galaxy. And similar to the library, the room had a cylindrical-like structure, however, instead of a full cylinder, it was more of a semi-circle. 

"Say, Dimitri, what do you do in this observatory? Observe the stars? Observe... what is the purpose of it?"

"I come in here when I practice LaFayette's Orb Equinox; a technique that lets me communicate with the stars. It's a book that's pretty popular, written by LaFayette, one of my friends, but also one of the deities. He is renowned around the alternate universes, not only just this one, for practicing many magics, and knowing not only grimoire, but music theory, psy-op, and even shapeshifting."

He took out a book from his jacket and revealed the book that read exactly "LaFayette's Orb Equinox". It was a black leather hard covered book with indentations of a crescent moon. White gel pen marked the title of the book as well as the author: LaFayette.
The book seemed relatively thick, around 400-500 pages long. The two looked each other in the eye closely while Dimitri held the book tightly around his arms.

"LaFayette? Is he a person from our alternate universe, then? You did say he was popular around all of the alternate universes. And is he French? And how does he know all these types of magic?"

"No— he isn't even partly French. But maybe in his ancestry.
Since you asked, he learned how to master these arts by himself. He trained, trained, and trained in his little courtyard, one by one. He started with grimoire because I introduced it to him, and then later expanded into music theory, psy-op, and like I said, even shapeshifting. And by golly, shapeshifting wasn't even a thing!"

"That means he invented shapeshifting, doesn't it? So to him as what shapeshifting is, to you is what grimoire is."

"Exactly right. He has the same dedication and passion towards shapeshifting, which is rightfully so, considering he was the one who found it."

"Okay, so what is the Orb Equinox?"

"Let's take a seat first."

The two gathered themselves and went to sit in the front row directly in front of the glass screen that held a million dreams.

"While I talk, you should observe the stars. Who knows— maybe you yourself will discover that you, too, can communicate with the stars. And also, I don't want to keep you here for too long, so I'll be talking, and I do not want you to interrupt me. Remember that if you stay in this universe for too long, you will become an inhabitant. And don't forget that spell that lets you come back here. If you leave, come back instantly, so that way we can continue talking. The timer resets; two nights and you're out."

Elise processed the information very slowly, but she understood. All the information had rushed over her mind instantaneously.
"Are you going to tell me what the Orb Equinox is?"
Then, her mind clicked when she looked at a star. She looked back at Dimitri and blinked.

"I was giving you some fair disclaimers before I start. That way, you don't get too immersed; I don't want you to become dead. I've already seen too much in front of my eyes.
Not only will I tell you about the Obituary Equinox, but I'd also like to tell you about the history of the alternate universes, who the deities are, the types of spells, and what I asked you earlier: if you're M-blooded.