PHOENIX

Chapter Fifty Three: Leader

"I'm a time traveler!"

Karl's confession rings throughout the now destroyed bits of stone and brick. There are whispers and unsure laughs all around. Sapnap lets out a short laugh, and even Dream seems to be undecided on whether Karl is joking by the tap of his foot against the ground in thought. 

I'm not.

With all the shit I've experienced, I believe it. A revival book? Ghosts walking around? Me? A time traveler doesn't seem far fetched. My only shock is that it's Karl.

"Karl? What the fuck?" Tommy laughs.

"I'm being serious," Karl affirms. "I can prove it. Well, actually it might be hard since Wilbur's not revived yet".

What? He knows about the book? And he said Wilbur isn't revived yet.

Yet.

I feel Dream stiffen beside me. We're thinking the same thing. I reach over and grab his hand, giving it a squeeze.

"Alright Karl, now you're just bullshitting," Sapnap lets out a sigh of relief. "I almost thought you were serious for a second".

"I am. I think Dream and Nix see that now," Karl peeks over his shoulder at us. "I have to be careful with what I say, huh?"

"How do you know about the book?" Dream whispers.

"I legit just said I'm a time traveler," Karl giggles.

"What do you mean?" Sapnap questions, bringing our attention back to him. "What do they know?"

Karl sighs.

"This is harder than I thought it would be," he taps his finger on his chin in thought. "Oh! I know. Quackity?"

Upon hearing his name called, Quackity slowly walks forward with a raised eyebrow.

"Does anyone have paper? And something to write with?" Karl asks.

Eventually, materials get passed to Karl's hands.

"Humor me," Karl pleads, handing the paper and quill to Quackity. "Will you write down your deepest want, something you've never told me, or Sapnap. What have you always wanted to accomplish?"

Quackity looks around unsuredly, then slowly writes something on the paper.

"Fold it up, and hand it to Sapnap," Karl instructs.

Quackity does what he says, and Sapnap takes the paper.

"I really hope this works," Karl laughs nervously. "I know what Quackity wrote down. I know because in another reality, Quackity created an empire, one that provided entertainment and lots of money. A casino called "Las Nevadas"!"

Quackity's face goes white, and he takes a step backward. Sapnap opens the paper, and looks up at Karl.

"What the fuck?"

Sapnap shows the paper to us, and then the crowd behind him. Clear as day, the words, "Las Nevadas" were written inside.

"Oh good, I was hoping this Quackity was similar enough," Karl smiles. "I can provide other instances, but I can't really back them up. An example would be that I destroyed the button to blow up L'Manberg at the festival. But Wilbur is the only one that could really vouch for that. He saw me leaving the room".

Tommy gasps behind me, and I get the feeling he knew about that somehow.

"So you're actually a time traveler? How?" Sapnap cries out.

"It's a long story that we don't really have time for," Karl shrugs.

"You said there were other realities?" Dream asks. "What do you mean?"