Alternative Realities

16 - The In-between, Time Traveler and a God

"Why are you here?" Dream asked, still holding his sword. This was a truly bizarre turn of events. A time traveler showing up in his vault.

"Because your world is in danger. If I do not come and reset the timeline, your world will explode, sending the whole world into chaos. For every action, there is a consequence. We need to go back through the timeline of this world, to find what went wrong," he said. Dream finally noticed that the others were not moving.

"Take my hand, and let us travel through time," Karl said, and grabbed Dream's hand. After another minute, the world began to change around them. Time spooled backwards, back to the beginning of the server. Dream watched his life unspool before him.

"Look at you two. Just living a life," Karl said, looking down onto Dream, Sapnap, George, Alyssa, Sam and Callahan building the community house.

"Life was so much easier back then," Dream said, his eyes full of memory.

"This is still ok. We need to go forward in time," Karl said, and the two of them flew forwards through time. Dream only caught snippets. His battle against Sapnap and Tommy, his search for the discs in the ravine, the forming of L'manburg. And, suddenly, time began moving at a normal rate. Dream watched himself light the one TNT on the L'manburg ground, setting off the chain reaction. He watched the L'manburgians scramble to Tommy's room, watched Wilbur sign the letter that was sent in surrender.

"You had so much power back then. Why did you not let them go? Let them have their land?" Karl asked, and Dream watched, thinking before answering.

"I felt threatened. They took what was not theirs, tried to claim it, just because they did not like the fair rules that I had in place." Dream watched his duel with Tommy, watched the arrow land itself underneath Tommy's collarbone, winning him the duel. Karl studied Dream. His eyes were full of memory and sadness, but hardened around the edges.

"Why are you here, really? What is so bad about the timeline that we were on?" Dream asked, looking Karl in the eyes.

"Because none of that was supposed to happen. Because of something you did, the different realities collided, and began to destroy themselves," Karl said. Dream watched as Karl explained what had happened.

"For every choice that was ever made, there was another choice that could have been chosen. Even the small choices, like what to have for breakfast, can change the timeline that you are on. There are so many different realities that could have happened, but because of something you did, you drove a nail into the wrong board, so now the whole mine is crumbling. The alternate realities are colliding, and that collision is destroying the worlds altogether. I come from a future where Tommy was always on the L'manburg side, where he still had attachment to the discs. Where no one had died. Where Tommy doesn't betray Tubbo. But we need to find in your timeline where it all went wrong," Karl explained, and Dream was struggling to take it all in. A world where Techno still owed him. Tubbo was a kind president. Tommy had not-

"I think I know when it went wrong," Dream said, looking Karl in the eyes.

"Take me," Karl said, and time began to spool forwards, rapidly. Past the presidential election. Past the Manburg festival. Past Wilbur's death. Dream began to slow down when they reached Tommy's exile. Karl had a look of recognition when he saw Logsteadshire. They came to a stop on that one day. The beach party.

"You really think it was today?" Karl asked, and Dream nodded.

"This moment, right here," Dream said. He vaguely remembered this small moment. When he had tried to remove the armor for Tommy's back. That day, one year, eight months, two weeks and two days ago. The day of the Logsteadshire explosion.

"What would happen if I hadn't taken his armor?" Dream asked, looking Karl in the eyes. He smiled.

"Let’s find out." Karl began spooling out time into an endless hallway, full of doors.

"Each door is to a different timeline," he explained. One of the doors disintegrated in front of Dream's eyes, and he looked to Karl.

"That is what will happen to your timeline if we do not fix this," Karl said, and he stopped in front of a half-eaten door. Putting his hand out, he pushed the door open, and the door repaired itself.

"This timeline should fix everything," Karl said, and pulled Dream through the door. Dream saw all of time in an instant. Saw the beginning of it all, the parts he remembered, and then they made it to the beach party. This time, Dream did not take the armor from Tommy that day, and from that moment, everything changed. He watched himself manipulate others, controlling them. He watched himself fight Tommy and Tubbo for the discs. He watched himself threaten Tubbo's life in order to keep Tommy in check. He watched himself become captured in his own vault. Be taken to prison. Kill Tommy. Bring him back to life. He watched everything happen, the past, present and the future. He knew it all! Karl, who knew all of this already, watched Dream. He was taking it all in.

"This is what has happened. What is happening. What will happen. What no man can ever know. What I am burdened with. You will notice, throughout time and space, whichever timeline you go to, there is only me. There are many Dreams, all different. But there is only one me. I know the past, present and future of every timeline that has ever happened. I have had to play many roles in my life. The antagonist. The last man standing. The leader of a broken nation," Karl explained, and Dream looked him in the eyes.

"How do you keep track of it all?" Dream asked, and Karl smiled.

"I don't," Karl said simply. Dream, with nothing else to say, turned back to the timeline. He watched the destruction of the Greater Dream SMP, the devastation that ensued. The explosion of Kinoko Kingdom. The death of George, of Sapnap, of Tommy, of himself.

"You said something. Something that makes no sense. You said that no man can know this. So what does that make me? What does that make you?"

"You... you are still mortal. I... I am something else. I do not know yet, but I am searching," Karl explained. He pulled Dream back through the door.

"Well, are we going to go through?" Dream asked, and Karl smiled.

"We already have. You are not allowed to know what happens next. You remember our conversation, and the things you need to, including some snippets from the future, but everything else has been erased from your memory," Karl explained. The doors around them began to disintegrate.

"Now, before you go through that door, I need to tell you one thing. You will remember everything from your past journey, as well as everything from the In-between. You have to promise me that you will not share anything that you have seen. To know your own future is to doom it. You are gifted with this knowledge. Know that some of it may be false. Time is not fixed. It can be changed. Just know that you must change this moment," Karl said, and Dream nodded. Karl looked into Dream's eyes and smiled. Then, with a pop, Dream was transported into the moment that needed to be changed. Instead of taking the armor, he went over and comforted Tommy, changing the history he knew. Ghostbur just looks on, happy, and glad that Dream and Tommy were getting along.

After Dream left Tommy, he had a moment of shock. He was a god! He had made it through time and space, lived two lifetimes.

And this is when he broke. The amount of knowledge that was contained in his head was too much, and Karl knew this. But it had to happen. This Dream was doomed. But Karl could not step in. Not yet. Not for a long time. And until he came, they would have to suffer. All things that happen, happen for the best. All choices have consequences, and this is what happened because of the choices that were made.

- The End -