Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

85. Tragedies Across Time

The nature of time is far more interesting than people give it credit for. Many would consider it to be an ever unfurling spool of thread. Dr. Stanislaus Pym, who guarded the Emerald Atlas for years and transcribed its brother book, the Chronicle, would disagree, he would say that time was an impossibly long string, with every person moving along it - every bit of the string existed all at once, it was just a matter of where one was at. Both theories had bits and pieces of truth in them. The unfurling spool allowed for the influence of choice, and Dr. Pym's thread proved why time travel to both past and future was possible. However, both theories were, in fact, simple, watered down explanations, taking a concept beyond the comprehension of even the soul's magic and cutting it into bite sized, palatable pieces. 

The true nature of time, that which Kate Wibberly had become so intimately acquainted with as the Keeper of the Atlas, and which she had done her very best to explain to her story-hungry eldest daughter when Lili had asked, was this: time is a complex web with as many patterns as there are stars in the sky. Magic and atoms and all of those things so involved with creation and destruction had provided the materials needed to weave the web, back at the beginning of the universe, but the patterns and collisions themselves were shaped every day, an ever changing masterpiece.

"What shapes them?" Lili had asked, ten years old with an eagerness that shone like starlight in those eyes of hers. She always had been like that. While her brother and sister were typically the ones taking an interest in how different magic worked, Lili was the one who was enamored with stories and history, and so it was no wonder that time travel fascinated her.

Kate smiled, "you do, silly. You do, and I do, and so does every other living being on the planet. The choices we make, the coincidences we run into and our reactions to them, that's what shapes the web of time."

"Wow," Lili breathed, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "That's... kinda terrifying, to be honest, but also really, really cool."

Kate laughed, playfully tugging on a strand of her daughter's hair, "it's a lot to think about, yes. But there's also comfort in knowing it. The choices you make matter Lili, never forget that. It might not be easy, but you have the power to create your own destiny."

And so she did, though it was, as Kate had said, not easy. (Nothing ever was, for the Wibberlys - they could make their own destinies, but they always, always had to fight for it.) For while choices shaped the web of time, there were many things that shaped what decisions people made. Their genes, their upbringing, their history - it had a way of winding around, of claiming a place in the mind, even when it was unwanted. Maybe especially then. Traits were hereditary and emotions (Rafe's anger, Rafe's love, Kate's exhaustion, Kate's determination) could be as well. Choices shaped the web of time and history shaped choices and that was how history ended up repeating, how shattered glass ended up threaded and stuck in that web. The glass reflected the past and the present, terrible, twisted mirrors of each other, premonitions that seemed destined to come true. 

Destiny could be thwarted, but with enough pressure, choice could create a self fulfilling prophecy. A girl thinks that her power might make her a monster, a girl thinks that her anger makes her a villain, a girl cannot - will not - shut those parts of herself away, and she slowly becomes what she thinks she is. A Rapina does not think she has control, she does not think she has heroism or the ability to save anyone inside of her, and so she doesn't control her power, she doesn't save the day.

A boy says that he'll become a monster for the girl he loves, a girl takes the weight of the world on her shoulders to protect the family she adores. A century later, a girl says that she'll become a monster for the girl that she loves, says she'll take the weight of the world on her shoulders to protect the family she adores, even though she doesn't have to - it's all that she knows. Lili Henrietta Wibberly didn't know how not to give her entire heart away, raw and beating, in her palm. She didn't know where to draw the line between self sacrifice and self slaughter.