Time

Chapter 20

Tinman slipped down the tunnel into his room. Currence was still sleeping and Tinman put effort in keeping him that way. When he got down on the floor, however, Currence stirred and awoke. "Tinman? Where were you? I was worried." Currence got out of bed and fumbled around for a candle. He eventually found one and lit it, then turned to Tinman. "I woke up in the middle of the night and you weren't here. What happened?" Tinman thought about what to say.

"Someone took me and performed experiments on me." Tinman told Currence. Tinman didn't want to say that he liked the person who had taken him. He didn't understand why, just that he did.

"Who was it?" Currence asked.

"Some girl. She had blond hair like you and her name was... Sherll." Tinman answered, still lying down. "Can I get some sleep? Those lights she had were damn bright."

"Fine." Currence answered, blowing out the candle and getting back into bed. Tinman noted that he didn't say good night. Tinman sighed and closed his eyes, falling into sleep.

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Travis crept down the hall silently and lightly rapped on Madison's door. He heard stirring from inside and the door opened, revealing Madison's tired face. "What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"We can't stay here too long." Travis answered euphorically. "If we do, then someone might see us, and that someone might be one of the guys who gave us such a nice reception yesterday."

"We're leaving right now?" Madison asked, a little more awake at the prospect of leaving after one day in the city.

"Yep." Travis said. "So pack your bags. Knowlridge and Neter are going to go on horse whilst you and me travel via teleportation." Madison shut the door and Travis, satisfied that Madison was packing, went to his room.

He rooted around the bags and found a book that Knowlridge owned. He quickly scanned the table of contents, finding curious topics like Gods, Ritual Summonings, and FORS Property, but only flipped to the page that was headed "Adopted Powers." He searched for the sub-heading of Past and examined the description of powers that were often adopted.

The force Past is one of the primal forces that shaped the Gods. Past is also part of the trio of sisters known as the Fates, a recurring aspect in many cultures, meaning that anyone part of the trio has access to a large amount of believers. Although Past is one of the primal forces, she does not have any special powers besides immortality and time travel to the Past (only). Children who are adopted by this force cannot obtain immortality (a trait only present in true forces) and time travel is a skill that few have achieved in all of recorded history (Note: even if achieved, time travel to the past only would be useless; not even Past uses it). Past, and her children by extension, instead use artifacts of great power to aid themselves. These objects vary according to sex and culture. In most kingdoms, a jeweled scepter is common amongst males and a necklace amongst females. In the Outskirts however, having a much more primitive and less royal culture, rings are commonly given (Note: sex has no factor in this culture, due to the Outskirts having a more advanced social culture than a technological capacity.) Scepters grant ability to see the past, necklaces provide the power to see alternate timelines (Note: Present/Future also provide this ability. Proof to Theorem of Combined Time Split.) And rings provide power over a classical element (see "Elements, Classical and Scientific.) A theory as to why Past has in her possession rings that may control elements is that she relies on the primal forces of creation to influence nature.