Cipher [A Gravity Falls Tale] #Wattys2016

Four

Flipping through the dusty books, Ford willed himself to concentrate. Surely in the history of Gravity Falls, someone had caught on to its significant amount of weirdness. The town history seemed to go back only as far as the Northwest arrival, though. He kept drawing blanks on the natives. No one seemed to know what happened to them.

He approached the librarian, some kind old Hispanic lady. "Excuse me ma'am, but you don't have any books on early history do you? Anything in how the natives learned what they knew when Nathaniel Northwest showed up?"

"I'm sorry, sweetey," smiled the lady, "but I don't know of any such books." Ford sighed.

"Thanks anyways," he said. He had gotten his hopes up, and he knew it. Richard had gone home months ago, and Ford didn't want to contact him until he could give him sufficient answers. He had hoped to find something that probably didn't exist, and he had been rightfully served. He was going to have to progress on his own.

All these thoughts were going through Ford's head as he left the library. However, he was stopped by a man in a cloak. "You're searching for the being with the answers, aren't you?" he asked in a raspy voice.

Ford looked at him suspiciously. "Who're you?" he demanded.

"Unimportant," argued the figure. "They say the natives painted the stories in caves before the secret was buried. They say you can still find him if you look hard enough." With that, the figure melted into the shadows. Ford narrowed his eyes. Well, maybe he'd have a little luck after all.

Later that day, Ford set out to the caverns in the mountains around Gravity Falls. After some exploring, he found one cave that went very deep. He found a painting on one of the walls deep within in the cavern. A yellow triangular being was depicted, with words written beneath the picture. Ford's eyes scanned the ancient text, noticing with curiosity that below that was a warning not to read the spell aloud.

Mulling it over, Ford remembered what his informant had told him about the secret being buried. Perhaps this was just a safeguard to keep explorers away. Ford drew a quick picture and wrote down the summoning spell before uttering the words aloud. He braced himself, but nothing happened immediately. Or at all, for that matter.

Ford sighed again. He really had gotten his hopes up. Summoning some ancient entity to help him solve his problem-- he was no better than the superstitious townsfolk.

Throughout the week, though, Ford dreamt of this triangular creature. He saw only glimpses of this thing with just one eye, but he thought it more than coincidence that it showed up every time he went to sleep. By day, he continued to struggle with the blocks he had hit in his research, and at night, this creature visited him. It began to pique his curiosity enough that he recorded this occurrence in his journal, under the summoning ritual. It was quite odd.

Then, one day, Ford fell asleep outside after a long day of hard work. He became aware he was dreaming as reality melted away to a starry backdrop with random objects floating around including several books that strongly resembled his journals.

He followed a trail that seemingly led nowhere. Suddenly a voice echoed around him. "Hiya, smart guy!"

Ford looked around in shock as the voice echoed around him.

Suddenly, a glowing golden triangle appeared in front of him. The triangle had one eye in the center and wore a top hat and a bow tie. He looked very similar to the painting in the cave. "Whoa, don't have a heart attack-- you're not ninety-two yet!" cautioned the entity.

"Who are you?" demanded Ford

"The name's Bill, Bill Cipher," he gleefully informed the young man, "and you're Stanford Pines, the guy who's going to change the world. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Care for a game of inter-dimensional chess?"

Bill summoned a holographic chess board and seats for the two of them. Ford couldn't believe his luck, but then remembered the tapestry from the Northwest Mansion. "I saw a picture of a triangular being reigning death upon the world a while back. Are you the one depicted in that?"

Bill looked taken aback. "That one? Oh, heavens, no! That would be my brother. He's a much more vengeful muse than I am."

"Is that what you are?" asked Ford. "Some sort of ancient muse?"

Bill waved his hand. "Thereabouts. I pick one genius per century to inspire with my wisdom. I know all the secrets of this town, and that will certainly come in handy when bestowing knowledge on someone as gifted as yourself."

Ford swelled with pride. He sat down at the chess board that had suddenly appeared. He had never played the game in this form before, but he soon caught on. Bill summoned tea for them, and they talked as they played.

"So," continued Ford, "tell me about yourself."

Bill chuckled. "I would ask you the same question, but I've been watching you for a long time, Stanford Pines. I am a being from another dimension, one of great thought. I was sent to yours to bestow knowledge upon the people, but I could only follow a certain schedule, or else I might seriously disrupt the course of human history."

"And why do you want to help me?" Ford questioned.

"You're so close to uncovering the true secrets of Gravity Falls. My people became enlightened-- liberated, even-- when we discovered the power of inter-dimensional travel. That's a dream I want your dimension to experience as well."

"I'm flattered," Ford honestly said.

"Hey, you earned it, Fordsy," Bill assured him. "Oops, that's metaphysical check mate."

Ford looked down at the pieces. Bill had trapped him in the past, present, and future.

"Don't worry," the being encouraged. "You did great for a beginner. I was nowhere near that graceful a player when my brother first taught me." He glanced at a watch that had appeared on his wrist. "Looks like you're waking up. I'll catch you in your next dream."

"Wait!" cried Ford, seeing the landscape around him dissolve. "How do you plan to help me?"

"That's a discussion for another time!" the being shouted back.

Just like that, Ford sat up, awake. It had been an odd dream, but Ford was certain this Bill Cipher actually existed. And he meant to get answers from him.

That night, Cipher visited him again. "You see, the trouble is," began Bill, "you're trying to observe how Gravity Falls bends time-space. However, while that's a reasonable course of action, you need to stop observing and start doing. Seeing a rift occurring naturally is impossible. Creating one, though, is different.

"If you build a machine powerful enough to disrupt the fabric of reality, the magic of Gravity Falls will take over, opening your gateway to the Weirdness Dimension. It will be a machine beyond your time, but with me in your mindscape, I can help you build it."

With a flourish of his hands, Bill summoned the schematics for a wonderful machine, far beyond the likes of any Ford had ever seen before.

"I have experience in theoretical physics, wormholes, that kind of thing," said Ford, "but engineering has never been my strong suit. I do, though have a friend who is quite good at building machines."

"Sounds excellent," approved Bill. "Call him up right away. Let's get this party started!"