Grem leaned over his book, becoming oblivious to the tavern around him. He knew that there was something important in these volumes, if only he could find it. He sighed, closing the book and sliding it into his pack. A second book was pulled out, and opened. He sipped his drink, glancing around once, and looked down to the pages.
The book was about various theories regarding something called ?hypertime.? For the most part, it struck him as somewhat simple: every time a decision is made, a new world (called a timeline, in the book) split off from the primary universe to accommodate every possible choice. The ideas about crossing over to other timelines were rather complicated, but seemed to make sense.
Then he came across the formula.
?3X2(9YZ)4A?
It was scrawled in a hurried hand, in the margin of a section discussing control of which timeline you wind up on when a split occurs (which seemed like an odd idea to him, as one would exist on each of the two timelines). Specifically, there is supposed to be a construct which would allow one travel in ways other than those most can, though what exactly that meant was not explained. And there, to the side, was the formula.
?3x2(9yz)4a?
There was no explanation, nothing but the formula.
?3x2(9yz)4a?
It was then that he realized that he had been saying it out loud. Looking up, he saw the world frozen around him. Growing alarmed, he did not notice that he was still muttering the formula.
?3x2(9yz...?
There was a flash, and the world was gone.
When the world came back, it was not Rhy?Din. He was amazed to see the familiar dilapidated fire tower rising before him at the mountain summit. He was back on Earth. With even more of a shock, he remembered that the tower had been renovated years before he came to Rhy?Din.
He had gone back in time.
Before he was able to explore, there was another flash, and he was back in Rhy?Din, but the people in the Inn were all different. There was an indian behind the bar, fingering a tomahawk, and a little black-haired pixie fluttering about. There was a creature that looked like something between a woman and a spider, and what appeared to be a floating, talking bowling ball. He saw a man with feathered wings, and recognized him, but when he turned to speak the room flickered and was gone.
He found himself outside, and when he entered the inn, it was roughly a week before he had been pulled away. He spoke with one he knew, but when he remembered the formula, he was dragged off again.
He met himself, many times. Some, he remembered, and thus must have been in his past. Others, he did not, so must have been in the future. Finally, he found himself back in the time during which he belonged.
Over the next week, he noticed that something had changed. While he used to be content to sit still for hours, he now felt the need to always be moving or fidgeting, and he had difficulties speaking at a normal speed. He began to notice that he could move much faster than he used to, in bursts, until he found himself moving faster than should be possible. Once he came to terms with that, he went for a run, and broke the sound barrier by the time he reached the outer limits of the city.
The book was about various theories regarding something called ?hypertime.? For the most part, it struck him as somewhat simple: every time a decision is made, a new world (called a timeline, in the book) split off from the primary universe to accommodate every possible choice. The ideas about crossing over to other timelines were rather complicated, but seemed to make sense.
Then he came across the formula.
?3X2(9YZ)4A?
It was scrawled in a hurried hand, in the margin of a section discussing control of which timeline you wind up on when a split occurs (which seemed like an odd idea to him, as one would exist on each of the two timelines). Specifically, there is supposed to be a construct which would allow one travel in ways other than those most can, though what exactly that meant was not explained. And there, to the side, was the formula.
?3x2(9yz)4a?
There was no explanation, nothing but the formula.
?3x2(9yz)4a?
It was then that he realized that he had been saying it out loud. Looking up, he saw the world frozen around him. Growing alarmed, he did not notice that he was still muttering the formula.
?3x2(9yz...?
There was a flash, and the world was gone.
When the world came back, it was not Rhy?Din. He was amazed to see the familiar dilapidated fire tower rising before him at the mountain summit. He was back on Earth. With even more of a shock, he remembered that the tower had been renovated years before he came to Rhy?Din.
He had gone back in time.
Before he was able to explore, there was another flash, and he was back in Rhy?Din, but the people in the Inn were all different. There was an indian behind the bar, fingering a tomahawk, and a little black-haired pixie fluttering about. There was a creature that looked like something between a woman and a spider, and what appeared to be a floating, talking bowling ball. He saw a man with feathered wings, and recognized him, but when he turned to speak the room flickered and was gone.
He found himself outside, and when he entered the inn, it was roughly a week before he had been pulled away. He spoke with one he knew, but when he remembered the formula, he was dragged off again.
He met himself, many times. Some, he remembered, and thus must have been in his past. Others, he did not, so must have been in the future. Finally, he found himself back in the time during which he belonged.
Over the next week, he noticed that something had changed. While he used to be content to sit still for hours, he now felt the need to always be moving or fidgeting, and he had difficulties speaking at a normal speed. He began to notice that he could move much faster than he used to, in bursts, until he found himself moving faster than should be possible. Once he came to terms with that, he went for a run, and broke the sound barrier by the time he reached the outer limits of the city.