Meanwhile, at the Tower of Wayreth (Part 2)

20 Gildember 348 AC

The Tower of Wayreth.

The days pass quickly. Romulus rises before dawn each morning, lets Macula out for a run in the courtyard and nearby forest, heads to the dining hall for a breakfast of eggs (he quickly learns that the cooks are able to prepare the most delicious omelets he has ever eaten - his favorite being made with venison bacon, a sharp cheddar cheese, onions, and peppers), sausages, some pears in maple syrup, a stack of pancakes, a small bowl of oatmeal, and diced potatoes along with a pitcher of cider. Afterwards, he collects Macula and the pair head up to the Tower's library. Menathradon joins him soon after and the pair pour over heavy tomes about the Demiplane of Time and scribble notes for later review. The pages they have been assigned fetch them lunch; soups and sandwiches with more fruit and nuts and some watered-down beer before returning to their studies.

They often beat their heads in frustration as they find one inconsistency and contradiction after another in supposedly "first-hand" accounts. They are able to find several theories regarding the plane and chronomancy in general. Romulus does find a reference to a time-journeying device in one of the books but Par-Salian claims that it was lost when Mages of the Order tried to prevent the Cataclysm at one of their nightly drinking sessions. After the first night, the halfling archmage avoids sharing details about his companions' accomplishments - a professional lifetime spent as an adventuring wizard has granted him a healthy measure of paranoia. (Plus, he's pretty sure that Par-Salian lied about the Device of Time Journeying).

Thus the days pass with Romulus making little progress as far as summoning χρόνος - although he does learn that "elemental" is an incorrect term and that the preferred nomenclature is "time dimensional."

Almost every treatise that he reads are maddeningly philosophical in nature. And almost all of them disagree with each other on fundamental levels. But, he and Menathradon persist in their studies. Whenever he gets tired of reading himself in circles, he retires instead to one of the laboratories and begins recreating his "Shooting Stars", a trio of electrified shuriken which would return to his hand when thrown, that he first made at the College of Magic in Silverymoon and subsequently lost when he was killed in the caldera of Mt. Uungau in the Jungles of Klesh on the world of Nehwon.

Failing that, he spends his time out in the courtyard, throwing skiprocks, practicing on making them ricochet from one target to another, both by hand and with his sling.

One afternoon, Menathradon stops and reads aloud from one of the tomes he has been studying, "Death is but a door. Time is but a window. I'll be back." He sets the book down, "Of all of the things we have read so far," he pauses, "this guy is the most disturbing." He shudders and sets the book aside before turning his attention to the next grimoire in his stack.

Romulus perks up, "I think I have something here." He taps the book he has been reading, "This book has details on several creatures said to be native to the Time Dimension. The Temporal Dog can slip between Temporal Prime and reality, but only the Time Dimensional can transport another being with it, and getting it to cooperate can be difficult." He rubs the bridge of his nose and continues to read, "Why can't a traveler simply slip back into a time before he left and have two of himself at a time? Existing at the same time as yourself, a procedure called 'doubling a lifeline' is not possible for all intents and purposes. Except, at least theoretically, my companions and I have traveled back about twenty years based on the apparent age of my friend's adult wife now being a young girl in her father's home. So, twenty-ish years ago, I was taking on an apprentice, a young girl from Mistledale name Jelenneth. Does this part about 'doubling a lifeline not being possible mean that I'm Not There to begin teaching her? If not, then how do I remember her accidentally setting fire to my laboratory? Ugh, all of this time travel is giving me a headache."

Menathradon scratches his head. "No. You were there. Your past hasn't changed. If it happened for you and you remember it, then it must be a fixed point in time and its place is the timestream remains unchanged but if you were to, conceivably, travel there, you could observe the event from another point of view. Influencing the event would be difficult though because the flow of time creates a current that resists change unless you possess the means to... uh, actually, you're right. This is giving me a headache as well. What does the book say?"

Romulus scans the page to find where he left off. "The momentum of time reacts severely with those who attempt to abuse the time-space continuum by trying to double their lifeline. Early symptoms include deja vu, minor paradoxes, experiencing the effects of temporal disjunction... etcetera, etcetera. But these Time Dimensionals appear to be able to do this at will, being able to call forth multiple time displaced versions of themselves." He puts the book down. "Great, not only do I have to summon one of these but it and likely several versions of it will be trying to kick my teeth in while I do it."