Interruption Five
Time Unknown
Inside an Unregulated Pocket Dimension
Motion Sick
Godwin stood off to the side of the road, bent over double, puking his guts out.
It’d been a long time since he’d been subjected to anyone’s timely whims other than his own and he’d forgotten how unpleasant it was.
Twice in short order, time had changed, flowing backwards around him at a pace difficult to watch.
Motion blurred and sound mixed into a cacophonous riot still ranging in his ears.
Worse, his companions hadn’t noticed the time shift. They’d gone from one edge of the town to the other without missing a beat, their conversation starting right from the beginning, repeating word-for-word.
Lucinda was the first to notice Godwin missing.
She looked around, confused for a moment, before finally spotting him several feet away from them.
“Oh my! Did crossing the border make you sick? I didn’t know being in an evil dimension was so determinantal to …
an apprentice,” she finished awkwardly, remembering their cover story in time.
“It’s not the dimension,” Godwin said, using the edge of his black cloak to wipe the vomit from his lips. “It’s the damn time shifts.”
Cyril arched an eyebrow. “Time shifts? You never mentioned any time manipulation.”
Godwin sighed. It was his own fault that he’d withheld that information.
He hadn’t expected it to come up. No one in their right mind would reset time so often.
But evil never followed the same standards as good.
“The council—” he didn’t specify which one “—believes that Wilde created this dimension to control the time and people within it. Whenever he doesn’t like the way events progress, he resets the timeline, and everything starts again.
Apparently, he’s very unhappy right now, because he reset time twice before we even left town! ”
Francesca gasped. “But we didn’t notice anything!”
“Of course not,” he snapped. “If you had, what would be the point of restarting?”
“You mean he’s purposefully making us forget things?” A deep scowl marred her beautiful face. “I don’t like people messing with my head.”
Godwin started to sigh, then held it in, annoyed at the idea of repeating himself. He’d be doing that quite a lot if the apprentice kept abusing the timeline. “He does not need to make you forget events that never occurred.”
“But you remember them,” Cyril said. “Which means they did occur.”
“Yes, and that’s where things get messy.
The ability to control time directly correlates to chaos magic.
Changing time can change someone’s fate, Wilde has already proven that.
Before he created this pocket dimension, he did something that affected the whole timeline of the primary dimension.
It might have been something small. Meeting someone he shouldn’t have, preventing people from meeting who should, appearing in a place he was never meant to be.
Whatever he did, it changed the fate of all the royal champions. ”
Francesca gasped again, less concerned about repeating herself. “What did he do to Delilah?”
“Prevented her marriage to Princess Gwendolyn Unfortunate. A marriage I officiated myself but now does not exist,” Godwin explained, particularly bitter about the last bit.
“Let me guess,” Lucinda said. “Treasure Banes was also supposed to marry as a component of the spell?”
Godwin nodded. “To Princess Angelica Calamitous.”
“Oh. Oh dear. No wonder he … well, I would change time too if Cyril was supposed to marry someone else!” She batted her eyelashes at her husband.
Cyril scooped up her hand and kissed her knuckles, one at a time, pulling her closer with each kiss. Soon they stood flush against each other, gazing lovingly into their partner’s eyes.
Godwin cleared his throat. “If you would let me continue, please.”
They focused on him but did not separate. Lucinda rested her head against her husband’s shoulder and Cyril rested his head on top of hers.
“As I was saying, Wilde changed their fates, and thus created chaos. Everything that has followed adds to that chaos. Beasts feed on it. Mages use it to fuel their magic. Evil thrives in it.” For now, that chaos was contained within the pocket dimension.
Godwin would need to take extraordinary measures to prevent it from infecting the primary dimension.
“Is there any way to hold on to our memories?” Francesca asked. “I don’t want to forget what I’m doing every time he throws a tantrum.”
“It’ll be easier now that we know what to look for,” Cyril said. The stern look he gave Godwin clearly stated: which we should have known from the beginning.
“That’s not a guarantee. I do have one idea,” Godwin trailed off.
He knew Cyril wouldn’t like the suggestion.
Godwin slipped his hand into the cloak’s pocket, where he had stuffed a few spare crystals.
As he held them out to the others, their shapes changed, their edges smoothing out and bending to his will.
After a few seconds, three pendants lay on his palm.
“Wearing these will suppress magic’s effect on you. ”
“It will also prevent us from using magic.” Shadows flickered in Cyril’s eyes as he gazed at Godwin. “If this has all been some elaborate trick to entrap me, you will not like the consequences.”
“No trick, mage, but you need not take one if you don’t trust me.”
Queen Francesca chose one first, plucking a small pink heart from Godwin’s hand.
“I don’t know any magic anyway, and I prefer to keep my mind whole, thank you.
” She slipped the pendant onto the necklace she already wore before reclasping the chain around her throat.
She waited a moment, then said, “I certainly don’t feel any different. ”
Following the queen’s lead, Lucinda chose a small flower.
“I haven’t practiced magic for years, except on the page.
” Her husband helped her unclasp her necklace, his fingers lingering on her neck, in her hair, trailing down her shoulder.
It was quite a long production, repeated all over again after they’d slid the pendant onto the chain.
The moment it clasped around her neck, Lucinda shuddered deeply.
“Oh, that is unpleasant. Like I’ve suddenly been plunged into an ice-cold lake. ”
“I’ll pass,” Cyril said.
His eyes dared Godwin to argue, but why should he care if the mage willingly threw himself into a time-loop?
“Besides,” Cyril drawled, “you might need my magic later. Any spells you cast might boot you from this dimension, apprentice.”
Godwin’s skin prickled at the underlying threat. He had only managed to enter the pocket dimension because of Cyril’s help. What would he do if that help was rescinded? How much more chaos would the apprentice create? “Let’s continue to the evil lair.”
It might be a long journey if they had to keep making it over and over again.