“No one knows for sure what it is,” Neptune said. “Lots of rumors and hearsay, but the warnings about Collapse are so strong that no one uninfected seems to know anything of substance about it — so they can’t help the infected find it.”
“There are just the words passed down by the Fates,” Mercury said. “I don’t remember the exact wording, but basically they say Collapse is a weapon that tears apart the human mind and will, enslaving them to some other being. Most interpret that ‘other being’ to be the Queen, but it isn’t specifically stated.”
“So he lost his mind,” Fae said, disappointed at the turn of events. “Which probably means he never found what he was looking for.”
“It’s unlikely we’ll ever know,” Gerick said. “But I can direct you to those who spoke with him, and those who directly sought him out when they heard about his story. With your situation so similar to his, they may very well open up to you and share things they wouldn’t tell me.”
“But there’s nothing you can tell me,” Fae said glumly.
“Don’t be so hasty,” Gerick said, smiling. “Examining your drawings, it’s clear to me that they are not magical in nature.”
Fae stared at Gerick, heart sinking.
Not magical in nature? But I…
“Do not worry,” Gerick said, noticing Fae’s expression. “That doesn’t mean you came here in vain. You see, Magic is tied to artwork in many ways. There is, of course, artwork that is in itself magical — that is primarily what we work with here in this camp. The Plains of the Fallen is a place for those who were forgotten in life. We use our artistic talents here to do our best to make sure they are not completely forgotten. Our engravings on the tombs themselves, as well as artistic works made here, help to return memories of the forgotten dead to the rest of the world.”
Fae loved the sound of that. Just as she had thought while walking the burial grounds…
Art can make sure that those gone are never forgotten.
“There is also artwork that is born of Magic,” Gerick said, “but does not have magical properties itself. That is what you have here. Magic, as you said, brought these drawings to life through you. And the mystery behind that Magic is what you seek to unravel, yes?”
Fae nodded. “If someone or someplace is calling out to me, I need to know.”
“And I can help, though not as much as you might have hoped,” Gerick said. He leafed through the sketchbook’s pages, until he stopped near the beginning. “It’s telling that you would draw Eventide Archive. It’s a repository of knowledge, certainly, but more than that, it is currently maintained by Selphine Miora. She knew the boy better than anyone else.”
Gerick passed the sketchbook to Fae, who took out a pen and labeled the drawing he’d indicated as the Eventide Archive. It was a cut-in interior drawing, showing a view of a building’s interior as if one of the walls had been removed entirely. It certainly looked like a “repository of knowledge” — books were here, there, and everywhere, though it wasn’t much like a library. The books weren’t sorted on bookshelves in neatly arranged aisles, but instead existed on smaller shelves that were constructed in such a way that they were integrated into and around stairs, tables, benches, and windows, forming a really pleasant place of study and research.
“How much was she able to tell you?” Fae asked.
“I can’t be sure,” Gerick said with a wry smile, “Because she wasn’t willing to tell me very much. Inquiries did not appear to be very welcome. I met with her on three separate occasions. Twice she seemed to be too preoccupied with her work to speak with me, but the third time, it was clear to me that she was intentionally avoiding the subject. I had the sense that it was painful for her, though I can’t be certain. But with this drawing and your story, she may be far more receptive to your questions.”
“Thank you,” Fae said. She smiled a small smile, feeling a slight bit of relief. Things seemed more ominous than she’d expected — talk of a Nightmare Queen and a dangerous infection called Collapse — but she had a bit of a way forward.
One step at a time. Even if those steps are small.
“If you’d like, spend some time here before leaving,” Gerick said, standing. He looked up at the sky. “Looks like we’ll have rain soon, and there isn’t much cover out on the Plains.”
“And it’s a long way to the nearest exit,” Neptune said.
“And someone looks like she wants to stick around for a while, anyway,” Jupiter said, grinning at Fae.
Fae couldn’t help smiling. Why wouldn’t she want to spend more time here?
I have got to check out all the artwork here. And maybe I can find something to bring back for Shana. She’d like that.
I hope she hasn’t been trying to get a hold of me. How long am I going to be gone? Have I been reported missing already, just like Caleb and Delilah? Does Shana know?
Maybe I should have said something before I left.
Don’t worry, Shana. I’ll bring something back for you. I don’t know when I’ll be back. There’s a lot I don’t know, and that list keeps getting longer.
Even knowing that, Fae was excited. There was much she didn’t know, sure, but she was learning quite quickly, too. And if she could visit more places like this, with so many artists openly celebrating their work? Well, then this journey was going to be the time of her life.
Chapter 32: Hyperbolic
—G —
“Now, it’s time to show me what you’ve got,” Mister Midnight said.
Caleb stood across from his trainer, uncertain of what to do. Mister Midnight had a lot to say about the world, Eternals, and fool’s gods, but when it came to explaining their training, he’d been remarkably vague.
“What I’ve got with what?” Caleb asked.
“With your Time Magic,” Mister Midnight said.
“But… I’m not supposed to use my Time Magic,” Caleb said. “I’ll end up back at Chronoshin as a permanent resident.”
Mister Midnight sighed, and then snapped his fingers. The sky and space around them distorted, as if they’d been surrounded by a bubble. “I can protect you from the negative effects of your Time Magic,” Midnight said. “But before I start teaching you how to use it correctly, I need to see how you currently wield it. I need to know specifically what problems need correcting.”
“Okay,” Caleb said. He held his pocket watch in one hand, and started to inhale, preparing to activate his Time Magic.
“Okay, stop right there,” Midnight said, waving his hands dismissively. “What’s that? Do you hold your breath when you slow down time?”
Caleb shook his head. “No, I just have to take a breath before I do it,” he said.
“Why?” Midnight asked.
Caleb stared blankly at his teacher in response.
“You do things and you don’t even know why you do them?” Midnight asked. He let out a long sigh. “Think about it. Why do you take a deep breath before you slow down time? You started learning Time Magic as a kid, so you’ve probably been doing things the same way for a long time. Figure out why.”
“Because…” Caleb wracked his brain. “I… it helps me concentrate.”
Midnight pursed his lips. “What does it feel like when you slow down time?”
“I feel a sort of pressure,” Caleb said. “It comes from all around me. But… after a while, it gets really strong right in my chest. I sometimes get strong headaches, too. And if I keep things up for too long, I can start to get dizzy or short of breath.”
“That’s because you hold your breath,” Midnight said.
“No, I don’t,” Caleb said. “I inhale, then when time is slowed, I breathe normally.”
“Oh, really?” Midnight asked, raising an eyebrow. “Show me, then.”
“So I should actually slow time now?” Caleb asked. “You’re not going to stop me again?”
“Do you normally talk back to your teachers like this?”
Caleb shrugged. “When it feels a
ppropriate.”
“Just do it, Greyson,” Midnight said, eyes narrowed.
Caleb took in a deep breath, and slowed down time. He felt the familiar pressure, but it wasn’t like when he’d collapsed on Hollow Island. It was… like normal. He grinned, jumped up and down, spun in a circle, and laughed.
“I’m back to normal!” he said.
“If that’s what you call normal, I’d hate to see your bad days,” Midnight said. Like Isabelle, he was able to move normally even when Caleb slowed time. “Notice anything strange?”
“I’m not holding my breath,” Caleb said, perhaps a bit too smugly.
“Really?” Midnight asked. He came to stand a few inches away from Caleb, looking down at him with an analytical gaze. “I guess when you do things wrong for years, you stop noticing the problems.”
Caleb stared skeptically up at Midnight. He opened his mouth, intending to take in a new breath…
But he couldn’t. It was as if his lungs were already filled to capacity. He tried to speak, but now no sound came out.
Why… why can’t I talk? Why can’t I inhale? What is going on?
“How often do you talk while using Time Magic?” Midnight asked. Caleb blinked, thinking back, and things started to click together. He shook his head, held up one finger. “Once per day, or only one time?” Caleb nodded, holding up two fingers. “Got it. So you never noticed what was wrong until someone else pointed it out. How’s your chest?”
There it was. The building pressure in Caleb’s chest came to being, and now he finally recognized it for what it was.
He was holding his breath. And he couldn’t let it out.
“What happens every time you stop slowing time?” Midnight asked.
Caleb knew before he did it. As he returned time to its original flow, just like every time before, he let out a long breath.
“Exhale,” Caleb said, gasping for breath.
“Now you’re starting to get it,” Midnight said.
“But why could I talk before?” Caleb asked.
“Time’s a funny thing,” Midnight said. “Manipulating it causes all kinds of havoc, even in ‘masters’ of Time Magic. You slowed down time as you were inhaling. Meanwhile your body, as a wielder of Time Magic, can operate relatively normally even as time is slowed all around you for everyone else. But the state in which your body enters time’s slowed flow is critical. Since you slow time while inhaling, your body, while less affected by the slowed time, still struggles to keep up. It recognizes your inhale as your natural state, and your entire breathing cycle is ruined. You can’t breathe properly, until eventually, you can’t breathe at all. And if you’re frequently active and in combat while slowing time, that puts even more stress on your body. You have to breathe to move, after all.”
Wow, he actually does explain stuff in detail sometimes.
“So… how do I change that?” Caleb asked. “I don’t know any other way. I’ve never tried another way, but…”
“You have to understand why, just like I said,” Midnight said. “Why do you inhale as you slow time?”
“It helps me concentrate,” Caleb said. “I do that for lots of things. When I need to focus for a test, or a competition, or something else, I always take in a deep breath, and then let it out.”
“So why don’t you go through the full circle before you slow down time?” Midnight asked. “Inhale, then exhale, then slow down time.”
Caleb pursed his lips. “I dunno,” he muttered. “I… maybe it’s because I’m always using Time Magic on the fly. I don’t have a lot of time to prepare myself for it, and I have to react quickly. So I just shortened the inhale-exhale process.”
“And shot yourself in the foot,” Midnight said. “Now that process for slowing time is ingrained in your mind and body. It’s going to be quite some work to undo that.”
“About how long do you think it’ll take?” Caleb asked. “I just… I have people waiting for me. And there was someone who I promised I’d help.”
“Well lucky you,” Midnight said, grinning in a way that sent a shiver down Caleb’s spine. “You have two options. There’s the long training, which will take you at least a full year to complete — possibly longer. That’s a year in your Earth time, by the way. I’m just going to talk in Earth time rather than universal time, make it easier on you.”
“And I’m guessing there’s a short version,” Caleb said.
Midnight nodded. “Shouldn’t take more than six hours or so,” he said. “Although… if you fail at any point in those six hours, you’ll have to start over from the very beginning. Depending on how many times you fail, it could take weeks.”
“That’s still a lot faster than a year,” Caleb said, ready to jump on board the short version.
“If you fail too many times, you’ll die,” Midnight said flatly.
Oh.
“I…” Caleb started, uncertain of what to say.
I don’t have a year. I mean, Chelsea and Delilah and Lorelei can probably handle themselves. But… I said I’d come back. And with these fool’s gods like Void starting to branch out and enact some kind of dangerous plan, they could be in a lot of trouble. Plus, there was that woman pursuing Isabelle. They’ll be hunted.
And… I’ve never been away from Chelsea for more than a week. I’ve never been away from mom and dad, and Shana and Shias and Delilah, for more than a month.
And I just started trying to get closer to Fae again. A year away would ruin that.
I can’t take a year.
Of course, if I die, that would kind of ruin the whole point of accelerating my training, wouldn’t it?
And Chelsea would hate me for it.
“Can you tell me more about the shorter version?” Caleb asked.
Midnight smiled. “Sure thing,” he said. “This is our training ground. I slow down time for us and this entire Location for the duration of your training. It doesn’t bother me or Ingrid — we’re special. But you’re Human. You know the stress and strain of slowing time for a few seconds in the real world. But what’s the longest you’ve ever slowed time for?”
“About a minute,” Caleb said with a grimace. “And that was only once. And I passed out. And was asleep for two days. And after I woke up, I was sick for a week, vomiting and feverish and… yeah.”
Midnight chuckled. “Then you probably won’t want the shorter training,” he said. “Your training will take a year, one way or another. The only reason the shorter training is shorter is because that will only be a year within the slowed time zone of Midnight Bridge. Outside, only about six Earth hours will have passed. It means a day here will be a little less than a minute to everyone outside.”
“So… for the long training, it’s a year in real-time, without the intense pressure of constant slowed time. And to complete the shorter training, I have to handle a year of slowed time with no stops or breaks?”
Midnight nodded, his eyes flashing with a challenge. “What’s it gonna be, Greyson?”
“You said if I fail, the six hours start over. Why’s that?”
“Because you need the consecutive hours of slowed time in order to acclimate yourself to the true nature of Time Magic,” Midnight said. “You collapse or pass out in the middle, and you need to start it all over again. The shorter training also makes you much stronger in every other way. It’s a fair tradeoff, as long as you don’t die.”
“So it’s like a time bomb. If I pass out from time’s pressure too many times, I’ll get sick from it, and eventually, my body won’t be able to handle it anymore.”
Midnight nodded. “That’s right. How strong do you think you are? How much can you endure? What’s your pain tolerance? And…” his eyes flashed again, “how far will you go for the people you love?”
He’s enjoying this.
“Let’s just get it started,” Caleb said. “I’ll only find out for sure by being put through it, right?”
Midnight grinned. “That’s the spirit,” he said. Rais
ing his right hand, he snapped his fingers.
Caleb felt that familiar dull pressure of time’s flow being altered, but… it was different. When he slowed time himself, the pressure was acute and focused.
This version was less painful, but… it was pervasive. He felt hot, and fuzzy, like his mind couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening.
“Locational Time Magic,” Midnight said. His voice seemed to echo, as if Midnight Bridge had been enclosed within some kind of invisible construct. “You’ve likely heard of Locational Guardian Magic — it’s what you use to protect your houses and other important places.”
Greysons of Grimoire Page 38
