Chapter 26: Dark Matters of the Night
"However…there are two possibilities for this existence." Jaeger said forwardly after setting an empty cup down.
The old man looked up with hopeful eyes, "Yes? Get on with it youngin"
Jaeger smiled, "In either possibility…you do exist, but I don't…technically. The first, is that I was sent to the past to change the future, from what I know this is the dynamic theory of impacting the past definitely changes the future. Now, this can be a paradox where by doing so I never do the things I did in that time…and thus, by never coming back, never change anything and get stuck in a loop….that is the worst outcome."
"If I wasn't a person already engrossed in prediction and divination…I don't think the kids would understand, but sadly I do…the second?" He snuffed out his cigarrete, as if to defy the first possibility.
"The second…is the multiverse theory, where what I do changes nothing, there is simply now a timeline where all of that never occurred…meaning you live past your expiration date, and I merely will go back to the changed space of the future without a loop or paradox. The 6 people I am with and myself will be the only ones to remember the original time line…including the information I told to you…making you the 8th"
"That is indeed the best case scenario…" He nodded.
"How does your ability to 'predict' the future work" This was an important point and tool.
"Well…I dream, since I was young I have always had dreams that have become events of the future, but only bits and pieces. I may dream of a vast landscape of flowers and trees, and yet suddenly right after that something bad occurs"
"You mean to say…you might catch a glimpse of something, but after the dream ends anything is a possibility?"
"So to say…there are always hints, clues, happenstances…I might see a candle in a room tetering on its edge near a barrel of oil…dumb example I know…but even though I don't see the after circumstances of the dream, I have my guesses as long as I am examining it closely."
"How far ahead…" This was the second point that was important.
"Well…could be 60 years, could be 5 days." He rubbed the back of his head with a smile.
"That is still useful! Even if you said it was just tomorrow"
"True…but other things can affect the outcome of what I dream, know what I said a field can turn bad even after I dream it as healthy? Because I can't predict human nature in my dreams. It is almost always another being that changes the outcome of the dreams"
"So…this also means it was a person or being that created the doom for this place" Jaeger looked out a window in the room with a deep gaze.
"I…hadn't thought of it that way, but now that I know what I know…then I guess it might very well be."
"So to get this straight…different forms of time travel, if it is time travel…can occur, but with your ability we might be able to solve what we need to. I think I have a way of knowing which it is."
Jaeger stood up slowly.
"Mmm…it's the girl isn't it." The old man stood up as well.
"Yes…if you and I can properly tell her what we know, in a way she will understand…matter of fact, I am surprised you are taking this so well?" Jaeger relit up his smoke that had grown anew.
"I see a lot of outcomes…regardless of the why or how, I do not want to see that doomed future again. In fact, what you said…made the possibility of that future…well make sense to me. For a while I have been racking my brain, not sleeping well, filled with anxiety of everything around me and haven't left the house…now that I know the problem, I will try to solve it."
"I like you old man…my name is Jaeger, I never asked yours" Jaeger lifted his hand up.
The old man looked at it before bringing his up, "Isaiahh crowell"
"What…" Jaegers body suddenly stiffened up.
"That's my name?" Isaiahh felt something was off.
"Sit down…I have a longer story for you…" Jaeger finally let go with a sigh.
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"You mean to tell me that an old man bestowed you powers…and had the same name as me?" The old man had long lit up another smoke, droning his fingers on the table in contemplation.
"Yes…and then began everything after that."
"Names can be coincidental…lets just say that…and he could also have the same 'clan' name…let's say that…but for him to be able to speak with the dead…"
"What is it?" Jaeger felt something defining was about to be said, and sadly it was as the man continued.
"I come from a long line of mystics…in fact, my ability to predict the future is based upon this…you could say witches, you could say warlocks…I know of all people, for you in that…game…this isn't so strange but…some of the abilities have pertained to speaking to the dead. If I died, and he somehow left this place…or rather someone of my lineage…and then grew in that world, well…he could converse with me, and with my ability to predict the future have given you this power to make sure one day you would come back to stop this all from happening."
"Holy fuck…" Jaeger almost dropped his smoke.
"That…would actually make quite a bit of sense…I don't know what I would have said…but for him to use the name, means that he too was named it…or I told him to change his first name to it in the event you came here."
"Holy fuck…"
"Holy fuck indeed." The old man nodded continually as he closed his eyes.
"That means…in the time line I came from where you died, that man had made contact with you to give me what I needed to survive as well as reach this point…but why not tell me what he faced? How to end all this"
"Because Jaeger…those are variables my ability can't control remember…human nature, or rather if I knew the outcome would be this without saying anything well…I wouldn't say anything then…I am amongst the elders of this village, and when I make a decision I don't always explain why for a good reason. I am known as wise, and that is probably why Credance, the girl, brought you to me first…she is a good friend of mine haha."
"oh I see…" Jaeger nodded but several more questions were on his mind.
"Ask them, I'm very wise" The old man gave a nod.
"I've described where I have come from…what is 'here?' what is the order of this world?"
"Ah I see…" Isaiahh knew exactly what he meant by 'world order' especially after hearing the type of world Jaeger came from with power systems, and magical systems, let alone the new 'game' the gods there were playing, "Alright…it isn't as you presume it to be I promise that…"
"What do you mean? No magic or powers?"
"Not exactly no…in this world, somewhat like yours we engineered and created…but long ago after several old wars, we disbanded the idea of digitalization and communication." The old man seemed to be reminiscing.
"No…digitalization or communication?" Did he mean in the form of mortal sciences?
"Yes…we created machines, and things that move of course…but we broke away from phones, and communication devices on that scale…we have radios of sorts, and ways to interact but our world is without the same communication network as your own…albeit yours is magical…still…from your views on just the buildings of the city I first picked up on, you seemed to be confused by our modern design without technology…well, that's how it is."
"That's…so interesting." Jaeger couldn't help but nod, it was strange to his ears but to come from a place where mysticism and magic was banned, why not technology? Still, what made up for that lacking aspect? Magic of different sorts?
"To answer the questions of what you are most likely asking yourself heh…well we never broke away from 'kingdoms' they merely became more modern. No bouts of democracy, or otherwise was formed in this world…we merely have kingdoms, and within that duchies…sects…etc…with mystic arts being the polar aspect to these kingdoms but not a force in control of anything other then their own people…we aren't as advanced as your world so to say it seems…huh…feels kinda shitty to describe it like that.
Indeed, it did sound like he was shitting on his own lawn but that was just how it is.
"Guns?" Jaeger asked curious.
"Banned" Isaiahh merely replied.
"Aww I see…mm…the abilities you were talking about? Mystics?"
"You know I have future sight yes? Or future…dreams? Mm….well…there are others with different abilities like these."
"Ah…eh?" Jaeger had several more questions pop into his head.
"Well…ha…our world has abilities that some gain…that are the peak of the human ability, or the peak of the human mind…in a natural way. The best way to describe it is that we have what we describe an afterlife, and we are linked to that zone of ghosts…"
"Ghosts…psychics…I see now" Jaeger began to understand a bit about this world more, as well as the fact that all the people who died here including cadence had become ghosts! It was the natural order of their world.
"Yes psychics that's the word…in more powerful places, there are more powerful psychics, but it isn't at the level of bending space and setting things aflame hahaha…no…no…we haven't had anyone with such powers yet, or so that I know."
"That's it then…that was the cause" Jaeger finally felt an ebb of an answer why this all came to be.
"What do you mean?" Isaiahh gave him a sideways glance.
"You said the other…you…or the person who gave me these powers could commune with the dead…what if someone had the ability to instill life by using those ghosts…back into the bodies of the living?" The room suddenly felt darker.
"That…my god…my great god no…" This was not impossible at all, and with the fact that he had a long distant relative that could commune with the dead, it could only mean one thing…
"We have…to kill the remnants of my clan." Isaiahh spoke after a long moment of silence, sadness and grievance causing his eyes to shut tightly.
Jaegers eyes slowly opened wide…"Oh fuck…"
The two left the house with solemn looks on their face, and set off to the elders spread around the town, not long after that a small group of women and men formed in a hidden room set in the attic of a well known bar that they all hanged out at to greet each other.
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Not a single one of them spoke up as Isaiahh told everything he knew, while Jaeger added the points he had said before. The group, close friends of the old man speaking before them could only grunt or sigh at the revelations being presented to them.
"What makes you think that all he said it true? Possible to occur?" Asked a old wrinkled woman briskly.
Isaiahh looked back to Jaeger and waved his hands, while the latter stepped forward in front of them all.
"Because…my power exists, to prove that I too…come from a different existence."
A mist slowly formed in the air and from it a strange looking frog with several jutting crystals from its back leapt out with a plop.
The frog opened its mouth, and buckets and buckets worth of steel poured out onto the ground before their very eyes. Jaeger bent down and absorbed the metal into himself, before light flickered back and forth off his now metallic skin. Nobody in the room spoke, and even Isaiahh kept his mouth shut as his eyes widened. Truly, there was no better proof then this.
Jaeger lowered his head a bit and looked at his hands, 'Or am I the crazy one?'
His 'cape' flung out as two wings sprung to life, to the eyes of those around him he was no different then a metallic skinned black winged angel.