As Gregory mentally thought to dismiss the notification, Aetius came up to him, startling Greg by how quickly he came into his line of sight. It wasn’t like he didn’t think it could be done, especially by somebody who had been alive as long as Aetius, but he did think he would have at least noticed something. This just showed how outclassed he was by so many of the people in this new mysterious world that has been opened up to him. At the same time though, Aetius was shocked, Gregory being able to pause time in his immediate area already was a very impressive feat.
”It seems you have already discovered the ability to pause time in the immediate vicinity, although you probably haven’t figured it out yet. Right now, in the small area you are in, only temporal mages can move about. However, only temporal mages can enter these pockets as well. No living being without time magic can enter these spaces, such an ability would make it far too easy for us to kill others. At least that seems to be the general consensus when asked why we can’t.”
Gregory looked at Aetius in disbelief, moving to the sink to test it. As he turned it on, nothing came out. It seemed that Aetius was telling the truth, they both existed outside of time right now, in a sort of protected space that took on the form of Aetius’ house.
”Now that I have gained access to temporal magic, how do people travel through time? It doesn’t seem to be as easy as using just a magical focus. There needs to something else involved that I am not getting, right? Also, you mentioned earlier about being able to transfer time memory, how exactly does that work?”
”How about I answer that first question with the answer, and the second by showing you. What you are missing, is the emotional or memorial anchor. It isn’t done by magic alone, but by memory and emotion with magic. You need to know the emotions that are felt at that time, as well as having some kind of memory anchor. For example, with music, one must listen to the music and then think about the person when travelling back to the past. The only exception is when using a memory anchor, in which case you need to remember where you were at that time. One thing that may be confusing though, while we can remember where we were perfectly at the time, we cannot travel to where we were by traveling back in time.”
Taking a pause, he let Gregory get this before moving on.
”If we went back in time right here, we’d end up in North America at whatever time we traveled back to. Also, there are paradoxes when time travelling. If something is changed in the past, then the future will be inaccessible until the past is corrected. At times, fixing the past is also hard, because there need to be things done in a roundabout way to fix it. When one travels back to a time they were in, they need to keep away from their other self to prevent a tear in reality. If you change the past, you would need to prevent yourself from changing that past by getting them away from there without being seen. The only other way would be to use a cloaking spell and do it that way, scaring them off by making them think they will die if they continue.”
Gregory looked concerned at this information, knowing that it meant the past was a very dangerous place to be. ’If I end up changing something, that would cause a paradox, and I’d need to fix it by preventing it somehow. I don’t know why people even bother travelling to the past, though I suppose it does make some things easier.’
”Why do people even travel back to the past if it is so dangerous, it sounds easy to really hurt or change the past.”
Aetius expected this kind of response, and he knew just how to answer it.
”Some of the most powerful spells of all time were created, and lost, in the past. The ability to travel back and gain access to them is the desire of every mage, which is why temporal mages and sages are extremely wealthy, and very sought after. Being able to gain access to, and get other’s access to the strongest spells in history is very appealing.”
”What about martial arts, or sword fighting, couldn’t those be dangerous as well? If there was an infinite time to train, couldn’t we grow stronger infinitely?”
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”That is a common thought among the younger time mages, but it is soon realized to be false. While there are some very powerful martial artists and swordsman amongst us, none of them that can match a sage, or even some of the stronger mages, are truly human. Their bodies house curses, such as vampirism or lycanthropy, or they have become a mixed race and have become part demon or some other monster.”
”Now, let me show you how temporal memory works for those that get it given to them.”
Aetius reached a hand out, touching Gregory’s forehead with a finger and flowing magic into his mind. What he was showing Gregory was his personal temporal memory. Every time from 100 B.C. to the present was there, now swirling about in Gregory’s mind as well as his own.
Gregory felt a crack of pain as the memories flooded his mind, until the temporal magic now in his body sorted them as outside of memory, a place where only magic holds memories. It seems that this was how temporal memory was transferred, it was housed in a person’s magic if given to them from an outside source.
”So, it feels as if the memories have moved into the magic. You said that I need to feel the time as well as use magic though, how does that work if the magic has the memories?”
Aetius didn’t expect this question, it showed a deeper understanding and curiosity than most.
”Your magic can feel just as well as you can, this is done since your mind has not developed to the point that it can mentally store all that information. You have only been a temporal sage for a couple hours, I have been one for over two thousand years. The sheer vastness of my memory is too much for your mind to handle, so your temporal magic takes over, and will simply show you a segment of memory when you decide you want to travel in time. All you need to do is channel the magic through your mind before using the spell, this way, you have the feeling and the magic working together.”
”I will take you to a past time, since that is the best way to understand time travel magic, but you must change nothing while you are there. It is best to stick with me, since with my experience, I can see how events that may be done will change our present. ”
As he wove the magic, Gregory watched carefully, and when Aetius had finished, the system came up with a notification that [TIME TRAVEL MAGIC] had been learned. It seemed his Mystic Sight allowed him to duplicate all spells as long as he understood how they worked if it was more than just mana, and he had the affinity for the element of the spell. Then, time was bent around them, before placing them at the same exact point in space, but 700 years in the past.
”Now, follow me carefully, there are American shaman about. You need to make sure not to let them know of us, they had no idea that magic was used offensively, as many had some small traces of mixed blood. If they find out that magic can be used offensively, it would vastly change what happened when people first came to this continent. Such an event could completely destroy the world you grew up in, and would require you to fix what you had done.”
Just then, an American shaman was coming upon them, and Aetius yelled for Gregory to quickly return to the present. However, Gregory was too curious. Instead of traveling back to the present, he instead hid in the area to see what kind of magic the Native Americans used. To his surprise, it seemed as though they had all the basic elements. ’Is it because of their connection to nature? This could really be helpful for me to learn other elements more easily as well.’ With this thought, Gregory made the mistake that would push his current timeline out of the picture.
”Hello, I am Gregory. What is your name?”
Yes, I know this is something incredibly foolish, but he is way too curious.
I am sorry for the short chapter, but I will try to write another one later today.
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