Chapter 3: Let’s do the time thing again

His temporal home created the ideal conditions for the artifact to work again, and this time, Sen and Tutor would guide it. “Mori, did you get everything? You’ve lived here for a hundred years, surely you have some belongings of your own?” Sen asked.

Mori scratched the back of his head. “Well, actually, I was about to mention…” He looked unsure of himself, and Sen wondered what exactly Mori was finding so difficult to say.

[We are ready to leave whenever you’re…oh, the artifact is activating.]

Sen and Mori both looked up at once. “What?” Sen demanded. He focused his magic senses on the crystal; whatever was going on was barely perceptible. There was some kind of magic present. He could feel the hint of a spell activating, but it felt far too subtle. Moving through time should have more of an impact, shouldn’t it?

[Ten seconds until the spell activates.]

Mori’s eyes lit up. “Master! I’ll be right back, recall me when I ask!” With that, Mori ran to the door, whispered something, and ran through it as soon as the thunder cracked and light shone through the gap.

[Seven seconds until the spell activates.]

Sen swore. “Mori, wait!” He began the recall spell. He’d wait as long as he could, but he wasn’t leaving Mori behind again. Whatever he needed, Sen hoped he found it fast.

[Five seconds remain. The recall spell may take time as well. You may wish to use it a little early. Three seconds remain.]

“Mori!” Sen shouted into the air.

[Two.]

[One.]

“Do it now, master!” Mori’s voice called out in his head.

Without saying a word, he released the Greater Recall ability in his mind.

Mori appeared suddenly in a flurry of papers. Books thudded against the ground, and loose sheets of paper floated through the air. They slowly landed on the floor, his bed, and even in the waterfall. The clutter would drive Sen crazy. But at the moment, his biggest concern wasn’t the mess. He was more curious about the woman sprawled out on the floor. Mori had gone back for someone. He’d risked getting stuck in the past for a girl.

[You had less than a quarter of a second remaining. Very reckless, Mori.] Tutor could speak without constraint or effort to others within this temporal space.

Mori forced himself to his feet. The woman didn’t stir, though an initial glance told Sen she was okay.

“Mori…who exactly is this?” Sen asked, afraid of the answer. He was afraid because she looked a lot like they did.

Mori bit his lip. “Well, master, I’d like to introduce you to…my sister. Her name is Ilm.”

The effects of the spell were already in place. It didn’t feel like it, but they were shooting through time. He should be focusing his attention on that, but instead he looked down at the woman sleeping on his floor. She had long white hair, and if she opened her eyes, Sen already knew they’d be the same blood-red color as his and Mori’s. She even had the same markings that Mori had: long black lines that formed at the base of their necks and disappeared under their collars. Though an initial scan revealed them to be cosmetic instead of magical in nature, like Mori’s. He pieced together what Mori had done in seconds.

“You created a perfect replica…of yourself?”

[A replica of a replica. Though I wouldn’t say the technique was perfect. This one is a woman.]

He’d also wondered about that. A perfect replica was often as similar to you as possible. Had Mori made a mistake during the spell, or had something else triggered the change?

Mori bowed deeply. “I apologize master, I wanted to bring my sister up before, but…I was just so surprised to see you after all this time.”

Sen smiled. He knew the reason he’d created Mori, and he knew the reason Mori had likely created Ilm. “Mori, it’s okay. I’m not mad, just surprised is all. I hadn’t passed down the knowledge of that technique to you. You figured it out yourself?”

Mori beamed. “I did, though it took time. She’s not been around long.” His eyes widened a moment later. “Master, I tried to grab the tomes as well, but there wasn’t time. This was all I could manage!” Mori gestured to the scattered books and papers all around them.

Sen froze. He turned back to look at his empty bookshelves. He’d left hundreds of books behind for Mori in the kingdom’s library. In a room guarded by a powerful spirit Sen had contracted. The librarian and Mori were the only ones who could access the room…and apparently Ilm as well. But that knowledge wasn’t meant to be left behind.

“Tutor, can we go back?”

[We cannot. The artifact is already approaching its limit. My calculations indicate we’ll have moved a hundred additional years into the future before it breaks.]

“Greater Enhanced Cognition Maxim. Greater Enhanced Perception Maxim. Greater Reflex Enhance Maxim. Time Crawl Maxim, Mana Encapsulation,” Sen said in rapid succession. All around him, the world slowed. The waterfall in his room appeared to be falling at the pace of a snail spirit. Mori was trying to look up at him in slow motion. His body was moving more quickly, and his mind could process and react to information at tremendous speed now.

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Several high-grade magic essence spheres floated from the storage chest of his temporal world. He sacrificed them for his next spell. “Greater Creation-Evolution-Maxim,” Sen said quickly. In front of him, a formless mist appeared, and he went to work. Sen needed to act quickly; despite everything he was doing, time was still moving. He needed to set things in motion before they reached their destination. He had no intention of stopping at just a hundred years, but pushing the artifact to its limits would require his full attention.

He shaped the mist with his mind, and slowly it took physical shape. He didn’t have time to be picky, and he sculpted this new life with the first idea that came to mind. Jumping through time. The result was a giant blue frog, as long as a horse and equally wide. It stared at him with slit eyes, and its tongue and limited magic gave it fairly powerful offensive abilities. In a single leap it would bound over towns and kingdoms, and its tracking abilities would be nearly unrivaled.

“Master, you’ve outdone yourself,” Mori commented.

Sen looked over to see Mori had applied his own enhancements as well, pulling free of limitations. “Mori,” Sen said. “My apologies, I should’ve included you in the spell as well, but I needed to act quickly. What do you think?”

Mori nodded. He looked impressed. “I think we need to give it a name.”

Sen smiled, as always Mori didn’t take any time to catch up. “I’m thinking, Tomeseekers.”

[We do not know how this might affect things.]

“No, but I do know how my journals will. We can’t change the fact that they’ve been left behind for so long already, but hopefully the kingdom will protect them. That knowledge is dangerous, and if it spreads from the library, these creatures will seek out and collect that knowledge by any means necessary,” Sen said. He turned and put a hand on the frog’s nose as it took its first breath.

“Ribbit,” it croaked.

“Go and get my knowledge. Keep it safe,” Sen said. A slit in his temporal world appeared, and holding it open while they traveled through time drained mana quickly.