The Covenant Of Timeless Mysteries

Chapter 3

"An older fellow owned this manor before I came here. I inherited nothing after his death, because we weren't family, nor acquaintances." Polaris had lowered the key ring upon raising it to the bridge of his nose to examine.

He danced it across the Baeru, keeping a hand in his pocket.

. . .

Hoku remembered Polaris's words from the study and resolved to press him further, having glimpsed through parts of his act.

"If this isn't your manor, was he really your relative? What does it mean for the end of my world?"

"The most important truth you must grasp," Polaris began, in a low hum, "is that the past is immutable. It remains as it was. However, it is drawing closer to the present, and closing a distance that should not be breached." He paused, letting his words settle into dust before continuing. "This is not by accident. The future in your original timeline refuses to coexist with the present. That is why neither of us can return to it."

With a distant gaze, Polaris slightly leaned himself back, "When the future is severed, the present loses its purpose. It loops endlessly, consuming itself. For most, this loop is veiled by the continuous retraction of their memories, it is like a prison they cannot see. Thus, they continue, unaware. But for those like us, the fracture reveals itself. We wake outside the cycle, conscious of its disorder, yet powerless to set it right. All we can do is find ways to settle within the chaos."

His voice dipped lower as he furthered into his explanation, "What you must understand is this: this universe has stolen from your world. Epochs such as the one we stand in now have been divided and taken away from your timeline's design. This manor," he gestured vaguely to the space around them, "once held high significance toward the construct of something incredible. Now, for others along with you, it has become little more than a trace of an old era. And you've stumbled upon it, not because you were meant to, but because it no longer belongs anywhere else."

Hoku felt as if the explanation was piercing his mind, and leaving his thoughts heavy and disjointed.

Polaris regarded his expression with a faint smile, "Do not despair. It is natural to feel overwhelmed."

Then, suddenly shifting his tone, Polaris asked, "Do you remember the cat?"

"Cheshire?" Hoku asked, and his mind scrambled back to the black cat scampering up the old staircase.

"Yes, him. He is your guide."

The two had walked into one of the farthest rooms in the manor after Hoku nearly fainted from the strange ordeal that had transpired beyond the manor.

"A 'guide'?—Why would I need a guide?" Hoku asked, crossing his arms as he gazed at the wall before him.

Polaris acknowledged the seat before him with a hand gesture.

Its design matched the chair Polaris had taken across from him.

Hoku reluctantly sat down with his back hovering rigidly away from the chair. 

Polaris exhaled and continued their conversation.

"I don't quite understand why myself," Polaris admitted. "Though I can offer you an answer for what. Cheshire has returned to this period more times than I have. That is not to say I am clueless about the 1800s, but that I haven't left this place once since my arrival."

"The—the 1800s!?" Hoku's posture jerked upright as though pulled by marionette strings.

Polaris nods his head

"It's amusing how often folk confuse the Regency and Victorian eras. They're both British, sure, but the Regency was the early 1800s, all balls, and elegance. The Victorian era didn't start until Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837—completely different atmosphere."

Polaris chuckled, tilting his palm before clasping his hands together. "The term 'eras' seems irrelevant. Their history only exists outside this universe. I prefer to call them epochs." he explained with a grin.

"You don't need to give me a history lesson I already read about them," Hoku replied shaking his head with disbelief.

Polaris's eyes glinted with amusement, as creases formed at the corners of his mouth. "You must read a lot," he acknowledged, leaning forward as if remarkably interested in Hoku's comment.

"My caretaker is a history professor," Hoku added once he had begun to settle into reality of where he sat.

Polaris stood up from the chair and brushed his hand over his vest to smooth the wrinkles.

"Did you truly think nothing of how I dressed or spoke?" He raised an eyebrow, displaying a slightly skeptical look.

"Why do you think I ran?" Hoku asked, setting it aside. "I had believed you had a personality disorder."

Polaris placed a hand on his chest and closed his eyes in mock distress.

"You wound me, young man. Must you be so forward with your commentary?" 

Hoku frowned at Polaris. "Please, stop with the formal talk. It's unsettling," he muttered, and Polaris skillfully steered the conversation back to its original subject.

"Ahem-then it is imperative you grasp the year we find ourselves in, and understand that only a singular, ordained path can lead you out of each epoch," he exclaimed, choosing his words carefully.

"You must enact an order of tasks to reverse the barriers surrounding them. A majority of which require you to destroy the entire fragment."

Hoku stared at him dumbfounded.

'What did I come here for?' He cursed the thought.

'I came here out of nothing but boredom, pursuing purpose where there was none.'

He silently mourned his choices before finally asking Polaris a question, hoping it would make him appear more resolved than he felt.

"I don't know much about the concept of time itself," Hoku said gradually, "but wouldn't 'destroying' something from the past be considered 'high-risk interference'? I mean, doing anything that changes a specific event will ruin what originally occurred in the future… right?"

Polaris scoffed, and then his shoulders began to shake.

A quiet wheeze escaped him, which quickly turned into a hearty laugh. 

Hoku was less disturbed by the outburst now that he had interpreted the situation for what it was—Polaris had most likely lost his sanity.

Polaris sighed, wiping at his eye. "Ah, sorry, Hoku. Questions can sound absurd when viewed from an original perspective." His voice turned colder. "There is no future anymore. The manor is an isolated prop, like everything else. It's frozen in the moment it was taken."

"A loop," Hoku said quietly.

Polaris shook his head. "Not quite. It's more intricate than that. While it carries some traits of a time loop, that man outside the manor returns after every 'hour,' to curse at the owner. This universe is ultimately an interference to your own. However, like most mechanisms, each interference has a central pin."

As he spoke, his eyes narrowed on something atop his sleeve. "If you pull it, the structure collapses," he said as he plucked what must have been a thread from his cuff.

Polaris moved past Hoku's chair, gesturing to the door. "Follow me back to the study."

Hoku nodded with hesitancy, while his thoughts remained in a tangle.

Polaris' explanations only made him more aware of the vast ignorance surrounding it all.

"This... 'interference,'" Hoku murmured. "It's not separate, is it? It is only a tumor of fragments from the timeline of the original universe—"

"Mn," Polaris hummed. "Though I understand why it afflicts the past, I do not have a straightforward explanation for how it led to the disappearance of the future."

Hoku fell silent, struggling to express additional remarks.

As they made their way to the staircase, Hoku realized that there were two rooms, beyond the one leading to the 'guest parlor'.

The walls in the farthest rooms were remarkably bare, almost making the interior seem disappointing to the exterior.

Perhaps the clutter in the study had once belonged to the second floor.

It made Hoku briefly ponder, 'If that were the case, why hide everything beneath the main staircase? Was it possible for a person to rob a place confined by both a gate and repeating time?'

The man outside barely acknowledged the manor, innately treating it as though it weren't there.

Polaris hesitated near the door beneath the gaudy staircase.

He appeared concerned about something as he reached for the doorknob to the study.

"You do know why you came here, don't you?" Polaris asked, keeping his back turned but angling his head toward Hoku.

Hoku weighed the options of offering a fruitless answer but replied with the best one he had at the given moment.

"No, I don't know why I came here."

"The painting in that 'mysterious white book' never piqued your interest?" Polaris asked.

Hoku's expression fell. After a moment of internal scrutiny, he spoke up.

"Was that the large object veiled beneath the red tarp?"

"Indeed," Polaris said.

"You already know," Polaris continued, "But I'll remind you. The painting is the key to leaving this entrance. The manor is part of this universe, but it's just the frame of a doorway. A doorway you can't step back from." He paused, thinking to himself before expelling a puff of air from his mouth, "This door leads to—"

"The time stream," Hoku finished.

The Memoir Chapter 2

'THE END OF TIME'

Objective 2:

Find the twins. They signify the beginning of a new sequence. When one is gone, you are still in the same interval of the present. If the one who is gone reappears, it means the sequence has started from the beginning, and the navigator has died.