Chapter Text
Nephrite, Past
To communicate with the stars required clarity, concentration, a strong sense of focus to make sense of all the energy flowing to and fro; to reach into the chaos of the nebula and to make sense of what was pulled from it. The Milky Way was always loudest, every star screaming for his attention regardless of which constellation he tried to focus on. If he wasn’t careful, his consciousness would become lost within the vast expanses of space, drifting helplessly towards the Galaxy Cauldron.
Drawing in a breath, he focused on the mantra he’d used since his earliest days. “The stars see all; the stars know all…”
Though at this moment, it felt as if they were all trying to share all of that knowledge at once. Irksome, but one couldn’t exactly order the stars to go one at a time.
“The stars see all; the stars know all…”
Something tugged at the edge of his consciousness, calling his attention away from the expanse, and he inclined his spirit carefully, keeping himself rooted as he reached back. This was a difficult balance. Hold on too tight, and the star wouldn’t be able to impart anything, but if he loosened his grip more than necessary, he could get sucked into its essence. Being able to hop from Earth to the star didn’t sound too bad in theory, but from what he understood, in practice, it was more like having your mind split between the two, never fully existing in either space. Better than floating towards the Cauldron? Perhaps, but if he had the option, he’d rather keep his existence on Earth, thanks.
“The stars see all; the stars know all…”
There was a swirling darkness at the edge of his mind’s eye, the star pressing at him with a sense of urgency. Dark. Danger. Shadow. Outside. Wrong. It wasn’t in words, not exactly. A star never communicated in words. For his part, he could never articulate just what it was , but to scry with them required the ability to interpret those, translate them.
What was wrong? What kind of danger?
Shadow. Outside.
What was that supposed to mean? Outside this system? Outside this galaxy? Farther?
Where?
There was a shudder running through the universe and into him. Trying to break the connection?
From…be…yond…
And with that, a powerful force surged into him and threw him back.
Mars, Present
Her eyes shot open with a gasp, as if the sacred flame had tried to swallow the oxygen from her lungs. Had something just tried to force its way through the flame? How strange. There was always something about the flame that was dangerous. Fire could never be completely controlled, and she would have to be a fool to think otherwise. But at the same time, there had always been something almost comforting about the fire, a constant presence, almost a companion, in a world where everything could shift at a moment’s notice. Somehow, it connected her with what had come before even as she used it to peer into the future. Even if she didn’t know just what that was in that moment.
Still, the flame ejected me , she thought, drawing herself back into the present. An almost physical presence had thrown her back. Why would it do something like that? What was it she’d seen just moments before? Or had she seen anything at all? As she collected herself, it almost seemed as if it was more of a feeling than an image. A presence. Whose?
Something about it seemed almost familiar. Someone who’d been at the shrine recently?
Cautiously, she reached back into the flame, placing her consciousness at its edge. Close enough to feel its warmth drawing her, but far enough to avoid being consumed by either the fire or the presence within it. Where were you taking me? she wondered. And why didn’t you want me to go there?
The flame gave no response. Of course, that would have made things too simple. Still, she kept her mind at its edge, making certain not to force her way in. Fire was a powerful ally, but a dangerous enemy, and if she pressed it too fervently, it was as likely as not to consume her for her arrogance. Had her power been far greater than it was, she would still not make that mistake.
Something gnawed at the back of her senses, but it wasn’t from the fire. In spite of the heat, a chill crawled up her spine. Something evil was approaching.
Can you show me this evil? she asked instead. Give me a face, a name, anything . It didn’t matter how small.
For a moment, the fire resisted, but not against her. Whatever this evil presence was, some part of it was pushing against the sacred flame, and she shoved down the ball of nerves coiling in her throat. Flecks of color flew into its center, its heat seeming to burn hotter as pieces of the image collected, and she struggled to open her eyes. For one split second, the image formed, and her eyes locked onto the illusion.
“But that’s…” No, it couldn’t be possible. But it had to be. The evil had started with his arrival to the shrine. Unless it was a very clever ruse, it all lined up too well to mean anything else.
She stood, not knowing what she could do to stop him, but certain that if she did nothing, then her shrine’s downfall would rest squarely on her shoulders.
How stupid they had been to trust him.
Pluto, Future
A wave of pain and regret washed over her, and she closed her mind to let it pass.
When people spoke of the flow of time, it was usually more of a metaphor than anything else. They often did not know just how close that metaphor was to reality, and yet how far at the same time. It did flow, almost like a current, always moving, never still. That was part of the challenge of traversing it, whether traveling to another time, or even simply peering through to it. There were exceptions, of course. Memories were not forbidden. And yet, they could still fade in time. There were those who could read the future, and this was not forbidden either. But there was a kind of safeguard to that. The future was not set in stone, and even if it was, flowing water could still erode the image that had been seen.
And that was where it grew more challenging, sifting through each possibility, determining how it was connected to that future, discerning which variations were negligible, and which could alter its course. Trying not to have your consciousness ripped out and scattered across a myriad of alternate paths: past, present, and future. Learning how to extend yourself out into those timelines while remaining anchored within your own.
It was why, even for those who read the future, few did so with Time itself, instead preferring to sift those visions through another channel. It was almost certainly better that way, and yet she could never quite bring herself to envy them. In many ways, it was almost comfortable to be moving through the timestream instead of merely existing in it, though that was another danger of reading Time. Fail to stay rooted to her own time, and she could find herself drifting in time, but not truly part of it.
Perhaps, for the daughter of Chronos, that wasn’t as terrifying a fate as it ought to have been, but if nothing else, her experience had taught her that Time was a force to be respected, not a playground to do with as she pleased. That was why the Taboos existed, to serve as a reminder for those who would have scorned those truths. Time would always demand payment for those who chose to trifle with it.
She took a breath and pulled herself back into her moment, recentering herself after that last barrage. For something to have carried itself through with that much strength, it would have to be a regret that transcended its original place. What poor soul was unable to release that pain even now?
Holding it in her mind for one moment longer, she exhaled and allowed it to pass. It was not her place to interfere, nor was it the reason she had entered that stream to begin with. In the farthest reaches of her soul, something had nagged and tugged for her attention. Tempting as it was to dismiss it as restlessness from guarding the Door for so long, something deeper told her something far more sinister was at play.
Breathing in, she focused on that sinister tugging, attempting to isolate it in her consciousness. It was somewhere in the timestream, but where was it? How long did she have to act? And what was it connecting to that would make it harder to remove? Ideally, it would not have rooted itself yet, and it would be a simple matter of taking a few precautions to push it out, but that would depend on her being ahead of it in the timestream. Based on the manner in which the ripples curled around it in her mind, this scenario seemed unlikely. In fact, it seemed as if it existed simultaneously in her time and centuries before it.
Perhaps, then, it was a shadow created by repercussions of their past? Was it something she and her fellow Guardians could act to rectify in the now? Those were perhaps more difficult, as the cause of that shadow could not be erased; however, there was still hope even then. What was done was done, but amends could still be made to right what had been wrong. The people of Crystal Tokyo would bear the scar of that evil, but they could still work to ensure that future generations would not have to suffer because of it.
So, then, was it that kind of shadow? She reached farther back. The more distant point would likely give a clearer perspective on what had happened, assuming it was the origin. If not, then she could return to the closer point and begin to read the connection between them.
The path to that distant point was clear, a direct leap between now and then. She frowned. Someone had traveled through time, or else they were about to. What was the best course of action now? To return to the present point in order to see if their leap could be prevented, or to continue towards the point they would emerge from in order to determine what they might do once they arrived?
As if deciding for her, something shifted below, and she had to dig her metaphorical heels into her time to keep from being swept away, but doing so had caused her to grip simultaneously into the current moment and that distant one. Very well. She would reach back.
It was…dark. Not blank, not empty, but a kind of swirling, sinister presence, shifting around. Her breathing quickened, and she forced it to slow. Distress would only make it harder to stay in her time. Drawing her magic to her, she focused on that swirling point. If she could only see what it was…but it continued shifting, pieces moving around and around, changing shape, vanishing and reappearing.
Realization dawned on her. Of course. Someone had traveled through time, desiring to alter the past. A serious taboo, and not one that was easy to remedy without first breaking it a second time. But it was one that could be remedied, as long as she was willing to do this.
For the sake of the timestream, she would do what she must.