Ticking Time - Andrei

Timeline

December, 2314 BC

“Here, I’ve made some tea.” The old man passes me a brass cup fill with a steaming cup of steeped roots. It smells like dirt. I hope it doesn’t taste like dirt too.

We sit in a small makeshift shelter he’s made in a nearby glen of trees. He’s managed to construct a small wooden box similar in size to a garage. He’s hung canvas tarps on the walls to keep out the cold. It's drafty as hell but it's better than being out on the plains.

We sit on wooden carved buckets around a small cooking fire. I wonder how he hasn’t burnt his hut down as we sit so close to it. I can feel the heat curling my shin hair.

I get my head back into historian gear as I sip the dirty tea. I think I’ve had worse. “So, tell me more about the Stonehenge and it’s magic. What is the source of it's magic? Who built it? How can we alter it to get me home?”

“Slow down there young man, First, drink your tea. I will tell you about the Stones after. There is no need to hurry. The night is not going anywhere.”

My impatience is evident and his calmness does nothing to sate it. “You said you’d give me answers. I am ready.”

“No, you are not. You are still worked up. You are worse than my son.”

I pause. This man had a son? How?

“Ahh,” He holds up a finger and stops me before I have time to open my mouth.

“How-”

“I know you’re going to ask how I know and let me stop you there. I’ve answered that question already.”

I stop and think. That's right! He said the stones have told him things. They must talk to him, so how, but… how? And better yet, why?

I sip the tea and watch him over the steamy rim.

“You’re impatient as he was. Could never sit still.” He sits down with a grunt and sighs loudly. It must be pretty rare for a man to get to his age in this time.

“So, I’m going to tell you what I told him. Don’t go rushing off into danger without knowing your enemy.”

“Look here old man. I’ve been in a battle or two myself and I know how to strategize. I may be young but I’ve had experiences like no other.”

“No! You have not experienced anything yet. You don’t know what will happen at all times-”

“Oh, traveling to the past gives me that advantage you kno-”

“No! Listen to me. You may jump to the past but when you do time changes, whether you try to or not. It changes around you, to accommodate you. And it changes again when you leave. That's heavy magic. Not something to be messed with lightly. I would know.”

My eyes narrow. “How would you know?”

“I’ve told you, the stones-”

“No, the stones can tell you stories, things that’ve happened maybe but they can’t tell you things I don’t even know. If I’m the only time mage there is, how would you know about how it works?”

The old man stares hard at me and it hits me in the face. He’s a time mage too!

“It was a long time ago. I had magic of my own, not time magic, but a different kind. My son, he was the time user. He was careless and paid no heed to the rules and laws laid out by the gods. One should not mess with time. He wouldn’t listen to me and he paid the price. We both did.”

He clasps his hands around the cup and I can see him grieving as if it just happened yesterday. I listen carefully.

“I pushed him too far. I made him jump. He wouldn’t listen to me. And when he came back, .. he”

The man began to shake and tears spilled from his eyes. I put my cup down and moved around the fire to comfort him. After a time he resumed.

“I wanted him to prove to me he could be a better man. He used time to prove his worthiness and when he came back, he came back dead. I tried to save him. I gave up my magic to the stones to heal him but they didn’t heal him. They sucked my magic away and now I cannot leave them. I am bound to them like he was to time.”

He paused, staring at the tea cup in his wrinkled hands. “There’s not a day I regret saying the things I said the way I said them but I cannot undo time. So now that you are here, please heed my warning. Let me change your fate as I tried to change my sons.”

I look at him, processing the story over in my head. Time magic was out there. I might not be the only one. But perhaps I could learn a thing or two from an experienced old man.

“Tell me what to do. Please. I need to learn, and I need to get back home. Tell me everything you know. I won’t let you down”

He smiles at me and I feel his lifelong relief like the fire on my legs.

“Time, young man, is a part of you, like any part of your body. And just like your body, it can run out. It doesn’t last forever.”

I freeze. That was not at all what I wanted to hear.

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