The Elemental Page 7

  Elara nodded at him, hiding her discomfort with a solemn expression. The prospect of spending a few solitary moments with the man who had been so hostile towards them the day before made her shudder.

  Argon followed Elara to the laboratory, silent in his discomfort as well. He had not taken the news very well in Miela’s office, and he knew it. He felt a twinge of guilt as he watched Helia warily glance at him before returning to her conversation with Miela and her dolls. He hadn’t meant to be cruel to the toddler either.

  “You’ll just feel a quick prick,” said Elara, holding up a thin syringe.

  Argon nodded, rolling up his sleeve and offering her his arm. She tapped on a vein, humming to herself as she watched it pop out against his arm. Argon closed his eyes, trying to ignore the syringe. He wasn’t a fan of needles, especially with the several medical checkups he had to endure when he was first enlisting as a Guardian.

  “There,” muttered Elara, pressing a small bandage to his arm where she had collected the blood.

  Argon watched her as she emptied the syringe out into a series of vials she had in front of her. He saw some vials further down the table marked with the letter H. “Helia’s?” he asked curiously. He was lousy at creating small talk, but the uncomfortable silence was more than he could bear.

  “Hmm?” Elara turned her head. “Oh, those. Yes, I had some collected last night.”

  They sat for a moment in silence as Elara tinkered with the vials and shuffled some papers around.

  “The results will be ready soon,” Elara said finally. She gestured at door. “We can join the others in the sitting room. We set out some tea for you as well.”

  Argon nodded his thanks and followed her out of the laboratory.

  “Finished?” asked Noiro, eyeing the small bandage on Argon’s arm.

  “Yes. We’ll know the results soon,” assured Elara, taking a seat in one of the plush chairs and sinking into it. Helia scooted closer to her mother, still playing on the floor. Elara smiled warmly at the toddler.

  “So… what now?” asked Argon. He looked at the stack of books on the table in the middle of the room. “Research?” He should have known. Research was Noiro’s forte.

  Noiro hummed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “We have a few puzzle pieces we need to put together.”

  “I see,” mused Argon.

  Noiro turned his attention to the table. “Helia had some items hidden away in her mother’s satchel. We’ll start with this,” he said, picking up Helia’s necklace. The jagged stone pendant swung in the air as he held it up for the group to take a closer look at it.

  “Whose is it?” asked Argon as he examined the pendant.

  “It’s Helia’s,” replied Noiro. “She was wearing it when she first arrived.”

  “What’s so special about the necklace, though?” Argon probed curiously.

  “That’s what we need to find out,” admitted Noiro. “I’ve been doing some reading, and I have a theory.” Noiro paused. “I think it’s the key to how Helia got here.”

  “What?” Miela leaned closer to the pendant.

  “It’s a reach, I know,” Noiro began, “but Elara and I have been doing our own research on time travel. And the completed research journal that Helia showed up with held some answers too.

  “In theory, time travel is possible. A number of theories by other scientists support the idea. For example, we know from the theory of relativity that time can be affected by a number of factors.” Noiro set the necklace down onto the desk, looking at Elara.

  “Right. Like speed, or gravity,” Elara interjected.

  Noiro nodded. “Exactly. But it’s a little more complicated than that. You see, while most people think of time as a constant, some scholars demonstrated that time is actually a subjective illusion.

  “Speed affects time. Time can speed up or slow down, depending on how fast an object, or in our case, a person, is moving.

  “Gravity can also bend time; the heavier a mass is, the greater its gravity. The greater its gravity, the greater is its ability to bend the fabric of space-time, therefore, time is experienced at a different rate in correlation to gravity’s extent.”

  “But this is all in theory,” observed Miela, leaning forward as she concentrated on Noiro’s explanation.

  “Yes,” Noiro agreed. “Time travel has only ever existed in theory. It’s been proven, in theory. But it’s never actually been carried out. Moving through time—that’s a huge area of debate amongst scholars.

  “You see, people assume that you can travel through time. But that’s making the assumption that time is a medium that one can travel through. The theory that Elara and I are working on is called bending time.” Noiro paused, pulling out a sheet of paper and drawing a line across it, with two points labeled A and B on either side of the line. “Imagine that this line”—he pointed at the line he drew—“is a timeline. We know that time moves forward; thus, we know that we will move from point A to point B.

  “But what if I wanted to travel from this point in time”—he gestured to point B—“back to this point in time,” he said, gesturing to point A.

  Silence hung in the air.

  “You following?” Noiro checked in with the group.

  They nodded.

  “Here is where we bring in Newton’s First Law,” Noiro continued. “An object in motion will stay in motion until a force is acted upon it.” He gestured to the line once again. “Time, in this case, is an object in motion. And it will remain in motion, until a force is acted upon it. Now, how do we move from point B to point A?” Noiro folded the paper in half.

  The group stared, awaiting his response.

  “We enact a force onto time,” Noiro stated, slowly folding the paper to make points A and B on either side of the line meet. “That’s what Helia did when she got back here. She was at point B. She enacted a force onto time, and effectively bent time to come back to our point in time: point A.”

  Noiro set the piece of paper down.

  “So, we’re trying to figure out what was the force Helia used,” Argon finished.

  Noiro nodded. “Exactly. That’s the key we’re looking for.” He gestured to the completed research journal he placed on the table earlier. “I was taking a look through our research—our completed research journal from the future—and I think this might be the force used to bend time.” He reached for the research journal and flipped through the pages, finally coming to a page in the middle of the book, and turned it around for the others to see.

  A roughly sketched-out diagram of a stone was on the page, with a few scribbles beneath. Elara could vaguely make out one of the words written beneath the sketch: Aether. She frowned. Where had she heard that word before?

  “That stone”—Noiro pointed at the diagram—“is the pendant on Helia’s necklace.” He picked the necklace back up from the table, holding it up for the group to see. Sure enough, the rough sketch of the stone matched the jagged stone pendant hanging on the necklace

  “What is it, exactly?” asked Elara, intrigued.

  “I’ll get to that,” Noiro assured her. “But before we get there, do we have any questions?”

  “I do.” Miela raised her hand. “Is bending time dangerous?”

  “Extremely,” Noiro replied seriously. “Not to mention it can open up a whole world of paradoxes. For example, let’s say a person went back in time and accidentally killed himself in the past—perhaps he might’ve accidentally triggered a series of events that led to his death before he ever had the chance of bending time in the future. Well, it would be a mess, wouldn’t it? Because of his untimely death in the past, he would have never made it to the point in the future where he made the decision to bend time and go back to himself in the past. Er, does that make sense?” asked Noiro, realizing that he had a set of blank faces staring back at him. “Basically, bending time could have drastic consequences on the future if there were any changes made in the past. It’s dangerous to pl
ay with time.”

  “So that’s where the butterfly effect comes into play,” said Elara thoughtfully. “With the very act of time travelling, you can argue that any changes made in the past can have an impact on the future. Accidentally tripping someone could potentially trigger a series of events that could change that course of history. Even stepping on a stray ant could somehow result in an accident that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.”

  Miela added, “In other words, who knows how much we might’ve changed already by just being here, discussing time bending in Noiro’s cottage, instead of doing whatever we were doing at this day and time during the timeline where Helia never came back in time to us.”

  “Yes—which brings me to my next point: trying to change the future can potentially be dangerous as well. Too many unforeseen consequences. Suppose you were trying to prevent an accident from happening that fatally injured a family member of yours, and you went back in time to try and stop it from ever happening. Let’s say you saved your family member, and went back to your current timeline, only to find that somehow, you accidentally triggered a series of events that resulted in killing your entire family instead.” Noiro sighed. “We can’t control the future’s events by simply changing the past. We could stop one thing, but it could trigger a whole other set of problems in its stead.”

  “But that’s what we’re trying to do, right?” said Miela. “We’re trying to alter the future. We’re trying to stop that war. We’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t.”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Noiro uttered. “But like Elara said, we’ve already altered the timeline, and potentially the future. Helia coming back to our point in time has already triggered a change in events.”

  “So, how did Helia bend time?” asked Argon.

  “Ah, well, we’re back to the necklace,” said Noiro, holding up the necklace, the jagged stone pendant swinging slightly from his grasp.

  “In order to bend time, we need a force. Now, Helia didn’t just go back a few seconds into the past, let alone a few days. She jumped back five years. You need an incredible amount of force to pull that off,” said Noiro. “Planets ten times larger than the size of Saturn don’t have enough gravity to bend time to that extent.”

  “Saturn? We’re talking about planets, now?” asked Argon incredulously.

  “Yes. But we don’t have to look any farther than our own planet.” Noiro smiled. “Our planet is ruled by four elements: Water, Earth, Air, and Fire. But there is a fifth element.” Noiro pointed to the stone pendant. “Aether.”

  “Aether?” Miela echoed.

  “Wait, I’m confused. Fifth element?” Argon furrowed his brow. “What do the elements have to do with bending time?”

  “It has everything to do with time,” said Noiro. “We know the four elements that rule our planet. But what about elements outside of our planet? An element that exists within the universe?” Noiro folded his arms. “The element that existed before our planet came into existence. The element that existed before Water, Earth, Air, and Fire. Scholars as early as Plato and Aristotle refer to it in early texts when describing the world’s elements: Aether. The first element.

  “Scholars across the ages cite the element of Aether when describing arcane, seemingly supernatural phenomena. Unexplained blips in gravity, or inconsistent tales around speed. Have you ever picked up an object you’ve held a thousand times, only to find that this time, it was much lighter than you anticipated? Have you ever walked the same long path you’ve walked a thousand times, only to find that this time, you reached in the blink of an eye? Strange, unexplainable singularities that you simply couldn’t rationalize?

  “It’s because of Aether. The element is a force that directly impacts gravity and speed. We experience its effects all the time, without ever even realizing it.” Noiro took in a deep breath. “And what other object do we know is impacted by gravity and speed?”

  Elara looked up at Noiro excitedly. “Time!”

  “Exactly.” Noiro nodded. He held up the necklace once more, tracing his fingers against the dials carved into the stone pendant.

  “I don’t know how we did it. I don’t know how we managed to capture the essence of Aether in its physical form. But I believe that sometime in the future, we managed to do just that. And we used it to bend time. And that’s how Helia got here,” Noiro concluded his explanation. He was breathless yet giddy, his mind racing as he stared at the stone pendant. He whispered, “It’s groundbreaking, really.”

  “And dangerous,” Elara added. “How could we have been so stupid? Bending time is dangerous. How could we have been okay with actually bending time, let alone bending time with a baby?”

  “We must have been desperate,” mused Miela. “Judging by the state that Helia was in when she arrived, with all that blood, it looked like you didn’t make it.” Miela felt a shiver run up her spine as she recalled Helia screaming and crying in the library, and the shock as she took in her blood-soaked clothes and blood-spattered face.

  Noiro gulped.

  “I have a hunch that none of us made it, if Helia was the one who was sent back. She came from a dark world. You were trying to change it,” said Miela.

  “What’s done is done. We need to focus on how to move forward the best we can,” Argon uttered quietly.

  Elara sighed, nodding.

  “It’s a stroke of genius, using Aether to bend time,” admitted Noiro, examining the stone in his hand. “I wonder how we found it…”

  “What does it matter? At least we have it now, and the research behind it,” Miela pointed out.

  “Perhaps…”

  “Well, we have the stone and necklace figured out,” said Argon. “What’s the last piece of the puzzle?”

  Elara picked up one of the books laying on the table. “This. I’ve been looking at this for the last couple of days, and I can’t seem to figure out what it means.”

  “What is it?” he asked, eyeing the book in her hands.

  “It’s a journal,” she replied. “My journal. It was packed in Helia’s bag. But it’s coded.” Elara flipped through the pages to show the group. “Instead of normal entries, each page has a sequence of numbers. I think it might have ties to our time bending research. I looked up certain key-phrases to try and see if the numbers corresponded with that, but no luck.”

  “What about equations?” suggested Noiro.

  Elara shook her head. “I tried everything. I can’t make heads or tails with it.”

  “Is it possible to ask a Scholar?” asked Miela, putting a finger on her chin as she thought aloud.

  Elara pondered at the proposal. The Scholars of Polaris were part of an ancient society that went back as far as history itself. They held troves of knowledge and hidden wonders within their depths, spending their lives working to preserve accounts of lost societies and civilizations, and working to bring humanity further through their research and technology. Not anyone could set off to become a Scholar; it took a certain level of circumspection and prudence, and was surprisingly made up of unpleasant, wary, cagy, and sometimes downright sinister individuals. Nevertheless, they were a highly respected faction of society, revered by even the King himself.

  Elara rubbed her forehead. It would be risky, bringing it to the Scholars. Their own guarded motives could derail the entire investigation.

  But, did they have many other options?

  More importantly, did they have enough time?

  Elara sighed. “They might know something more.”

  “That’s an idea,” Noiro said slowly. “But I’d be cautious bringing it up with someone outside of this room. We don’t know who was involved in the war in the future. What if we reveal something that leads to Helia being found out? Or something that could put us all in danger?”

  “We need to go to someone we can trust,” said Miela firmly. “There’s a lot at stake.”

  The group fell into a spell of silence as they thought hard. Miela was right. If they were going
to consult someone else, it needed to be someone they trusted.

  “What about Professor Neptune?” Noiro pondered aloud. “He’s one of the leading Scholars of Polaris. He even gets called upon by the Royal Family from time to time.”

  “Professor Neptune?” Miela repeated doubtfully. Professor Neptune was a notorious Scholar of Polaris, albeit a powerful one; he seemed to have a hand in almost every organization within the city, from schools and universities to ministries and royal affairs. He even sometimes appeared as a guest lecturer in some tactical seminars during her early training days as a Guardian.

  As esteemed as Professor Neptune was, he was infamous for dabbling in unethical matters as well. He had his fair share of run-ins with the law; the Guardians were often called on cases involving mysterious injuries or disappearances, which were somehow oddly linked to Professor Neptune. However, they never could find a solid piece of evidence to tie it to him—it always seemed like he left just enough evidence to suggest his involvement, but not enough to actually indict him with anything. Miela shuddered, recalling a few of her own altercations with the Professor in her line of work. He always seemed to sport a smug, knowing smile as the Guardians tried to link him to their cases, as if he knew that he would escape unscathed.

  And he always did.

  To say Miela was suspicious was an understatement.

  “Professor Neptune…” Argon paused, sharing a doubtful look with Miela. As a Guardian, he was quite familiar with him as well. “I don’t know.”

  “I trust him,” Noiro vouched. “I know he’s a little eccentric…”

  Miela scoffed loudly at Noiro’s choice of words.

  Noiro continued, “He’s just misunderstood He’s an old mentor of mine, and an old friend.”

  Elara sighed. “It’s not like we have other choices for help. She turned to the group. “But we can’t tell him everything. We just need his insight on the codes.”

  “Agreed.”

  “How can you bring up the codes in the journal without actually showing him the journal?” inquired Argon.