But then he did.
Like a flash of lightening, Remus no longer knelt in the grass but was sailing through the air directly toward Romulus. He wasn’t flying, that much was clear, but the angle and approach of his path indicated he had, without a doubt, jumped, and looked to be on a course to clear the wall with room to spare. I watched the leap with an open mouth, viewing it like the slowest tennis volley ever hit, my head tracking Remus left to right as he flew. He looked so graceful in the air, like it was something he did all the time, but then his grace ended when he crashed into Romulus.
Even for a being I assumed equally powerful as the god-like Remus, the momentum behind his brother’s leap was too much for Romulus to stop, and the pair of twins fell backward off the wall together. They dropped like stones but halfway before they impacted the street below, they winked out of existence.
They were gone.
I ran to about where they should have hit the ground, but found nothing. There wasn’t a trace of their existence, let alone the orbs they carried. I looked to Merlin, who stood beside me as if he’d been there all along.
“Where did they go?” I asked in shock.
“In all honesty, Jacob, I do not know.”
“How can you not know??”
“Because they went somewhere I could not follow.”
The answer came to me immediately. “The orbs!”
Merlin nodded.
“But which one? The red or the blue? Did they go somewhere in time? Or into another dimension?”
“Again, I do not know.”
I pulled back a few steps and surveyed the scene. If this was the moment in history where Romulus murdered his twin brother, igniting the chain of events that would lead Roman civilization down the path I’d learned about in school, then whatever had just happened, wasn’t yet finished. I looked up suspiciously and confirmed that Merlin had stopped time again by seeing even more suspended birds frozen mid flap.
“What happens next?” I asked.
Merlin held out his hand to indicate the ground just to his right. “Back away, Jacob.”
I did as I was told, moving to stand beside him, and when I arrived, time started again and the brothers immediately winked back into existence, but then I realized my eyes must have played a trick on me, because it became instantly clear that only Romulus had returned.
And he was no longer in possession of the red orb.
Instead, he held the blue one.
I stared down at him, gears in my mind continuing to churn, wondering how that was possible, when a movement to my left drew my attention away. The other Merlin stood beside me, and I found myself surrounded by Merlins. Romulus looked up at the other Merlin quickly, his eyes filled with terror, an emotion I hadn’t expected. But there was something else in those gray eyes – eyes that I suspected actually were gray, instead of just light blue – something that suggested he had aged decades in the blink… of an eye.
“Father! Please!” He pleaded. “Give me access to Remus’ orb! I can go back and stop him from attacking me. This will have never happened.”
The other Merlin looked down at him sadly.
“You know I cannot do that, my son.”
“But father!”
“I cannot…”
“But dad…”
“Son…”
“Come on, dad!”
“I told you no, and no means no.”
“But dad I want to…”
“That’s it, we’re leaving, and no TV when we get home either.”
“Noooooo…”
The interchange subsided, replaced by jerky vibrations that felt like someone was kicking my chair… that is, had I been sitting in a chair.
I shook my head, not exactly understanding why it was suddenly so dark and why the dialogue between Romulus and the other Merlin had changed so oddly. Finally, I realized that I had my eyes closed and that I still had my glacier glasses on. I pulled them off and opened my eyes, and discovered that we were back in my old restaurant, and that I was watching a father struggling to pull his young son from a booth. The kid held on stubbornly, wailing, and kicking the seat cushion, but finally the father managed to dislodge him and pick him up. Tossing the kid over a shoulder, he hastily made for the exit, the kid pounding against his back as they left.
I shook my head again and rubbed my temples with a pair of fingers on either hand, finally taking notice of Merlin sitting across from me.
I looked at him with wide eyes. “You really need to work on your transitions, my friend. They’re pretty jarring.”
“I’ll do that,” he said, amused.
I was just about to let out a string questions when I was interrupted by a busboy angrily throwing his busing tub into the recently vacated booth, swearing as he did. I looked up and noticed it was my younger self, preparing to bus the table. He slid into the seat, and I saw him eye a freshly rolled up set of silverware that sat upon the dirty table, and reach for it as he glanced around cautiously.
I smiled at the sight, forgetting all of my questions.
“Yo, Jacob,” I called out.
My younger self dropped the silverware, jumping in surprise at my interruption.
“What?” He asked nervously, looking up at me.
I smiled as I stared at his face, remembering every contour of it vividly. In return, I was certain he wouldn’t even recognize me at all as his older self. I hadn’t had many opportunities to look into a mirror since arriving in Britain, but when I did, I wasn’t very happy at what I saw staring back at me. I’d aged decades in just these past five years, so seeing myself so young and vibrant, even pudgy, was a happy sight.
I looked away for a moment to gather up four sets of silverware off my table.
“Here,” I said, holding them out to him. He came over and reached out a hand, but I pulled them away before he could take them. “Just remember to switch up your dead drops. That shelf above the cabinets isn’t going to stay a secret for long, believe me.”
He stared at me intently, almost distrustfully, but then his face relaxed and he nodded as he reached for them again.
“And for crying out loud,” I said, not letting go as he tried to pull away, “give yourself a break. Lighten up. Your life’s good right now. Very good. Better than you deserve really, so enjoy it while you can.”
I smiled as I thought to tell him that in at least one way, his life was going to get a million times better, but I decided to leave Helena out of it. A little mystery never hurt anyone.
“I’ll… do that,” he said with seeming honesty. “Thanks, whoever you are.”
“No problem.”
I nodded, let go of the silverware, and watched as he moved back to his booth slowly. He squeezed in and started the process of moving dirty dishes into his tub, when moments later, Suzie-Lu walked over and sat opposite him. It seemed like a slow night, so lengthy chats between us as tables were cleared had been quite common. I smiled as Suzie-Lu laughed at something young Jacob had said, and my grin grew into a proud one when he passed her the four sets of silverware I’d given him.
She had her own silverware quota as well.
“Way to go, me,” I whispered.
She thanked him happily and winked as she exited the booth. She walked back to her hostess station, and the two of us watched her go, both of us sighing at the sight of her, but while I stayed seated, he stood seconds later and moved to the back of the restaurant with a full tub of dirty dishes, not giving me another glance.
I watched him go. “If only everyone could offer advice like that to their younger selves,” I said to Merlin. “I think both younger and older versions would really get something out of it.”
“I would have to agree,” Merlin said.
When the younger me was out of sight, I leaned my head back to rest it comfortably against the booth, and closed my eyes. “It’s a shame though, that this isn’t actual reality, and that kid doesn’t really exist.”
“Are you quite sur
e of that?”
I tiled my head forward and opened my eyes. “Are you suggesting that this isn’t a dream, and that this is actually happening in an alternate reality, one that we are actively affecting?”
“Do you think it is?” He asked.
“Not in the slightest.”
“Why is that?”
“Because if this was an alternate reality, we wouldn’t be here.”
“Explain, please.”
I took in a deep breath. “Because if it was, then that would mean you, Merlin, would have the ability to travel between realities. But you don’t, because if you did, you would have simply gone to another reality seven hundred years ago where Romulus and Remus hadn’t fought like that. Besides, you already said you couldn’t.”
Merlin smiled. “You really are pretty sharp.”
“Oh, there’s a shit ton more, buddy-pal,” I said.
“Go on.”
I leaned forward and folded my hands together atop the table. “In fact, I think you’re lying to me about everything, because I don’t think it’s even possible to hop between realities. Maybe they don’t even exist at all, because if there was someone capable of traveling between them, then there would, theoretically – and technically – be an infinite number of versions of the same guy who could do the same. With the ability to jump between realities, alternate versions of the same guy would constantly be bumping into one another, fighting, making peace, ignoring each other, forming alliances. It would be an enormous clusterfuck that could in no way not affect my own reality. In fact, there would be an infinite number of me’s doing exactly what I’m doing right now, having this exact conversation with an infinite number of you’s, and there would have to be at the very least one who could hop between universes and fuck with me.
“That’s why I don’t think the red orb you gave Romulus does anything like what you claim it does. If it did, somewhere along the infinite line of alternate realities there would be a version of you who used it for himself for nefarious means, let alone a Romulus who acted evilly as well. The clusterfuck would only continue, especially when you factor in realities where Romulus and Remus go rogue together and can control time as well. So there’s just no way. Nope, not a chance. With an infinite amount of time thanks to the blue orb, there wouldn’t be a version of reality left standing. They would have all just destroyed each other. Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.”
Merlin spread his arms wide upon the table. “I am extraordinarily impressed, Jacob Hunter. Your arguments are quite valid, if crude in presentation, and your logic is mostly sound…”
“But…” I said, sensing his hesitation.
“But your logic is also incomplete… through no fault of your own. You see, traveling through alternate realities is in fact quite possible. Alternate realities, parallel worlds, and the Multiverse all exist. But you are also very right. In the scenario you just described, the ability to travel between realities could in fact cause that exact level of chaos…”
“But…” I said again, not quite sure where he was going.
“But while logic would dictate that if an infinite number of realities existed within our universe, each an extension of an infinite amount of choices and decisions made by every single thing to ever exist since the beginning of time, you are correct in assuming that there could be an infinite number of individuals capable of jumping between them.”
“I think you’ve lost even me.”
“I apologize,” Merlin said, “Allow me to come to the point then. While logic would dictate all of what I just said, the truth is that while there are in fact an infinite number of realities out there to travel between, there is in fact only one reality that had access to the red orb, and therefore the ability to channel that ability.”
I shook my head, and my next words were spoken very slowly. “This… one…?
Merlin nodded. “At least up until the point when Romulus and Remus disappeared… and only Romulus returned.”
I shot to my feet and out of the booth, banging my knee on the table in the process but barely feeling it. I hobbled away from Merlin and twirled a finger over my head as I retreated.
“Back to the bar, Merlin. If this acid trip of mine is going to turn me into an alcoholic, then I’m going for broke.”
***
Foxtrot Alpha had just finished lining up ten double shots of tequila on the bar in front of me when she looked up at me with those large, dark eyes. “Are you sure about this? I’m not even sure I’m allowed to let this happen. This is a restaurant, not a dive…”
“Don’t worry, I’m a big boy,” I said.
She turned a skeptical look to Merlin. “Is he really?”
Merlin shrugged. “From time to time.”
“Well, okay then,” Foxtrot Alpha said nervously.
“Light me,” I ordered, and Foxtrot Alpha complied, retrieving a stick lighter from behind the bar and setting each shot glass filled with liquid aflame. When she was finished, ten little glasses with flickering blue flames sat before me.
I turned to Merlin. “If I fuck this up, you’ll fix me, right?”
“Sure, Jacob,” Merlin answered. “Sure.”
“Good enough for me,” I said as I picked up the first glass and poured the flaming liquid down my throat.
I’d never done a flaming shot before, and had no idea if I was even doing it right, but something told me I couldn’t die or even get hurt in a hallucination. And I seemed to be right. I knocked back each flaming glass of liquid one after the other, not noticing the burning fire for even a moment. Foxtrot Alpha stared at me in wonder, and as I slammed the last glass down in triumph, she started the process of cleaning up the mess.
“I’m not sure if I should be turned on right now or scared senseless,” she said.
“Don’t be scared,” I said as I wiped my mouth with a sleeve, “but don’t get yourself worked up either. I’m spoken for.
“She must be a lucky girl,” Foxtrot Alpha said sadly.
“She’s certainly a girl, at least,” I muttered, turning back to Merlin. “Now explain. Everything.”
“There are parts I can and others I cannot,” Merlin said. “Think of it this way, Jacob, because while this is as basic of an explanation as I can give you, it should help you understand: In this universe, there is infinite time, infinite choices, and infinite realities. But even with all those infinite outcomes, there was only one choice that brought the power of the old god, as you heard it referred to, into existence.
“And he is?” I asked.
“Another tale for another day, Jacob. But don’t take the name too literally. However, the point is that because there was only one choice in one dimension that brought that power into existence, the origination of the power was secluded to one reality, and one reality alone. This one.”
“But…” I said, trying to think, “…once this “power” came into existence, shouldn’t other realities begin popping up from there on out with the… old god’s power?”
“You really are catching on,” Merlin commented, “but again, you are incorrect through no fault of your own. With the old god, well before the time of Romulus and Remus, came an ultimate timeline, a prime dimension, one that could not be splintered, one in which choices did not create new realities.”
“So I really am special?” I asked.
“No more special than all the other trillions of people who came before or will come after you in this reality.”
“But are there other versions of me out there in other timelines?”
He shrugged. “Of course, although none with access to the orb.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!” I cried, not caring that the eyes of other patrons were being turned on me as I raved at Merlin. “How can there be any timelines even remotely like mine if this ‘old god’ asshole only showed up in one, and no others? All those other timelines without him and the orb in them would be so different!”
“Just accept it, Jacob,” Merlin said
unhelpfully. “You must realize that this story is far deeper than what even I have showed you. Perhaps you will come to understand in the future, but for now… you need not know.”
I growled in frustration but knew it would be fruitless trying to extract more from him now. “So the orb doesn’t exist in any other timeline then? Not a single one?”
“That was the case once,” Merlin said. “Except…”
He trailed off again.
“Goddamned it,” I exclaimed, “just tell me! Except what??”
He took in a breath. “Except for the timelines you’ve created when you used the orb with someone else. By using the orb with Artie and Varus, you have created new timelines with the orb in them, although like this one, those universes cannot naturally breed into the Multiverse. Only were someone to use the orbs in those timelines could new ones be created from them.”
I blinked, only vaguely understanding what he was talking about. “This is a lot to take in, Merlin. Like… a lot a lot. How are my readers going to understand this if I can’t even?”
“Write a lot of sequels,” he suggested.
A slight chuckle escaped me, but I pushed on. “So all this means that Artie… that Artie 2.0’s timeline didn’t even exist until I connected with Varus and came back to Rome. You’re saying that I… created her?”
“Again, technically, it was you and Marcus in tandem that began the process.”
“But… that means I’m responsible for everything that happened in her timeline! All the death and suffering! That means that I really did use the orb improperly and that I am responsible for fucking up everything!”
“You are also responsible for all the life and joy, as well, Jacob,” Merlin said in a calm voice.
I shook my head, refusing to accept that, but my continued curiosity kept me from losing a handle on my emotions. “But how do you explain how different my timeline is from Artie 2.0’s, yet Jacob 2.0 was almost exactly the same guy I am? Not to mention how so many other things, including my friends and family, are nearly the same as well, even though the course of world history skewed so differently.”
Merlin shrugged. “I cannot explain it, Jacob, for I have never experienced the result of how you used the orbs. Perhaps time is a fickle thing and required you to exist in these new timelines so that time could repeat itself, therefore avoiding what you would call grandfather paradoxes from occurring. Events were manipulated so that at the very least, another you was created as similarly to you,” he tapped a finger against my chest, “as you, yourself are. Or it may have been a simple coincidence, something some might call synchronicity, but unfortunately I do not have a clear answer to your conundrum.”
Praetorian Series [3] A Hunter and His Legion Page 44