Time Warp, Part Seventeen

“The void beyond time? How’d I end up here?” I asked.

“Oh, it was a simple redirect,” she said, sitting down. “You were trying to go somewhere you can’t go, and we felt it appropriate to discuss that with you instead of just kicking you out. You can sit down if you like.”

“Where?”

“Wherever.” I went to speak, but didn’t know what to say to that, so I just lowered myself as if there was a chair behind me and soon felt myself sink into a cushion. I looked around, but there was nothing there. I leaned to the side against an armrest that must have been composed of the void itself, and the woman nodded. “Now. What were you trying to do?”

“I was…well, I had started trying to see if I could learn what Hecate was planning, but the farther I looked into the future the more some moment was just drawing me.” She nodded.

“Yeah, it’ll do that. You’re seeking information, and it is a wellspring of information.”

“What is?”

“The time you were trying to reach. There’s so much information there, in fact, that no one is allowed to look there from any other point. Except us, of course.”

“Why you?”

“We are not subject to the rules.”

“Why not?”

“Because we are the rules.” She smiled again at that and leaned back, folding her hands on her stomach. “We are the Metaphysical Realm, in a sense.”

“In a sense?”

“Well. Nothing here is as easy as all that.”

“And here, this is…part of the realm, somehow?”

“Sure is! Or at least it is when we’re in it. I’m not actually entirely sure whether or not it exists as a distinct thing.” She turned to look at the man. “Do you know?” His hands, which I now saw were uncovered and the same tone as his face, reached out of his sleeves and signed something quickly. “Right, right. That makes sense.” She turned back to me. “It’s complicated, but a yes will suffice.”

“Is that what he signed?”

“No.”

“Oh.” We sat for a bit.

“Well, anyway. The point is, you can’t look at that period, and if you can’t resist the urge, you may want to just not look forward at all.”

“What period?” She looked back to the man again, who sighed and signed something else.

“October 31 through November 4, 2028,” she said with a nod as she turned back to me.

“Wait, there’s information I won’t be able to uncover for another twenty years?”

“Yup!” I leaned back.

“That’s…”

“It’ll be fine. You have plenty to occupy your time. Now, if there isn’t anything else.” She stood up and offered her hand.

“There’s so much else!”

​“Not today, there isn’t.” I sighed and took her hand, and suddenly found myself standing back in Chicago, still holding her hand. I turned to look, and the man was still standing behind her.

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