When All is Null and Void

Chapter Thirteen

"No, Caleb, you don't have to do that. It's fine." Alexander tried to take the bags away from Caleb, but he held firm.

"If I'm going to be living with you, I've got to clean up after myself. So I will."

Alexander dropped his hand and pointed toward the kitchen. "Garbage is out front on the left hand side."

Caleb nodded and went out front. Though it was only seven, a full moon hung in the sky, lighting the dark night. He found the garbage easily enough and dropped the trash in. In the silence of the night, Caleb stared into the sky. Stars shone through the speeding clouds. With a deep, contented exhale Caleb went back inside.

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Laying in his bed, showered and clothed in a pair of mesh shorts they'd picked up from the department store—"For exercise," had been the words of Alexander. "For sleep," had been the reply in Caleb's mind—Caleb opened the first page of the Timewalker book.

The Timewalker has existed for only a short amount of literal time—about fifty years—but has existed in every century now, collecting artifacts for the Museum. Originally crafted by Italian clockmaker Gregorio Fontana, the Timewalker's ring is the agent by which he or she passes through the Void. How Fontana invented the rings is unknown. The secret lies only with the James family. But this criteria, the family has gained its nickname of Temporal Royalty. This authority is rarely contested, as they themselves conscript Timewalkers.

Caleb blinked. Who wrote this? He thumbed to the front, but no author was mentioned. Caleb frowned. So Rhea James was—what—an actual Time Queen? Snorting, Caleb focused on the tiny print again.

Although it is unknown how the ability to use a ring to move through time occurred, many have called it an act of some sort of mysticism. The truth is not mystical; Fontana stated he came by the power of time manipulation through years and years of trial and error. They are a technological marvel, not a vessel for darkness as some have suggested. It is unimportant how the rings work, when it comes to their usage--

Says someone who doesn't know how they work, Caleb thought with a sniff.

--Many in our ranks have tried to duplicate the results Fontana achieved but have failed. The secret lies with him and the James family.

What is important, however, is the simplicity of the ring's usage. The Timewalker has the ability to move backward in time; he or she may only then return to the time from whence they originate. The running theory is simply that the rings take a person to a spot which exists already. The future does not exist in any literal sense for a person who has left a specific timeline. He or she can only return to the exact moment of departure, which will allow his or her future to be created. The only leeway to date is a twelve hour period. A Timewalker has a window of twelve hours to return to, rather than a specific moment. This is regulated by the Void.

A Timewalker also possesses the ability to decrease the rate at which time passes. This ability is available to the more skilled Timewalker, and is most often used to allow a Timewalker to complete multiple objectives finished in a shorter span of literal time.

As a result of bearing the ring, a Timewalker ages at nearly half the rate of most people. A Timewalker who is sixty-six years of age would really only appear to be thirty-three. The body's cells do not deteriorate as quickly, which allows for this phenomenon. Fontana described this theory as Tempo Corpo Cambiament (TCC). Time body change. While this is, by no means, a technical term, it seems to get at the general idea. While a non Timewalker generally lives 80-100 years, a Timewalker, through the act of TCC on the body, would live around 160-200 years. The Museum has no record of such an occurrence as of yet, but the science does not refute this statement.