Excerpt from “The Treatise Arcana Tome 5: Verse 7”
Many chronologists have speculated over the ages, about the nature of this concept we call time. The progression of events slowly but steadily marching onwards.
Time is an essential part of civilization because it dictates the “when”. Yet if one were to question anyone on the nature of time itself there would be never a consistent answer.
One of the timeless arguments is which way to frame our concept of time. It is one of the most understudied and yet wonderous mysteries of our age.
Is time a river frozen, immortalized, unmoving and inflexible in which all things are merely fixtures etched into its surface?
Or is time a cyclical wheel that is constantly reforged always appearing with variation?
We cannot say for sure as we are subjects of the experiment and not the philosophical observer. Like animals in a glass cage, we cannot comprehend the full scale of time within the restraints of our finite senses.
Instruments and mystical arts have greatly improved our range of understanding, but we may never truly understand nor accept the full grandeur of the hour, the minute and the second.
Even the immortal and rare seraphim, who are supposed divine beings cannot see time in anytime but the endless march forward for they are inside the cycle and thus not privy to what is outside the rhythm of time
Extinction? the end of all cycles as foretold?
An answer to our greatest question as to the ultimate purpose of existence of which evolution serves as the equation?
Or will time continue to go forward withering and weathering away everything with no end in sight?
*If we could see time simultaneously as we describe it’s a passage from antiquity, to the now and the beyond, then we would find that our usage of tenses would be utterly pointless. *
The Past, Present, and Future are semantics all of which are lies we agree on to preserve our perception of sanity.
If we apply both models of time to these tenses, the one factor that remains is the countless events that
have happened
is happening
or will happen.
But what would that mean for someone who was out of the loop or flow of time? For a being on another plane who can perceive all simultaneously?
But the more delectable question is what if a mage could somehow exit the cycle and find themselves in exactly where they wish to exist?
The right person at the right time in the right place not by luck or providence, but via the channels of arcana.
The right actions at the right time can make a difference in even the briefest of seconds.
The young prince pondered over those last words as he sipped cocoa from his heavy mug. With a sigh of satisfaction, he gently closed the worn tome which closed with a hushed puff as a fine layer of dust settled from the closing.
The book had been read by him countless times but every new reading of each passage felt different, the soft texture of the worn pages left a different impression on his fingers and triggered new stimulation that his mind enjoyed.
He lifted up the book and walked over to the other side of his room. It was morning as the sun was streaming through a circular window endowed with an astrological array. Light reflected off an array of interlocking rings that rotated around a different axis.
The prince let go of the book which levitated as if it was lighter than air. He then with his arms assumed a disk-like position with the tips of his fingers touching his elbows.
A magical sigil appeared and out flew a golden wheel of chronic power. It enveloped the book and teleported it inside the seemingly impenetrable web of circular rings where the book became suspended within.
The disk than traveled back to the prince, who extended out a palm to retrieve it. With a metallic ring, the object vanished.
As he gazed at the palm, he saw a golden sigil marked on his gloved hand which after a moment, melted away.
Prince Magnus would look forward to his magus tutelage