A Revelation

“Maya!” Camden yelled, his eyes shooting open. His breaths were fast, but he slowed them down as he took in his surroundings. He was back in his dorm, lying down on Levo’s bed. He rolled over, looking to his right, and found both the Madam and Levo looking back at him.

“I figured you needed it more than I did,” Levo explained. And judging by the fact that Camden didn't immediately remember how he'd gotten there, it seemed that Levo was right.

And then it all came rushing back to him. The grave site. The gravestone. The one with his friend's name on it. It couldn't be… could it? She couldn't just be dead, it wasn't right, it didn't make sense. She was still back in his original reality, alive and well, wasn't she? Wasn’t she?

“You had a pretty big reaction out there, Mr. Valaraki. You fainted,” Madam Cecilia explained. “Do you wish to elaborate on why that was?” she asked. She sounded fairly concerned.

“I… I don’t… my friend… she…” Camden tried, but found himself unable to form a complete sentence.

He took a few deep breaths, steadying himself. “That name on the gravestone. That was the name of my friend. The one from back home, the one who I've been trying to get back to this whole time. And now she… she’s…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. That she no longer existed on the mortal plane. But it didn’t make any sense. How could it? If only he could go back in time, find some way to stop her death, some way to keep her alive, some way to…

Wait a minute.

Suddenly, it hit him. The old map of Earth. The one that he found in the book in the archival library. The civilization that came before, the one who was decimated by the asteroid. And now Maya's gravestone. One that looked quite significantly older than the others. The theory that he was considering. Could it really be?

“The global gravesite. Was it built on top of a different one?” he asked them both. “Did there exist another cemetery there before it spread into what it is now?”

“I… I am unsure. But I suppose it’s not impossible,” the Madam responded, unsure of where Camden was going with this thought process.

“Madam Cecilia, you said that the machine my grandmother built was meant for teleportation, correct?” Camden continued to inquire.

“...Yes, that's correct. The ability to transport a living being from one position in space to another.”

“Was that all that it could do?” he asked.

“I don't understand what you're getting at Mr. Valaraki. Please continue to elaborate,” the Madam responded, curious to see where this was going.

“What if it also transported things through another dimension?” Camden proposed. “Moving living beings not only through space, but also through time.”

“So what you're saying…” the Madam began to clarify.

“Is that my world was never some alternate reality, alternate realm, alternate dimension or what have you,” Camden finished for her. “It was the past. Your past. That my people, the humans that are alive at my time, are the past civilization that got wiped out by the asteroid.”

Levo looked surprised, turning to the Madam. “Is he right? There's… there's no way that's possible. Is there?”

“Well, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility,” the Madam admitted. “We never did get a detailed explanation as to how his grandmother's machine worked. Or what its full capabilities were. So there does exist a non-zero chance that it also possesses the ability to transport one through time.”

“So what that means is that Maya isn't dead!” Camden realized joyfully. “Or, well, she is, at least at this point in time. But back home, back in my time, she's still alive and well.”

Levo had a grimace on his face. “Good for you, I'm glad we got that settled. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go gather supplies for our upcoming confrontation.” He said, as he stormed out of the room. The Madam and Camden watched him, puzzled.

“He seems like he's in a mood,” Camden pointed out.

“Mr. Valaraki, you should know better than anyone. He's always in a mood,” the Madam replied.

“I guess you’re right.”

The Madam also began to head towards the door, turning back before leaving. “Take care, Mr. Valaraki. We need you at your best for what’s about to come.”

And with that, she left the room. She was right. The weight of the world was on his shoulders. Now wasn’t the time to be excited for his eventual return. It was time to focus. To take the blade, face lord stone, and fulfill the prophecy.

…

Either that, or they would all die trying.