1:1:7 Clarity (Part 1)

Blinking. It took a while for their eyes to adjust but it was all the more confusing when they did. Replacing the bathroom they were originally sat in, a white expanse. They stood and then a second wave of confusion hit them. Offering them a hand up, an older version of themselves. They were sporting a similar outfit to the one they were wearing; it was nearly identical to the one they woke up wearing in the cave.
“Welcome to the Identity cube. If I am seeing this it can only mean one of three things: I’m here to edit this cube, I’ve forgotten something important and need to remember for the sake of an argument with Char or I have recently lost all of my memories, had the important stuff put back in and now I want a little more. Judging by your attire and youth, option three should describe you. ERROR. Formative memories not present. Do you wish to continue and view the contents of this cube? Warning: Watching the contents of this cube without the context of the Formative Memories Cube may lead to unexpected or unwanted personality changes that may influence the overall integrity of the timeline.” The older Lore sounded natural while delivering most of their speech but towards the end, the illusion of sentience was broken slightly.
“I wish to proceed.” Lore spoke confidently to themselves however could not bring themselves to make eye contact with their doppelganger.
“Are you sure? My scans indicate you have not received proper context as to the mission or the importance of these cubes. Do you still wish to view these memories?”
“Yes. I do.” Lore wasn’t sure why they would apply such safeguards.
Their doppelganger nodded and as their head hit the down position, they were transported to a familiar white room.
“In the beginning, there was Loren.” They were back in the hospital room they had only just escaped from. On the bed, a baby. “There we are. No known mother, no known father. We were found by the Oracles. They were scanning the timeline for babies with high TPE.”
“TPE?” Lore shrugged.
“Temporal Potential Energy. Every individual has TPE; it is a measure of how much of an impact on the timeline as a whole an individual can have. The higher the TPE, the greater the potential impact. We were brought to The Protectorate because we had the highest TPE they had ever seen. And in the next room over, coming in at close second, another familiar face, Crait.”
“So when are we from originally then? You said we were found by the Oracles so we could have been from anywhere.”
“It’s not really relevant but we’re from Earth, England, The East Midlands. Date wise, we were born on the eighth of November two thousand and three.” The doppelganger shrugged. “Anyway, we were chosen to become the first in a new program where instead of conscripting or hiring people from the present, The Protectorate would scour the timeline for people who either had no family or had such a little impact on the timeline that removing them from it would have next to no impact.”
“Lovely bunch.”
“Indeed. Moving on. Fast forward a few years to fifteen and we’ve become a proficient fighter and an adept Oracle. This was when we got our first glimpse at the future we’re fighting to change. This vision can be viewed in full in the Context cube.” The Doppelganger Lore paused. “You now have a choice, you can either continue to view the memories like this, as if you were in a museum getting a guided tour or, for maximum memory transferral, you can re-live the moments held within this cube. Obviously, you will only be able to re-live aspects of the memory but when you leave, you will retain information of the whole event; for example, if you chose to re-live this moment, you would start playback when you entered the ring and the memory would end after you and Crait are chastised for kissing after your bout. This allows memory playback to be informative but not time consuming. WARNING: Side effects of reliving memories include: Self-doubt, nausea, vomiting, depression, PTSD symptoms and is not recommended whilst pregnant. In your current situation, this is not recommended as it may cause significant self-doubt and reduced faith in your own and your allies abilities.”
“How many memories do I have to re-live?” The gears were turning in Lore’s head.
“There are three key memories, not including this one. Scans show you have re-lived this one recently.”
“Ok. I would like to mix and match if that’s possible? You introduce the memory then I re-live it.”
“That would be possible. Please note, should you wish to leave the memory at any point and return to museum mode, all you need to say is ‘Museum’.”
“Let’s begin then.” Lore smiled at themselves. Their doppelganger looked most displeased.

“Memory two: The Three Year Month.” The void became a vast ocean of red sands. Where their doppelganger had once stood, a ship took their place. They found themselves at the foot of a mountain, standing in the shadow of another. To their left, yet another mountain in the range but unlike the others, it showed signs of life. “You have been sent here by The Protectorate to ensure the destruction of this planet.” Their voice whispered in their head. They secured their ship before beginning the long walk to civilisation.
As Lore walked, apart from the annoyance the sand caused, they noticed a steady stream of new information making its way into their subconscious. They turned back and as if instinctively, they knew their ship’s name, how long they had been piloting them and how to repair them should any of the pesky sand make its way into their engines. They also noticed how little control they had over their memory. They attempted to walk back towards their ship but something in the back of their mind kept telling them they couldn’t so, they didn’t.
“Gideon.” Lore tapped their Breacher as they spoke. At first it was shocking, listening and feeling words leave their mouth without them choosing them but, coupled with the lack of control, it almost became like a front seat to a slow but promising film. “How far away is the First City?”
“At your current pace, you’ll arrive in three days and four hours; assuming you walk constantly and maintain a speed of no faster or slower than three miles an hour.”
“Right…” Lore came to a stop. “Display all information regarding this planet and its people.”
“Here you are sir.” A full, three dimensional map of the planet rendered as a hologram above their Breacher. Two documents opened beside it.
“So this is Quatarr.” Lore said to themselves. “Well then, they’re more developed than humanity so I should be fine to Breach there.” Lore smiled, inputting the co-ordinates.
“But sir, mission parameters state you mustn’t use our technology within the presence of the natives. Objective three highlights the importance of keeping them in the dark.” Gideon sounded more robotic than usual. There was an uncomfortable lull between them. Silence prevailed. A scoff came from their wrist. “According to your blood pressure and heart rate, you were under the impression I had been reprogrammed during my most recent refit. I’ll have you know that I am, despite their best efforts, still firmly on your side.”
“Well, at the moment you’re on my wrist but I appreciate the sentiment, now could you please Breach me over there?"

There was a flash of white then a jarring realisation of how close the co-ordinates they had chosen were to the city walls. Walls of bronze surrounded a towering citadel. Light emanated from every pore of the central tower and the streets were near atom perfect, level and flat. Within the city the architecture shone, flowing curves and steely highlights adorned every building contrasted by natural white stones. Such architecture and they had barely sidled through the front gate.
“You must be new in town. Or else you’d know about the curfew.” A voice erupted. “Nearly mistook you for one of them Eastern llysnachaum.” Lore looked a little confused and tapped at their Breacher. “Your translators fine. It’s actually not working.”
“So you speak English then?”
“Just the higher ups. It only recently came to our attention that we sent your planet our languages via satellite. By the time the data reached Earth, it was obsolete. You should be alright talking to anyone who speaks Old High Quatarri… Which is next to no-one these days but that’s neither here nor there. To the matter at hand however: Who might you be?”
“The name’s Loren. I’m the assistance your government requested.” The Commander was wounded by his words. Lore still found it amazing how they actually had very little control over their body and what they said at this moment. “You were told to expect ‘The Inquisitor of the 52^nd order.”
“One soldier. One. When we send other planets in our empire an Inquisitorial Order, we send at least a hundred soldiers.”
“Trust me, I’m all you’ll need.”
Reluctantly, The Commander stood aside. “Welcome to Tarrquu Loren.”
Time bled away. The exterior of the city became the interior of the admiralties chambers. Nearly an hour had passed and despite them not seeing it, they remembered nearly everything that had happened. Meeting the Admirals, getting a lay of the land and more importantly, learning about the commander they had met at the gates. Sat across the room from them, taking inventory, the grizzled Commander Silus tapped away. They were nearly a foot and a half taller than Loren and twice as wide; nearly zero body fat but equally, not very much of everything else. They obviously still had a strength to them alien to Loren but malnutrition had eaten away at what would have probably been a star stopping physique.
“Your reports mention casualties, even deaths and these projections aren’t much better. We were under the impression that your people were immortal, is that no longer true?” Loren held up the tablet they had been working on.
“We can still get hurt, we can still die. How could we sustain a planet if none of our elderly died?” Silus moved closer and sat beside Loren. “It used to be that our wars were fought out of violence but were ended by resources. We couldn’t kill one another so we made life difficult until the loser surrendered. Then, about two years ago, the Northern tribes discovered something new. One of their healers was removing a crystalline fibre from the foot of a child when, as they attempted to numb the area, it discharged a golden beam. Luckily no one was injured but the next day, after a swift removal without sedatives, the boy took the healer and a group of hunters out to the field. They collected a number of these fibres and began testing. They had discovered a new use for the rejuvinative energy that we use to keep ourselves alive.”
“Your bodies are full of energy?”
“Well, I assume your brain runs on electric impulses, yes? Well, imagine that in every cell in our body, there’s a small charge and, if that cell is damaged in any way, that energy surges to the nearest damaged cell and rejuvenates it. Doesn’t sound so farfetched now does it?”
“No not really.”
“Well, that energy keeps us alive and until then, we had only been able to access small quantities of it by colliding atoms of Tempora crystal in massive colliders. Even your people have done that.”
“Thanks.”
“No offense meant. But this energy, it is purer, it also has an extreme effect on living tissues. Your own rejuvinative energy interacts harmlessly with your own cells but when someone else’s joins the mix it’s like you being shot with a plasma pistol.”
“Ouch. But how did you weaponize it?”
Silus pulled a pistol from their under arm holster. Attached in the magazine well, a familiar tube. “We synthesised a delivery tube made from the same material as the fibres then attached a series of magnifying lenses to increase the intensity of the shot. Each time I pull the trigger, an electric pulse is sent down into my side here,” they tapped at the port where the tube connected just above their hip, “which triggers the energy to be released and a shot to be taken. The pistol has a built in capacitor so it can store one shot but that’s to act as a bridge so as to reduce reload times.”
“Sounds painful.”
“You get used to it. In the early days, one of the biggest killers wasn’t the enemy but our own troops overestimating their pain tolerance. Before the capacitor, the power selection dial and the limiter, soldiers used to drain every cell in their body using their gun for everything. Now we’re each issued a traditional side arm as well to avoid such mishaps.” They handed Loren the pistol after disconnecting it from its tubing. The weapon was in keeping with the city’s overall aesthetic, mainly bronze but with crimson leather highlights and grip. It was lighter than he expected.
Loren returned the gun and went back to his reports. From the casualty reports from the prior engagements, he scrolled back to the projections for the battle ahead. This would be, without a shadow of a doubt, the last battle of this war. Both sides were throwing the last of their troops and resources into this fight and, given that mentality, Loren knew that a draw would not be possible. He just needed more time to think. That was when it hit him.
“Tempora…”
“What about it?”
“Your whole planet is made of the stuff… Well, not made of it but it runs throughout the whole planet, straight to the core.” Loren displayed the holographic atlas of Quatarr once more.
“And?”
“Gideon, is there enough Tempora in and on Quatarr to create a recursive feedback loop?”
“Who’s Gideon?” Silus spoke just as the voice began from Loren’s Breacher.
“Theoretically yes. Improper application of such theory could result in Quatarr being permanently temporally displaced however.”
There was a knock at the door. Loren closed his Breacher’s hologram as Silus moved towards the door. Slowly, they pulled it ajar. The door was crafted of three, thick sheets; two of a solid, hardwood native to the Western regions and, sandwiched between them, a core of solid Vaaltrium. Behind the behemoth, two, comparatively small soldiers waited.
“Reporting as ordered, sir.” They spoke in unison. Even though the door was soundproof, judging by their coordination, Loren knew they had practiced that line.
“Knights Allana and Luscillus.” Silus gestured to them as they introduced them. Allana was about a head shorter than Luscillus, perhaps more but their armour gave them both similar builds. “Our newest inductees to our inner circle.” Loren gave a wave before returning to their planning.
Time faded away again. Memories of a rousing speech came flooding to them as they watched Loren walk with Silus, Allana and Luscillus towards Gideon.
Their doppelganger appeared beside them, creating a once in a lifetime triple out of body experience. “This is when we made the decision that shaped us into the person we are today.” They turned to Lore. “We learnt the greatest lessons and suffered the greatest defeats.”
“Spoilers!” Lore went to slap their doppelganger. “Why am I getting a bad feeling about this time loop?”
“That’ll be some of your training returning to you. Time doesn’t like being folded back on itself. It’s not flexible enough. Occasionally, if the winds are blowing in just the right way and the moon is full and blue, it can be done safely but in most cases, time loops are fatal.”
“And we just did it anyway?” Lore looked at their representative in confusion.
“In the balance of things, the reward outweighed the risk. We were outmanned and under resourced. Without the loop, the options were mutually assured destruction via the same Tempora cascade I used to loop the battle or an Eastern victory which would leave Quatarr too vulnerable to defend its empire and therefore, a definitive win for The Protectorate. The numbers didn’t lie.”