The Father of Time

Aaron squeezed Aura's hand and heard her expel a breath of laughter. There was nothing to fear, and she proved it by leading him forwards towards the palace steps.

At the top of the entrance was a brooding man draped in an ivory cloak. He had long white hair and a beard that extended to his sternum. Leaned against a staff as tall as his body, the man's thunderous gaze seemed to dilute time itself.

Aaron was nervous, but Aura showed no fear. He had the strange sensation of falling upwards, towards the man, as they ascended the palace stairs.

Continuing to ascend, Aura pulled back on Aaron's arm only ten steps in front of the figure. The man's eyes were a shade of ice blue so brilliant they could have tempered the stars.

"Hello, Aaron, Aura…" An authority quaked over the stars. "I am the Dissemination of Eternity… otherwise known as The Father of Time."

Lowering his hood, the man revealed a pleasant and grandfatherly face. He seemed to appreciate Aaron's blank expression, as his lips pulled tight to stiffen in a smile.

"Welcome to the Kingdom at the Beginning and End of the Universe."

The doors at the top of the stairs opened, unveiling large symmetrical columns in a grand hall. Aaron and Aura walked alongside Eternity as they ascended the rest of the steps and entered the palace.

Crystal columns morphed with slow viscosity into the ceiling, their amethyst insides sparkling with past stars, like water traveling up the root of a plant.

"I've been looking forward to this moment for a long time," Eternity said as they passed through the hall.

The hall alone was bigger than any structure Aaron had ever seen. A hundred ships could have easily fit between its columns.

"Let me be your guide, Aaron. There is something I would like to show you."

They entered a large elliptical chamber with eleven passageways leading to adjacent corridors. A large opening, half the size of the room, existed in both the ceiling and the floor. Suspended and centered through the openings was a long black cable, with an origin obscured from view.

Aaron walked along the ledge of the opening to see what lay below. Four more identical rooms existed below, from which the cable descended all the way to the bottom. At the bottom of the cable was a silver mass, swinging gently with the cable.

"Careful now…" said Eternity.

The pendulum carved wakes in a pool of liquid metal. The waves did not resolve in a partial differential equation, but were sustained in static space, until the length of the pendulum was equal to the distance carved: A harmonograph which faded proportional to time.

He continued, "the balance of that pendulum is very particular."

Eternity moved surprisingly fast. He whisked them into the next room, where the shadow of a tesseract rotated angrily against the walls. Its figure becoming more perturbed the further they traveled into room. Eternity again paid no attention, and briskly continued into the next room.

"Forgive me," he said. "There are one hundred and thirty-seven rooms in this palace, but there is only one I've been wanting to show you for years."

Eternity led them to a spiral staircase where they descended to the ground floor. Every twelve steps, another intriguing room would branch out, slightly morphing and cascading as distant stars seemed to course like liquid within its walls.

"I have to admit," said Eternity, "I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time… I imagine that you have some questions?"

Aaron looked at Aura, smiling and giving him a look that said: why not?

"'The beginning and end'… what does that mean?"

"Mmm, yes that's a good place to start. Your fellow humans have developed some knowledge of the stars… but they can't understand that as the universe expands, it moves towards its own beginning."

"This Nebula is the focal point of that beginning, and thus stands at the balance of the beginning and end."

They reached the bottom floor and stepped into an atrium that had an open face to the nebula outside.

"This is it, Aaron, the Garden of Time."

Aaron stepped into the garden and understood where the thousand-faceted stone had gotten all its colors. There were even colors he could feel, rather than see with his eyes. A harmony was present, one that could have been easily missed.

"This garden provides the scaffolding of all beings."

The three of them spread out through different parts of the garden, enchanted by its virtue and perfection.

"Aaron, I think you deserve my perspective, though I'm sure The Teacher did his best."

Aaron looked over at Aura.

"Aura was born of this garden, for no other reason than being a balance of this universe. She is not a person, as you now understand, but the spirit. She is the will behind that which walks amongst the stars."

"Einai?" Aaron's voice cracked.

"Yes, some use that word… though I will say, The Teacher's iterations get a little lost over time."

"So you knew him… You know him?"

"Yes, he has done a lot to secure your future, and the things you will become."

"So he did know me?" Aaron pondered. "… he knew before I ever even arrived…"

"Yes… Time does not flow as uniform as you see in the river. Once you left your planet, you stepped into an axiom of rivers, all of which branch from this location."

Aaron brushed his hand over a large leaf that morphed in shade as it bent back into shape.

"For example, if we wanted, we could observe you boarding the Elgia for the first time… we could also see your future, and the things you have yet to accomplish. The discerning mind could even follow along, as one's actions rippled through the universe."

Aaron didn't know if he was impressed or scared. "You're not human are you… are you like Aura?"

Surely he hasn't lived forever…

"Quite right," said Eternity, amused. "Well, I don't have an age, per se, but I haven't existed forever. I am a little different because of my lineage… you see… the Spirit of All Things… Aura… is my mother."