A free lunch might fall from the sky, but it would never land in my lap. If you want a pie, you'd better roll up your sleeves and bake it yourself.
You get nothing for nothing, and to gain something, you must pay a price. Lynch had always believed in this principle.
Even with the Lord of a Billion Radiance acting as a middleman, such critical secrets would never be revealed to him easily. Moreover, since they were throwing in a little gift alongside the technique, he was bound to pay an equal or even higher price.
This was only natural, and it actually put Lynch at ease—otherwise, he would have begun suspecting whether they planned to silence him afterward.
There was indeed a price, though it was somewhat unexpected.
Once Lynch entered the River of Time, instead of going to the Gate of the Silver Key to pay audience to Tawil at'Umr—an avatar of the Lord of a Billion Radiance—he had to make a detour to a Corner of Time to pay his respects to the ruler of the Hounds of Tindalos, the Lord of Tindalos, and deliver a small box to it.
It sounded rather terrifying, but it was logically sound and didn't seem like a scam. In fact, the more terrifying it sounded, the higher its credibility actually was.
So Lynch agreed. After all, this was set up by the Lord of a Billion Radiance. Though it was an evil god, judging from its performance so far, it was still trustworthy.
It wasn't that the entity lacked malice; in fact, one of Lynch's greatest realizations over the past few months was that evil gods could hardly be classified by goodwill or malice. They simply did things for a specific purpose, indifferent to good or evil, and cared even less about the consequences for the mortal world.
However, judging from the current situation, Lynch determined that Yog-Sothoth's goals did not conflict with his own, and it had no reason to set him up. Thus, he was willing to trust it temporarily—until he noticed something amiss.
Besides, his neighbor hadn't warned him, so surely nothing would go wrong.
In return, before he entered the River of Time, the Yithian would teach him how to evade the mark of the hounds. Receiving the goods before making payment—just like Yog-Sothoth, they didn't seem worried in the slightest about him backing out. Perhaps all these beings who played with time were mysteriously confident like that.
“Wait, I still have one question.” Once everything was finalized, Lynch finally asked the question he cared about most: “Can the past be changed?”
“Hmm?” The Yithian studied Lynch with a look of curious interest, as if analyzing his mental journey. After watching him for a long moment, it said, “It can.”
“Then why doesn't anyone do it?”
“How do you know nobody does?”
Lynch opened his mouth, completely at a loss for words.
“Actually, very few people truly do so,” the Yithian continued, ignoring Lynch's expression. “The price is too high, and it serves little purpose.”
“Could you explain?”
“Time possesses inertia; it follows a set trajectory. If this trajectory is altered, time's inertia will continuously and automatically correct itself until it returns to its proper track.”
Lynch nodded. This was essentially the convergence of worldlines.
“Furthermore, this inertia acts not only on the altered people, objects, and events, but also on the source of the change—the perpetrator. When they attempt to alter the past, this inertia strikes their existence with immense force. If they cannot withstand the shock, it usually results in the act of alteration being interfered with and failing. If it doesn't fail, the perpetrator's existence will be shattered by the inertia—wiping out their past, present, and future, erasing every trace of their existence.”
Hss, this was like the legendary karmic curses from his old world, except far more absolute. Lynch's lips twitched as a cold chill ran down his spine.
“In truth, what the perpetrator must bear is not just the immediate shock of the change, but also the cumulative impact of every future consequence that change brings. For example, if you alter the past to kill someone, you must bear a portion of the inertia from every action that person would have taken for the rest of their life, as well as the impact made by their descendants. The same applies if you save someone. This impact is difficult to calculate. You might kill hundreds or thousands of people yet endure very little inertia, because those individuals and their generations were utterly insignificant, or died soon after due to various reasons—in short, their life or death had negligible impact on history. Yet you might also be erased simply for breaking a flowerpot, because that flowerpot was destined to fall and kill someone who, had they lived, would have become a tyrant and altered the fates of countless people.”
The three of them listened spellbound. It was fascinating knowledge. Thanks to the insights accumulated from his past life, Lynch could understand a portion of it, but the two ladies found it somewhat difficult to grasp.
“Therefore, anyone capable of setting foot in the River of Time acts with extreme caution, avoiding any active attempt to change the past. When we travel to critical historical junctures, it is solely for research, never to alter history. That is also why we do everything possible to avoid public attention and ultimately erase the memories of our swap partners.”
“Wait...” Though she only half-understood, Officer Natalie immediately caught a flaw in his words. “Does telling us all this not count as a change? We didn't swear any oaths to keep your secrets. Are you going to erase our memories too?”
“I cannot do that. However...” the Yithian said with a calm expression, “how do you know this was not time's intended trajectory all along?”
“Huh?”
“What if all of this was meant to happen? What if I am merely fulfilling history—or rather, what if I too am part of history?”
Officer Natalie felt her head spinning. The more she thought about it, the more convoluted and tangled it became, her mind verging on madness. It wasn't until Lynch shoved his pipe into her mouth and lit it that her chaotic mind gradually calmed down.
Lynch let out a sigh. Indeed, in the world of the occult, one could never drop their guard for a single moment. Merely listening to a bit of forbidden knowledge nearly drove a professional insane. On second thought, back then, he had nearly gone mad just sitting there and thinking about forbidden knowledge. It seemed he needed to be even more cautious in the future and avoid trying to comprehend every strange thing he encountered.
Still, Lynch sighed again and pressed further, “Everything you said applies to the perpetrator. What about the altered individuals? For instance, if I save someone, what happens to that person?”
“For the rest of their life, they will repeatedly encounter deadly perils until they die—that is time's inertia correcting them. Furthermore, if they leave behind descendants who shouldn't exist before they die, that entire lineage will constantly face fatal danger and perish swiftly, restoring time to its proper path.” The Yithian showed curiosity once more and asked, “Why do you ask all this?”
“Uh, I have a friend who ran into some trouble and asked me to inquire on his behalf,” Lynch chuckled awkwardly. “He was inside an uncontrolled mystery relic... and made a promise that's not so easy to keep, so he asked me to help him find a way.”
“Is this friend of yours actually yourself?” The Yithian didn't press the issue. “Whether it is or not makes no difference. Doing so is meaningless. Even if it succeeds, it is merely torture for the altered person, and it only changes that specific timeline without affecting the present in any way. If you truly wish to help them, you had better start with the Dreamlands; there might be a solution there. However, I cannot give you a specific answer on how, as we are unfamiliar with the Dreamlands. Well then, I have said all I needed to say. Here's to a pleasant cooperation. Ah, right—this is our small gift. I hope you like it. Oh, you will like it.”
With that, it pushed forward a heavy, thick rectangular metal box, roughly the size of a laptop bag. Exquisitely crafted and radiating a sleek, high-tech aesthetic, it was clearly beyond the technology of the current era.
Rate on N.U.
