“‘Every point in time has its alternative.’ You’ve looked into alternative time?”

“Nothing so vulgar. You say ‘every point in time,’ but your understanding is so limited. Time is infinite. Time before the Landing and the founding of Ka-Rone. Time after all the Mother Countries sink back into Creation’s Sea. Time sideways, time above, time below, time within… and time without.”

“Without what?”

“Without where. This is Hel-Morrid’s lore: we are on a monkey-track, we are circling the drain. There’s an infinity beyond the Celestial Firmanent. We are in a prison, that binds us to this squalid world and protects limitless Pelagia from us.”

“Of course. You knew the Pelagic Master.”

“I didn’t just know Erzi, I ate him. I cut off his hand and ate it.”

“I don’t need to hear these things.”

“He did the same to me, thought it would bring us closer if we were one flesh. It didn’t work out.”

“Please, Mother.”

“Afterwards I bought a new hand. Actually I splurged and got new arms. These used to belong to an especially talented piano player, because I want quality.”

“Please.”

“You asked me a question, you are going to hear the full answer.”

“I’ve heard enough. You can’t break out of the Celestial Firmanent.”

“Hel-Morrid did.”

“Hel-Morrid died.”

“Dissipated.”

“Same thing –”

“It is not the same thing. You of all people should know better.”

“What makes you think you can succeed where the rest of the Warpless Circle has failed? Is the chain from your new jewelery cutting off — I mean, what?”

“‘Every point in time has its alternative.’ Every event has a reflection. I can imagine surpassing the Smelter; therefore, I can surpass the Smelter.”

“Somewhere in Pelagia, maybe, but not here, necessarily.”

“What is ‘here?’ It’s a meaningless limitation. Time is a curtain that hides the infinite unseen world from us. With Untime I will rip it asunder.”

“Untime? Untime? So you do mean to repeat Hel-Morrid’s work.”

“There’s no law against it. I’m done with Domination theory. I want practice. I predict that by 1500 I will have made all times as one. 1510 at the latest.”

— From the thought-record of Vera Ilermalken

SEE ALSO: Hel-Morrid the Clockworker, Ol-Rasta the Silver Marquise, Vera Ilermalken