Energy Eater - Prologue (Patreon)

########### Author's Note ###########
Here we go! A small heads up, the prologue is not a mandatory part of the story. If you are not the type who enjoys reading about the worldbuilding, skip to the next chapter. But here some questions will be answered, and more of them will be created. To me that's a plus, but again, feel free to skip ahead.
Chapter 1
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"Today is the big day. Are you excited?" Kimberly passed by and pulled a chair to sit in her own cubicle. 

"Nervous is the right word. I just hope I didn't make any mistakes in my part of the calculations," Jeremy was scratching his head while going through all of his work. He had already lost count of how many times he double-checked the math, but even after being completely sure that everything was correct, he still felt anxious.

"You really need to stop. We did everything we could. If we made a mistake, it is too late to change now," Kimberly rolled her eyes as she pulled a couple of pocket books from one of her desk drawers. Then, she pulled what looked like a wooden shoe box from her bag and put on her glasses.

Jeremy looked up and saw the title of the books 'Memoir of the old world,' 'Cassandra, the Tyrant,' and 'Year 0,' "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get my own confirmation we didn't fuck anything up," she opened the box revealing an extremely intricate spell array. Jeremy could tell there were at least 30 different spells weaved together. How it was possible for all of them not to interrupt each other was beyond him.

"How the hell do you have time to do all this? We work the same hours, don't we?" Jeremy gasped.

"I didn't do it all on my own. My family is pretty good at making these kinds of things. When I showed them my idea, both my sister and aunt jumped at the opportunity to help," she pulled a small metal box, with a small engraving of a spool of thread on top "This one I had to do it myself."

"You are going that far? Really?"

"Absolutely. I talked with the professor. And he is on board with my idea. Apparently he even asked a jellyfish friend of his to help with that. They will be in a protected place today, during the experiment," Kimberly placed everything on the box and closed it before activating two of her skills [Lock of Pandora], that locked the box and stopped anything or anyone of being able to access its contents, and [Vault of Ages] to stop anything from being able to interfere with the contents of the box.

"If we change anything, anything at all, we probably won't be here to remember. Even all those skills and spells you used won't be enough. We are talking about a fundamental change in the universe. If we mess up," Jeremy replied.

"C'mon, that is not actually going to happen," Kimberly scoffed.

"My job is to make sure it doesn't. I can't make any mistakes with all this," Jeremy went back to the numbers, checking them yet again.

"You say as if you are used to making mistakes. Yet, if I remember correctly, it's been twenty five years since the last time you got the math wrong, Dr. Santjack." a raspy voice came from behind the duo.

"Professor Meryd!" Kimberly quickly got up.

"Please, you don't have to get up," Professor Meryd gestured for her to stay in the chair, which annoyed Kimberly a bit. Sitting down while wearing this plain white lab coat was incredibly uncomfortable since her wings couldn't get out of the way properly. She had a coat made for a Lumerin, but due a small accident in the canteen involving some red velvet cake earlier this morning, she had to take a spare.

"I know, professor, but that is even more reason for me not to be complacent. What we are trying to do here is very risky," Jeremy kept looking at his terminal, reviewing every single number, looking for a mistake. He was not only doing the math but also using his skills to make sure there wasn't anything wrong.

"Young man…" that warranted an annoyed look from Jeremy, "Sorry. Old habits, Dr. Santjack, you know we have several people double-checking your work. No one found any mistakes, not even the AI. We've done all we could. Now we can only hope for the best," Professor Meryd put his clawed hand on Jeremy's shoulder to comfort him.

"He's right, you know. Besides, it's not like what we are doing is that dangerous. If it was, the universe would probably do something to stop us," Kimberly tried to adjust herself again.

"You don't know that. And the idea that the universe is built to stop time travel was never confirmed. It's just a theory and one of the possible outcomes," Jeremy replied.

"Really? What are the odds of that happening?" Kimberly asked, but didn't give time for Jeremy to reply. If she did, he would start actually calculating the odds, "Besides. That's just one of the theories of what might happen. And not even the one I think it's more likely."

Professor Meryd sat on a chair nearby, using his cane to prop himself up. Being one of the few Rodenti in the staff it was a bit hard to find a place to sit that wasn't too big or him. Still, he learned to ignore those issues, "What is your theory about what is gong to happen, Dr. Kalador?"

"We are creating a parallel time line. To us, it will look like a failure, but we will have sent the system back in time, creating a new branch in the universe," Kimberly replied.

Professor Meryd nodded, "Some would say that is the easiest answer, but I do agree that it is the most likely scenario. What about you, Dr. Santjack? Do you have a theory?"

"Yes. Either this will fail, proving that time travel is impossible. Or we are going to destroy everything. It will be a butterfly effect that will raze our civilization to the ground," Jeremy gasped, "The only reason I'm here is because, maybe, maybe if the math works, and everything is in the right place, we just send the system back and nothing changes."

"And you think that you are the only one capable of doing that math?" Kimberly scoffed.

"Yes! Tell me one more person in the entire world. No in the entire system that could do that, and I swear to the System Kimberly, if you say Charles…"

The two doctors stared at each other for a moment. Seeing that, professor Meryd cleared his throat, which cut the tension in an instant, "Now, now. Dr. Santjack is not wrong. That is a possibility."

Wanting to change the subject, to avoid fighting with her lover, Kimberly turned to the most senior member of the team, "What about you professor? What theory do you think is right?"

"Me?" Meryd stroked his long white goatee, "If I'm being honest. One of you will probably be right. Those are the most likely scenarios anyway. But, I would like for something else to happen," a smile creeped over the professor's mouth, "Do any of you know what a Bootstrap paradox is?"

Both doctors looked at each other before shaking their heads.

With a nod, Meryd continued, "First, consider that this is a single time line and not a branching path of the universe, of course. If we add another theory to this, everything collapses. But imagine, if you will, that there's an artist you really enjoy. Let's say Van Gogh for instance.  Now consider that you have discovered time travel, And you decide that your first stop will be to meet Van Gogh during the time he was in the Saint-Paul Asylum. After all, at that point, no one would believe he met someone from the future. Unfortunately, when you arrive in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, no one under the name Van Gogh is living there. As a matter of fact, the person known as Vincent van Gogh never existed in the first place.  This causes you to have a breakdown and cannot fathom the idea of a world without the beautiful paintings created by Van Gogh. But you carry with you a copy of all his works and you also have the skills to replicate his paintings. So you decide to go assume the identity of Vincent Van Gogh yourself. You lie about your past following the events of the biography you carry with you. You fake any documents and the paintings that you need to make sure that people believe that you are Vincent van Gogh. And in turn, you become the great artist. The one who painted The Starry Night, the Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, the Almond Blossoms, and the Bedroom in Arles. All, of course, copies of the ones you brought along to ask Van Gogh to sign. In that scenario, who put the right colors in the right places for those paintings? Who created The Starry Night?"

"That would be…" Kimberly started to speak but stopped when she realized what the question meant. If she went to the past with a copy of the painting. A painting that only existed because she, herself, went back in time to become Van Gogh. That meant that… no one created the painting in the first place. No one had that original idea. It simply, came into existence.

"Sorry, but that's the theory you hope is correct, professor?" Jeremy asked with a confused expression.

"Of course. That would make things much simpler than anything else. The reason why we found the meteor, and why it has such a unique signature. Is because we found it, and sent it back. Maybe we can even say that this is the origin of the system. That this is how everything we achieved became possible. If we say all of this came into existence in a way that cannot be explained, it also can never be exploited."

Jeremy scratched his head, "You do know that is a massive paradox, right? Something like that shouldn't be able to happen. It goes against every single law we ever discovered."

"Yet, it is completely possible," Professor Meryd added, "We know frighteningly little about time travel, and perhaps, this is what will actually happen."

"So all our work will be for nothing?" Jeremy asked.

"Not at all. By performing this experiment, we will be simply making sure that our role in history will be maintained. If we chose not to, we might as well be dooming the universe to oblivion," Professor Meryd smiled.

Kimberly was pulling the lab coat, trying to keep her wings still, but moving them was second nature to her. Frustrated, she took it off, fluttered her wings for a moment, and then put the coat back on, "Sorry. This is driving me nuts. But if this is the case of a bootstrap paradox, do we have a choice? Like, can we say that we won't do it or has fate already decided for us?"

"Now, that is a question I am unable to answer. The idea that knowing your future seals your fate has been a topic of debate for millennia. I'm sure we can have a discussion about it some other time, but I'm afraid if we start now, we will have to stop before getting even close to an agreement," Professor Meryd looked at Kimberly, "If I may, I would like to apologize once again about our dress code for today. Our biggest investor is here for the experiment, and he wanted everyone to be wearing the lab coats that people used in ancient times. He is human and…. Eccentric. If it was up to me, we wouldn't be wearing these, trust me," the professor pulled his coat up, showing his tail that had to be wrapped around his body.

"Oh… then that's fine. I'm glad I'm not the only one suffering," Kimberly smiled.

"Kimi!" Jeremy gasped.

"What? It's one thing if I'm getting screwed alone. If there are more people in the same boat, it doesn't feel as bad. Also, why do rich people get away with being called 'Eccentric?' I've been weird my whole life," Kimberly rolled her eyes.

"That's because we need their money, and calling them weird is not the way to go about it," Professor Meryd chuckled, "Speaking of which. He is not the most… experienced person in this field. How would you explain the experiment to him in simple terms?"

"Well… You can say that we are using an itemized system connected to biological storage to create a repository of information that will serve as a backup of the old world," Jeremy suggested.

"I think that would be a bit too advanced for him," the professor shook his head.

"How about if you say that we are sending a computer that will use the system as a bridge to gather information about the old world? Then it will stay there for thousands of years until we dig up the meteorite here so we can access that information," Kimberly had both her hands in her pockets.

"That… might actually work. Thank you," Professor Meryd smiled and turned to the side, hearing someone calling him over, "Apologizes, but duty calls. I suggest you go to the bathroom now since we are about to begin."

With that, the professor went away to talk with the investor. Everyone was in high spirits, but Jeremy wasn't the only one anxious about the experiment. Most people who were working here shared his feelings and were doing the same kind of thing. Triple and quadruple checking all their work again to ensure everything would go well.

For Jeremy, the next hour went by in a flash. He even missed the speech given by Professor Meryd, and somehow he was in front of the large vat filled with liquid electricity, which would be the catalyst for this experiment. Large runes were carved in the ground, making a spell circle that covered the entire 30 m² room including the walls and ceiling. He took a look around, seeing the other eleven people inside the spell's area of effect, each in a meticulously placed circle of protection, and the large glass window with the rest of the scientists and the human investor on the other side. Kimberly was in there, while the professor was right under the vat itself. These twelve people, including Jeremy and Professor Meryd, were the ones who would actually cast the spells and skills in order to send that piece of the system back to the past.

Of the twelve, seven were there to create a barrier around the lab to make sure that nothing would happen with the outside. They would be led by Jeremy, while the remaining five would open a rift in time and space with the professor taking the lead. 

"At your mark, Dr. Santjack," Professor Meryd's voice came from the other side of the room. 

Jeremy started casting the barrier, and the rest of his team did the same. Everyone had a similar spell, but he was the one with a skill that could connect all the barriers together. The outer layer of the spell circle illuminated as each of the scientists created the barrier, then they turned green as Jeremy connected them to the rest of the formation. It took five minutes to completely close the circuit and reinforce the protection with all the skills available to the group, but after Dr. Santjack was done, and sure there were no openings around the barrier, he spoke up, "We are ready."

"Very well. Lower the bio-system storage," Professor Meryd commanded, and the metal box in the ceiling started to lower into the large vat. That box was just the protection for the actual device inside. A small rocket that was programmed to move to a certain location, then attach itself to a meteorite before using a microscopic drill bit to open a tunnel to the center of the rock formation and deposit the bio-engineered storage with the system. Said system was provided by their investor. The human who wanted to know more about the ancient earth in hopes of recovering some of the culture that was lost during the fall of mankind.  

The box lowered until it reached the center of the liquid electricity, where it started to float, and without saying anything, the five people responsible for the actual transport of the object started casting their spells. One was looking back in time to locate the specific meteor that was their target. All the calculations were already in place, and he only had to look in the right direction. The next 3 people were in charge of tearing a hole in space to send the box to a location light years away. Professor Meryd was the last piece of the puzzle. Using the liquid inside the vat as a catalyst, he had to interrupt the teleportation spell in a very specific way that wouldn't change the destination but the time when the box would appear. 

This entire project was thanks to a unique interaction Professor Meryd discovered between one of his spells and the liquid electricity. By using the 'Absolute Time Bubble,' the professor was able to control time inside a space to an incredible degree. Unfortunately, he could only affect things that were inside that area, and he wasn't able to heal wounds, much less bring someone back from the dead and, at most, he could rewind or advance time in two hours. However, when a source of energy was present in the area, the time range would increase at the expense of that energy source. This could work with several things, coal, batteries, oil, but liquid electricity was the only thing with an energy density high enough to allow for this kind of spell.

According to the calculations, they would need about 2 million liters of liquid electricity to return 4 thousand years. They only needed to send the box back to the year 75 B.S. (Before the System), and since it was currently the year 3462, they would have more than enough energy inside the vat. Usually, this wouldn't work properly, but since the portal was being created inside the Absolute Time Bubble, things changed. The spell circle on the ground changed how the portal worked, allowing for the destination to also be affected by the professor's spell. 

It took a full hour for Meryd's spell to consume enough liquid electricity to reach the correct time frame. During his tunning, everyone else had to keep their spells up, but finally, after what felt like an eternity, they were there.

"Now! Send the box!" Professor Meryd called, and Kimberly pressed the big red button on the panel in front of her, which read 'deploy.'

A panel under the vat, where the portal was located, opened, swallowing the box and the remaining liquid electricity. This was a portal to outer space, and the spell had to be deactivated right away to avoid hurting any of the scientists inside the room.

Everyone waited a couple more minutes to make sure that there was no risk before deactivating the barrier. For the next step, the right thing to do was to let the people rest before checking the meteor that was found and brought here. The same meteor that they were targeting with the experiment. However, no one wanted to wait. The entire group walked through the door to the side and emerged in a similar lab, but this one had a meteorite in the center surrounded by several different sensors. Professor Meryd walked to one of the consoles and activated the machines to perform a full scan of the interplanetary object. If their experiment worked, they would find some signals in the meteorite. Markings that indicated how something drilled a hole inside it,  and, hopefully, the bio-system storage containing all the data they could gather from the past almost 4 thousand years.

As the machines worked, everyone was holding their breaths. This was it. Years of work all culminated in this experiment. When the screen finally showed some results, no one knew what to do. There weren't any markings in the meteorite, no signal that it had been altered or signals of the bio-system storage. 

"Professor… Does this mean….?" Jeremy was afraid to finish his sentence. 

Meryd nodded, "I'm afraid it does, my dear boy. This experiment was a failure."

Chapter 1