Caleb stood on a beautiful terrace, gazing down over the alabaster railing into…
The River of Time.
He knew instantly, without anyone needing to tell him. He’d seen the Headwaters on his journey with Tock, what some called the “True Source.”
And yet…
This has to be the real True Source of the River of Time. It’s so…
“Pure…” Caleb whispered aloud, staring.
“The perfect word to describe it,” came a woman’s voice. Caleb turned to his left and saw a form approaching him from beyond a garden of flowering trees and hanging vines. The figure rounded a pillar and came into full view, stopping and staring at Caleb with a strange, unreadable look in her eyes.
She was tall, maybe even a little taller than Caleb. She wore only a blue gown that flowed around her and trailed behind her on the floor, as if it had a life of its own. Her skin was pale, and her hair as well, a pale gold that looked white depending on the light.
Though she appeared to be barely older than Caleb’s parents, she had a poise and presence that suggested she was far older. And her eyes, strikingly blue, were full of depth and complexity, swimming with thoughts and emotions Caleb could scarcely guess at.
When she spoke, her voice had a timeless quality to it, a steadiness beyond years. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Caleb Greyson.”
“You’re the one who called me,” Caleb said. He spoke softly, feeling small and quiet in the presence of the woman.
She nodded in reply, her lips forming a gentle smile. “I did so because I have great hopes for you,” she said. “And you have shown marvelous potential.”
“Potential for what?” Caleb asked.
“All in good time,” the woman said. She strode forward soundlessly, until she stood next to Caleb at the railing. Down she gazed into the River of Time, and Caleb looked with her. “I would like to show you something.” She held out her hand, palm upward. “Shall we?”
Wordlessly, Caleb placed his hand in hers. Her skin was cool to the touch, but not unpleasantly so.
Without a motion or a word, the world around them changed completely. All was blue, with light filtering down and around in glittering silver shafts. The air rippled and swam, and…
No. Not the air.
They were underwater.
“This is –” Caleb started, halting at the sudden realization that he could talk and breathe underwater.
“Yes,” the woman said. “We are within the River of Time, at its center.”
“Center?”
“Time is a strange thing. No one fully understands it – not even I, the River’s Keeper, fully grasp the mysteries of its course. But I brought you here because I wanted to show you something very important, something that will mean much to you in the days to come.”
They turned around, and the woman walked ahead, leading Caleb by the hand. Though they were underwater, there was something somewhat solid beneath their feet, and the woman’s sure steps helped steady Caleb’s own as he adjusted to his distorted, confused perception.
The River around them grew dark, and Caleb stopped. The woman didn’t stop, and so Caleb was forced to continue forward.
“Do not fear,” she said.
“But we can’t go back,” Caleb said. “There’s no going backwards in the River. I’ve seen all of this before, and I…”
“You saw a shadow of the truth,” the woman said. “And we are not going anywhere.”
She didn’t explain further, and Caleb didn’t ask. They continued to walk, and the world around them grew darker and darker, until Caleb could see nothing, guided only by the strong yet delicate touch of the woman.
And then…
Lights.
Here in the murky, underwater darkness, lights appeared. They were spheres, about the size of Caleb’s head, and floated to and fro, little glowing bubbles in the darkness. One passed by Caleb, and he looked within to see…
“That’s… me,” he said softly.
Inside the bubble was an image of himself in the White Whale’s prison deep beneath Grimoire. He was talking to Doctor, and then out sprang Delilah to confront them.
That bubble passed him by so he could so no more of that memory, but then another came into view. When Caleb looked within, he saw Chelsea in a forest. She was injured, laying in the grass, with a look of defiance on her face. And then a white blob of light came to her, touching her injured leg. She spoke to it, and after a time it…
Transformed.
Caleb stared as he witnessed the birth of Chelsea’s owl Summon.
“I don’t… understand,” he said softly.
“Don’t you?” his guide asked.
“This is all… the past?” Caleb asked. Another bubble came by, and in it he saw Fae with the three Star sisters in a bleak landscape dotted with many graves. He reached out to touch the bubble, but it darted away, refusing contact. “We can look. But we can’t touch.”
“Correct,” his guide said.
“But how can I see things I never saw for myself?” Caleb asked. “Places and events and people… there, in that one, there are people and a place I don’t recognize at all. What’s happening here?”
“To walk in the River of Time is to be a part of all of Time. Here you can see things that you have never seen.”
“But I can only do this because I’m with you.”
His guide smiled back at him, her face illuminated by the glowing bubbles of history.
Then the bubbles vanished, the darkness rolled back, and they stood back atop the terrace.
“You can do this yourself,” the woman said, letting go of his hand. “And it may prove valuable to you in the future.”
“But how come I wasn’t crushed?” Caleb asked. “There… there wasn’t any pressure at all. That was you, right?”
The woman smiled. “You have been through a great many ordeals, Caleb Greyson.” She reached out, touching his face, her thumb gently caressing next to his left eye. “You have been damaged in ways that will never heal. But you have also grown – in strength, and in understanding. You will be surprised by what you can do.”
“This is why you called me here?” Caleb asked. “To give me some new ability, to show me how to see into the past?”
The woman’s smile faded, and she looked away, gazing out into the distance.
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-
“I have a request,” she said softly. “My duty is here, as the River’s Keeper. I watch over time. And, as time passes, I also watch for one with the proper potential. One who can be… my successor.” She turned her deep, wondrous eyes upon Caleb, and Caleb began to understand just a small hint of the emotions swirling therein. “I wish to conclude my time here, Caleb Greyson. I have been the River’s Keeper for a long, long time. But now I have the chance to conclude my duties here, to go beyond time, into eternity. But the River cannot be without a Keeper.”
“So you called me here to ask me to take your place,” Caleb said. He looked away, gazing into the River far below. Slowly, with a heavy heart, he continued. “I… can’t.”
“Would you care to explain why?”
Caleb looked up at the woman, startled by her question. “Because I… my friends and my family and my home. They’re all in danger. There’s still so much undone. We saved Grimoire – I think, or I hope at least – but the Radiant King, the Shadows… they aren’t the real enemy. I got to see a glimpse of the darkness that Chelsea and Delilah talked about, walked in a shadow world like Chelsea and Gwen did, and faced one of the Sons of Night. His father and his brothers… they’re working to spread darkness across the whole universe. Grimoire’s in danger. Midnight Bridge, and Sunset Square, and the Library of Solitude… they’re safe for now, but the darkness isn’t defeated yet.”
“Your efforts as such are meaningless,” the woman said.
Caleb blinked. “Why? What do you… mean?”
“The great truth is that darkness will never prevail.” The woman held out her hand, palm upward, and a small mote of light appeared above her palm. It sparkled and shimmered, like a tiny star. “It will fight and claw and destroy, but there is an ending that all things are moving towards.” The light above her hand was surrounded by a veil of inky darkness, and for a moment was lost. But then, in a brilliant flash, the darkness was extinguished, and the light shone brighter than ever. “Light. The light wins, Caleb Greyson, even if you do nothing at all. All darkness is destined to be cast out, with only light remaining, triumphant. Even death itself is destined to come to an end. Those who are with the light – present, past, or future – will stand triumphant with the light in eternity.”
Caleb stared at her.
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-
“Those who know the great truth often end up in one of two mindsets,” the woman said. “One is an acceptance of the meaninglessness of their actions. There is nothing to be done in this world save await light’s great triumph. Why fight, why struggle, why experience so much of the pain of mortality when eternity is already decided?” The light above her hand was surrounded by small shapes, all turning towards the light and racing towards it. They melded with the light, vanishing. “Another is to recognize what, I believe, you have already realized, Caleb Greyson.”
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-
“Nothing is meaningless,” Caleb said softly. “This life wouldn’t exist if it was meaningless. And in the present, the darkness is still here. It threatens and destroys much of what is good and beautiful in the present. It’s not just about the future, or what would be the point of the present? So… if the darkness threatens us in the present, I can’t just walk away. There are people who have served the darkness, but now don’t. There are people who were held captive by the darkness but are free now. And there are going to be people in the future who’ll need help.” Caleb smiled. He remembered back to an unexpected meeting in Sunset Square, what seemed like so very long ago. “I’m sorry. I can’t stay here. I can’t take your place. My place… it’s back out there, with everyone else. That’s where I belong.”
The woman smiled back at him, though there was a sadness to it. The light above her hand gleamed brighter as tiny forms stood around it, not racing to be enveloped by it, but keeping their eyes fixed upon it. “And that is why I knew, by the time you arrived, that calling you here would not lead to the outcome I had sought. Yet it was not meaningless.” The forms and light above her hand faded softly away, and she lowered her hand. “You go back to your friends and family, back to your fight, more prepared than before. And you have learned much about yourself here that I do not think you would have discovered elsewhere.”
That tiny knot of dread that had formed in Caleb’s mind back in Time’s Labyrinth came to his attention now. But the knot was untangling itself, slowly. Caleb nodded. “I think so,” he said.
“Then I send you back,” the woman said, “confident in the knowledge that you go precisely where you are meant to be.”
“Will you…” Caleb started, hesitating. “Will you… be all right?”
The woman laughed softly. “I am touched by your concern. But you need not worry. Whether it comes when I wish it or not, eternity will come for me. Until then, I will continue to do my duty, trusting that I am where I am meant to be.”
“What’s your name?” Caleb asked.
The woman blinked at him, cocking her head slightly to the side. For a long moment, she was silent.
“It…” she said, “appears that I… am rather like Tock. My name seems to have faded from my mind.” She stared at the floor for a moment, and then turned to look out into the distance. “You need no name to remember me by, Caleb Greyson. Simply remember.”
Caleb nodded. “I will.”
His words echoed out, on and on.
The terrace, the River, and the woman, were all gone. Caleb stood in a wide, cylindrical room. The floor, the walls, the ceiling so very high above, were all purest white.
Before him in the wall was a door. Its frame was white, edged with silver. The door itself was blue, and carved into it were images that reminded Caleb of all he had seen, as if serving as a tapestry of the journey he’d taken here at the Edge of Time. From Farthest Shore to his mysterious destination…
Now here he stood.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. Not his Talisman, but one with a pearly white chain and a metallic blue casing embossed with the letter T. He clicked the top button, opening the watch.
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-
Softly it ticked away, a second hand moving steadily around the wheel. But what caught Caleb’s attention was a picture inside the watch’s cover. There was Tock, in much more casual attire than he’d seen her wear. Her hat embedded with clocks was gone, leaving her blue hair to flow free. She was smiling a great big smile, as if she was laughing.
Next to her was another girl.
The girl appeared younger by a few years, and also smiled big and bright. She looked so very much like Tock, in her hair, her eyes, her demeanor.
Caleb stared at the picture for a long time before closing the watch.
He walked up to the door, his footsteps echoing all around him. With a gentle push, the door opened, and soft light filtered into the chamber.
Caleb took a deep breath, then let it out. With a smile, he walked into the light.