Foundation of Time Magic

His hand was on his temple. “Time magic? Hmmm...” The gears turned in place. “Yes, I think that's fair.”

“Than payment before delivery, if you please. You're kind are rare, if not in danger of vanishing. How is it done?”

Master Drate laughed. “Vanish? Hardly. We're simply in hiding, enjoying our quiet existence. And we Felf kin thrive, Krista. A mother may breed a litter of four at once, if the sun shines brightly that day. No no, we are not going anywhere...but as for how this works, that requires some small foundation of knowledge as to Great Fox's gift. We hold no secret of it's mechanics, unlike your kind, if you'll pardon the offense. We share the gift with every one of our kind and in most communities, like my own household, it's teachings are a family matter.” Krista shrugged.

Master continued, pulling out a bit from his vest pocket, “I guess we should start with how time works. That's the best way. Imagine a shaft surrounded by earth. A shaft so large it that if it were that size of this building, the universe around us in all it's forms would appear to be the width of this coin. The shaft continues on upwards higher than the gods can reach and falls forever downwards and without bottom. When non Felf think of time, they think we are moving forward, but we felf know that we actually fall, twisting in shapes and cursive loops that branch and dance and embrace, then let go.” To emphasize his point, he dropped the coin a few feet above the table.

I found myself, like the White Maid, enthralled to Master's words, and our two set of eyes were fixated on the coin, which seemed to take forever flipping and falling toward the table. We saw the candle light slowly flicker on the edges of the shiny bit. I think it took us a good moment before we realized that it was no illusion. The coin truly was dropping slowly. Like a bubble of soap, it gently fell and hit the table, making a strange low metallic noise, then it rose back into the sky.

“It's bouncing!” I yelled.

“Yes, Ms. Quill. It's bouncing, just very slowly. What you both see is small. You're only seeing time rippling the air. Think of it like looking into a clear pond and watching images at the bottom refract. The coin is actually right here.” He held up his hand, holding nothing, but his fingers were divoted as if the coin were invisible. Suddenly, and violently, the bit sped up intensely, bouncing unnaturally fast and flying into Master's hand instantly. Krista and myself jumped away from the table.

--From the unpublished account of Quill, an Effee.