Prologue
Excerpt from the demon warlock No1's diary.
One year through his Moon Station trip.
Time is an unpredictable and ever changing force, that cannot be tamed or understood in the slightest capacity. There are very few constants and the notion that time is linear, is in fact, utter nonsense. Of course, one could make theories about how time functioned and what the consequences would be if something were inadvertently manipulated. Whether that something was speaking to a relative before you yourself were even born, or, by simply stepping on a butterfly in the past, sending ripples across the ages and altering everything that humanity and fairykind have ever known. However, this is not a lecture on the butterfly effect, so that will be shelved, though butterflies are lovely, so perhaps we can revisit those later.
Instead of focusing on what is not known, let's talk about what we do know about tampering with time. Specifically, the consequences of a past version of a being existing in the present time and then being subsequently killed. As seen with the pixie Opal Koboi after she killed her past self, the action disturbed the time stream to the point that anything that had been influenced by Opal between her ages, ceased to exist, winking out of time in a rather explosive manner. It plunged the human and fairy worlds into the apocalypse and very nearly cost us all our lives.
I'll spare you the details, as I'm sure if you're reading this, you are already familiar with that particular event. If not, then there is always time to read up on it using the LEP database or really any other news source you care to use. I do recommend you do that if you need to, because the rest of this theory depends on the aftereffects of the past Koboi's murder.
You see, what if these effects weren't limited to objects Opal had created, but events as well? Of course, events cannot explode, but there can be figurative explosions. Explosions of magic in this particular case.
There was a span of 8 years between the two Opals and if any object she influenced could no longer exist in our world, then events that Miss Koboi laid a hand in between those years could not have occurred either. This is not a new theory, but I do have my own insight to add. It's nearing a year after the Berserker Gate incident and nothing else has happened as a result of that, other than Artemis Fowl being resurrected from the dead. Now I'm getting sidetracked, pardon.
My theory is that due to the complexity of major events versus objects that we use every day, any repercussions wouldn't be seen until later. The timeline was disrupted the moment young Opal was shot, sending out explosions of magic that would essentially rewrite history. This does not change our memories of the original timeline, similar to what humans refer to as the 'Mandela effect'. We remember what had happened and what we experienced, but when looking back at the official records all of that contradicts memory.
I've been watching Foaly's files in the LEP database, looking for some inkling that my theory could be right, when last week the record of the Goblin Revolution suddenly changed. There was now no trace of Opal Koboi's involvement or even of her name, apart from Koboi Labs being used as a meeting place between Briar Cudgeon and General Scalene, who were now the sole masterminds of the revolution. Most of everything else stayed the same.
I need to bring this to Foaly's attention, but my duties here at the moon station have been keeping me far too occupied. Can you believe that we've found traces of worm-like microorganisms under the moon's surface? Lunar worms, we're calling them. Fascinating creatures.
Anyways, Foaly and Artemis need to hear this. Perhaps I'll be able to call later, but in the worst case I could always shoot them an email. Because if my calculations are correct, then we could possibly be seeing changes in at least one other Koboi influenced event. After this, it's doubtful that anything else will change given the amount of magic required to alter even just one event. The Goblin Revolution was relatively small, so I think that if the magic is going through time chronologically, that the next event will likely absorb the rest of whatever magical energy that is left in the time stream.
There is also a chance that nothing at all will happen, but I was right once so that counts for something. I suspect there's probably an eighty-percent chance that another event is changed. Which, in that case, we just might be greeting an old friend back into this world. Until then, however, I don't want Holly to know about this. I fear she might get a bit too sentimental. This is just a theory after all and I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I wouldn't want to get anyone's hopes up, only for nothing to happen.
If my theory does continue to prove correct, then not everything is going to be good. I have an unsettling feeling about it. If the past continues to be changed, especially when it comes to major events, then the possibility of our current timeline to be changed is always there as well. I don't see this playing out well as too many major changes could be disastrous. Paradoxes are one thing, but a complete, sudden alteration of a timeline could cause temporal shifts that could tear apart the threads that hold our reality together. In the same manner that demons weren't safe on Hybras with the time spell unraveling, my friends could very well be in danger as the timeline is altered.
Well, unfortunately it seems that I'm being called now. We've noticed recently that the lunar worms appear to have two subspecies and we're doing tests on that this afternoon. Or evening? I swear, being here on the moon is like being back in Limbo. The sky always looks the same. Only another year until I return to the surface, so until then I'll continue on as the norm for space life. I can only hope that my friends will remain safe until then. If not… then Frond help us all.
Author's Note: Well, here we go! This is going to be a wild ride, so bear with me while I attempt to write this in a way that makes sense. Time travel and paradoxes are tricky and hopefully I can get it right, haha.
Reviews and/or constructive criticism is always welcome! Thanks for reading!