EIGHTEEN

"It's just as I remember it," said Phoebe as they waited in a cavern in the underworld.

"You've been here before?" Leo asked.

"A couple of times," said Phoebe. "Believe me I wish I hadn't. Not very good memories."

"How long do we have to wait?" Piper asked. "We've been down here ten minutes all ready. If they wanted to talk you'd think they'd be waiting for us when we got here."

"We are," said Cole from the doorway to the cavern. "But there are other matters in the underworld to deal with besides you. Not everything can be dropped on a moments notice."

Cole walked into the chamber followed by two other demons. Phoebe recognized both of them immediately. One was the Source of All Evil. The other was Tempus, the time manipulation demon.

"Well, well, well, the enigmatic Charmed Ones," said the Source. "You are less impressive than I would have imagined."

"Turner said you wanted to talk," said Prue. "So talk."

"My, my, impatient aren't we?" questioned the Source. "I would think you would be happy to be here. Away from the prying eyes of the meddlesome mortals."

"We came here because Turner said Tempus has some information about this timeline alteration," said Piper. "That's why we came here. Not to verbally spar with you."

"You," said Tempus, looking directly at Phoebe. "You're the one Belthazor told me about. The witch who claims she cast a spell and altered the past."

"Well that wasn't my intention," said Phoebe. "If I had known it would have worked that way I would never have cast it."

"Just like a witch to go messing with magic she does not understand," said the Source.

"Look, I've had plenty of practice with magic," said Phoebe. "But you of all people should know how unpredictable magic can be. I don't know what happened or what went wrong but something changed the past culminating in this horrendous timeline. I just want to put things back the way they're supposed to be."

"No one can change the past," said Tempus. "Did no one ever tell you that?"

"Of course," said Phoebe. "More than once in fact. But I'm telling you this timeline isn't right. How would you explain it?"

"Very simple," said Tempus. "Your spell has caused an inversion of the temporal and magical forces which present a constant in the universe and have allowed them to intersect between the convergence of two multidimensional points of contact."

"Okay," said Prue. "Would you care to explain that again. This time in English."

"I'll see if I can," said Tempus. "In laymen's terms, her spell caused two specific points of time to cross connect with each other. A specific point of the past was brought through time and has intersected with a specific point in a future time frame."

"You mean two points of time are overlapping each other?" Piper asked.

"Exactly," said Tempus. "Your Einstein showed that it is possible to fold space, so to speak. Since his discovery many human scientists have been working toward a mechanism or machine that will allow them to do that. To travel vast distances in relatively short periods of time.

"This is much the same concept, only instead of folding space it's folding time. Taking two separate points in time sometimes centuries apart and bringing them together so that they overlap. When this happens the events of those two points merge, corrupting or contaminating each other. Elements from one time period will be incorporated into the other time period and vice versa."

"Isn't that that changing the past?" Prue asked.

"Not exactly," said Tempus. "In a very real sense the events of one time are transplanted, so to speak, into the other time. It's not altering the past because the overlapping has caused those transplanted events to actually become the past."

"Excuse me," said Piper, "but that sounds like changing the past to me."

"It has taken me centuries to understand the intricacies of time," said Tempus. "I can hardly expect a mere mortal to grasp such concepts based on the extremely oversimplified and very basic explanation I have given here. If I were to explain the entire concept to you it would probably take several years using language you could understand."

"It's comparable to trying to explain how a computer works to a chimpanzee," said Cole. "You can take Tempus' word for it though. No one knows time manipulation as well as he does."

"Okay, so I folded time or whatever," Phoebe said. "Does that explain how everything got so changed around and different?"

"Yes," said Tempus. "While I cannot be sure of all the repercussions it does appear that part of the ramifications are the beliefs and attitudes toward witchcraft and science have been transplanted to the present. Only it hasn't been completely transplanted. It's overlapping with the more tolerant attitudes of the present."

"So this folding time," Leo asked, "that's would cause things from the past to appear different from the actual timeline?"

"Yes," said Tempus. "When a being moves through time they open a doorway of sorts. If the movement is relatively short – a matter of days, say – then there is not enough time for changes to become noticeable. In this case, however, the witch has folded time causing the changes to become immediate.

"There are also safeguards which must be in place for an extended trip into either the past or future. Safeguards which, if not in place, will cause any changes to accelerate rapidly. As these changes increase in duration they could pose a threat to what you would call the space time continuum. The changes could affect all magical beings."

"Is that what's happening here?" Piper asked.

"I don't believe so," said Tempus. "I have not noticed any unusual changes in the time flow. I do not believe that – at least for the moment – we are in any danger."

"Okay," said Phoebe, "now we know what happened. Sort of. How do we fix it?"

"That is a bit more difficult," said Tempus. "We must first locate the individual you brought from the past. It's his presence in our time that is keeping the time folded and the changes in place."

"That could be a problem," said Phoebe. "I have no idea what they did with him. When I asked about him I was told it wasn't any of my business."

"We must locate him," said Tempus. "If we are to put things back the way they are supposed to be he must be returned – unharmed – to his own time. If he should die in this time it will be impossible to unfold time and reset history."

"Okay," said Prue, "assuming we can find him, what else do we need to do?"

"I need to know what spell she used to bring him from the past," said Tempus. "That will allow me to know exactly what two time periods have been overlapped and how to properly separate them. It will also tell me what safeguards may be in place and which ones I may need to implement to prevent further changes."

"I think I can do that," said Phoebe. "It wasn't a difficult spell. I should be able to recreate it."

"Good," said Tempus. "Now, there is one more thing we need. This will be the most difficult. Someone or something is the anchoring the two time periods together. We must find that anchor and sever the connection."

"Okay hold on a second," said Prue. "If you're talking about killing someone. . ."

"Not at all," said Tempus. "The connection will be a magical one. It will only be necessary to sever the magical connection that is holding the two time periods in place. Once we do that time will unfold and everything should return to its natural state."

"Just as long as we're clear that there is no killing involved," said Prue.

"I guess the first thing we need to do is locate Nostradamus," said Phoebe. "Without him the rest of it will be useless. Any ideas how we can find out what they did with him?"

"I could have the Elders look for him," suggested Leo. "If he's out of his time it's possible they can locate him."

"I doubt your Elders can locate him," said the Source. "They did not even notice that time had been altered. That does not inspire confidence."

"Hey, you didn't notice it either," said Prue. "So I wouldn't be making jabs at the Elders."

"Why didn't the Elders notice any change?" Phoebe questioned.

"Any changes made to the timeline would have affected all beings," said Tempus. "Those changes would appear to be normal. While the Elders may have great power I am the being with the closest link to time. I would have noticed it long before they did and I noticed nothing amiss."

"Fine," said Phoebe. "What if the Elders can't locate him? What do we do then?"

"I have an idea," said Piper. "But we'll need to return to the mortal realm to act on it. I know someone who can find out what happened to him."

"Tell me his name," said the Source. "I can send demons to bring him to us and he'll tell us what we wish to know."

"It doesn't work that way," said Piper. "The person I have in mind may not know what they did with him but can find out. We'll need to convince them to help us. And I don't think threatening them is going to work."

"Very well," said the Source. "Return to the mortal realm and contact this human. Find out what they've done with this Nostradamus. Once you have done that return here and Tempus can restore the timeline."

"You're awfully accommodating," said Phoebe.

"I grow tired of hiding in the underworld," said the Source. "With the timeline reset perhaps we may once again walk the mortal plane unobserved."

"Whatever," said Prue. "Let's just get this over with. I don't relish spending the rest of my life looking over my shoulder or rotting in some internment camp. If this will change all that then we need to get it done as quickly as possible."

"White Lighter," said Cole, turning to Leo, "take them back to the cabin where you found them. They should be safe there for a while. You can contact me when you've found Nostradamus."

"Fine," said Leo. "I don't like being down here anyway. We'll let you know as soon as we find out anything."

The girls linked arms and Leo orbed them out of the chamber back to the mortal realm. Cole turned to Tempus.

"How much of what you told them is true?" Cole asked.

"All of it," said Tempus. "For several centuries I have had this nagging feeling that things weren't quite right. I always dismissed it as my imagination since I couldn't pinpoint anything wrong. When you came to me with this story I knew what had happened and why I was so ill at ease. It is necessary that we reset the timeline to its proper frame."

"What about the rest of it?" Cole asked. "You said we could reset the timeline and dispose of the Charmed Ones at the same time. So that in the restored timeline we won't have to deal with them."

"Yes," said Tempus. "Once all preparations have been completed it will take a few minutes for the timeline to reset itself. Everything will return to the way it is supposed to be. During those few minutes if you kill them they will not be incorporated into the reset timeline. They will simply cease to exist."

"That will be difficult," said Baldasor. "They are the Charmed Ones. They will not be easy to kill if the prophecies are correct."

"It will not be necessary to kill all of them," said Tempus. "Only the youngest need die. The one who folded time. She physically transversed the overlapped timelines. When the timelines are reset everyone will resort to whatever they were in the original timeline.

"But if the youngest witch dies before the timeline is reset she will be dead. Even if she returns to the original timeline she'll still be dead. And without her there will be only two sisters left. Not enough to create the Power of Three. It will be gone forever."

"Excellent," said the Source. "Belthazor, once the preparations have been completed you will kill the youngest witch."

"As you wish, Source," said Cole. "It would be my pleasure."

The Source just smiled as he turned back into the chamber and the demons all shimmered out.