For Us the Bells Toll

There are no heroes anymore. None. There is no one left for us to look up to. The world is too large, and its people are too small. Religion is publicly denied, our leaders are hated with great malice, our wars are no longer worth fighting. In this age we have to make our own heroes. That is the answer to my question, at least for me: Who is Mantai? Mantai is my idea of a hero.

I hope we are living in the End Times. I cannot see us diminishing more than we already are. What is this we call "progress?" Right now a child is being born. Right now someone is reaching orgasm. Right now someone's life is changing forever. Right now someone is falling in love. Right now someone has finished a book. Right now someone has stepped in something sticky. Right now a cat is eating a fish. Right now someone is cradling a bleeding hand. Right now, someone is dying. Right now someone is at the point of death. Right now someone is in mortal agony. Right now someone is cutting her own wrist. Right now the world is in pain. I try not to think about it. I don't always succeed.

Time travel isn't nearly as complex as people make it out to be. We know that wormholes exist; microscopic ones are appearing constantly within the atmosphere. If we can create a stable one there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to travel between past and future. And what then? People will go back. Can history be changed? That is up to them. Let me explain. The Universe has a natural order. If someone is meant to go back in time, then they become part of the natural cycle, and whatever they may believe they are doing ultimately everything will fall into place exactly as it should be. However, if someone goes into the past and intentionally acts on their knowledge to ensure that something does not happen, creating a paradox, then the entire course of history from that point onwards will be changed. The person or people involved will continue to exist as anomalies within the timeline, ultimately becoming part of the new order. It is possible, and in fact likely, that people exist within this timeline who returned from the future and inadvertently prevented their own return, perhaps even stopping them from ever existing. Do you follow? People exist who would have been born if they had not prevented themselves from being born. Anomalies.

I can't stop comparing my life to an RPG. I've even made plans for the Sevenfold RPG, which takes place within a warped version of the Rooms. It stars the Seven (no surprise there) with some cameo appearances by the Ice Angel, Iox, and even the enigmatic Flex as the final boss. The story revolves around "World". Throughout the characters must find ways to interact, solve bizarre puzzles, and fight... things. The objective of the game seems to be to reach Haven, a mysterious Heaven-like place which may be an actual location, a state of mind, or even a concept. Most of the game revolves around swapping between the three planes of existence: the Physical world, the Conceptual world, and the Otherworld. The Physical world is "normal" in which the characters are human and comparatively uncomplicated objectives are given. The Mental world differs greatly depending on which character is in play. It shifts constantly based on a wide variety of factors. Several "mind powers" may be used, though each comes with a cost. The Mental world may be described as not what is actually there, merely what we perceive it to be. The Otherworld may be best described as a dreamlike state. Here World is actually replicated seven times and warped, twisted, and then connected to form the Rooms. The most difficult part of this switching concept is that the character still exists on all three planes at once, so anything you do on one plane will affect the other two. This is obviously extremely complex, which is the main reason I haven't finished it yet.