Gendin’s Journal – A Paradox
updated 02/06/2025
a page from the journal of Gendin, son of Arissa and Temone of the dwarven Clan Gilderlo
Author’s note: Continents such as Trivana are considered “worlds” by their inhabitants, while the entire world is referred to simply as GeKeb. The point of view of Gendin is limited by his people’s concept of the term world, and his understanding of what GeKeb is.
A Paradox
September, 1501 AWR
In my March, 1501 AWR journal entry, I stated that no one I knew of had met the Builder. I was incorrect.
In a recent discussion with Jake and David of the Company From Kerr, known alternately as The Reavers, I learned they have met the Builder.
I also learned what a paradox is, and how the Builder prevented one from occurring.
A Significant Event
The timeline we live in is not the original one. Jake and David changed it.
That is a bold claim, but it is backed by members of the Council of Rendelshod.
In a previous entry, I noted that Jake, David, and Bisonbit met Milo, son of Leannah and Baldor of the Clan Gilderlo, members of the Council of Rendelshod. Milo had been kidnapped by the Knights of Polaxis and taken back through time to hide him. After two decades in captivity, Milo escaped and countered the trio. He traveled with them for three years before the Knights of Polaxis found them.
In a climatic battle with the trio, the Knights of Polaxis, and the Council of Rendelshod, Bisonbit was killed by a Wand of Disintegration. The Knights of Polaxis lost, too, but nothing could be done to revive Bisonbit.
David went on to become the Archmage of Kerr, who with his silent companion (Jake), protected Trivana from outside forces. During these decades, David researched arcane and dangerous magics, and developed a solution.
Sacrificing his own life force to power the magic, he sent the now elderly Jake back in time to before Bisonbit’s death. The magic invigorated Jake (who called himself Jacob), and although he appeared elderly, he had the vigor of a much younger man. His age and the hard life he had lived changed his appearance, so none would recognize him. He and David had had no close friends (or any friends) to recognize them. In any event the older Jacob would never be associated with the much younger Jake.
He joined with the trio and Milo, and traveled with them as a guide for a trip they were taking into the mountains. During this journey they encountered the Knights of Polaxis.
During the fight an enemy wizard used the wand — the beam struck Bisonbit, disintegrating him. An enraged Jake charged the wizard, and a beam stuck Jake as well, but for reasons unknown the magic failed. Jake cut the wizard down.
Then the older Jacob pulled a medallion from inside his shirt and fingered it. Time rewound to a few seconds before Bisonbit was killed, with all within a two hundred foot circle actually moving backwards. Time started again, and this time Jacob stepped in front of Bisonbit, intercepting the death ray meant for the cleric.
The medallion absorbed the blast, pushing the old man back into Bisonbit, knocking them both down. Jake charged the wizard and had the pleasure of cutting him down a second time.
Lying on the ground, Jacob smiled at Bisonbit and said, “You were worth it. Everything David and I did was worth it.” He looked at Jake, his younger self, smiled, and said, “Be thankful you will never be me.” With that he faded into nothingness.
The Council of Rendelshod had arrived just prior to the medallion being activated, so they were present for the drama. According to the Wizard Meselda, with the reversal of Bisonbit’s death, the timeline that produced Jacob never existed, and the old man disappeared with it.
She warned the trio that the timeline, although not a living thing as we understand it, tries to maintain the original course, so major events will happen in a different fashion, but they will happen. Her concern was that Bisonbit would be killed anyway.
For that and other reasons not mentioned here, Jake, David, and Bisonbit traveled into the future with the Council. Getting Bisonbit farther in time from the point of his former death would reduce the risk.
Changing the Timeline
A few days after arriving in what to them was the far future, Jake and David woke up in older versions of their bodies, in an unknown castle.
With them was a creature of species unknown to them. He resembled a satyr, having cloven hooves and six fingered hands with two opposable thumbs. His skin was dark blue — so dark that at first it appeared black. His body was covered in tight, curly fur of similar color, starting just above his hooves and ending at his neck. His black hair was long, down to mid-back, and his beard was close-cropped. His eyes were solid white with sky-blue pupils, and the small horns on his forehead gave him a sinister appearance.
He explained that they had caused a paradox.
Thirty years after they left for the future, an ancient space craft entered their solar system and landed on the plain north of Kerr.
What is a “space craft”, you ask? It’s a “ship” capable of traveling the voids beyond planets. This one was ancient, and the crew were plunderers. They intended to take what they wanted from Kerr, using weapons that are hard to explain. They would plunder Trivana until they had a craft full, then move on to a new planet.
The problem? The Archmage of Kerr and his companion had defeated these plunderers, who escaped in their craft to find easier targets. Once above the rim of GeKeb, the engine that propelled the craft exploded. It produced a fire so hot it could melt adamantium, but was aimed into space, so it caused no harm.
However, in the new timeline, Jake and David were not present, so the engine exploded while the craft was on the ground. The burning engine sank into the soil, and eventually melted a hole in the “outside” of GeKeb. Through this hole, over the course of several centuries, all the air escaped, killing everything in the entire world.
The paradox? The future that Jake, David, and Bisonbit traveled to no longer existed. Yet they had traveled to that point in time.
The Builder’s solution? He pulled Jake and David out of time, set them into the bodies they would have had in the original timeline, and told them to force the craft to take off.
And so they did. The full tale is too long to tell here. Suffice it to say that Jake and David fought enemies in armored chariots of some sort, and forced the craft to leave GeKeb. When the craft was burning it’s way to the empty void of space, the Builder put them back in their original bodies in their new time.
Questions, Questions, Questions
Meselda, being a lover of history, knew the story of the Archmage of Kerr and his silent companion. The Archmage, whose name was unknown, was a grim man who never smiled. His equally grim companion never spoke. It appears that this is what became of Jake and David, after Bisonbit was killed. And it explains Jacob’s final words to Jake.
The story she remembered did not include anything about the ship exploding, as that happened a very long distance away. However, when she re-read the passage in a book in the library, the tale was changed. Instead of the Archmage of Kerr and his companion, two mystery men did the deed. None had seen them before, and none saw them again.
Meselda, the Archmage Susafras, and the Masterbard Edine postulate that everyone within a distance of Jacob’s medallion was insulated from the change in timeline. All had their original memories.
For everyone else? The new timeline was in place, and with the exception of the Archmage of Kerr and his companion not existing, very little changed. Well, except for the world not being destroyed.
How did the Builder pull Jake and David out of a future that existed, yet could not exist?
How did the Builder create the bodies they used to protect GeKeb?
How did the Builder even know the problem existed?
It is unlikely that we will ever know. Susafras cast the Time Teleport spells that the Council used to move through time. In his experience, time manipulation is a very dangerous thing, and it’s good that it’s extremely hard to do.
Pua will want to interview Jake and David about the Builder. She will be very excited to actually meet two who met the Builder.
I doubt Jake and David will enjoy the conversation, as her questions will feel like a grueling interrogation. I will have a supply of ale and brandy on hand, to help with their recovery!