Dilation

Time is all in the details...

Written for the "Invalid Item"  Contest.

Word Count: 604

I turned the corner and was instantly intrigued with this long, cobblestone and fired brick walkway. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have thought much about it; these are not normal circumstances. Using the Time Dilation Device given to me by my Mentor, Sir Gavin Moonhold, I put my focus on how this place came to be.

As the time and space I was in fell away, a new time... an older time, came into existence. The popping and hissing sounds that accompanied this type of travel were completely normal and soon abated. The feeling of cold and stale pressure faded as well and I was here, in the time of this walkway's final stages of construction.

Judging by the lit, hanging lanterns along the length of the hallway, I would have to assume that this was before the twentieth century. What time is this? I asked myself as I walked through the archway and out into the partially open breezeway. As I passed through, the doors that were present in my time were not in this one; just open hallways leading into darkness. Interesting...

Studying the spaces in between the brick columns I notice the torch-carrying, hooded figures. They walk in a straight line, away from this hallway I occupy. To the other side I can make out horses and men in black armor. Maybe... sixteen to seventeen hundreds...

The workers are working on a statue of a man, no... a creature of some kind. It has humanoid features but a larger head with tentacles for a mouth. What type of monster is this? Is it worshipped?

Luckily, using the Time Dilation device comes with the distinct advantage of the user being invisible as he is technically out of phase with the reality of the time being observed; one can observe without being noticed.

The doorways I passed by earlier are now bustling with activity as more black-hooded, monk-type men filter out. They walk past me and make up rows down either side of the breezeway, facing each other and standing in complete silence. Once they were all standing at the ready, and to my surprise, one of the creatures, like that from the statue, came out of the unfinished doorway and strolled down the middle of the dark monks. As I watched, it stopped and seemed to look in my direction. How is this possible? He can't possibly be looking at me...

"Brothers, I wanted to thank you for your hard work and dedication in the construction of this fine University. The progress is impressive and the craftsmanship is not to be rivaled anywhere in the world." The creature looked to each side, as if addressing each monk specifically. He continued, "Soon we will be done with this project and this school will be moved, in accordance of our contract with the humans. Once this is done, we will return home to pursue other employment from other worlds and dimensions. Again, well done." The creatures tentacles writhed and wiggled as he spoke and his accent was familiar to me, perhaps Arabian... Perhaps not...

The creature returned to the darkened hallway from whence he came and I decided it was time to return to my own time. The popping and hissing returned, then faded and I was back at Cambridge University. I had no idea that this was constructed by beings not of this world.

I rushed out to the breezeway and through the brick columns on the left side to see the sculpture. To my amazement the statue of the tentacled creature had long since been replaced by that of Henry Fawcett, a former Professor in the eighteen hundreds.