„The Circle“
When you went to the mailbox to get your mail this morning, you never imagined what big adventure awaited you. Besides a couple of letters and a bunch of ads, the mailbox also contained a small, red envelope addressed to you without a sender. You wonder for a moment before opening it. It only contains a little red card with the following text:
Invitation
Place: Ballroom of Vitusburg Castle on Rauensberg Mountain.
Time: This Friday at 7 pm.
– Come alone! –
Wow, what’s that supposed to mean? A silly joke or a particularly bold advertising campaign? You put the card aside and look through the other mail. When you take the waste paper to the garbage can on Friday morning, a small red card drops from the pile. You had completely forgotten about it! You read the invitation again and start to consider showing up there in the evening. If it is some kind of advertising event, you can just leave again. But something deep inside you makes you think that it might be real, and even exciting…
You arrive at Vitusburg Castle at 7 pm on the dot. A young lady approaches you and asks for your name. After telling her, she smiles at you and asks you to follow her. You arrive at the open door of a large ballroom. You look into the room and see a large number of people. Men and women of every age sit at long tables conversing, laughing and happily toasting each other. Many of them wear old-fashioned and in some cases rather strange-looking clothes.
At the end of the ballroom there is a large portal, which seems to be shimmering from inside. “What sick crap will these advertising gurus dream up next,” you think to yourself as you enter the ballroom. The moment that you enter the ballroom, all the guests turn to you at once and suddenly it is terribly quiet. This confuses you and the situation immediately becomes unpleasant. You hear someone behind you clear their throat and you turn around. Standing right there is – your mother! You are completely baffled, but your mother smiles at you and says: “Welcome! Please take a seat and I’ll explain everything!” So, you sit down on the next vacant chair and look expectantly at the crowd. All eyes are on you.
“All of these people here are your family. Better said, they are your ancestors and their families. They have all traveled to this place today to meet you. Our family has kept a huge secret for many thousands of years. You are here today to find out what this secret is!”
“What kind of huge secret?” you ask in wonder and completely overwhelmed.
“For countless generations, our family selects a member who must go on great journeys,” says your mother.
“Great journeys?” you ask, repeating her.
“Yes, great journeys through time! These journeys are vital for nature, people and everything that holds the world together. They keep the balance between space and time, by correcting both mistakes in the past, but also in the future. Even tiny mistakes, but which can have major effects in the long run.”
“Time travel to correct mistakes? Just what is going on here, is this one big joke?”
“NO”, everyone in the room calls out at once. “WE ARE SERIOUS, ABSOLUTELY SERIOUS…”
In shock, you sink a bit further into your chair. Your mother takes hold of your arm and looks you deep in the eyes: “This is no joke, but a very serious matter. You have been chosen to travel through time. Your predecessor is too old – he has taken too many trips.”
“So, what do I have to do? How is that supposed to work? Where should I travel to? And how?” you ask somewhat nervously and unconvinced.
“Let me explain everything. There’s no reason for you to worry. Your first task is to find and repair the entopismator.”
“The entopi – what?”
“The entopismator. Unfortunately, your predecessor had a terrible slip-up during his last trip. When he passed through the portal on his return trip, he dropped the entopismator – the tool that finds and fixes the mistakes – and it broke into three pieces. But since the portal was still activated when it happened, the three pieces went through space and time and disappeared. So your first task is to find these pieces and put them together again. Go through the portal and travel through time. The portal decides whether you will travel to the past or the future. But hurry, because the world is in danger!”
The crowd starts to get up from their chairs and comes towards you. Some of them place their hands on your shoulder and smile at you. They slowly begin to push you in the direction of the portal. They don’t force you, but little by little you get closer to this weirdly shimmering thing. A strange but fascinating pulling force comes from the portal. You turn around once more and ask:
“And where do I find the pieces? What do they look like? What exactly do I need to do?”
“Look around carefully, very carefully, concentrate and get the job done! Good luck!”
You take one last step and…