His Favored Empress

Entanglement

Faizon sighed heavily and a sad look came over his face. "Days before OG was attacked, I had a vision. I knew it was time. I tried to persuade him to hold on but he smiled and said, 'I'm not strong enough for this battle.' I sent Daga's spirit through different verses to find a suitable version to carry on."

Shaugn held up his hand and shook his head. "Wait, wait, wait. Different verse? You mean like a parallel universe?"

"Precisely."

"How does that even work?"

Akechi gasped as Faizan waved his in a big circle. The lights went out bathing the room in darkness. A bright circle the size of a marble hovered over the table.

"Time is meaningless and space is malleable." Stars surrounded the circle which grew larger. Little bright lights dotted the area around the ball of light. "Humans constructed these terms so that it was easier for us to comprehend and discuss."

Shaugn snorted to himself.

Several earths appeared, one behind the other and of different sizes. Shaugn noticed on each earth were different versions of himself. On the largest was OG. The second-largest, was another version with a fro and wearing a daishiki. On another version was a bald him with a beard and goatee.

"Shit. I look like Shaft," Shaugn chuckled.

Faizan nodded and stroked his chin. "That was a good movie."

Shaugn's eyebrows went up. "You saw it?"

"One version of me did."

Another him wore skin-tight clothing. A strange visor covered his eyes and he was the same height and build as Xoan. "Are these different versions of me?"

"Correct. There are multiple incarnations of ourselves living their lives in universes or realities parallel to our own at the same instance. The sum of all those possible incarnations is called multiverse. In one verse we are here having this conversation."

The images changed to that of different Shaugns and Faizans speaking. In each version, something different was happening.

"In another verse, you have cussed me out and told me I'm a fraud. In another verse, you fear what I've said instead of expressing tolerance and acceptance. Each choice leads to a new outcome."

Shaugn watched one version of himself flip a table and another grabbed Faizan's shirt. Another question remained. "If the verses are separated...how is it possible for Daga to go through different ones, OG to call out for me, or for me to end up here?"

The image changed to that of several colored lines parallel to one another. "Everything has a vibrational frequency." The lines began to undulate in front of them. Some were slow with large hills and valleys. Some were faster with jagged peaks. A few were steady in the middle.

"At times vibrations sync up and it is possible to send someone through to a verse on the same vibrational frequency or transfer the soul from one version to another version." Two of the lines synced up and a line connected two of the Shaugns. The two Shaugns overlapped and then switched places.

Shaugn frowned. "But I died. How could that happen?"

Faizan waved his hand and Shaugn's broken body at the bottom of the cliff materialized.

Shaugn closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. One of his arms had a bone jutting out of place. One of his legs was bent at an unnatural angle. His twisted body was covered in blood.

Faizan's voice lowered to a whisper. Even though he'd seen it in his visions, it still upset him. "Your body was barely alive. Your soul or consciousness very much wanted to live. Thus, it was easy to swap your soul with OG who was ready to give up."