Xopil was sitting in a chair, looking out a window of the inn. It was pitch dark outside, save for the stars sparkling in the night sky. He had long abandoned the idea of going to sleep. Why you ask? That answer is simple. Xopil turned away from the window and gazed warily at his bed. There were five animal-elf women sprawled, stretched, or curled up on the bed. He had escaped that mess several hours ago, abandoning sleep to instead gaze at the stars while letting his thoughts wander; but the bigger question is, why didn't they leave? Xopil had other things to worry about though...

I'm planning to change history, the goal is to change the present. That would also change the future, wouldn't it? Xopil sighed. Can this idea even bear fruit? Consider for a moment, there's me in the future that successfully went back in time. Wouldn't I be affected now, hell.. wouldn't this whole town have been affected already?

Xopil scratched his chin. That should be the case... right? But...

Xopil pulled a pencil and paper from a nearby desk and sat down. Xopil drew a straight horizontal line across the paper, and drew three circles on the line, one directly in the exact middle, and the other two on both sides of the first. He labled the circles "past", "present", and "future" respectively from left to right.

When you think of time, it's usually like this right... every action you take sets the path behind you, leading to the future. Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait! This can't be... you can't have a line drawn to represent the future, that would mean the future path has already been determined. Xopil gave himself pause, ...I even confirmed this based on my current goal; my line of thinking was already 'me in the future went back in time'...perhaps a straight line is accurate after all?

With that thought in mind, Xopil looked at the line he drew earlier. He drew a new arced line using dashes from the future to the past, marking his future path. That's not right either... when I go to the past, that will be from the present not from the future. Xopil drew a new dotted line leading from the present to the past.

This still doesn't explain the current state of the elves... or does it? Xopil looked long and hard at his drawn time representation. Travelling through time... one would separate from the time they are from... could they then reunite with the same time line?

Xopil put that thought on hold as something else occurred to him while he was looking at the line connecting the present with the future. A single path leads from the future... a single path left for the past... the present is the closest past, the nearest future, where they meet is the path we tread. However... Xopil looked hard at that single line on the sheet of paper. There are no infinite possibilities in the future. That living beings think there are is an illusion. The fact is, the future is predetermined; set in stone as much as the past is, a single path available for us to tread making way to an unchanging history.

Fate, destiny... even history be damned. There's no 'chance encounters' everything that happens, can only happen as it does. Even my decision to change history. Meaning I can change nothing, this path has to remain intact for me to keep following the road the future left me to follow. So does my attempt to change the past meet with catastrophic failure or is a new timeline born from that with a different history...

At this time, Xopil felt something coming out of his ear, and a tiny voice spoke, "Ya best be careful. All that thinking could hurt a guy like you. It was getting pretty hot in that empty space in there. It may be a good time to take a break."

"Very funny." Xopil said to no one in particular, then he drew a new line parallel to the existing timeline, and adjusted the course of the dashed line from the original line to the new one, but he stopped before he finished.

"Would I be changing the past, modifying the present, making an adjustment to the future... or creating a whole new time line?" Xopil mused as smoke came out of his ears. He ignored it and continued on, "Based on my own conjecture, not that I'm necessarily right... still, I'd be going to a different timeline, where nothing would change, but the history would already be different. By extension, I would cease to exist in this timeline."

That wouldn't fix this time line though. Xopil sighed as his eyes closed and he passed out on the desk.

Xopil's eyes opened slowly.

"Prince!" a voice shouted from outside the door, "It's nearly time for your morning exercises!"

"That time again already?" Xopil said to himself as he clambered out of bed.

"Good morning Prince, I've prepared the usual training suit." replied his personal maid matter-of-factly.

"Thanks Minerva." Xopil replied casually, catching the maid off guard.

"You... know my name?" Minerva asked as she helped him change his clothes.

"Is that a surprise? You have been my personal maid for quite some time..."

Minerva shook her head lightly as she finished buttoning the shirt. "Ever since becoming a personal maid, this is the first time I've been called by name... and so pleasantly, by anyone. I am just a maid though..."

"Prince?!" Xopil had taken Minerva's hand and helped her to rise.

"No more talking yourself down. I'm a prince but that was decided by who my parents are. Does that make me more important than you?" Xopil and Minerva took a stroll through the castle courtyard, where he casually looked around at the various people working. His eye caught five particular maids working together.

"It does!" Minerva replied.

"Maybe in the eyes of the kingdom. But do the stars care?"

"Prince, I don't understand."

"Start thinking on a grander scale and perhaps one day, you will. What are your plans for today?"

"My plans...? As your personal maid I'll be following you on your daily activities just out of sight, same as every other day."

"And why is that?" Xopil scratched his chin.

"Have you forgotten? These were your orders."

Something isn't right. Xopil thought. "Minerva, take the rest of the day off."

"Prince? Have I upset you?"

"On the contrary, you've helped me realise something, so I'm rewarding you. Here, take this as well and go have a fun day." Xopil handed Minerva a handful of gold and silver coins from his own pocket.

So much money... I couldn't even dream of having a fortune such as this...and he handed it to me like it was nothing. Minerva dazed at the coins in her hand.

Fire burst forth from the ground.

"His head is burning up still, but at least his body temperature has come down." Xopil woke up to the feeling of five pairs of paws fretting over him as he lay on the bed.

"You're all still here?" Xopil asked dazedly as he looked at the position of the sun through the window. The five women quickly backed away and were about to flee from the room.

"Wait. We still have some things to discuss."