Time Snare

An item from the lord of time himself falls into the unfit hands of a mortal man. (Or woman, we’re not sexist here.) A time-altering video editing software grants the possibility to modify one’s future by use of the past.

Allow me to explain.

Fortunately - or unfortunately - depending on how you look at it. The video editing tool is reasonably limited in its power when used by a mortal instead of the god of time.

It grants the ability to stop time, as any time-based device would, yet it has a set charge, limited to one minute at full power with over an hour recharge period.

But the main feature the software grants comes in the form of these options.

“View Past”

“Enter Past”

“View Future”

''Enter Future''

Allow me to explain each option.

View Past - Upon entering a set time, for example, “00:01:00.” The editor will load up a video of the past based on how far back the user wished to view. The video is fully interactive, with a movable camera and the expected pause, play, zoom, speed, etc; features. The camera is based on the position the user was at whatever time was set.

Enter Past - Upon entering a set time, for example, “00:01:00.” The editor will drop the user into the past as a ghost-like entity. The user will be completely invisible to all but is not untouchable. The user is allowed to interact with anything while viewing the past. But if he/she does anything that would effectively change the future, they will lose their ghost-like presence and become visible as time struggles to jumpstart. The user will then be pulled out of the past, and all changes will be reverted.

View Future - Is the same as View Past. Except, it's the future...

Enter Future - Is the same as Enter Past. Except... Well you get the point.

Tho

All of those options are variations of viewing the past and future consume power, Especially when the software is to pull the user out of time after physically altering the timeline. But how does one edit time? It is a video editing software, after all.

Well while one may drop themself into the past and future to mess with things. Time will always reset itself and restore things to how they should be.

No, the only way to permanently fix time is by making use of the ''Edit'' function. After using the View Past, or View Future, option the user is prompted to ''Edit'' the video they are watching. Clicking that prompt will pull up a familiar-looking video editing screen with an Mp4 file of the past or future that was being viewed.

Once at the editing screen. The user can edit the video as they would in any regular video editor. That edited video of the past or future, once saved, will then become the new truth.

For example.

"Hey bro." Molly popped her head into Nathen's room causing him to look up from his game. "Mom wants you to take the trash out and.. Fuck have you been playing that game all day?"

Nathen opened his mouth to respond but was alerted to his computer by the sound of his character getting hit. "Geeze Molly! I..." He groaned and put down his controller. "Alright I'm coming.."

Could be edited into this.

"Hey bro. Mom wants to fuck you." Molly popped her head into Nathen's room, causing him to look up from his game.

Upon saving, the editor will make that changed video the new truth and insert it into the timeline. Suddenly, in that example, Nathen's Mom is going to want to fuck him.

Now the editor can ONLY edit things based on what was said and done in the past. The user will have to be able to manipulate/adjust the scene and isn't able to straight-up create anything without using what was already there.

Here's another example.

"Hey Abby..." Kevin took in a deep breath and stepped forward.

Abby blinked through her bangs and flicked her blue eyes up from her phone. "Oh hey Kevin! What's up?" She smiled.

"So I was wondering if um..." With closed eyes and one last sigh, he said. "If you would like to go to the movies with me?"

There was a short pause. Abby observed him in silence for a few moments before her smile faltered.

"Aww... I'm sorry, I have a boyfriend.." Upon noticing his disheartened look, she added. "You're a great person though, and sweet too! You would make someone who loves you very happy. But I can't go with you... I hope you understand..."

With some editing, that can become...

"Hey Abby..." Kevin took in a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Oh hey Kevin! What's up?" Abby smiled.

"So I was wondering if um..." With closed eyes and one last sigh, he said. "If you would like to go to the movies with me?"

"Aww you're sweet... I would love to!"

Then BAM! Save that video, and now in the timeline, Abby agreed to go to the movies with Kevin. It's not really a date since she still has a boyfriend.. But it's progress!

Hope I did a decent job at explaining things because class is over.

Time for the story.

Speaking of the story...