In a panic, Elias realized the "fire" the man spoke of was the very act of building the machine. He grabbed the notebook and stepped through the shimmering portal.
“Wally learns the hard way that good intentions don't off set the consequence of time travel... Wally's actions have already set off a chain of events that can't be stopped.” Fanfiction.net Causal Nexus
Elias stood in the ruins of the Great Library, clutching a charred leather notebook. He was a "Time-Sensitive," capable of feeling the hum of a —a point where time tracks diverged and collided. In a panic, Elias realized the "fire" the
For years, Elias had been haunted by a memory: a silver-haired man giving him this very notebook when he was just a boy. "The world ends in fire," the man had whispered. "Unless you build the Machine." Wally's actions have already set off a chain
He emerged decades in the past, in the same Library, before the rot had set in. There, he saw a young version of himself reading by a window. Elias looked down at his hands—they were aged, his hair now a shock of silver. He walked toward the boy, the charred notebook heavy in his hand.