The year is 2347. Humanity’s relentless expansion into the void has unearthed something… unexpected. Not sentient life, not advanced technology, but something far more unsettling: Impingers.
These aren’t beings of flesh or code. They are distortions, fractures in the fabric of spacetime itself, born from the accumulated echoes of every decision, every regret, every moment of intense emotion ever experienced. They are the remnants of potential futures, bleeding through into our reality.
The theoretical physicists, known as Chronomaesters, posit that Impingers are generated by what they call “Temporal Overload.” When a significant event – a catastrophic loss, a profound betrayal, a moment of unparalleled joy – resonates through time, it creates a feedback loop. The temporal field, already unstable due to humanity’s manipulation of time-travel technology (a closely guarded secret), becomes saturated. This saturation manifests as an Impinger – a localized anomaly where the laws of causality become… pliable.
The initial theories suggested they were simply byproducts of time-travel, but the evidence increasingly points to a far more insidious truth: that Impingers are drawn to moments of intense emotional weight, actively seeking out these temporal fractures to ‘consume’ them.
Impingers rarely take a recognizable form. They often appear as shimmering distortions in the air, subtle shifts in the environment, or objects momentarily displaced from their original location. More dangerous instances involve localized temporal loops, where individuals are trapped reliving a specific moment, or entire buildings momentarily phasing in and out of existence.
The most unsettling aspect is their ability to subtly influence perception. Individuals near an Impinger may experience vivid hallucinations, intense déjà vu, or a feeling of profound unease. Prolonged exposure can lead to a complete unraveling of one’s sense of self, as the Impinger begins to rewrite their memories and experiences.
Containment of Impingers is a brutal and complex undertaking. The “Obsidian Protocol,” initiated by the Chronomasters, involves utilizing specialized devices – “Resonance Dampeners” – to disrupt the Impinger’s temporal field. However, these devices are incredibly unstable and require constant recalibration. Furthermore, attempts to destroy an Impinger simply amplify its power, creating a larger, more volatile anomaly.
The Chronomasters believe that the only truly effective method is “Temporal Isolation” – creating a localized field of stabilized time around the Impinger, effectively freezing it in a moment of arrested existence. This, however, is a costly and time-consuming process, and the success rate is far from guaranteed.
Rumors persist of individuals who have become ‘Consumed’ by Impingers. These individuals, known as “Echoes,” are lost to time, their memories and identities fragmented and absorbed into the Impinger’s core. Chronomaesters occasionally detect residual echoes of these Echoes within the Impinger’s temporal field – whispers of forgotten futures, glimpses of lives that never were.
One recurring whisper speaks of a “Great Convergence” – a catastrophic event that will ultimately consume all of reality, triggered by an uncontrolled proliferation of Impingers. Whether this is a genuine prediction or simply a manifestation of the Impinger’s own distorted perception is unknown.
Learn more about the Chronomasters and their research at Chronomaesters.org