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“Stupid Cole. He’s the one that brought up the bastard’s secret and now he’s siding with him. Well forget them! I’m going to find my way out of here and try to find my parents.” Mateo said to himself as he tried to follow the a mirrored pattern of the turns that the trio had taken when they had found Sirius’s campsite. Eventually he came to a dead-end and realized he had taken the wrong tunnel. Unless he returned to the camp and found the correct path he would die in the caves without ever seeing the jungle again. He tried to reverse the pattern again, but soon he found that he had both forgotten parts of the pattern and that he had made more turns then he had made earlier. Now he was hopelessly lost and his torch was going out. Just as he turned around a bend in the tunnel he started to hear something. At first, he thought he was hearing the wind through some outlet that he hadn’t found in all of his explorations of the cave, but he instantly pushed the idea aside as he heard a clear voice curse and then the noise quieted. "Hello?” Mateo meekly asked the darkness. Despite only receiving his echo in reply, his curiosity got the better of him and he continued down the path. That turned out to be a mistake for him. After fifteen steps he put his foot out and put his weight on it, only to realize a second too late that there wasn’t anything for his foot to connect with.

Mateo plummeted into the cold darkness and stared to pray that he didn’t have far to drop. When the torch blew out he started to panic, crying and screaming like he used to when he was a little child. The walls of the particular cavern he had fallen into had a luminous moss growing at it's ceiling, casting enough light for him to see a faint reflection on what appeared to be the ground below. He let go of the torch, shut his eyes and tried to cover his face in a futile attempt to somehow shield himself from the hardness below. Instead of receiving the cold embrace of death, however, he felt a hard impact, quickly followed by the icy, bone-chilling cold of water. The impact itself almost knocked him unconscious, but even though it didn’t kill him it still knocked most of the air out of his lungs. Immediately, despite how far he had already sunk, Mateo started to swim towards the surface. As he did, he saw a figure jump in above him and start swimming towards him. Just as Mateo saw the surface he ran out of breath and the last thing he saw before he slipped into unconsciousness was the figure coming closer.

“This is all my fault. If I had just asked Sirius to explain what he had said to me last night this wouldn’t have happened.” Cole said as he pulled a small branch out of the woodpile to light for a torch.
“Stop being so harsh on yourself. If anyone is to blame for Mateo’s running away it would be Mateo. Mr. Degas didn’t even have to say anything to you last night. He may have been able to stop the invasion, but he didn’t intend to cause it, and he didn’t even know about it until after it happened. Besides, I think I understand why he doesn’t want to interfere with other cultures.” Doma said as she coiled up a rope around her arms.
“Really? Because, like Mateo, I don’t think I can. I mean, I understand his reasons for it, but I can’t understand why his morals didn't overrule them. I mean, he must have morals to have helped us, right?”
“I don’t know either, but I’m sure that he has his reasons.”
“Indeed I do.” Sirius said as he returned from his trance. “I had hoped that I didn’t have to bring up the past to explain myself, but it seems I do. You might as well sit down, this might take a while.”

Cole and Doma sat down after setting down what they had in their hands and listened closely to Sirius’s story. “As you know, I am not from Zeragu. To put it simply, I am from a place further than the most distant star in the sky, from a galaxy far, far away.” he said and smirked.
“What’s so funny?” Cole asked and Doma asked what a galaxy was.
“Nevermind, you probably won’t get it. It’s from a, well, its similar to a play from where I come from. Anyway, the point is that I come from a place further than you can imagine. I come from an alternate reality.” After seeing the look of confusion on their faces he sighed and muttered to himself, “Great, here I am explaining superstring physics to a people whose reality hasn’t even discovered modern medicine yet.”
“Hey, just because you’re more advanced than us technologically and more knowledgeable than us doesn’t mean that you can judge us.” Cole said irritated.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. Its just that trying to explain the concept to you is like trying to explain what snow is to someone who has never seen it before. I’ll try anyways. Okay, lets see. Here I have two identical rocks.” Sirius said picking up two random stones and showing them to the teens.
“But they aren’t identical, the right one is more…” Cole started to say.
“Just pretend, okay? It’s tough enough to explain the concept without your literalism. Anyways, here we have two identical rocks, or realities. Both appear to be the same, but one is solid,” Sirius said as he broke the two rocks in half against the ground, “whereas the other is hollow and filled with crystals. Now, in one reality lets say that a man finds a cavern filled with the crystal filled rocks, and in another the same man finds only the normal solid rocks in the cavern. Do you understand now?”
“You’re talking about possibilities, right?” Doma asked and Sirius nodded.
“Then why did you use a rock analogy? Wouldn’t dealing a deck of cards or coin flipping be better analogies?” Cole asked and Sirius groaned.
“As I said earlier, I didn’t research this place very well before I came here. I didn’t know that you had either of them. That would have made things a lot easier.”
“So basically, each reality is formed by a set of possibilities. For instance, if I flipped a coin it might come up heads in one reality or tales in another. In one reality I win a bet that clears my debts, in the other I have to pay the one I owe twice as much. That one debt in one reality is gone and so I move on to become relatively successful in life. In the other reality I die a pauper, never having paid off my debt. A bit extreme, but I’ve heard of stranger things affecting someone’s life.” After saying this Cole went silent as he tried to fit together what all of it meant. Sirius smirked and Cole finally understood the idea in its context.
“Wait, if a single possibility of an action happening can create a reality, a way that a life, or even a world could turn out, then that means…”
“That each possible outcome creates a new reality, and each reality creates a new set of possibilities. The outcome of all of this is that there are an infinite amount of realities. Even the difference between an outcome happening a fraction of a second earlier or later can create a new reality.” Sirius finished for him.
“So what you’re saying is that you come from another reality?” Doma asked excitedly, “You really are a traveler then, aren’t you? Have you visited them all?”
“Well, as I said, there are an infinite amount of realities, so it’s technically impossible for me to travel to every one, but I have visited a lot of them.”
“That’s an interesting idea, one that philosophers probably would love, but it’s too far-fetched an idea. I mean, if you could have the power to really travel through many realities then you wouldn’t need anything. You’d truly be a Küba then. Why would you waste your time sleeping in caves if you could spend the night in the king’s palace or something grander?”
“Why? Because I like to watch the cultures I visit, not interact on a level that you are suggesting. Yes, I could do as you said and show off my power, even rule the entire planet, but why would I want to?” Sirius asked as he laid on his back and looked up at the cavern ceiling. After hearing no response he sighed once again and said, “What is the use of power if you use it only for yourself? Can it make you a better man, a more honest or noble person? Can it buy you love or create friendship? Believe me, when I first gained my powers, I tried to use it for my own gain, but it all it did was make me want more. More out of life, more meaning to it, a purpose. And so I abandoned all the false friends and leeches that surrounded me and went off in search of purpose. I started out trying to create good by stopping natural disasters and creating miracles, but it only caused me problems. I’ve learned that the best way that I can help someone is to appear as if I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, to appear normal by their standards. In return for this façade, I learned more about the world around me and realized that learning gave me a pleasure I hadn’t recognized before. I strove to learn all I could in my own world, sifting through libraries of knowledge on every subject, but in the end I was still not satisfied. And so I left my homeworld and started to explore my universe. Soon I learned that even that wouldn’t quench the hunger I felt inside, and so I began traveling between realities, absorbing all the knowledge that I could. Now do you see why I became a traveler?”
“I think I’m starting to understand, but you still haven’t told us why you decided to keep a stance of non-interference.” Cole said.
“Or how and when you gained these powers you have.” Doma said.
“Both, I believe, should be stories for another time. Right now,” Sirius said as he hopped off of his rock, “I believe that we should find Mateo and get out of this cave.”

Description
“Stupid Cole. He’s the one that brought up the bastard’s secret and now he’s siding with him. Well forget them! I’m going to find my way out of here and try to find my parents.” Mateo said to himself as he tried to follow the a mirrored pattern of the turns that the trio had taken when they had found Sirius’s campsite. Eventually he came to a dead-end and realized he had taken the wrong tunnel. Unless he returned to the camp and found the correct path he would die in the caves without ever seeing the jungle again. He tried to reverse the pattern again, but soon he found that he had both forgotten parts of the pattern and that he had made more turns then he had made earlier. Now he was hopelessly lost and his torch was going out. Just as he turned around a bend in the tunnel he started to hear something. At first, he thought he was hearing the wind through some outlet that he hadn’t found in all of his explorations of the cave, but he instantly pushed the idea aside as he heard a clear voice curse and then the noise quieted. "Hello?” Mateo meekly asked the darkness. Despite only receiving his echo in reply, his curiosity got the better of him and he continued down the path. That turned out to be a mistake for him. After fifteen steps he put his foot out and put his weight on it, only to realize a second too late that there wasn’t anything for his foot to connect with.

Mateo plummeted into the cold darkness and stared to pray that he didn’t have far to drop. When the torch blew out he started to panic, crying and screaming like he used to when he was a little child. The walls of the particular cavern he had fallen into had a luminous moss growing at it's ceiling, casting enough light for him to see a faint reflection on what appeared to be the ground below. He let go of the torch, shut his eyes and tried to cover his face in a futile attempt to somehow shield himself from the hardness below. Instead of receiving the cold embrace of death, however, he felt a hard impact, quickly followed by the icy, bone-chilling cold of water. The impact itself almost knocked him unconscious, but even though it didn’t kill him it still knocked most of the air out of his lungs. Immediately, despite how far he had already sunk, Mateo started to swim towards the surface. As he did, he saw a figure jump in above him and start swimming towards him. Just as Mateo saw the surface he ran out of breath and the last thing he saw before he slipped into unconsciousness was the figure coming closer.

“This is all my fault. If I had just asked Sirius to explain what he had said to me last night this wouldn’t have happened.” Cole said as he pulled a small branch out of the woodpile to light for a torch.
“Stop being so harsh on yourself. If anyone is to blame for Mateo’s running away it would be Mateo. Mr. Degas didn’t even have to say anything to you last night. He may have been able to stop the invasion, but he didn’t intend to cause it, and he didn’t even know about it until after it happened. Besides, I think I understand why he doesn’t want to interfere with other cultures.” Doma said as she coiled up a rope around her arms.
“Really? Because, like Mateo, I don’t think I can. I mean, I understand his reasons for it, but I can’t understand why his morals didn't overrule them. I mean, he must have morals to have helped us, right?”
“I don’t know either, but I’m sure that he has his reasons.”
“Indeed I do.” Sirius said as he returned from his trance. “I had hoped that I didn’t have to bring up the past to explain myself, but it seems I do. You might as well sit down, this might take a while.”

Cole and Doma sat down after setting down what they had in their hands and listened closely to Sirius’s story. “As you know, I am not from Zeragu. To put it simply, I am from a place further than the most distant star in the sky, from a galaxy far, far away.” he said and smirked.
“What’s so funny?” Cole asked and Doma asked what a galaxy was.
“Nevermind, you probably won’t get it. It’s from a, well, its similar to a play from where I come from. Anyway, the point is that I come from a place further than you can imagine. I come from an alternate reality.” After seeing the look of confusion on their faces he sighed and muttered to himself, “Great, here I am explaining superstring physics to a people whose reality hasn’t even discovered modern medicine yet.”
“Hey, just because you’re more advanced than us technologically and more knowledgeable than us doesn’t mean that you can judge us.” Cole said irritated.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. Its just that trying to explain the concept to you is like trying to explain what snow is to someone who has never seen it before. I’ll try anyways. Okay, lets see. Here I have two identical rocks.” Sirius said picking up two random stones and showing them to the teens.
“But they aren’t identical, the right one is more…” Cole started to say.
“Just pretend, okay? It’s tough enough to explain the concept without your literalism. Anyways, here we have two identical rocks, or realities. Both appear to be the same, but one is solid,” Sirius said as he broke the two rocks in half against the ground, “whereas the other is hollow and filled with crystals. Now, in one reality lets say that a man finds a cavern filled with the crystal filled rocks, and in another the same man finds only the normal solid rocks in the cavern. Do you understand now?”
“You’re talking about possibilities, right?” Doma asked and Sirius nodded.
“Then why did you use a rock analogy? Wouldn’t dealing a deck of cards or coin flipping be better analogies?” Cole asked and Sirius groaned.
“As I said earlier, I didn’t research this place very well before I came here. I didn’t know that you had either of them. That would have made things a lot easier.”
“So basically, each reality is formed by a set of possibilities. For instance, if I flipped a coin it might come up heads in one reality or tales in another. In one reality I win a bet that clears my debts, in the other I have to pay the one I owe twice as much. That one debt in one reality is gone and so I move on to become relatively successful in life. In the other reality I die a pauper, never having paid off my debt. A bit extreme, but I’ve heard of stranger things affecting someone’s life.” After saying this Cole went silent as he tried to fit together what all of it meant. Sirius smirked and Cole finally understood the idea in its context.
“Wait, if a single possibility of an action happening can create a reality, a way that a life, or even a world could turn out, then that means…”
“That each possible outcome creates a new reality, and each reality creates a new set of possibilities. The outcome of all of this is that there are an infinite amount of realities. Even the difference between an outcome happening a fraction of a second earlier or later can create a new reality.” Sirius finished for him.
“So what you’re saying is that you come from another reality?” Doma asked excitedly, “You really are a traveler then, aren’t you? Have you visited them all?”
“Well, as I said, there are an infinite amount of realities, so it’s technically impossible for me to travel to every one, but I have visited a lot of them.”
“That’s an interesting idea, one that philosophers probably would love, but it’s too far-fetched an idea. I mean, if you could have the power to really travel through many realities then you wouldn’t need anything. You’d truly be a Küba then. Why would you waste your time sleeping in caves if you could spend the night in the king’s palace or something grander?”
“Why? Because I like to watch the cultures I visit, not interact on a level that you are suggesting. Yes, I could do as you said and show off my power, even rule the entire planet, but why would I want to?” Sirius asked as he laid on his back and looked up at the cavern ceiling. After hearing no response he sighed once again and said, “What is the use of power if you use it only for yourself? Can it make you a better man, a more honest or noble person? Can it buy you love or create friendship? Believe me, when I first gained my powers, I tried to use it for my own gain, but it all it did was make me want more. More out of life, more meaning to it, a purpose. And so I abandoned all the false friends and leeches that surrounded me and went off in search of purpose. I started out trying to create good by stopping natural disasters and creating miracles, but it only caused me problems. I’ve learned that the best way that I can help someone is to appear as if I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, to appear normal by their standards. In return for this façade, I learned more about the world around me and realized that learning gave me a pleasure I hadn’t recognized before. I strove to learn all I could in my own world, sifting through libraries of knowledge on every subject, but in the end I was still not satisfied. And so I left my homeworld and started to explore my universe. Soon I learned that even that wouldn’t quench the hunger I felt inside, and so I began traveling between realities, absorbing all the knowledge that I could. Now do you see why I became a traveler?”
“I think I’m starting to understand, but you still haven’t told us why you decided to keep a stance of non-interference.” Cole said.
“Or how and when you gained these powers you have.” Doma said.
“Both, I believe, should be stories for another time. Right now,” Sirius said as he hopped off of his rock, “I believe that we should find Mateo and get out of this cave.”