tempus (Book: Time Frame; written by Robert C. May) -in progress

This world world is not like ours... It is not a ball in space but a flat disk with the boundaries that make the sentient species not wanting to get too close to the edge. making them feel anxious and nervous and nauseated. No one thinks on this as when they start walking back to their homes the people tend to just... Forget. This seems to be a common occurrence and the residents just call this "lapsing" and no one takes it serious as it doesn't help them put food on the table or fight the other 11 nations. This is similar to every nation. 12 evenly divided countries. they have equal populations that dont drop or raise. No children are born but you do age normally But, how does the nations keep its populations up? Why are their so many people coming out of these forest on the 4th day of every week after the Island bridge drops into its acid lake? War is know to ravage these lands on a weekly bases. a special mineral known as Hayan. a rough sand/rock substance that when cultivated in certain ways can make the strongest metals or the concoction for longevity. extending a persons life span by several years from just a vial of it. taking too much though tends to have a reverse effect, you would digress in age untill you are no more then a single cell that we call a sperm cell. yes. a 4 ounce vial is the most you can drink with out going back to a cell. have anything more and you will basically un-make yourself. But this mineral is also addictive and fought over by all 12 nations. every hour a chime cooes across the lands. like a clock, the center of world is where Hayan is found, and only on an island fort. walled off in a 1 mile circle with a small cavern that people would mine for this raw substance. one ounce is enough to make ten pounds of iron ore into steel. 1 pound to make 1 once of liquid hayan. add blood, Semen and juices from a woman will make the potion for longevity. But with this bridge randomly rotating for the first three days of every week. war is allways a few days away. they fight to hold the island when the bridge has surfaced from this potent fuming lake that this island is on. which the locals call Hayan. That said every leader in every nation wants to hold it as it is the life blood of the country the "money" which they use. Hyan can only be melted once. the nation will make due with it's value. making metals for its armies and agriculture and coins for currency with a small portion into potions to sell. When the medieval nations are not at war they are rebuilding, re-training and devising new plans to hold the Hayan fort. But when holding the island is just a part of the problem. as anyone knows... a clock only runs for so long before it needs to have a battery replaced... what happens when a world needs a new battery?