Guardian of Time~Viscet #2458 Tryout~DNP

[WolfWinter]

Name: Chronos

Title: Guardian of Time

Gender: Male

Age: 23,000+ years

╔════════════════╗
About
╚════════════════╝

Chronos has gone by many names, but prefers his current one. It is the most similar to his birth name, while also having a meaning close to who and what he is. Much of his story he leaves unsaid, so there are many gaps in this account. This was put together from witnesses who were there during the telling, and from their memories of events he talked about. By no means is this a biography of sorts, but a story. Occasionally he wakes, but these periods are very brief; lasting only minutes. In the centuries since he began his slumber, I have only spoken to him once during these waking periods. My friend in the South has spoken to him more than I, so if you wish to know more, then please go and see him. Say that I sent you, he won't turn you away, I promise.

~~~~~~~~

[WolfWinter]

Borean
Guardian of the North, Borean has abilities that are seemingly unrelated. He has a degree of control over ice, and water, and to a lesser extent the weather. His two strongest abilities are over the wind, and emotions. His ability to enter the minds of others isn't an actual ability, and is born from years of experience and practice of being able to listen to the hearts and minds of others. Borean is a pacifist. If he wasn't, he could control others by manipulating their emotions for his own gain and create untold chaos. Meeting Chronos was a turning point for them both. It allowed Borean to fully understand the depth sof abilities, and how they could be used to harm others. For Chronos, he knew as a fact he was no longer alone.

Australen
Guardian of the South, Australen can be quite the cynic. His abilities are somewhat similar to Borean's. He has a greater control over ice, and weather, and has been known to send ferocious storms to those who would the world harm. He has a mild ability over the air, and uses this trap a bubble of gas around his head so he can breath when swimming. Unlike Borean, he is not a pacifist. He is not afraid of fighting. Borean has even chastised him for being too quick to use tooth and claw. Australen has a deep understanding of their relationship, and how they balance each other out. Borean in his naivety believes they are merely friends, but their connection goes deeper than that and Australen knows this. Borean introduced Australen to Chronos, who then chastised his Northern Counterpart for allowing someone to see his home. However, Chronos soon won him over.

Ren Saorsa
A Reaper Lord, it is Ren's job to gather souls of the dead. He doesn't take kindly to those who interfere with this process in anyway shape or form. He serves Oblivion and often does things in her stead.

Nawi
A youth with devastating abilities, Chronos meets him on the streets. Nawi is a good soul, and greatly dislikes using his abilities. He can severely alter the mental state of another through dream manipulation. These usually happen with the dream crumbling away to a mind-numbing nothingness which can alter the dreamer. Sometimes a nightmare takes hold before the dream crumbles.

Ebalon
A blind seer, she can be found giving cryptic warnings to others. If the individual is about to embark on a particularly life-altering path or decision, she will show up personally and warn them of what lies ahead. She has seen the path that lies ahead for Chronos, and does her best to prepare him for what will happen.

╔══════════════════════════╗
𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 1 & 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓾𝓮 𝓟𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽
╚══════════════════════════╝
Hoppípolla
Halo Theme Cover
Fireflies
The Last Goodbye

╔══════════════════════════╗
𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 3 & 𝓔𝓹𝓲𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓾𝓮 𝓟𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽
╚══════════════════════════╝
The Phoenix
Here I am
Let It Hurt
The Humming

╔══════════════════╗
𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 2 𝓟𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽
╚══════════════════╝
Crystallize Mashup
Safe and Sound Cover
If Today Was Your Last Day
The Real Life

[WolfWinter]

╔════════════════════╗
Prologue
╚════════════════════╝

Before I tell you my story, I will first ask you a few questions. What is the nature of time? Does it flow forwards, backwards? Does it flow at all? Is it like a great ocean that goes forwards, and back, but also holds still? What if I told you that time is as constant as light, and flowing as air. That time, even for one such as I, is a mystery. What little understanding I have of it is from a lifetime of experience. I do not have the gifts to see into the future like others do, but my gift allows me to see the future in person. To traverse timelines that would otherwise be inaccessible by the very nature of the multiverse and the dimension we live in. Listen closely, little one, because this is my story, and I hope that you do not forget it before I must sleep. Just know from all of this that I love you, even though you have not yet hatched. Carry my words with you always, and you'll never be alone.

"Stars above, guide him on that long journey with no end"

╔════════════════════╗
Chapter 1
╚════════════════════╝

My first memories are of warmth, and darkness. Strange smells that soon became familiar, and comforting. Then all too soon bright lights, and bustling creatures. My family. Yes, I was born to a pair of ordinary viscets, in a time so long ago that their bones are now dust on the sands of time. My family wasn't just made up of viscets, we were part of a nomadic group of people both viscet and human. Remember, this was long before man and viscet found a way to live in the same place. My first food was mashed meat and tubers. The human children poked at the nubs on my head, and giggled. Their parents then shooed them away, for I was too small yet to join them in play.

A pair of firm, and gentle, hands picked me up. One of the elders was showing me off to the others. I'd learn that this woman was the partner of my mother. She also had a son, and she lay me down beside him as he lay bundled in furs. I soon fell asleep in the warmth, and to the child who would become my partner in this life. By my third year it became obvious I was no normal viscet. My people were ones who had lived with viscets for generations, so they knew of many of the mutations that could be found, and still I was something new. They quickly figured out that the nubs on my head would become horns, but what they didn't know was what would grow with them or their consistency. Igden, my life-bond partner, was whispered about; many thought that he would become a very important man because of me. And in a way, he did, as you'll find out.

Things truly changed when we hit our seventh year. We were being taken out to learn how to hunt together, and work together. Our bond was a life bond, where he went, I went, and where I went, so did he. It was vital to our survival that we learned how to work together. Our first big hunt was to take down one of the great aurochs. Igden clutched his spear in nervousness, and excitement, as we approached the grazing herd. Me, I was nervous, and downright terrified. My part would be to nip at the aurochs and keep it within throwing or jabbing distance of Igden's spear. He needed to make the first blow for his first hunt to be considered a success. I also needed to be the first viscet to break the tough hide. As I said, a partnership. The hunters gave us each a shroud made of aurochs fur; it would mask our scent so we could get closer to them.

Then, they stepped away and blended into the environment. I heard Igden swallow nervously, and he gave me a truly fearful look. Then, in near synchrony, we moved out. All of our smaller game hunts had prepared us for this, but it wasn't enough. To this day I don't know precisely what happened. Maybe the wind shifted ever so slightly so the great beasts got a whiff of us, or something in the way we moved tipped them off. Whatever it was, it soon became chaos. From behind the cow we had picked out, a bull came charging out, right towards Igden. I wouldn't get there in time, I knew it, but I still had to try. I threw off the hide and leapt at the bull, snarling. That's when everything stopped. I didn't think about why the bull was suddenly standing still, all I knew was that I needed to get to my friend before he was killed.

The moment I touched the bull, everything moved again. I could hear our people behind us shouting and yelling. My sudden weight on the bull's side made him veer away from Igden. The thundering of the rest of the heard sounded behind us as I brought the bull down. He was bigger than the largest of our viscets, and I, a whelp, brought him to his knees. Igden made the finishing blow, and that night we feasted. Our mothers painted us in reds and browns, and gave us masks to dance with the hunters. Our fathers presented us with the first meat off the great bull. It was wonderful. We had gone and turned a bad situation into a miracle, and those thoughts soon grew into more. To say we were full of ourselves was an understatement. I had no clue about my gifts at the time, or their consequences. When we joined the world of adults in our sixteenth year.

There was talk of making us shamans, or some other equally important role in our group. When we went to the summer gathering, we participated in the formal event that marked us as Adults instead of Children. We were given a special necklace with our people's symbol on it. Then, we were shoved out into the world. Compared to the one you'll be born into, it was a truly wild place. Feral viscets, wild animals, predators, strange people, they were all dangers that were commonplace. We had to spend a year in this world, without our people, to prove that we were truly life-bonded. I won't go into details, but it was truly a rough year, the hardest of my entire life. We became more like animals, then people. Communicating with few words, if any at all. We got so caught up living like this, we nearly missed the return ceremony.

Ha! We were quite the sight; covered in tinted mud, smelling like smoke and old meat. Our mothers barely had enough time to clean us up before we rejoined our people. During that time, I did learn something very important. I was not normal, nor would I ever be. It was the first hint of who I would become, just a shadow, in the span of my life. Igden knew, as well. Before that year, every time things...paused... it affected everyone and everything but me only for a few moments. Then it didn't. I started to be able to control who and what was affected as well as for how long. The more precise it was, the more energy I burned. I spent more than one night passed out by the fire. My mother noticed the change in me, and she asked what had happened out there away from people. I couldn't answer her, because I didn't know precisely how to tell her.

How does one tell their parent that they can control something that is a force of nature? But not just any force, one that cannot be seen directly, one where the only hint at its passing is the effect it has on everything else. To this day, I regret not telling her. Maybe then I would've learned sooner that she too had a small gift. The power she had was nowhere near anything I had at that time, but she used it well. Much later in life, I learned that she had even used it on my egg, and could quite possibly be the reason why my own abilities are so pronounced. And even though I never told her about what I could do, I think she knew. From the very first day I used my ability without realizing, she knew.

We rose to prominence in our society. We became leaders, and I honed my abilities. Igden was quite proud to have me as his partner. It was enough for him to know. It was during this time that I was married, because there was one thing I didn't know yet. Igden married a wonderful young woman by the name of Menira. I was married to a wonderful viscet by the name of Seli. Our ceremony was a jointed one. Our peoples all feasted from the fruits of our efforts. Igden and I had gone hunting the day before to provide meat for the ceremony. Our future wives picked a small group to gather plants, grains, fruits, and tubers. It was wonderful. Gifts were exchanged between the families. I gave the carved horns of an elk to Seli's parents. They was covered in images and patterns from the day of the hunt. For a time, we were happy.

Igden and Menira had many children who came to walk different paths in life. Their oldest Hilgen became the closest approximation of a scholar during that time. He memorized so much information, so many stories, that he often lamented that there needed to be a way to keep information without keeping it in one's head. He'd get his wish, with time, and his descendants would enjoy all the benefits of writing. Until that time came, he could be found wandering from camp to camp. Spreading information, and gathering new. He was a good man, only wanted the best for others.

Then there was Deniga. She became a very fine healer. She could often be found working with her brother Hilgen on finding new ways to use certain plants and treatments to better help the sick and wounded. She made many discoveries that have echoed throughout history. But, she always felt like what she did was never enough. There were things about the body she knew she could manipulate with the right tools - such as tying off an artery - but rarely had them to her specifications. Many of her descendants followed her into what would become the medical profession, others became engineers.

Semilia and her twin Donok were right terrors as children. Both intelligent like their parents, with a mischievous streak as wide as the ice in the north, they got into all sorts of trouble. Even as adults, they could be found making mischief. Their tendency for mischief allowed them to spot it others, and many fights and potential disputes were avoided thanks to their efforts. They also had the loudest voices when arguing with their father. Ha ha! You should've seen the fights they had! They'd always have to go quite a ways from the village so what they shouted at each other was warped enough where no one could really understand what was being said. More than once I had to take a fuming Igden out so his anger could be let off.

Now, you might be wondering about why I have gone on about Igden's children, and that's because they were like my own. Seli was infertile, but we didn't know that. All we knew is that no matter what herbs and tinctures we tried, she could never have an egg. When the realization that she would never have children of her own hit her, she became bitter for awhile. For the better part of a year she looked with bitterness and sadness at every new child she saw. Then one day things she stopped, and doted upon Igden's children as if they were her own. Due to myself and Igden being Partners, that was very nearly true. We would share almost everything in life. If he and Menira chose to share parenting of their children with us, then so be it. By the time Semilia and Donok were born, we had settled into a comfortable rhythm in life. And that's how it was until Igden died.

He didn't die violently, as was common back then. He passed peacefully in his sleep at the age of 53. Menira, tougher than hooves, lived another twenty. Seli passed shortly after Igden did. I was distraught at losing two of the most important people in my life in such a short time frame. That was when I noticed time's effect on me, or rather the lack of it. My mother came to visit after the passing of Seli. She nuzzled me, and we lay curled together for some time as the tears fell. Then, with her bright gold and green eyes, she made a comment. It was a small one, but all the same, it changed everything I thought I knew about myself.

"You look as if you haven't aged a day since your Ceremony. Me and the others made bets on how you'd grey out, but you have no grey anywhere on you. The others won't believe me when I tell them!" she said, without a sad laugh.

It got me thinking. As the years had passed all of my friends had developed some sort of pain or some other restriction related to age and our lifestyle. Meanwhile, I felt as good as I had in my teens and twenties. My mother nuzzled me one last time, and I never saw her again. A flash flood took her away, and I have no clue how long I spent trying to find her. I never did. I went back home, soul crushed. Menira and her grown children were waiting for me. We ate together one last time. It was the last time, because I left. They probably thought I had gone somewhere to die peacefully away from the eyes of my remaining loved ones. I did not. I lived like I had not since was Igden was alive, and not even like then.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but in those years, I truly became feral. I'm surprised no People came and killed me. I wasn't just living feral, I was a lone feral. That usually meant disease. Soon, the years turned into decades, and I still did not die. I returned to my home, but did not enter the boundaries of the camp. I saw Menira directing the efforts of people, standing strong and tall. She saw me, standing there just beyond the edge of firelight, and smiled her knowing sad smile. I knew peace, like I hadn't for decades. I returned periodically, to keep track of where Igden and Menira's children were in life, and then their children, and so on. Before I knew it, centuries had passed. And times changed.

[WolfWinter]

╔════════════════════╗
Chapter 2
╚════════════════════╝

I watched as the world around me changed, and so did I. I learned to travel through time itself. I learned how to track things that no one else could. Wherever I went, the people I influenced, had my mark on them. How else do you think I tracked Igden and Menira's descendants through the centuries? I fell in love with progress, not just the technological aspect, but the people. How they progressed, learned to work together, tolerate each other. As you can imagine, I also saw my fair share of wars. Participated in them too. It was how I learned more about the world I was no longer truly part of. I'd set up shop somewhere, and then fake my own death after someone noticed my lack of visible aging. The most painful part wasn't the wars, or watching my new friends die, it was leaving behind the ones who were still living.

For two whole centuries, I spent a lifetime with the descendants of each of Igden's children. It was strange, how those people were so much like the ones I knew, and so different. It was like seeing the ghosts of their ancestors in living flesh. Now I've heard the stories people come up with about "immortals", or frankly, those who do not age and live a very long life. Many say they become jaded, and I suppose that's true, but they also allude to the boredom of those like myself. I will say it here, that at least for me, I never got bored of my life. There was always something new to see, to explore, new technologies to play with. I mastered many skills, lived thousands of lives. Why would I become bored? There was another purpose to these lives. I knew that if I had abilities, then others had to have them, as well.

I chased down legend after legend, myth after myth, rumor after rumor. Most were dead ends. I learned that no matter what was going on in the world, a certain percent of the population had abilities. I won't share that number, because it is both less and more than you'd expect. I don't want them to be hunted, either. Many just want to live their life, and forget they ever had this thing that made them other. I respect that, because their life is not mine, or anyone else's, to dictate. The first time I ever met someone else like myself very nearly lead to my death. It was my own stupidity, of course. I was tracking the legend and myths that seemed to be related to one individual. A "Northern Guardian". He had many names in these stories, the Northern Wind, Peacebringer, North, and many others.

I had gathered as much information as I could about him. At the time I was living somewhere in Norway, though it wasn't known as such then. Surrounded by my candles, I wrote out orders for supplies. After all, I couldn't go north unprepared. There were Polar bears, and other dangers. I had put together a team of the best men and viscets for the job. They all thought I was crazy, not for chasing down the legends due to them being ingrained in their society and seen as truth, but for the time of year I insisted on going. I timed it so that by the time we reached the northern ice sheets it would be on the winter solstice. In all of the legends and myths that spoke of those who had actually met this Guardian, they had a common thread. Desperation, and purity of motive. I hoped my reasoning was pure enough; I wanted to know if I was alone.

I checked and rechecked the orders before one of my men, Bjørn, came into my home. He had his sword with him, like always. I put on my cloak, and grabbed my own sword. We talked as we walked to the merchant. He hoped for glory, I hoped for answers. Then the talk turned to the war. He spoke bitterly about it. Bjørn was born to a family that had members on both side of the war, which was along a hard dividing line of culture. This war was literally tearing his family apart. Within a week we were set to go north. It was a hard journey, and a month into it was when we got the first inkling that we were living in Strange Times indeed.

A battle that was supposed to happen to the west of us stopped. Then a week later we got more news of fighting elsewhere stopping, and the mysterious force behind it. Men babbled about an angel in the snow with glowing eyes. How this angel asked them what they were really fighting for, and then how they felt peace inside. Bjørn and I rushed ahead of our team to the site where the remaining forces were preparing to do battle. If I hadn't had thousands of years of experience with natural weather I would've missed it. A chilled wind grew from nothing, and swirled around the two armies. We fought our way inside the walls before they grew too strong. A wall of wind and ice formed a large circle around both armies, like the eye of a storm, which in a way, it was. That's when we saw him.

He stepped through the torrent like it was air. I could feel the raw power rolling off of him, but it wasn't malicious. Quite the opposite. For lack of a better way to describe it, it was like receiving the worst scolding of your life. The disappointment he had in all of the mere mortals for committing such atrocities against each other. He wasn't angry, he never yelled, never raised that mental voice he used to speak to everyone within the Eye. And when the soldiers began to disperse, he directed on at me, and only me. It wasn't words, but a feeling. Curiosity. Then he turned around, and left. In the chaos of people leaving, we lost him. It was like he disappeared on the winds.

We continued on our original mission. Bjørn was a changed man after that, not as quick to anger or use his sword. The others treated him with respect, for anyone who had seen the Northern Wind was surely blessed. That extended to me, but I was mulling it all over in my head. More questions sprang in my mind than I had answers for. What exactly was this Northern Wind's abilities? Peace? But then what about the winds? The snow and ice? Was he older or younger than I? Was he made, or born? I shared these with Bjørn, who had become a good friend of mine. He rubbed his beard, and thought about it. He had been there, he had seen what I had. The only thing he didn't know was that I too had abilities. As always, in life things don't go as planned.

We were hit with a bitter winter storm when we breached the invisible line of the Arctic Circle. The men didn't know what that was, but I did. I knew we were close. We tied lines around each other. I was in front, being both the largest viscet, and because I had better spikes on my feet to grab the ice with. The spikes on the men's boots kept snapping off due to the cold. The wind howled around us like beasts. I hadn't known cold like this for thousands of years. Even now, I don't know how I could miss that unmistakable sound. I'd heard it when I was young traveling to the edge of the Ice. By the time my conscious mind caught up with what I heard, it was too late. The ice was cracking beneath our feet. For the first time in decades I was forced to use my abilities.

I could not let them die just to keep my secret, and I didn't. I froze time around me, and hurried to the men. I hauled the men out one by one, and then carried them to a safe distance away from the cracking ice. the only one who was safe was Bjørn. During this whole time he remained motionless, not because I had frozen him in time, but out of amazement. In my haste I had left him unfrozen by time. Before I could unfreeze the men he marched up to me, face contorted into a mixture of emotions that I couldn't read, before he collapsed onto me and cried. These men were his friends, and I had saved them. I was unaware at the time, but he had slowly been piecing together that I was no ordinary viscet since we saw the Northern Wind.

Then he cursed at me for not telling him sooner, and went through the entire spectrum of emotions. Afterwards, he looked at me in both awe, and sadness. He realized how lonely my life must be, and said as much. In that he was right. It was lonely. I think that was a hidden motivator for finding others like myself. The drain of keeping so much still in time was taking its toll on me, so I let them go. Luckily for me, Bjørn had already thunk up a story for how they ended up over a hundred feet from where they had fallen in the ice. He said they had passed out from the cold, and the chill of being frozen in time made them believe it. I was thoroughly exhausted, which only added to the credibility of the lie.

Come nightfall, we were on a relatively secure island in the sea of ice. Shifts were given to keep watch for polar bears and feral viscets. That's when He chose to visit us. He came in the night, and I felt someone shaking my shoulder. Bjørn resorted to slapping my face. Finally roused, I looked up into the face of the Northern Wind. At that time I was still young, only a few thousand years old, as I had grown impatient of waiting for time to pass and traveled to a point where I could experience life anew. The awe I felt at seeing him, and realizing I wasn't alone, nearly made me cry in relief. Without a word, he turned and left the island. We followed him. Our people would be safe until we returned, was the emotional reassurance we got from him. Despite his apparent age, he felt young, younger than me.

We continued until we reached a great block of ice rising form the sea. We found that climbing it was easier than it should have been. He was waiting for us when we reached the mouth of the great ice cavern. Once inside we saw a great sheet of ice that was strangely colored, and seemed to glow. I thought nothing of it. It was like other things I had seen, only a magically enhanced version. Bjørn however stared at it, mouth agape. The Northern Wind finally introduced himself properly as Borean. I found it to be a fitting name. Bjørn couldn't get over his initial shock over the ice, and was wholly unprepared for another. A figure appeared on the ice. This one looked like the ocean on a starry night and sea ice. Before Borean could speak the other viscet started yelling at him.

"BOREAN! What have I said about bringing strangers you know nothing about into your home?! They could be here to kill you for all you know!" He shouted, fuming with apparent concern for his friend, fin raised as high as it could go.

Borean just shook his great head with a knowing smile, "I can see into their hearts, and they mean me no harm."

The other viscet fumed so more before answer ," But what about who they talk to? What if those they traveled with, and I can guarantee they weren't alone, want to sell your location so others can come and take clippings of your fur, or other such nonsense! What ab-"

I cut him off, and looking back now I probably shouldn't have, "We won't tell anyone. I planned before I ever left to seek him out on my own and then end the trip and call it a failure. The only reason my friend is here is because he knows about me. Like your friend here, I am not normal, I can do things that no ordinary person can."

Borean smiled, and soon I had some answers to my questions. The other viscet was Borean's southern counterpart, Australen. He was called the Southern Waters, as a title. Australen in turn asked me question after question until he was satisfied I meant neither any harm. Bjørn went through the same treatment. All too soon, it was time for the two of us to return and head for home. I found out something else as I left, and it wasn't until I was safe at home in my house did I realize what it meant. When I was near Borean, I could feel a sort of energy coming off of him, even when he wasn't actively using his abilities in any way. I then applied that to my sense of others, and found I could use it to help me track down others with abilities. I spent the next three hundred years of my life tracking down others with abilities.

There was such an array of abilities, I knew i had no hope of tracking down every possible one, but I did manage to organize them into types and categories. I have a list of every individual I know of with abilities, and where they fit on this list, including those who have yet to be born at this moment. This list is safe and protected, and no it is not in my mind. I will tell of its keeper, but not yet, for it's not at the part of the story. I traveled many years into the future, and many more into the past. I tracked family lines, and saw how these abilities evolved and stayed the same. A pattern began to emerge, the stronger the abilities, and greater the number of different types, the less the chance that individual had of having children. But it was not impossible. It made me think back to Seli, and how we never had any visclings of our own. I felt a pang of what might've been, and then pulled myself back to my reality.

In all this time, I used my abilities for myself. I didn't use them to guard time like Borean and Australen did the northern and southern hemispheres. I thought time was safe from the meddling of others. After all, I was the only person I knew of who could move through time. How wrong I was. I didn't know then, that one did not have to travel to a specific spot in time themselves to alter it, that they could change it and bend events to their will from the comfort of their present. It started with a few things. I am one who takes not of everything I see and do when traveling to different times, so I can track history, and my own influence on it. So, when discrepancies started showing up in other written histories, and my own, I took note. It was more of a thing one keep sin the back of the mind, such as a chores list. It was something for me to investigate "eventually". That choice was taken from me when a war started in a time where it should not have.

I traveled and found the peaceful field I had left before was now a the sight of a bloody battle. I quickly reverses the travel and pulled out the arrow that had become lodged in my leg. Bjørn, having been given a special crystal as a gift from Borean and Australen, knew that I had returned and expected to help me fill out an account of what I had seen. Instead he helped clean up my blood and stitched up my wound. I asked him to fetch my books on that time, and look through them while I went fifty years ahead of where I had gone. Ina blink I was gone again. I rant to the nearest library in the desolate town that had seen war when it shouldn't have. I hurried by a frazzled librarian who looked like he wanted to scruff me like a child and throw out the door for running in his library.

I found the most recent history book, and read on with horror. Before the librarian came looking for me I vanished taking the book with me. I found Bjørn at my desk with several of my notebooks stacked on it and a sheet of paper with a bulleted list of events. We both compared what was in the book and the list with growing horror. I nearly threw the book at the window, and Bjørn sunk his head into his hands. When he lifted his head up he asked the question we both had.

"How? I thought you were the only one who could travel through and manipulate time?" he asked, fear plain on his face.

I shook my head, and racked my brain for an answer. I had none. While he went through the book, I went through my list, thinking of anyone i may have forgotten, or underestimated. It took some time, but my brain put the pieces together. I had assumed that one needed to be there directly to influence or change events. What if they didn't? What if their ability was allowing them to manipulate events across time according to their wishes? That thought stopped me cold. Was I being manipulated now? Would I even know? The next week was spent gathering data, and I figured out a way to pinpoint the time period the manipulator lived in. I wouldn't be able to repair their damage until they were gone. By then I knew that it was intentional, that it wasn't accidental.

I was also glad that Bjørn's crystal freed him from being manipulated. Several times I came back and the village around my house had changed. The crystal also left Bjørn with recollection of all changes as they happened. I was getting close, and the person knew it. Then the day came to confront them. I was nervous, and shaking. I thought to myself, would I have to kill this person? I didn't want to kill anyone. I had lived a long time,and gone without killing anyone directly or indirectly. I didn't want to change that. Before I left, I felt something cold enter my home. I heard Bjørn stand up. I turned around, expecting to see Borean.

Australen stood tall in my home. He was taller than I. We both knew why he was there. He even came prepared with a crystal he said would prevent the person from using their abilities when it absorbed into them. Only he could remove it. Then he asked the obvious question.

"When you travel, can you take others with you?" he asked. It was one I had no answer to. I said as much. We tried anyways.

Australen stood on shaky legs and nearly vomited after traveling. He looked at me with newfound respect, I think. He stared at the alien world around him. Buildings taller than the highest of trees rose from the ground. People pushed around him with ease, not batting an eye at a viscet gawking at the skyscrapers. I saw something red flash in the distance, and then it was gone. I pulled Australen towards the burning power. It was like acid on my skin. I wondered if it was always like this for two unrelated people with similar abilities, and decided to ask Australen later.

She looked like a ordinary girl. The only tells were the burning hot energy pouring off of her, and the ring of shifting black around her irises. She smiled at us. It was not a kind smile.

"I've been waiting a long time for you. You see, I've known about you for a long time, courtesy of someone we both know. Actually, someone you will come to know. Don't worry, she's safe. I think you should know my name, after all, you will be adding me to that list of yours. My name is Melanie Dunne," then she took a step froward.

Australen snarled at her, "What are you talking about, girl?"

She gave a knowing smile, "You will know her too. I hope you remember this day, Southern Waters."

Australen leaped at her, and a dart was sticking out of his neck. The fast acting sedative had him in a heap within seconds. I looked at her, and wanted to know why she was doing all of this.

"Why?" I asked

"I needed to lure you out, so you might understand and help me in my goals," she said.

I looked at her suspiciously, and she continued, " people like you and me, we are a threat to the world. One bad day, and even the best of us can slip and do something irreversible."

My blood was boiling, " AND WHAT ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THAT WAR YOU MADE? What about their lives!"

"Already fixed, it never happened," and she smiled that smile I hated with a passion.

"But they did happen. Just because you changed history back doesn't mean it never happened!" I hissed.

She sighed, and made a motion that signaled to the agents who stepped out of the shadows, literally. Australen chose that moment to leap up in a roar. He shoved the crystal he had been holding this whole time into Melanie's back. It absorbed into her skin like water. Then he jumped back to me. No words were needed and we went back. We collapsed on the floor of my home, where Bjørn lay gasping on the ground. From one emergency to another. I saw the dark spread staining his belly. He reached towards me, and without thinking about the consequences I froze him in time. Australen looked on with horror as the assassin leaped from the beams on top of me. I kicked him away from me. Then things changed. The moon was higher on the horizon than when I had first arrived.

The biggest change was Bjørn. He lay on my bed, bandaged up. The crystal around his neck was different, too. Instead of the deep sea green it had started as, it was now a violet color. At the time that meant nothing to me, nor the scent of monkshood and lavender. All I was focused on was my friend who lay resting on my bed when moments before - no, hours ago - he had been near death. The lingering energy was familiar, like home. I thought how that was impossible, I had no children. But, what I didn't think about was that I may have a child in the future. I blame how muddled my mind was with all of the new information in such a short time period and nearly losing my closest friend since Igden. It didn't take long for us to figure out that the crystal was tied to Bjørn. It could go no more than three feet away from him before it grew hot and flew back to him.

We wouldn't see the effects it had on him until many years later. Australen could shove energy into the ice from his home and turn it into a magically enhanced crystal, and apparently someone else could do that as well. It wasn't something unique to him, as I found out. He taught me how to do the same. The crystals I made came out a deep red, with hints of green threading through like veins of ore. I carved symbols into the ice beforehand so when it changed, I knew what the crystal was for. Roundish polished crystal that when thrown would shatter and spread the effect that was melded to it. It was good preparation for what was to come.

The memory of Melanie and what she said haunted me. While Bjørn recovered I practiced what Australen had taught me, and pored over my notes again. While he recovered, we spoke about other things. He was the first to mention it.

"You know how Borean and Australen are the guardian of their respective realms? Maybe you could do that. Guard time. Watch over it, so no one else like Melanie can do that scale of harm again..." he whispered (After all, at that point it had only been a week after his brush with death).

When Bjørn was till bedridden, and after his fevered comment, the reality of my position hit me. I had been running away from this all my life. Confronted with the reality of it, I could no longer continue to run. Real life was hitting me, and I had to confront it. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of becoming the Guardian of Time. I mended my cloak, and ordered some armor. A year went by, and by the end Bjørn was fully recovered. He had grown quite the beard, too. Sadly, he would need to shave, or at least trim it, to go where we'd be heading. I didn't say anything until a month before our departure. I asked if he wanted to go with me, and he gave me the kind of look a child gives a parent when asked something obvious. He took it as a sign that I would become who I was always meant to be.

Before I left I set up a series of candles to burn while we were gone so I knew how much time had passed. Twenty four candles, one for each hour in the day. When I left, I noticed that the candles burned down until they showed the time of 6:30 in the evening. It meant nothing to me, and neither did the flash of red before I left. We arrived in an alley just off of the side of the market. We could hear the loud talking of the people. Sadly, only I could speak the local language Bjørn knew why we were there; I had found evidence of another time manipulator. It was localized to this region, so whoever it was lived here. The effects were also spread out throughout time, so either they had lived that long, which I doubted, or they traveled only as far as those times.

I could feel the faintest brush of something familiar. The suddenly a dark feeling crowded me. It was so sudden I didn't notice the young viscet until they crashed into me. Their parcels went flying, and Bjørn quickly moved to pick them up so they wouldn't get trampled. Face-to-face, I could sense the dark energy coming off of this viscet, but it also had no bite. Like dark water that would only drown you if you were careless of its danger, or a dog that would only bite if thoroughly provoked. Off in the distance I saw a dark viscet moving through the crowd. He was intimidating, and everyone moved out of his way. I saw that the flowers the viscet had were crushed. Feeling guilty, I fished out the right coins to replace the flowers. By the time the other viscet came to where we were at the first was shoving the money back at me and saying it wasn't needed.

I insisted, and they relented. The large male sized me up, and I could feel his energy that was like the grave roll through me. They both introduced themselves as we walked back to the man selling flowers. The first was Nawi, and the large viscet was his father Ren. If it wasn't for the energy pouring off them both, I wouldn't have believed it. Nor when the large viscet said what his profession was. He was a Reaper. He was in charge of gathering the souls of the dead. I shook my head in amazement. Then they said goodbye, and I watched as both vanished in front of me like they had never been there at all. Bjørn rubbed his arms like he was cold.

"What is it?" I asked.

He lowered his arms before responding, "that big one, he made me uncomfortable. It felt like death itself was watching me."

I couldn't disagree with him, it felt like that to me too. We found a place with information for merchants, because that is what we would be here. We purchased a small shop out of the way of nearly everything. And so we stayed, to track down the time manipulator, under our guise of merchants.

[WolfWinter]

╔════════════════════╗
Chapter 3
╚════════════════════╝

It took years, and we were integrated fully into society. Even Bjørn's light skin (an oddity here, it marked him always as a foreigner) no longer caused him much trouble. It was easy to forget why we were there in the first place. The rhythms of daily life pounded into us. We both became agitated over the lack of progress. Not with each other, but it showed in how we acted, what we did. It seeped into us like vinegar. Bjørn asked if we could spend even a day away from shop. It was a good idea, so we made plans to go to a quiet mountain village. The trip there was uneventful by any account, but extraordinarily beautiful.

The village was off a trade route, so they had a hostel. It was a night place. The first days I spent exploring the area with Bjørn. I felt myself falling into a state of mind I thought I never would again. Of course, he would never replace Igden, and I didn't want him to. But it was nice to have that kind of company. It was during one of these excursions that I felt it. Just a light touch, a brush of power. It was gone before I could even tell what it was. But it had woken something in me that I didn't know was there. That night, and for the next few nights, I had terrible night terrors. I lashed about so much that Bjørn had to wake me more than once to keep me from hurting myself. On the last night of this pain, I went to bed like usual expecting another night of restless sleep.

A familiar feeling brushed against my mind, and then it was gone, and I fell into the jaws of my own mind.

I was running and running on short legs trying to stop the great beast from trampling him. Just as I was about to stop it in its tracks, it changed into a swarm of something like sand that surrounded Igden and left a hollow version of Igden behind, who then fell to dust before my eyes. I cried out in grief and shut my eyes against the tears and the painful vision. When I opened them again I was surrounded by all those who I came to know and love. They to fell to dust one by one by the same cloud. I screamed at the stars, who dwindled and went out one by one until I was surrounded by darkness. The only light came from the cloud, which let off an eerily beautiful glow.

It came towards me, and I welcomed its approach expecting its embrace. Instead of surrounding me like it had the others, it took form and solidified as it approached. I heard the roar of a man beside me, and I saw Bjørn looking like the day I met him. Leather armor with that familiar smell, hair limp with sweat and rain roping about his face, sword gleaming in hand as he lunged at the creature before him. It disappeared before his sword could swipe through it. The cloud moved behind us, and made no attempt to come closer as it solidified. A glow came from the corner of my eye, and I saw Bjørn as he was now, watching the cloud with wary eyes that mirrored my own. Then, before the creature could reveal itself, everything crumbled away. Everything fell like sand and earth into nothingness.


I woke feeling better than I had in days. The room was also quite crowded. Nawi was there, and so was their father Ren. Between the four of us, we filled the room to the brim. Bjørn Had to squeeze beside Ren to get to the door so he could fetch breakfast for all of us. I could feel the power coming off of both of them like currents of air. Ren the cold of the grave, and Nawi's with a numbing nothingness. After years of wondering, I finally learned what Nawi could do. It was gift to me, what they had done. For others, in other circumstances, it could drive them mad. They made my dream crumble into blank nothingness and allowed my mind finally rest. Ren nodded at me and left the room, leaving me alone with Nawi. We spoke for a long time. Bjørn came in briefly to give us plates of food, and then left again.

They had to leave, and I had more answers, as well as more questions. They could travel between worlds, realms, universes. Whatever one chose to call it. It was eye-opening. There were even greater powers at play here, and I had been wholly unaware of them. Bjørn and I took a walk down a lovely trail. On our way to burbling stream, we passed a blind viscet. She had stars on her, and looked at me as if she could see me. She gave a sad and comforting touch to my side, and then left. It was the same type of touch one gave to someone who had lost another. I watched after her confused, and so did Bjørn.

"Do you recognize her?" he asked.

I shook my head, "No I don't. I wonder what that was all about?"

Bjørn shrugged, "probably the village crazy lady."

That didn't sit right with me. We would've seen her before if she was a resident of this village, and she didn't appear crazy. Then there was that feeling she left behind... If wisdom could be given a feeling, that was it. It was a heavy feeling, almost suffocating in its knowledge. It had been brief, but the touch of it lingered. I forget all about the incident when we went to the market that day. Were were trawling for new goods to potentially sell back home. We needed to earn a living, after all. Bjørn threw himself into the haggling. That's when I noticed someone watching me from the shadows. The look on her face was as if she recognized me, or something about me. But that was impossible, I had never seen her before. Something about her shape was unusual. In the shadows, her tail appeared to thick, and like it moved of its own accord... Then she was gone. She melded into the shadows with a practiced ease.

I ran after her, forgetting about Bjørn entirely. She felt familiar. Like I had seen her somewhere before. She darted through the streets, sticking to the shadows and lesser used paths. Then we left the village entirely and were running up the mountain path. Always just out of sight, I continued to follow her. A temple emerged from the forest, and she stood waiting on its steps. She spoke in the tongue Bjørn and I often used to converse with each other.

"Not many can keep up with me, especially through all of the twists and turns," she gave me a mischievous smile.

"I'm not like most people," I said. I cringed mentally a moment later, I of all people knew how cliche that was.

She just laughed, " no you are not! Why don't you come inside? Your friend too, when he gets here."

She led me to a large room towards the back that was open and smelled of herbs. It overlooked a verdant garden. There was tea waiting for us, and I accepted gratefully. As she predicted, Bjørn arrived not much later. he gave me a fierce scowl when she wasn't looking. Then he noticed her tail. He stared at it, and then it moved and turned to look at him while she cut the leaves of a few potted plants for them to chew. Then the "eyes" of her tail scowled at him in turn. He looked away sheepishly. The leaves were from a mint plant, and were very refreshing to chew. I learned her name, Tara, among other things. The biggest shocker, was that she had lived in that temple for over six hundred years. When she said that, a felt the brush of her power. It had a familiar feel, and yet it felt completely alien.

She had lived as a minor deity for centuries. After feeling her power, I understood why. She was the one we had been looking for. She had been under our noses the whole time. After all, who would think to check the temple of some minor god to see if the god actually lived there? I had brought my List with me, and I added her to it that night. The stranger from before came back, and gave me a cryptic warning about the destruction of my heart. I wrote it off as senile babbling. I visited Tara frequently, and in time, she became one of the most important people of my life. I came and went, but to her and Bjørn I was only gone for hours at a time. I enjoyed sharing what I had seen with them. Eventually, I took them both with me to a new home. People were beginning to question both my and Bjørn's lack of aging. We weren't minor deities to them, and Tara didn't want to be left behind... It's hard to think that we lived together for not even several decades before it all came crashing down.

It started with Tara feeling ill at certain times of day, usually at sunrise and sunset. The doctors we sent for were stumped. Oh they went on about this remedy, an d that remedy, and did we consult this one fellow? But their confusion showed in their actions and their questions. One evening, as we were eating dinner out in the garden, Tara raced back to our room. Concerned, I asked Bjørn to send for a doctor. He leapt into action as I ran after my beloved. I found her in a heap on the floor in our room. Her tail drooped, and didn't even rise as I came into the room. That, more than anything, concerned me. I held her as she cried weakly. When I asked her what was wrong she looked at me with eyes that went deep, like time itself lived in her eyes. I wasn't far off.

"I'm dying, Chronos. There's nothing you, or anyone can do about it. I've held on for as long as I could, but now it's time for you to let go," she said weakly, trying and failing to give me a reassuring smile at the end.

I felt myself shake in fear and anger, "there has to be something! Bjørn is fetching a doctor now! Here, Let me go get you some water-"

She grabbed my arm with surprising strength as tried to get up, "Please, Chronos! Just hold me. I don't have much longer. Please don't cry when I die, I can't bear to see you cry... Remember, only two keepers can be at once. Any more and reality itself will tear apart. Don't cry... don't cry... don't cry..."

I watched helpless as her eyes closed, and she smiled peacefully. I felt her body shift, and it wasn't until the first speck of dust began to fall that I realized what was happening. I cried out in grief as she became nothing but stardust, and then nothingness. I cried their on the floor, as realization after realization hit me. She was the one from my night terrors before. That was why she had looked so familiar. And since that aspect of the dream was right, then so was the other one that I had been quizzing over for some time now. The cloud that had borne her was time itself. She didn't have power over time, she was time. Tara was time. This thought danced in my head like a taunt. Everything I thought I had known shattered as someone I loved yet again turned to dust before my eyes.

The grief consumed me as I packed my things. Bjørn looked into my room with concern, and I yelled at him to leave me. He did. Feeling more alone than ever, and regretting at yelling at the only family I had left, I collapsed in a heap. I didn't know what to do, and I don't know how long I lay there grieving. Not much more than several hours, but all the same, a long time to go without stopping. When the tears stopped, I felt exhausted. I went to go crawl into our - my - bed when I felt something warm. I jumped when I touched it, and tore the blankets off the bed. Laying where my beloved Tara always did, was an egg. I stared dumbfounded at it. I felt, more than saw, others come into the room. The realization of what I must do hit me hard. She had told me the limit this world could handle, and since this egg was truly our child... I would have to go and sleep. My mind made up, I carefully wrapped myself around the egg and tucked it against my side. Then I told her my story, because it was also her beginning, as tears of extreme happiness and deep sadness fell.

╔════════════════════╗
Epilogue
╚════════════════════╝

The little viscling read the book over and over again. It wasn't very long, but all the same it was her most precious belonging. Bound in leather dyed a deep green, she carefully put it on her bedside table as Bjørn tucked her in. A great blue and white head poked in, his antlers burning softly. She sighed in happiness, and fell asleep under the careful eye of her guardians. Bjørn picked the book back up, looking at the detailed drawings that were on the first few pages, Borean's note at the beginning, and Australen's notes at the end. Before leaving, he gave one last look at his friend's daughter. He turned off the light and went out to the hall where Borean was waiting for him.

"She's been asking, you know. She wants to talk to him, and start her training," said Bjørn.

"I know, I just wish for her to know childhood for a little longer," Borean sighed.

Nodding, Bjørn agreed, "I do too. But she has to learn sometime. They are already showing up. Yesterday a bird was frozen in flight as she watched. She needs to start learning, for her own sake."

Bright eyes peaked out from the covers, listening intently. Borean gave a barely discernible look, but it was there. He knew she was awake, and that she was excited. She was excited because tomorrow, she would see Australen in his home. And she would learn. She was ready.

[WolfWinter]

After notes


Dear Roshni,

I'm sure Borean told you to come to me with your questions. However, remember that I will not be able to answer all of them. Only when it is time for you to come to me for your training will I answer the rest of them as best I can. To answer your most repeated question now: Yes, there are others with abilities. Your father made a list of all he knew of who had abilities, what they were, and other details that I cannot remember. No, I am not the keeper of this list. To get it, one would need to pry open the jaws of Death himself. That is highly inadvisable as I have met Death and do not wish to repeat the experience. I look forward to your arrival.

Sincerely,

~~~~~~~

[WolfWinter]

Viscets Used

Owned by Myself

Borean

Australen


Owned by D-Send

Nawi

Ren

Ebalon

Credits

Art: By me

Borean's Signature Font

Australen's Signature Font


Notes
This button can be used by the winner however they see fit. I wanted to make more general art that could be used by the winner, but didn't have time to finish any of it.
Image 1