“Esuna! Esuna!” Magnolia casted again and again, “Esuna!” She cast once more on herself. But she wasn’t done yet, she charged up her next spell to help alleviate the pockets of poison around the town.
“I call upon the purest winds to blow through. Aero!” She summoned gushes of white magic wind to push out all of the poison mist in the central area. Meanwhile Alex laced his arrows with his special fire crackle concoction.
“Here’s hoping it’s weak to fire.” He stretched his bow before releasing the arrow into the sky. The large gaseous bird from above screeched when the fire combusted a part of his wing. “Fire seems to be the magic trick. Cass, prepare your stronger fire spell. I’ll keep it distracted.”
Magnolia glanced over to Eugene fending off Emrys. The whip danced blithely around him, almost like a scorching dance of tango. She noticed a small increment of health had been chipped away from the question marks, but not as much they would have liked. This person was out of their league. And they were level 15.
She raised her wand up and shouted, “Cure!” targeting him with the spell.
Emrys jumped away from Eugene’s lunge and held up the Ring of Allocated Time.
“I didn’t think your druid was that strong, she’s dissolving my poison with her spells.” He sighed before turning his attention to the ring. “It’s unfortunate I have to use this on the likes of you, but my Goddess will understand.”
Emrys smirked, “Ring of Allocated Time, bring to me the sands of time on this boy Engine_Loaded!”
Eugene watched the ring slowly darken under his grasp. The aura that encompassed the ring grown larger until it grew into a humongous circular dome. It covered a portion of the plaza and more of Mydalr. The dark matter pushed upon Eugene’s body until he was brought to his knees. In front of his wrist console, the warning symbols blazed and buzzed. He stared horrified as the dark matter brought out his own hourglass and the glass started to shake abruptly. The sands inside were slowly slipping out from it, and he could feel his life force slipping away. He noticed the infinity symbol start to flicker, and the sands of his time started to enter into Emrys’s ring.
“You’ll soon be as if you never existed.” The masked man called over the agonizing screams Eugene made.
Magnolia knew that Alex and Cassidy were preoccupied with handling the gaseous bird in the sky, so she darted past them to help Eugene. She noticed her own wrist console vibrating, warning her not to get too close to the strange phenomena. But she had no other option as she charged in. Her wrist console lit up as she screamed: “Eugene!”
A bright flash of light exploded from her console. Magnolia skidded to a stop as the world around her turned gray in color. She was brightly colored in this monochromic realm, along with one other thing. A bright, shiny god hovered above Emrys’s frozen form. Magnolia remained in awe as his brilliance shined enough to blind her. She attempted to gaze past the light toward his face, but she felt more blinded the harder she tried.
“Child of Chrona, the will of your perseverance has been blessed with the powers of Chronos. Use your power wisely, for if you run out of time, you will be lost to it forever. Now, destroy the Ring of Allocation.”
Magnolia saw a small timer appear in her peripheral. Fifteen seconds. She only had fifteen seconds to destroy the ring. She raised her wand up before charging in like she pictured Eugene would. She screamed her best warrior cry and smashed the wand into the gem of the ring well within the time allotted. It shattered upon impact, and time snapped back into place.
Magnolia’s own wand crackled under the pressure, and the dark matter surrounding the three of them quickly dissolved. Eugene collapsed to the ground, his wrist console finally quiet. She would have breathed a sigh of relief before she felt a hand violently clutching her throat.
She stared up at the masked man in front of her and immediately felt the blood drain from her face. His mask must have cracked in the implosion of the ring, as part of the left side crumpled into dust. Magnolia stared up in an ash mauve eye glaring down upon her.
He was royally pissed.
“You—How dare you—you are nothing more than an insect and yet you—!?” He didn’t allow her a chance to talk, depriving her of the very oxygen she needed to survive. The shining light from her wrist console brought his attention away from her face.
“Chronos, you filthy instigator! My Goddess Lumina and I, we will kill your chosen ones—no matter how many you pick!” He used his free hand to grasp her wrist and extended it out.
“Maybe we should take her with us instead? Ah yes, my Goddess will be most forgiving with you as a sacrifice.” Magnolia grimaced, feeling pulled at her neck and her arm. She wasn’t strong enough to have him release her.
“Let her go!” An arrow whizzed straight past Emrys’ face. His gaze turned to face the ranger and sorcerous, but snapped his attention up to the sky. He glowered then, as if something had forcibly changed his plans.
“What? You don’t want her now? Return to base?” He turned his attention to the sky now clearing up. The bird he had graciously prepared for the sundering of this town was gone. His Goddess however had different plans now.
Almost in reflex, he tossed the girl to the side and heard the delayed crunch of the wall crumple under her weight. She dangerously hovered within the low 2-3 HP range once again.
“It seems my Goddess Lumina has offered her grace upon your worthless lives. But trust me when I say, we will meet again and I will fulfill my promise.” Emrys let the dark energy form around his body. Before Cass and Alex could react, the man had disappeared.
With the battle over, a wash of experience rushed over everyone. Magnolia could hear the console chime as it congratulated her on her level ups. Congratulations on making it to level 18! Here is a tutorial on how to use Active Bursts [Stop Time].
With the increase in level, she too also gained back all of her health and mana. Whenever they grew a level, they would instantly heal all wounds. She noticed the broken wall behind her and groaned. It didn’t stop the phantom pain in her mind.
Eugene had been assisted up by Alex, and though he was shaky, he managed to pull out his hourglass. The sands of time that had been stolen had somehow been returned after the ring had been destroyed.
A holographic figure appeared in front of the party with a huge smile. His white avatar blazed bright in their eyes. Journey had graced them with his presence.
“Good Afternoon, or should I say good evening! Congratulations on fixing the irregularity. With that, Mydalr should return back to normal. Please hold up your hourglasses.” Journey smiled, and with a flick of his hand all of their hourglasses had been filled with purple colored sand. “The God of Time, Chronos, did not anticipate Lumina’s henchman to have caused this irregularity, so he graciously stepped in to help you succeed. Now, please use your hourglasses to activate the sand to your next quest.”
Journey disappeared while the group stood in dumbfounded horror. Magnolia looked at her own wrist console, and then felt her throat. She could still feel the pressure of Emrys stopping her air flow. And his threat about taking her? That sent shivers down her spine.
Eugene stared at his time, seeing the sand he had, and felt that he had been mere moments away from dying.
“This—doesn’t feel like a game anymore.” Magnolia stared back at the broken wall of the building behind her and back to her friends. “This feels too real. Like scary real. Like we’re going to legitimately die real.”
Alex and Cassidy clenched their fists. They witnessed firsthand the destructive power that had been unleashed. They could barely get rid of the gaseous bird between the two of them.
Eugene looked to the blackened logout button on his console before clenching his own fist. A notification popped up on their wrist consoles and they all silently looked to each other.
The one to break the silence, Eugene, raised his console in the air. “Come on, we’ll complete this quest and discuss what happened afterwards. We need to move forward.” The four of them counted down, before effectively pressing the “accept” button on their wrist. A bright white light enveloped them as they shifted between the dimensions of time and space.
Main Quest 1: Complete!
You and your friends fought a perilous fight against a new foe. He has introduced himself as Emrys, who worships the Goddess of Creation Lumina. You stopped the poison mist from consuming and destroying Mydalr, and by destroying the Ring of Allocated Time, you have stopped the irregularity. Your group decides to find a safe place to rest until the next irregularity becomes evident. As you accept your next destination, your hourglass transports you and your party to Bellcester Shore.
