Some time ago, in a city under siege by its neighbor.

"What do you mean you don't know?" J stood in front of the Champion of Time, wearing a grim visage. As far as J knew, this was the first example of The Champion of Time seeking him out, instead of vice versa. He supposed that, in theory, this could have happened before, but changes to the timeline of this world caused it to un-happen, but if that was the case, did it even really matter? "That is exactly why I came to you. I should know who is playing with time, but I cannot figure it out. Only recently did I even notice that something was off. I jumped backward to visit one of my favorite bakeries that had been destroyed by the Champion of Violence, it was at that point that I heard a rumor that a certain slaving group had been spotted here in the northern kingdoms. Silver...uh... Silver Stars I think they called themselves. However, in the original timeline, they were wiped out by the Champion of Vermin, before he in turn was killed by the Champion of Love, back near the start of the game." J considered his words for a while before responding. He was unsure how Time knew of Love and Vermin's actions that early on. Perhaps he jumped backward to check specifically? If that was the case, how would he even know... J shook his head. There was no point in trying to figure out the Champion of Time's relationship with time and causality. He had proven on multiple occasions able to move through time without disrupting the chain of events, which should be impossible. On the other hand, he has clearly been able to alter events when he so desired. J pressed onward in the conversation; it was best to just take what the Champion of Time said at face value.

J quickly checked, The Champion of Vermin was alive, and Love was not. "If what you are saying is true, then you are correct, someone did alter the original version of events. The Champion of Vermin is alive, I don't know where exactly, but he is somewhere north of here." Time folded his arms. A dark shadow passed over his face, twisting his habitually relaxed expression into a snarl. "Then they have found a way to hide their interference from me. I have been given dominion over this world’s time. How dare they play with something that does not belong to them!?" J had to admit, it was startling to see Time act this way, until this very moment, J was fairly certain that nothing could ever wipe Time's relaxed attitude away. "I was right to seek you out. I demand you assist me! I have participated in your little schemes on more than one occasion." J nodded calmly; he did not have to demand anything. This was as much of a problem for J as it was for Time. Perhaps it could explain the sudden appearance of the woman who disrupted the fight between the Champion of Violence and The Champion of Motherhood. "Of course, I will do my utmost to uncover who has been fooling with the flow of time. However, you must understand, I am unable to see the alterations like you do. I can only work from what I see. I must first find more examples of interference before I can track it to its source." He paused a few moments before continuing. "It... is also probable that the interference comes from far into the future. Perhaps a champion who currently has no time related powers gains them in the future? Blessings evolve in unpredictable ways after all. Or perhaps, it may even be you from the future?" Crossing his arms, Time shook his head "No, it does not work like that for me. However, I suppose you could be right. It may be possible for someone like the Champion of Lies to become powerful enough to implant a lie into the timeline, changing the sequence of events...." Time's grimace only deepened. "I will tell you if I find anything that may aid us in uncovering this loathsome being." And just like that, The Champion of Time vanished.

Sometime later.

J was laying down inside of his private sanctum. His head was pounding, he had been overworking himself and his blessing the last few days. "Haven’t found anything yet?" The disembodied voice of his companion echoed in his head. "You should know the answer to that." A moment of silence passed between them before the voice spoke again. "Those slavers that were supposed to be wiped out? I was able to track them down. Turns out, they went after Motherhood and his merry gang of misfits." J tilted his head, but did not yet open his eyes. "How? I thought you were worried the Gods, or more specifically, the Mother Goddess would notice you if you went out and about?"

The voice laughed lightly, "Well, yes. However, ghosts of ghosts are hard to spot, even for Gods. As for the Mother Goddess, she was preoccupied with her Champion. I think she has finally noticed one of the other members is interfering with him." As usual, his companion never elaborated on how he knew these things, but he had never outright lied. At-least, if he had, J had yet to discover any of his lies. "Ok, so the slavers went after Motherhood's group, and the Champion who was originally supposed to kill them also happens to be in the same direction they are traveling. The women who interrupted the fight with the Champion of Violence was also probably caused by whoever is manipulating time. We have yet to discover any other obvious changes, but there could have been any number of subtle or unsubtle changes to the timeline and we don't know if we would have noticed." J mused out loud as his companion listened. After another few moments of silence, the voice spoke. "It sounds as if someone is trying to stop, or at-least change, the outcome of The Champion of Motherhood's various activities. If true, this could be a problem. To be honest with you, I had thought that the Champion of Time would be able to track down the culprit by now. The fact that he ha-"

The voice suddenly halted his speech. This was incredibly unusual behavior for his companion. J opened his eyes "Is everything ok? Have you... we... been discovered?" If they had, then no level of preparation would save them, so J simply waited for a response. "N... no. I uh... I felt the presence of someone I have not felt in a long time. The daughter’s interference has resulted in something quite interesting. The Champion of Motherhood is lucky his blessing's power predates this world's system. It was able to silence the reports. If the Gods discovered that the prophecy I wrote into the Rabbitkin had started to come to pass, things would uh. Well. Things would spiral out of control extremely quickly. And who knows how many billions of years would have to pass before they forgot about me this time?" J only had a partial idea of what his companion was talking about. "Whatever you are on about, will it interfere with our goals?" His companion, for the second time today, was slow in his response. "I uh... I don't know. I cannot imagine that the daughter would be working with her mother, rather I am certain that their goals are not compatible. However, what the daughter intends to accomplish by allowing the Rabbitkin to inherit her destiny is beyond my ability to guess at. On the surface, it would seem as if this only helps the Champion of Motherhood..." 

The day after the death of the Champion of Vermin

J hurriedly ran through the forest. There was little time to waste, he had to find the Champion of Evil as soon as he could, otherwise everything would come to ruin. Would the Champion of Evil even be able to help? If not, then certainly all would be lost. However, finding the Champion of Evil was extremally difficult these days. He was hiding from U and her gang. J did have to admit, even he would be forced to hide if U and the others came after him. However now was not the time to admire the Champion of Evil's handiwork in hiding himself, but to figure out a way to find him, or at-least get a message to him. Normally he would simply ask the Champion of Time to go back to before Evil hid himself, and either deliver the message himself, or let Evil know that in a certain amount of time, he should contact J. Unfortunately, Time was unreliable and angry these days...

Back in his sanctum, J fiddled with various magical artifacts. "I don't think that is going to work. If it would, I’m fairly sure the Champion of Nature would have found Evil by now." J threw the artifact against the wall, and cursed at the voice taunting him. "Damn you! You should be worried as well you know. If we do not find the Champion of Evil, both of our plans will unravel like so much torn string." The voice chuckled "Certainly! You know, not once have I ever seen someone visit an oracle and leave happy. Maybe it would be best if you do not go to forgotten forests in search of fortune tellers again humm?" J wished that he could throttle the voice to death, but instead he took a deep breath and tried to settle himself. "Perhaps we can try to stop the future from coming to pass, rather than trying to deal with the outcome?" The voice spoke, J could hear the smile is his voice. "Perhaps, but do you really wish to approach the Champion of Madness yourself? And unfortunately, the oracle did not see who was going to speak with him. Simply that they would convince the Champion of Madness that-" J swore loudly "Yes I know what we saw thanks! Stop waffling and help me figure out a solution!"  The voice spoke again, "Well. I could use my powers to uncover the Champion of Evil's location."

J paused "How is this possible? Aren't you too weak? And besides, won't that alert the Mother Goddess immediately to your existence? You yourself told me that we could not predict how she would react if she learned-" The voice cut him off, "Do not speak too often of things, you never know what might be listing. The Champions have started to gain some of their more troublesome powers. Evil being able to hide from you is an example of how we are not as secure as we once were. However, to answer your question, as the chaos increases in the world, my powers can be used intermittently as the border between what is real and what the Gods and Champions want to be real becomes thinner, the reigns of reality slacken enough for me to act. Secondly, the Champion of the Mother Goddess is currently suppressing all reports of the use of the Mother Goddess's powers, hiding them completely. I am... ninety-seven percent sure that my powers will fall under that category." J sighed exasperatedly "Were you going to tell me this at any point before it was an absolute crisis?" The voice answered honestly, "No, I was not. This is more a risk for you than me. As you will not be able to survive at all if we are discovered." J shrugged and shook his head "It does not matter. You know that what I desire can only be accomplished here, in this 'game'" The voice laughed. "Very good. I’m so glad you accidentally found me. I bet the God of Wisdom could never have anticipated our discovery of one another."