Prologue: Atonement in Time

Anjur sighed as he moved a crystaled mind back to its location. It seemed that only recent deaths could change into those shades. However, when an infection occurred, all life in the area was wiped from the records. All he could do was search for the missing cities that had vanished overnight through the countless records. With that detail pinned down, the others in the Aytac were busy. Too busy. The place was starting to get thin on time, too thin on time, which affected his abilities to activate his time domain.

He felt the itch to find someone who was being wasteful with their time and soak it off them. But that would be far below his newfound code, and really, beneath him. He did heave out a sigh, however, before he moved to write down the new notes about this particular section. Some had witnessed the destruction, but had been told it was just their imagination and convinced themselves they hadn’t experienced it, making the memory less clear. It also meant that whoever was too new and dumb of the Aytac hadn’t thought to record it down, which was creating a time sink as so much work was having to be revisited. It made his head hurt, and he itched at his horns near where a human ear would have been.

A knock at the door drove out the last of his complaints, and he leaned back in his chair.

“What is it?” he asked, his tone melodramatic. Anjur absently thrummed his fingers on the table as another Aytac entered. His horns of silver nearly blended into his hair, making Anjur do a double take to see that it was indeed and Aytac before him. As he leaned back, the man approached.

“Have you finished this batch? If so, I can take the records now for analysis,” the man said with the most fearful respectful quiver that Anjur refrained from his usual annoyance at the display.

“Yes. I am. Thank you,” he said kindly. The man looked surprised as he was handed the records. “Your name? I don’t think I’ve seen you around?” Anjur asked, politely. The man seemed surprised and a bit touched.

“Yes. I was transferred here when - oh! I’m not supposed to say. Sorry,” he said apologetically. Anjur waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ve heard the rumors. And I’m sorry if it caused you undo stress,” Anjur dismissed.

“I’m sorry!” the man nearly shouted, and Anjur let out a forced, pained smile.

“Look, before you decide that I am mad, how about I just tell you how I feel instead, so we don’t have to spend time on guessing games. You be honest with me, and I will be honest with you. Don’t want you loosing time now, right?” Anjur coaxed, moving to place his hand on the shoulder of the man.

Then, he noticed something appear and then start to disappear. His sudden movements caught the man off guard and he cowered, shouting his apologies.

“Quiet. They’re on the move and I need to concentrate,” Anjur chided as he moved to grab the crystaled minds, extending his time domain to the max. As the darkened crystal moved to him, he concentrated the time domain down to him and the crystal, leaving the frozen figure next to him. He promised to re-clarify to him after this was done.

As he peered into the crystal, looking for the clearest, brightest spots first, he froze. This wasn’t just any old crystal, this was one of the Elder Trees of Mundeos. Anjur ignored the rule to record what he saw and focused on watching every memory he could. This was unprecedented, and to gain the knowledge of an Elder was paramount, as they paid more attention than others would to the world and the inhabitants.

Feeling overwhelmed because it wasn’t just a singular direction but a whole surrounding, and under the earth as well, Anjur retreated out of his observations and looked skyward. Another crystal turned black, and he quickly summoned it over.

What he saw there was the same, another Elder tree. Holding both in his hands made him shake. He quickly extended his domain to the man next to him and then refused to have him apologize.

“Up! Now! I can’t keep this domain active for long. We’ve got two Elder’s to record. I need your help!” Anjur forced him to sit across from him and gave him the pen. The man was nearly protesting, something about it wasn’t his place. Anjur said he would divide the work. Focus on recording what he said, before they lost the crystaled minds.

They worked long, with Anjur only pausing to focus on a blackened detail. Somehow, this Aytac was an extraordinary scribe, and he praised the gods that he had come in today.

Guiltily, to keep the time domain active, he stole off the man, though only after receiving permission. Somehow, he could tell how sincere and important this cause was, which touched Anjur’s heart a bit. As they came to the most recent memories, Anjur was surprised to see Bard and a Dryad at his side. He paused and thought it over. He somewhat recalled there were others with Bard, but, she seemed more intimate than a normal ‘friend’ or travel companion. As he hummed in thought, his scribe reminded him to speak, and he relayed the information dutifully. Before they could get to the part where the shades overtook them, he saw a purple glow and then the crystaled minds vanished, with a sinister laughter echoing in the time domain. Anjur gritted his teeth while the scribe cowered. Anjur felt his time domain receive a pull, and it dissipated like shattered glass. The fragments of time around them were so palpable that even his scribe could see it.

His first reaction was to think this was Deimos, but the feel was wrong, as were the colors he barely recorded down. If not, then who-. He shook his head. It was far more likely that Deimos took a play out of his book and had others he was working with, ones he could have mentored, just like Anjur had. If so, then this was even more troublesome.

Now, how to report it.