Making His Mark

Roze looked at Gideon like he was crazy. Time-stopping magic she could believe. Being transported to her world from some kind of futuristic society of unpowered human beings struggling to make ends meet through writing sounded like a special level of coping. She wanted to comment a bit more on that but something more pressing was bugging her.

“What happens if your counter reaches zero?”

“I disappear into nothing. Just turn into magical dust.”

An awkward silence blanketed them, Roze growing pale from the blunt answer. Gideon kept a grin on his face.

“Oh, don’t worry. I revive somehow. The process is actually kind of pretty, after the fear has worn off from going through it a bunch. But for some reason, I always end up right where I first started in this world.”

“You mean to tell me that-”

“Yup. The first few were from pure idiocy. I didn’t know what would happen, so I tested my ability to stop time rather foolishly. Given that the amount of time wasn’t that long to begin with, I was kind of screwed either way.”

Gideon brandished his arm at her, which read just under 30 million. It ticked down by one every second. If her math was correct that meant-

“I start off with a year. Less depending on how much I use my power. Given that I’m just a normal human with no other special abilities, boy I had to use it a lot at the beginning.”

Gideon found himself in all sorts of trouble, trying to establish some footing in this new world. And it all amounted to nothing at the end of his countdown. He would wake up with nothing to his name except for the experiences he had before. It was akin to those games that had brutal mechanics that murdered him for a poor choice, only to get easier the next time around with new information.

“At some point, I found out about you.” Gideon pointed at Roze, who was surprised at his conclusion.

“Me? What is special about me?”

“Recognize this?” Gideon unbuttoned his shirt and flashed his chest, which had a strange symbol of a magical clock with fancy trim all around it.

Roze’s eyes grew wide. She scrutinized it like some long lost treasure. “My clan’s crest of Time. Why do you have it?” She tried to touch it, but Gideon pulled back and closed up his shirt.

“You tell me. I just found it when I got here. Ran into a bunch of stabby gentlemen like we ran into earlier on account of it. This world doesn’t seem to take too kindly to people bearing that mark, and it took several cycles to track one of you down.”

“I doubt there are many of us left. We’ve been hunted for as long as I’ve known.”

“That’s what she said also.”

“Who?”

“The last ‘you’ that I met. I didn’t waste any time coming to find you this time. That’s how I also knew about your powers right off the bat.”

Roze held her head for a moment. She paced the room to walk off the vertigo this conversation was giving her.

“Sorry, but if you know a previous ‘me’, then you should know that I’m hardly at the level a true Time Mage should be. I’ve-”

“Yeah, yeah. Forced to go on the run when the local kingdom broke off their ceasefire and started an all-out purge of Time Magic. Got separated from your family and forced into hiding at an orphanage where you hid your powers until you came of age to start working. Did I miss anything?”

Roze clammed up. There were few that knew her background. Even fewer that knew she practiced magic. She had no idea how her cover was blown, but she knew that secrets never stayed hidden.

Gideon kneeled before her in a dramatic pose all of a sudden.

“Miss Roze Campanella. In time, you will grow to be a proficient magician. You simply need a guardian to allow you the luxury of practicing it. And I am in need of a solution to my curse that only one such as yourself can provide.”

Roze bent down and stared at him in the eyes.

“Tell me one thing. What are you doing here if I’m so great in the future that I should have solved your problem?”

“I, er… ran out of time!”

“Rejected!”

Roze headed straight for the door of her hideout, determined to escape from this lunatic. After walking a few steps, she heard a crackling sound, finding herself farther away from the door. She repeated her exit, moving faster this time. The result was the same.

A crackle was followed by the door ending up farther away again. Not content with Gideon’s trickery, she broke into a run that comically caused her to be dropped over and over again in the same spot. Gideon had frozen time before she could reach the door and carefully carried her back to the start each time.

Eventually, Roze found her actions pointless, dropping to the ground in defeat. Gideon dropped down into a kowtow.

“Please, can’t you see I’m serious here? I know it all sounds ludicrous but you’re the only clue I have to break free from this endless cycle.”

Roze pondered again, twirling a lock of her hair with a sour expression. She had always been trying to avoid trouble, but now, she was being asked to accompany a guy that would obviously make too much of a scene.

If the past hour was any indication, she was quite skeptical of him. However, his time stopping powers intrigued her. Her refusal causing him to burn through more of his own time to convince her was a bitter pill to swallow. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice, give her circumstances.

“Fine, I’ll do what I can. However, there’s nothing that I can do here. We’ll have to visit the ruins of my clan to search for any information about your condition.”

Gideon leapt to his feet and celebrated. He pulled out his sticks and started tapping on the nearest object to the tune of a beat. The way he burst into annoyance made Roze instantly regret things.

“We’re going on a journey~~ A never-ending journey~~ A journey to the- ugh!”

An elbow to the gut forcefully stopping Gideon’s solo. Roze gave him an annoyed look that didn’t appreciate his nostalgia, or his tone deafness for that matter.

“Before you get too excited. Here.” Roze handed him a wanted poster of her, which she had snatched from one of the mercenaries. “We’ll have to do something about this, or else, we won’t make it far at all.”

Being constantly pursued would certainly make things stressful.