"So, when do you get the sleigh and reindeer?" Alex asked.

"I don't. Didn't you see me teleport in like, just a second ago?" he answers.

"I don't know! Why would there be a rumor about your sleigh if you don't have one?" Alex responded. "It's been a strange night."

"That probably stems from the rumors of me riding a chariot made of the bodies of blood-drenched soldiers in my early days. I didn't, but the rumors got the job done," he says back.

"Fine, whatever, get back to your story," Alex told him, folding his arms and sitting back.

"Ungrateful brat." He said back before continuing the story.

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I got on the train to join the battlefront. I was armed with nothing more than the skills learned at the academy and the weak magics I practiced nearly till I dropped. I prepared as best I could, knowing that I wouldn't always have time to draw a ritual in the air, so I hid knives all over within my cloak, just in case.

When I finally made it to the command tent and presented my papers to the current highest in command I was assigned a unit. The same unit, I knew, that Elysia had been leading. I was ecstatic! The luck! I raced as fast as I could to report in with the love of my life.

"Lanetli? Why are you here? You haven't connected to your icon yet." She said as I came in. She moved to hug me regardless and I held her for as long as I could, wishing this moment could last longer than it did. Eventually, it had to end, as all things must, and we broke apart.

"I got on military advancement," I told her.

"You really think that fighting is how you unlock Time?" she said skeptically.

"No, but they don't have to know that. Plus, I don't know that fighting isn't the answer." I said cheekily.

"As glad as I am to have you here, you should never lie, it is the greatest sin of Knowledge that can be committed," she said, her face twisting in distaste.

"I promise I won't lie anymore," I told her. And I meant it, at least, for the most part.

She got a far-off look in her eye and then she looked at me and said "Prepare for battle. We need to go out soon." I nodded and kissed her goodbye. I was as ready as I could be, so I conjured a basic blade and waited.

Soon the glow stones set above the tents all turned bright red and we moved out. Something I never expected was that battle is chaotic, and at that time I heard fewer grunts of pain or battle than screams of anger and pain and many creatively constructed curses.

Two melee mages ran up and started attacking the front lines as soon as we got there, conjuring armor and swords and such without any sort of ritual circle. Everyone else shot evocations at the enemy from the back, with minimal or even no ritual circles. I was jealous, but all I could do to help was set up my rituals and fire off what I could. Elysia was worried, but I didn't understand why as she shouted out orders.

Then she screamed "RETREAT!" at the top of her lungs and we moved to leave. But she didn't, she ran out to the melee mages and used a magic I had never seen from her. Owls started pouring out from nowhere, each one glowing with an azure power. I went to help as best I could, because I was not leaving her to fend for herself. As I started moving towards her I saw a mage from the other side drawing a bow, and the arrow started charging with a bright yellow light.

I was ten feet away when the arrow was released, along with two others with red and white glows that I hadn't seen. One hit Elysia in the eye, the other her heart and the last blew off her right arm. I kneeled down and cradled her mangled face, trying to make out the beauty I had found in it only moments before. I needed those previous times we had together back. I needed her to be back. If I had had more time, she would still be here. She would still have time. It was gone. All of that time we spent together, wasted. I held her, the battle slowing to a stop around me as another mage released an arrow at me, but I didn't notice until I wasn't holding Elysia anymore.

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I looked up and saw a great minotaur made out of green light holding a great blade and a grandfather clock as a tower shield.

"I am TIME. You have finally learned to reach out to the gods."

"Why couldn't you have bound to me sooner? If I had you the entire time she would still be here!"

"You knew not the value of the TIME you had. Now that hers is expired you have learned what you took for granted. You were so close, but you didn't care to do anything but wish. If you had understood you could have had more TIME to save her. You failed, not me, mere mortal." the god-like being said.

"I need revenge. Give me what I need to kill every single one of those mages." I demanded.

"All things must end, for TIME is eternal, yet more precious than the most sacred of stones. A finite resource that never runs dry. TIME ends all things, and as my arbiter, you must take that which cannot be taken, and destroy that which none but TIME may destroy. I give you the gift of the past, to end that in the present."

I was dropped back into the present, but I was standing and the arrows heading towards me were pulverized. I knew the past of everything I could see down to memories even they did not have, and I knew all of their weaknesses. I was not overwhelmed, the power helping me to keep my head. I turned to my group, who had stopped to witness the ascension.

"Vengeance, give me power," I said in the voice of Time as I pointed to one of the mages. He waved his hands and light red as the blood of my fallen love settled around me, enhancing my power. I ran as fast as I could, putting the power of Time in my steps and my blade.

I knew the fighting patterns of each man I fought and countered them perfectly with my training from the academy. Mage after mage fell and I took a grim satisfaction in ending each and every life that contributed to the death of my beloved. After I finished with the mages I moved on to the militia, cutting down man after man.

The battle froze again, though I wasn't transported anywhere this time, there was only a voice.

"You have taught many others the value of their TIME, and for this, I reward you with Eternal Moment. Fight, and end all as only TIME can." said the incarnation.

So when the world moved again I got as close to the enemy as I could and used my eternal moment. I had two minutes of frozen time that I used to slaughter every man that dared get anywhere near. I had stopped caring whether or not they were the enemy, I simply slaughtered.

I was drenched in blood when I ran out of enemies to fight and I took a moment to stew in my anger. It wasn't enough. There was a price to be paid for taking everything I wanted from me. We were supposed to be together forever! I wanted a simple life, a life of simple pleasures, a life with unlimited time.

But I know better now that time could never allow eternity to exist outside of itself. I may be part of Time, but no one I love would ever be allowed the eternity I possess in my very soul now.

I walked back, knowing it wasn't enough, that it would never be enough. I had to break them. All of them. Destroy them so completely that they would never recover, just like I could never recover. I entered back into the camp, my group with terror frozen on their faces as I walked past them, blood running off my clothes and I dismissed my blade, the blood coating it falling to the ground.

When I got to Elysia's tent, I drew a quick ritual to wash myself off, and then I gathered as much of her stuff as I could on her bed, and cried myself to sleep. No one bothered me, knowing, if not from seeing it, from hearing about it, what I had done, and why they have such a long break between battles. I thought, and I plotted.

It wasn't just the Carthigian kingdoms' fault. Rajek was a fault too. They sent children to fight their battles, and one of the brightest minds in the kingdom fell today. They all had to pay. But I needed the support of Rajek first, then I could destroy them. No one deserved my mercy.