Originally uploaded Jan 31, 2023

??? Pov

Stepping through space and time my feet rest upon the familiar polished stone floors. With my chief curator awaiting for my return.

"Greetings master, the Sullamance Galleries rejoiced in your return." He said as he went down onto his knees.

"Does it?" I questioned, raising my brows while looking around at my welcoming party. It was just him.

Sullamance was not rejoicing. It would not celebrate anything. It was a dormant realm, most of its officials, servants, and warriors still in stasis of the Great Slumber. Only I had awakened early. whether it be sheer luck or some kind of fate.

What a shame. Despite our hibernation to mitigate our losses the natural entropy of the universe was a cruel thing. Stripping many of the lower ranking members of our race to completely lose their mind and free will.

"A successful endeavor my lord?"

Extracting the aetheric artifact from my most recent heist from my cloak, placing it withing a small stasis field of its own it hung in the air. As if it was resting on a invisible platform.

"My lord, is this for archive or display?" He asked as he withdrew a tablet to begin writing down my instructions.

Normally, my kind would not need such arcane methods of retaining information but the Great Slumber had more negative side effect than we had initially theorized. Never the less he served his purpose well and that is all I asked of him. Of the few that already risen, some of the high nobles emerged not even knowing their names. Others were complete automatons or completely mad.

I fear that when they all awaken there won't be a sane soul to appreciate my work.

"My lord? Permission to repeat the question." The curator asked as he tapped on his tablet with his writing utensil expectantly.

"Hmm? You may."

"What shall I do with this piece?"

"This one." I mused, rubbing my chin.

"Upon reconsideration, I'll take care of this myself." I said before withdrawing the artifact back into my dimensional pocket in my cloak.

"Meet me in the Great Scourging gallery."

I turned to go, I had to replace his surrogate body before it completely fell apart after all. When a display appeared in my vision.

"What is this?" I asked m curator as I studied the aetheric display in front of me.

"Exhibit breach, in the bellyward section. Gallery MXVIIIX."

"The Beast Glades ecosystem." I snarled

"Seismic activity?"

"No reports or readings of stasis field failure on the tectonic plates, lord archaeovist." he replied. "Stasis containment and Tesseract restart protocol not responding as well."

"Deploy the containment units." I snapped, annoyed by my kin's slow thought matrix.

"And damage the exhibit, lord?"

"If I see even a single atom missing I'll have you wish the asuras tortured you." I threatened before activating the teleport function on my staff.

I rarely visited the Great Scourging galleries. It didn't lead to the most pleasant of memoirs. Despite being the largest of all my exhibits.

I had no doubt in my mind that this relic I held fit in here perfectly. Making my way through the statues of living breathing asuras and people alike, all frozen in the exact moment in time of their last battle I head up to the large ancient structure. More a temple than a fortress, but during times of war people rarely had time to debate the style of construction.

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I was halfway up the stairs when I noticed something. Something was off, the pedestal that was at the top of the stairs was notably empty. I had made note of everything within my galleries, down to every last speck of dust. The relic in question was important to our entire race so what good was it being held in a vault by the Alarcryans, with no one to appreciate its true nature,

Turning on my heel I summon my staff in defense mode as the aether contained within it swirled to life, awaiting my command.

There are very few souls who would dare enter my labyrinth, let only challenge me in it.

"You old bastard, reveal yourself!" I shouted into the great darkness. And from it stepped out a old figure.

His old back was hunched over, but nevertheless he stood at almost two meters tall. Dawning a brilliant violet cloak made of small crystalized scales of time itself.

He mismatched eyes stared into mine. One a natural dark brown, while the other shined a exquisite green.

"It's been a while old friend. I had thought you had gone over and died of old age already." I joked as we slowly paced around each other.

He wasn't a warrior, like me. Before the age of transference and the Great Slumber we were both old with age. Only with aetheric enchantments did we grow in strength. But he was a chronomancer, an adviser to the throne. It was wise not to underestimate him.

"I have come for what you held." The old chronomancer spoke, his voice raspy as if he hadn't used it in a long time. In his hands was a relic in question. A transparent cube, quiet unremarkable to most. But we both understood its significance.

"Thievery is beneath you old friend, perhaps if you agree. I'll allow you to research it in my presence. I would also wish to understand it fully." I mocked as I sent a mental message to the defense system.

"Understand? Don't play dumb with me. You are just a child hoarding toys, a bird adorning its nest with shiny trinkets. You want things just to have them, their true meaning and use is lost on you." The old chronomancer spat like venom.

"While I appreciate your comment this still is a crime between factions is it not? If I'm not mistaken that warlord ruler of yours is still in self imposed exile." I mocked once again, trying to buy time for my guards to arrive.

He must have realized, with one flick of his master craftsmanship of a cloak he vanished. Well vanished is not the right world. Much like how normal beings live in the third dimension and have a very limited perception of the fourth, time. But as a chronomancer as well as utilizing aether it is possible for us to vanish from this reality. When really we are stepping into a parallel dimension that most beings can't see or interact with.

But this is a old trick. Reaching out with my staff, aether hums to life as I violently rip him back out into real-space.

He must have expected that. As he came back into the material world running. Dodging and wheezing around my many displays.

"Exterminate that crook!" I shouted at the heavily armored guards that now arrived. Each carrying a various swords, staffs, and small cannons that would erase any entity it hit.

The mindless guards only marched in complete unison as they closed in on the criminal from all directions.

"Stop!" I yelled as that bastard time wizard hid among my displays of pottery. All of them thousands of years old, created back when our race was the dominant on both continents.

"Don't lay a finger on those displays!" I mentally ordered to the guards as they abruptly halted. Trying to process the new order for a split second. But that split second was all he needed.

With a resounding crash several pots and dishes all floating, frozen in stasis were hurdled to the ground. Shattering into millions of pieces.

"No!" I desperately yelled. Those pieces were one of a kind, I don't even have backups for them. It was a lasting memorial of our races' past life. I sprinted in myself before I was stopped by the sight in front of me.

"Call off your soldiers and I'll stop." The chronomancer spat with his staff pointed at the rest of the collection. Ready to blow them into another reality.

My mind buzzed, trying to think of a way to come out on top of this situation. But he knew he had won this time, aevum is a bitch isn't it.

"But I'll add one condition old friend."

"Let's hear it."

"You will reverse all the damage here if I do."

He considered for a moment. Never lowering his weapons. It seemed like several years before he finally responded.

"Very well."

With one small motion from my hands the guards retreated as they lowered their weapons. But I drew closer to him.

"Now your part of the deal." I hissed, calculating in my head the time and effort I had used to secure the shattered artifacts on the floor.

"Here is the problem, you hoarder." He insulted me but I didn't care, all I needed was the damage to be undone.

"If I were to reverse local time to repair these worthless junk you call relics. It would not only reverse time on them but also this realm in its entirety.

'Oh no.'

"You would lose all recollection of this deal and it would be back to square one for all of us."

A faint glow surrounded the chronomaner, and I knew what it meant.

I dived for the criminal but only manage to rip off a single scale of crystalized time from his cloak. And by the time I had finally reached him. nothing occupied the space but empty air.

And all I was left with was his parting words.

"The asura's reckoning is coming old friend, be on the right side of history."

I, the archaevoist of my entire race. Lord of the Sullamance galleries, stood in the center of my ruined past.

For the first in a hundred years I felt something I haven't felt since my days as regular flesh and blood, rage.

As I howled for revenge.