Vintergard Not my idea of a good time.

[Erick Stryker]

"Nostalgia" wasn't quite the word.

It had been months since their incursion to retake the city that had served as Capital of Astorea before Finweald, and finally the ragtag coalition of Players and cooperative Landers- who's numbers had dwindled since he had been away- managed to scrap together a semblance of safety amid the chaos. The closer that he came to the Dragonship, the more eerie and surreal it felt to be there at all.

Reclaimed buildings and ruins seemed to blend together as he made his way through the labyrinth of winding streets. Piles of strange mechanical parts that were similar at times to things he knew from the real world were strewn haphazardly. Just as often, there were strange pieces of machinery and tools that seemed born straight from fantasy. Someone with greater knowledge of Magitech learn more from this place than Erick Stryker, but he hadn't come to learn.

Instead, he looked less at the refuse and more at the ethereal threads of energy that flickered in and out above them. No, Erick was certain that no one else could see them; and that was why he never told anyone about why he took these strange walks, keeping to himself.

The deeper he gazed into them, the less he seemed to be aware of anything else around him.

So, when he walked too close to one of the areas of Vintergard that had not been completely cleared of hostiles, it was only natural that he was blissfully unaware of that fact.

He was going to learn today.

@eden

 

[eden]

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.

This place was a garden of metallic ruins. Metal shards mixed with broken wood, stone, and glass. The entire scene was like a massacre of once beautiful architecture in favor for the ruins of a massive Dragonship. The remains of a war that took place before her own character set foot in this game, in fact.

Eden knew nothing of this little fact as she explored the land with a curious gaze. On the map Vintergard had been marked as somewhere pretty to explore. This was definitely not something she was seeking out. Though the idea of gathering some loot or just checking out all the unique tech came to mind. Honestly, seeing how so much of the game's technical marvels worked really made her brain spin with excitement. This was exactly the kind of technological curiosity that drove her to seek a degree in mechanical engineering in the real world, but that wasn't something she needed to think about.

As a beginner in the game, especially one that hadn't even thought to learn how to use the mechanics of her spell casting or other skills yet, she needed to be careful. Getting killed by an enemy too quickly could lead to many problems in the future. She knew the rumors about people dying when they played this game and she certainly didn't intend to be one of them...yet.

"This place is pretty messed up..."

She walked along a glorious broken down white sparkling wall decorated with pillars that were etched with gold.

"Was it once a palace or something?"

The tips of her braided hair fluttered behind her as she moved along quickly. It would be best to look and get out as quickly as possible.

Whirrrr

A strange mechanical noise made her pause in her path. Where was that coming from?

@Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

Stories that would never be given voice echoed in the air around him. Erick watched transfixed as Vintergardian sentries fought back in futility against the onslaught of the Magia as they first descended. The battles raged on, time lapsed. Unspeakable transitions of flesh to metal and glistening oil loosed silent screams as the only man who would ever bear witnessed stifled his urge to vomit and cry, to reach out and offer help.

They were too far beyond that now.

Erick's fingers traced a dusty, warped metal frame that formed the husk of some forgotten building. He strained to see it in its glory, strained to grasp at visions of Vintergard in its prime. The Leylines started to etch silver and gold strands together, laying out the gridlike foundation...

And promptly, something ripped through the seams. Light burst apart and magic flung erratically in all directions, and as Erick's vision came into focus, he saw the machine hurtling toward him.

<<Organic Confirmed, enacting contingency protocol Theta>>

"Well, that doesnt sound friendly."

The screaming of an alarm klaxon rang in his ears, and Erick clutched at his head. In turn, another started to sound nearby, and another. The hulking machine was swathed in dark scraps of cloth, obfuscating blades that rotated at high speed.

"Definitely not friendly," he murmured quickly, "I don't think I made the right turn at Albuquerque...!"

It swung wildly at Erick, who deftly dodged.

Somewhere nearby, another faint thrumming buzzed to life...

@eden

 

[eden]

.
.

The whirring sound shifted to something more than just a confusing noise. Eden spun around in her spot to find the location that it was originating from. A nearby pile of rubble shifted as an enemy rose from the dirt with blades swinging like a helicopter fan.

<<Organic identified. Protocol Delta enacted.>>

Eden didn't give the things a chance as a quartet of spiderly legs helped it rise up to the full height of six feet before her. She turned on her heel and took off running. The sound of alarms and ringing hit her ears though as she bolted for any place that could provide her some level of protection. Though as she ran she noticed a male figure ahead in the distance near a large metal structure and dealing with his own collection of mechanical enemies.

Eden looked behind her to see what her own enemy was doing. The creature was scurrying after her with a speed that she had no way of describing. It wasn't quite the way a tentacle creature would move, but nor did it match any mech she could place in a media film. Still she was panting as she ran. The fear coursing through her body as she launched herself over a large rock wall, just to fall down into an area swarming with more the mechanical creatures and a man dodging one of them.

The sheer terror on her face said everything about the situation. Was she going to die here because she'd flown too close too the sun?

"Oh fuck!"

@Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

He couldn't quite describe it in the moment. The machines had always adapted to new tactics employed by the Playerbase since their skewed programming mandated it. What this particular model seemed adept at was assassination, as though they had dealt with attempts in the past and logged crucial data. It meant that if the war had dragged on, if Szofrit hadn't been stopped, the casualties would have been staggering.

Erick didn't really have the luxury of time to fully follow that line of thought to its conclusion. The precision of each strike demanded that he watch the flow of time carefully, that his body respond with pinpoint accuracy or risk the serrated weapons rending his flesh... or worse.

He blinked in and out as he utilized his Mastery over Chronomancy to step through the infinitesimally small space that separated his life from his death, a blur of motion that failed to register in the realm of sensory perception. It was so fast that even the machine struggled to calculate the difference, and the resultant lag afforded Erick the only breathing room he had.

Oh fuck!

If it had just been Erick, he might have continued to ghost around the mysterious machine and look for an opening, any chance to put it out of commission before it had a chance to catalogue new data. The moment he heard someone else might be in danger, Erick's priorities shifted completely. He processed the new information and skipped backward a step, his gaze moving toward the sound of her voice.

How many more had there been? Had they always been there? The machines were swarming now, and whether or not he could dodge the attempts on his life one on one, a multitude of similar strikes would reduce the effectiveness of his previous strategy to a bleak statistic.

Instead, he had to take a calculated risk.

If he followed his own track backward, they would end up deeper behind enemy lines, and unsurprisingly, his mind had been too preoccupied to properly reconnoiter the area. The danger could be higher, especially if the machines collapsed on them.

No, even if I don't have all the information, this has to be the move.

Erick rushed forward toward the woman and quickly yelled "Sorry about this!" He didnt wait for permission, and he threw his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest as he drew the mana into his body and started to slow down...

Slower....

Stop...

Rewind.

Colors began to bleed together, until a grayscale rendition of the past minute began to play in reverse. Past the machines that she had stumbled across, backward through her steps that saw her to Vintergard itself, all Minutes turned into a half hour, then three quarters, and finally a full hour. Until Erick noticed that they had come to the fringes of the capital city, to the encampment where the Starcalled had carved out a foothold.

Finally, with a sigh, he let her loose. With any hope, her face had stayed buried in his chest and she hadn't seen the distorted flow of time. Her body reeling from it would be enough of a shock. Erick called to one of the guards, "you guys should get ready," he said. "There's some nasties out a mile or two, north northeast of here. I may have accidentally pissed 'em off..."

He heard a few muttered curses, but turned to the woman. "Hey... you okay?"

@eden

 

[eden]

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.

This was by far the very last type of adventure that Eden wanted to find herself in today. Looting a place and exploring some ruins, that was all that was all on her agenda. Yet, as she kept her back pressed to the crumbled surface behind her in an attempt to avoid the whirring of machinery behind her she couldn't help but let out a little squeak of fear. The male figure in front of her dancing around the attacks at a rate of movement that she couldn't possibly hope to comprehend and yet she tried to keep her gaze on the battle.

He seemed to notice her after the words left her lips. She'd barely had a moment to gather herself before she found herself wrapped in his embrace. her smaller frame pressed against his and her face pressed to his chest. What the hell was he doing? Though she didn't seem to make a peep as the little glimpses of color her icy gaze could take in seemed to move far to fast to grasp the details of. Whatever he was doing, well it was clearly getting them away from the danger.

When he finally let her go they were somewhere very different. The ruins were gone. The threat of the machines also seemed to have disappeared. They were....in a camp?

She listened to her unexpected companion speak. She couldn't help but to step back and take in his words. They'd moved miles? Strange since....it had only seemed like a few seconds maybe minutes at most for her. How did this guy have such a power? Oh wait....

"Chronomancy?"

Eden looked up at her savior with a confused expression before answering his question.

"Y-yeah I mean....uh...I'm fine. Are you okay? It looks like I....interrupted your little dance. Sorry...and thank you for that...."

She chuckled nervously. He was....kinda cute.

@Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

"Yeah," he let out a ragged breath as he confirmed her initial suspicion. "I tried to make sure you weren't exposed to the shift directly for too long, I hope that's alright."

Erick quickly took a few steps back and away from Eden to give her the freedom to move and recover. "The human mind perceives time at a specific rate, and it can perceive things it's already perceived without much issue- but when you start going forward and backward, playing with the unknown, it gets a little..."

The blue-haired youth made a motion with his finger spinning around his ear.

"Loopy? Pardon the pun."

Y-yeah I mean....uh...I'm fine. Are you okay?

After all but telling her prolonged exposure to the timelines could cause some mental health issues, that was a fair question.

"Yep, I'm great," he said quickly, affirming it more for his own benefit than hers.

It looks like I....interrupted your little dance. Sorry...and thank you for that...

"Me? Oh, no, not at all. If anything, you gave me an even more compelling reason to get the heck out of there," he told her. In truth, he hadn't really been worried for his safety. Plunging overboard through causality, fraying his sanity just enough to keep himself alive... yeah, it made sense that it took someone else being in danger for him to save his own skin.

Maybe he should've taken Ash Vargold's chastisement a little more seriously.

"This area is pretty safe, and you can get back to Finweald pretty easily on one of the supply carriages. They arrive pretty regularly..."

@eden

 

[eden]

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.

Eden tilted her head to the side as she processed what his statment meant concerning the shift. Had they traveled through time? Well, given the situation it certainly made sense. It was the first time she'd seen someone use Chronomancy though.... It was a pretty difficult ability to master she imagined, heck...even her fire magic was a challenge. This boy was clearly impressive though...

"You're such a gentleman....I'm not used to being the damsel in distress, so it was kinda nice to be saved honestly."

Usually she was the wicked bitch causing the problem.

Though his explanation of the way he used his ability certainly made sense, even with the bad pun. Eden snickered a bit. Puns were cute and bad dad jokes were a blast. She certainly had a dorky sense of humor though, perhaps it was hanging out with all the IT nerds in her father's company that did it. Those poor guys rarely got out of the building let alone into the sunlight...

"But you know...a good loop de loop makes for a fantastic ride. I've never traveled in time before, but that was definitely better than a secondhand experience. Puns absolutely intended."

She leaned back against one of the nearby structures and looked up at the dark haired male as she attempted to cover up her nervousness. Strange, she was usually pretty confident when it came to flirting...must be the stress. Yeah, totally just the stress of her first major combat situation.

"Too bad. It was kind of fun watching you tango. Do you regularly go out on life threatening exploration and machine battles?"

She toyed with her hair as she watched with a coy expression. Though his comment about the ways to get out of this location certainly made her wonder if he was just gunning to get rid of her.

"I apologize if I interrupted your plans for the day. I was just curious about the ruins since there's supposed to be some interesting lore to them....and maybe some good finds. I'm Eden. Do you have a name or should I just call you 'The cute time wielding hero'?"

@Erick Stryker