• Prolouge
    “Time is like water, it only flows in one direction.”
    -The Entity


    Dest stood in a room full of mechanical components, the clanking of moving parts echoed off the walls. She looked to the center of the room, standing before her was a massive cylinder. Printed upon the surface were the words “REACTOR 01”. That was her target. She closed her eyes and recalled when she received the mission. Destroy the Temporal Distortion Device. Her mind drifted back to the Event.
    “You called?” asked Dest as she walked through the door and into the dark throne room.
    She walked up the black carpet beneath her feet that led to the throne sitting at the back of the room. A figure shifted in the chair as she approached it and kneeled before the small stairway that the throne sat above. No-one has ever seen it’s face before, all the other Time Keepers say that it has no face. It was known simply as “The Entity” to them. The Entity is the controller of all time and the Overseer of the Society of Time Keepers. The whispers of The Entity used to constantly echo in her mind, it was the ambient noise that all Time Keepers heard. Lately strange thing have been happening, several time Keepers went missing years ago. The whispers had died down until they completely stopped a few days after their disappearance. The only way it could communicate was if you were in close proximity to it.

    “Yes, Time Keeper Dest, I sent for you.” The Entity whispered in her mind. “Something the Humans have built has distorted the flow of time, and corrupted my powers. The Past now flows into the Present, and I am unable to mend the distortion.”
    Dest could sense that The Entity was unwell, a low moan always followed it’s whispers, and it constantly shifted around in it’s throne. She felt a bit worried, what kind of device could interfere with the strongest existence in the universe?

    “What would you have me do?” She asked.

    “I need you to destroy the Device that is corrupting me and restore the flow of time.” The whispers replied.

    Dest opened her eyes and the throne room was replaced with the mammoth reactor. Destroy the device? Simple. The reactor provided power to the device. From what she learned, if a power supply is cut off, it will cause the device to be unstable. The resulting energy fluctuation will cause it to destroy itself. She took hold of the hilt attached to her sword and pulled it slowly from it’s sheath. The sound of scraping metal refreshed her. Too long she had kept her blade in it’s hold, almost rusting from sheer misuse. She positioned the sword in front of her, pointing it at the shell of the reactor. She gripped the hilt harder, preparing to strike. Even though her target was inanimate, it was better than nothing.
    She lifted the sword above her head and brought it down upon the hard metal shell covering the reactor’s delicate components. The blade tore through the shell like paper, severing wires and splitting pipes at it traveled. As she retracted her blade, sparks flew from the gaping slash she created and a acrid liquid bubbled out of the diverged pipes. The loud wail of an alarm rang through the room, the red lights that lined the walls flashed in sync with the repeating wails. Violent explosions reverberated through the room, showering Dest with sparks and hot metal. The outburst of violent energy blew large pieces off the reactor’s shell, sending them crashing to the ground. Dest looked at the disintegrating reactor before her, red and orange flame burst the reactor apart and pervaded the room.
    Everything froze. The flame halted, the sparks stood suspended in the air and the flying metal halted. A blue glow enveloped her vision and consumed the room. She felt herself fall.



    CHAPTER I: TIMESHIFT
    “We cannot stop time, we simply divert the flow.”
    -Masti, The T.K.F. commander


    Rastarius let out a heavy, tired sigh and sat down in the cool grass beside the rugged dirt road. He unhooked his swords from his back and set them down on the ground and popped the cork on his water skin open. He lifted the skin to his mouth and took long gulps of refreshing, crystal clear water. He put the cork back into the water skin and laid upon his back. The night sky was full of white stars, sparking against the black sheet of the heavens. He remembered the last time he looked to the stars, his younger sister, Almi, always looked at the small white dots. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

    “Brother, do you ever wonder why the stars shine only at night?” asked Almi.

    “I never thought about it, perhaps they shine to shed some light on this darkened land.” Rastarius replied, he turned his head to face his younger sister. She laid beside him in the grass that covered the ground. He took a deep breath of air and closed his eyes. The sound of hooves pounding in the dirt made his eyes shoot open.
    The forest before him and the grass he sat upon turned to blue flame. He could hear Almi calling his name, he looked to his side. The ground she laid upon a moment ago was empty, replaced with blazing flame. His gaze darted between the objects around him, her cries grew louder until they became a deafening scream. The blue flame before him flared up, blocking his vision and making him jump back. As the wall of flame died down, Almi laid upon the burning ground before him. The blood that flowed from the cuts on her body quenched the fire on the landscape. Darkness consumed the land as the flames died down, a pair of narrow, red eyes hovered in the distance. A sickening laugh echoed through the darkness, filling him with a nameless fear.

    Rastarius shot upright as he let out a howl of terror. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he breathed heavily. He looked around at the landscape. The dirt road near him trailed off into the forest. The trees reached up into the sky, as if they were trying to catch the moon. The cold wind rustled the grass around him and gently rocked the trees. Dust billowed off the road as the wind blew across it’s surface. He took a deep breath.
    “Just a dream, Ras, just a dream.” he reassured himself. The sickening laugh echoed faintly in the back of his mind as he grabbed his swords and pushed himself up from the ground. He looked up once more into the sky, faintly splashed with orange by the glimpse of dawn. “I’ll avenge you…Almi.”
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

    Dest struck the hard, cold ground as the world regained its color, the blue color soon faded and was replaced by orange, sun-splashed clouds that floated against the deep blue sky. The glint of her sword’s blade caught her attention as it fell and sunk its biting blade a good six inches into a nearby rock. The red and black tassle attached to it’s hilt played gently in the breeze that flowed across the landscape.
    The peaceful sensation that the land had evoked in her soon fell to confusion. She sluggishly sat upright and looked around. The cold steel floor of the reactor room was replaced by lush green grass and the machines that once clogged the corridor were replaced by tall brown oak trees whose light green leaves rustled with the slight touch of wind.
    “Ah…my head.” she complained to herself as she stood up, despite the swaying feeling that made her steps seem as if she was drunk.
    “Where am I?” she quietly asked herself as she stumbled a few paces over to her sword. The blade protested with a loud screech as she pulled it from the stone and slid it to her side, only to find the scabbard once bound there missing. She clenched her teeth and let out a grunt of displeasure. “And where is my scabbard!?”
    “You mean this thing here?” said a voice from behind her. She turned around to see a man sitting against an old oak, twirling the shiny black scabbard skillfully in his gloved hand.