Go outside, see if I can figure out what happened. Something obvious?

Whether or not I can, try one more time. I want to be able to freeze time. It's been a dream of mine for a long time. Can you imagine what you could do if you could freeze time for everyone but yourself?

Its nighttime, and the stars are clear overhead.

You cast out the anchor, and suddenly you're in a hurricane force wind of Chaos as all tabout you stills, and you're theh center of the moving chaos.  And the the strain is too much, and you black out.

When you waken, you're surrounded by several inches of rust in the same room.

So I went from outside to inside with no explanation? And the room around me is rusty? That's interesting.

Did you ever see Clockstoppers? They weren't freezing time, they were moving so fast that everything else seemed to stand still. That's the next best thing to freezing time. I could experience an hour in a matter of a few seconds.

Chaos myself up so that I can move so fast the rest of the world seems frozen. Almost as good as freezing time

The ceiling looks as if it has rusted away into nothingness.  Upon standing, you see the outline of your legs and bottom that is not rusted.

So you're still in what was your room.

OOC: Yeah, I saw Clockstoppers.

I should fix that. Order the ceiling back to normal. I don't want to imagine what they would charge me for damages.



Then you know what I want to do. Chaos myself up so that I'm moving like they were. To me, it will seem like I'm moving at normal speed, everyone else will appear virtually frozen, and to them, I'm moving around like a honeybee. Next best thing to freezing time.

You start this, and it feels like a lesser version of what had already happened.

And then a face the size of a semi rig appears over the top of the roof.  Its humanoid, and pale green, glowing, and keenly aware.

"Magehammer, do not be afraid."  And the voice is soft, but you can hear echoes upon echoes upon echoes, further and further and further away, of thunder.

"Would you...stop that please. You're giving me a headache."  He's clearly referring to your Chaos speed boost.

Looking up in wide-eyed wonder, trying to decide if I should go for a gun, rejecting that idea. It would be like shooting a BB gun at a Sherman tank.

I might drop to my knees.

"And uh, who are you?"

I'm pretty obviously scared, despite being told not to be.

'Don't worship me, Magehammer. I am not the Creator.  I am in the service of the Archangel Uriel, and this my duty is to stand watch over a dead world."

There is a somber melancholy in his tone.  He's not sad, but you expect he rarely smiles.

"I am Irdrigiel, an angel of the Lord of Hosts.  Also, basically a security guard on an empty warehouse."

"Okay, well if there's nothing here to hurt, why don't you want me doing my super speed trick?"

After that

"Do you want to work together? I get the impression this place needs a good fixing. We could work together on that."

I'm still trembling.

"It gives me a headache to look at it.  I could look the other direction later."

He reaches down and lifts you up, and up so that you're easily a thousand feet in the air.  Its gentle and smooth, and you're standing on the palm of his right hand.

You see that trees are breaking into the smooth circle of Newcago, but just at the very edges.  No lights, no people, but you can see what you think might be a bear ambling down an avenue.

"Magehammer, as a verser you cannot have children,  and as a Human, well, you're the only one alive on this planet.  You've voyaged two thousand years into your future with that spell, by mischance, I think.  Are you sure, 'fixing this place up' is what you want?"

My eyes bulge to the size of dinner plates.

"Woooow!!!"

Then I turn and look at this guy.

"So I didn't kill anybody though right? Just traveled into the future? That's good. So can you send me back? Or am I stuck here?"

If he can send me back, all the better. If not, I'll make the most of this. Having a world all to yourself can be fun too.

"I can send you back, the next time stepping stone is  in two minutes.  You will need to go back exactly 273 steps, any more, and Paradox.  Less, and well, Temporal Destabilization doesn't hurt that much when it kills you."

"Hey, dumb question, could you leave me here for a little while? I'd like to explore this world. And I can do my super speed trick and not endanger anyone but myself. You don't have to watch anything. It's just me. No reason to guard me. What do you think?"

"The gates back are two minutes to the power of two, and each gate is another power.  And you must be in Newcago."

He lowers you to the ground, and takes two long steps and is over the horizon.

In the dark, metal streets, you hear skitters and in the distance a hoot.  There are some vines trailing over buildings, so while trees cannot grow here yet...

Chaos myself up so I can run through this super fast. To me, it would feel like I'm moving normal speed though. I want to look through the city and see if there's anything left that might be of use. Weapons, ammo, food, money, blacksmithing supplies, or whatever the gods of Order and Chaos see fit to give me.

OOC) There's four gods of Order and Chaos. Three ten sided dice and an awesome referee.

You're moving through town, and are moving fast enough to avoid the lone ursine, and porcine herds, and to spot a snow leaopard eyeing you from atop a building as you pass.

You find a Protector 'rifle' but it doesn't glow.  You also find a double barrel shotgun that has been chromed so it resisted the rust.

You find ammo, but its spoilt.

You find one gold coin with the words 'Babilar.' on its face, and a woman as queen.
On the oppsite side is the Empire State Building.

You find a 'log' the size of a brick with the words 'Reckoner Heat Trap' on its side. Touch it, and it rapidly climbs in heat to 3000 degreees, and stays there for thirty minutes before cooling down.

You find three sheets of acid-free laminated paper.

"Targets" is one heading.
1. Steelheart,
2. Sourcefield??  Is she the one that gives the Protectors their guns?
3. Obliteration siting in Phoenix, Arizona. Another Reckoner team is still tracking him.
4. Magpie--believe her Epic weakness is recordings of her own rock and rool music.

The next two pages are detailed plans for killing a man with the ability to see a minute in the future, plus Level 3 Agility, and Level 2 Strength.  A name is not mentioned, but it all looks very professional.

Okay, I've had enough of this. Go back to NewCago and try to get that Epic to send me back in time. I sure hope the gods of Order and Chaos aren't expecting me to act on that assassination list I found. Creating temporal paradoxes with knowledge from the future has never been my forte.

I am grabbing the ammo though. Perhaps I can Order it back to functional.

So go back where dude was and send up a flare or something.

"Dude, send me back."

Act or not act, just keep me entertained.  :)

You go back to that part of Newcago (having never gone far from the city), and send up a flare of Chaos energy into the sky.  A moment later, the Angel Iridgiel, not an Epic, is standing next to you.

Its been twenty hours so far.

2 minutes to 2 --4  to 2--8---to 2---16----to 2 32---to 2--64....128.....256....512....1024...2048....

60 minutes into 2048 minutes.....32 hours and eight minutes or ...

"The next gate downstime is twelve hours and eight minutes from now."

Your ordering of the ammo cleans it up, and restores the gunpowder (which is tricky stuff having a lot of volatile Chaos in it).  It occurs to you, or you are reminded of it that Chaosing a gunpowder weapon should be relatively easy.  You now have forty shotgun shells of some level of mild unreliability.

OOC) Will try!!!!


And the double barrel. You didn't specify those were shotgun shells. I'll probably trade that to someone when I get back.

Until then, I'm just going to sit back and wait.

The way back is odd.  The angel anoints your eyes with a lotion, and then before it dries, you can see a stone hovering in the air in front of you.  You jump on, and there's nother, and a step to that.

And soon, you're just in the sky, not sure which way is up, and which is done as they've seemingly swapped several times.

A cold and cruel man's voice echoes out of the air.

"I hear you can turn off pain.  Which makes this really dissapointing on some level, but the sound of broken bones is the sound I like to hear, so I'll make do."

"Izzy an epic?"
"Dun't know, could be one of the Starry Ones."

More voices.

"....this is too dangerous, Jonathan." A woman' svoice.

I hope he's not talking about me. I don't think I can turn off pain. If they're reading my mind or anything, that's what I'm thinking.



Speaking out loud "I don't know. Am I?"



And the only thing I can think of is "Martha Kent?"

(Sorry, I've seen Smallville too many times.)

"What, what's that? "
"Run, its the Protectors..."

=============

A pause.
"What in the name of Sam Houston..." A thunderous voice, that of a man, but not a man accustomed to being interrupted.

=================

And then you're back in your room.

Looking out, the night seems as it was, and there is no rust on the floor.

Overhead, about two hundred feet up, you see a humanoid figure covering in flames, and flying across the sky...

I think I'll just keep my mouth shut. I'm dealing with things beyond my ability to comprehend here.



Pink Floyd comes to mind. "Home, home again. I like to be there, when I can."



So dude is gone. Go out and see if there's any gun stores where I can sell that double barrel and ammo. Maybe make a few new friends in the process.

You walk down one street, up another, go rightward, and leftward, and come to a giant hole in the ground where some buildings used to stand.  Next to it is an oversized solid steel plaque.

"THIS IS THE PLACE OF STEELHEART'S GLORY.  Here at 1st National Bank, he first revealed to the world the greatness that was himself."

A hundred yards to the right is Izzy's Gun Emporium which has 'by appointment only', but when you walk by, a skinny young guy comes hustling out.

"Yes, yes, we fix you up. Come in."

One of the voices I heard said "Izzy an epic" so I'm a bit wary about going into Izzy's gun emporium. But I'll go anyway.

"Gentleman, what will you give me for this fine piece? And what do you have to sell?"

As always, I'm looking for a BFG. (Big Freaking Gun)