Time Rift

[hasbeendispatched]

All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.

The two Elements resolve themselves in a span of verdant forest. In one direction, waves crash against a shoreline which is too much a line to be natural. In another, a jagged rift of oily black and red absolutely reeks time disturbance, mayhem creeping through it like tentacles -- Sapphire can feel the fabric of time tugged in that direction as it whizzes like a spindle out of control, tugging a thread to unravel.

Bizarre, Sapphire comments. We are very far from home. This is a young place.

This is out of control. Operatives should have been sent much sooner, Steel replies, striding towards the monstrosity.

The earth shakes, suddenly, making the trees sway and creak. Steel remains stock-still, feet firmly planted, but Sapphire stumbles and nearly falls before Steel extends a hand to catch her.

It's very strong, Steel, she sends, pressed against his side. We must find the source of the disturbance.

Comments

[hasbeendispatched]

I'll take it away when we're done.

To the stranger, Sapphire sends hello again. Without touch, only the word itself comes across, without context or even intonation.

She holds out her hand, palm up, and stands very still, like she's trying to coax an animal to eat from it.

[sturdycoldsteel]

There's no such thing as a mental checklist. She tries anyway. Can she remember things? Her parents, her old house, what she was doing last Wednesday, where her mountain is. Yes. Fourteen times nine is... A hundred twenty six. She checks with a little calculator. Seems alright. She still feels the same way about puppies. And Tenno. And the rift. Of course, if it was an attack that alters the way she thinks she's already done. They would have made her unable to notice the change.

Fine. Holding hands. I think you are very lost.

[hasbeendispatched]

The sentiment comes through along with the unfamiliar words. Sapphire pays attention to both -- depending on how long this assignment takes, she might need to pick up some of the language. She can always use another one.

Visiting, not lost. We are here to repair the rifts.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Fixing the rifts is my job. I'm a Fate. Let's pack as much meaning as she can into that last word, since this... Whatever... Seems to work like that. She's a magically powerful former human immortal-unless-killed who makes the world. I don't have a good chance to make the right squares to close the rifts, and convincing other Fates to help would be expensive, so I need to knock them down and start over. You think you can close them directly?

[hasbeendispatched]

Squares. Rifts. The pictures Sapphire's getting along with the words are ... flat. This isn't Earth, or even another planet. They're very far from home.

Steel, come over here, please. Sapphire takes his hand with her free one and relays.

To the "Fate": It's our job. You must know that they distort time?

(There's a lot of context on that last word. Sapphire has a very clear mental image of time, and it's terrifying and personified and malevolent and immense.)

[sturdycoldsteel]

That's why everyone stays away, and why I clear them out when I can. They only start causing... Time effects if they get very bad, and if they fall time returns to normal. I don't know much about time, admittedly. But if that one's messing with time already, I can't even try to repair it, I'll just have to collapse the whole zone so it doesn't spread to the other rifts. If the monsters keep looping they could kill a whole lot of people.

[hasbeendispatched]

So she's not an Element, then, or even what passes for one in this place. Not human either, though, clearly. Sapphire passes everything on to Steel, then returns her attention to the Fate.

Time is our job. The rest of it is peripheral to us. Maybe we can work together.

[sturdycoldsteel]

That could work. If you two can shut down the time-altering effect for long enough I can try to close the rift, stop it from coming back.

That original monster apparently remembered where it got reset from. It's running towards them at top speed. Still far enough away not to be an immediate threat though.

[hasbeendispatched]

We can try. The rifts cause time disturbances; what causes the rifts?

[sturdycoldsteel]

Bad planning. She thinks for a moment. Fates make tiles and attach them to the fabric of the world. We make more land and ocean and whatever else. When the edges don't match up, rifts form. But trying and trying until you get a tile that matches up with its neighbors take a long time, so sometimes other Fates don't bother. Lazy short-sighted work if you ask me. The worst you get with a single rift is unstable weather, problems start if you have several near each other. And there's at least a dozen in this area.

[hasbeendispatched]

Sapphire confers with Steel briefly.

It sounds like the best thing to do might be to destroy these tiles and make new ones? But you said you could close the rifts and keep them from re-opening, she sends to the Fate.

[sturdycoldsteel]

I can change the terrain, which will remove the rifts. It's more significantly tiring, but faster and less reliant on luck.

[hasbeendispatched]

Convenient. All right. Weather, time, monsters; do they have any other effects?

[sturdycoldsteel]

Anything that physically touches the rift itself is destroyed. They make the local area less stable, more likely to fall away. I've already determined that this place has at least another day or two unless something sets it off early.

[hasbeendispatched]

Noted. Shall we try tag-teaming a rift, then? Does it matter to you which one we start with?

[sturdycoldsteel]

Closest first? I'm Mountain, by the way.

That monster has gotten close enough to be concerning, again. Mountain lances it with fire just to get it out of the way.

[hasbeendispatched]

That's fine. I'm Sapphire, and this is my partner Steel. How long do we have before that thing recurs? Steel's not bothered but I'm slightly more fragile.

[sturdycoldsteel]

I'm not sure, but not very long. There will keep being more and more until the rift is closed. I can handle them, I have more than two dozen charges of Lance, a Burning Blade, plenty of other weapons. And terrakinesis too.

[hasbeendispatched]

Convenient. Well, if you can cover us, Steel and I can get up close and deal with the time effects.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Not convenience. Preparation. Go ahead, I'll follow just behind and above.

[hasbeendispatched]

Steel, she's covering us for the ghosts; we'll need to reverse the time distortion, and I think there's some looping to patch.

[steelyglance]

Steel isn't impressed with the quality of his backup, and lets Sapphire know as much.

Out loud: "Let's go in closer then. Follow me."

He leads the way towards the rift, moving cautiously.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Their backup follows closely and blasts monsters long before they become a threat. When they start coming in twos and threes she starts using shorter lines of fire, presumably to conserve energy.

[hasbeendispatched]

Sapphire follows Steel towards the rift until the time distortion becomes uncomfortable, then starts fixing it. This involves standing very still while her eyes glow blue and a faint thrumming sound throbs through the air.

Then it stops.

[steelyglance]

Keep going, Sapphire. Sapphire!