"We should run."
The party's attention turned from the dumbstruck traveler to Arduen.
"Run? Is that even feasible?" Vivye interjected with hushed intensity.
"Probably not, but do you really want to stick around to find out what he's all about?
Lexo scratched his head.
"Arduen, are you sure that's truly a good idea? He might be an Exception, but if he wanted to kill us-"
"I don't, but I don't particularly like being made into the subject of someone else's conversation and being left out of it," Lee chimed in rather loudly, much to the surprise of the hunting party.
'If only they knew you just got through with a lesson in mannerisms...' his Mirror Soul lamented.
"I... know you couldn't possibly know about this," Lee sat down on the outcrop, "But, I've been through a *really* rough day. I would much rather not resort to violence. That said, two things: one, there are plenty of fates worse than death, and two; if you want to learn what someone is all about, as the halfling put it, then it's much easier to just sit down and chat."
"And what if we want to leave you here and pretend we never met?" Daritz spoke up after a moment. To his surprise, Lee smiled bitterly.
"Then you'd have to live with that on your conscience. I won't stop you, if that's what you're asking."
Daritz nodded a few times and turned back to his team.
"Doesn't seem like he's being disingenuous, you guys. But it's your call."
"I feel bad doing this, but aren't we already behind schedule? You know, the matter of investigation?" Arduen piped up. "We still have to report back to them by-."
"Guess that settles it then," Lexo interrupted. "Arduen is right, we need to get going."
Daritz turned to Vivye, who seemed to be in a daze.
"Is something on your mind, Vivye?"
"Hm? You could say that, but it's not for here nor now."
Daritz turned around to face Lee.
"My apologies, but we actually have some prior arrangements we need to attend to."
Lee shook his head.
"You owe me no apology, safe journeys."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lee watched them walk off with their backs to the sun.
'Are you sure that was wise? To let them go, I mean?'
'Would it have done me any favors to allow my first actions in this world to cover my hands in blood?'
Lee felt his consciousness being drawn into his artifact, and found himself looking at his own image in a Void.
'You're not wrong to think that way, but they're pretty in-the-know. They knew what Time's Keeper was. That's not common knowledge, even in higher circles of society here.'
'Knowledgeable does not necessarily mean capable, but at the same time, it's only natural to give them the benefit of the doubt as I am an outsider in this land. I am not...'
'You could not be more wrong, do you not feel it in your blood?'
'I know what you're talking about, and no. I do not feel it. You may not realize it, but I left my home behind. And what a welcome party it was!'
'Is that... sarcasm?'
'Glad you're at least as quick on the uptake as I am, one good thing comes out of today at least.'
'Now if only you were as receptive to advice as I apparently am quick on the uptake.'
'I'm receptive to good advice, not excuses to murder.'
'You're fixated on a singular value for a variable, I asked you if it was wise to let them go, not if it was wise to leave them alive.'
'Even so, aside from the -potential risk- of them saying something to someone else, what reason would I have to detain them?'
'I only-'
'You're erring on the side of extreme caution, and it's to both of our detriment.'
'So then what do you propose we do?'
'Get our bearings, secure satiation.'
'You do realize-?'
'They had their priorities. I respect that. We don't need them to survive. If this is done right, we may not even need them to get to civilization. But... there are stranger things that could happen' Lee conveyed pensively.
'Not what I was getting at... but ok. What do you have in mind then?' His mirror soul inquired.
Lee reawakened in his physical body.
"A few ideas, actually. First and foremost is getting fire, that shouldn't be too difficult." He surveyed the expansive woods, surrounding the outcrop. "It's fortunate that we ended up coming into this world where we did, as it means I don't have to worry about burning the woods down to cook meat."
~Three hours further~
A blue sun was traversing the horizon perpendicular to the initial sun's path as Lee finally saw the fruits of his labor: a pillar of smoke and flame rising from the forested brush of the woods surrounding the outcrop. He fell on his back, and laughed.
'You could have saved-'
"Do you not get it?' Lee interjected. 'I need to be able to do it on my own before I cheat my way through this. However, one of the things I've been meaning to ask... Who, or what; are you?"
His other half remained silent from within Time's Keeper.
"Was that the wrong question, or are you forbidden from answering?"
'Incorrect, and no. That... has not been defined yet, so I do not know, and thus I can't answer you properly.'
"Do you not have a name then?"
'I do not.'
"I see, then that's something I'll have to think about, isn't it?"
'If you are determined to give me a name, then you should give it some genuine consideration. Names work a little differently-'
'You're speaking of the Fae, I assume?'
'That's one of many things I am speaking of... Fae least of all of them, however; are still not to be taken or handed out lightly.'
Lee reminisced on the stories from his world, gazing into the flames as his mind wandered. He remembered tales of how those who were loose-lipped near the fair folk with regards to their identity would find it stolen away, lose themselves and everything they were. Many would wonder whether this was malicious intent, or if it was simply a fact of their existence; a mechanism they were subject to rather than one they themselves controlled on a whim.
"Duly Noted," Lee said aloud. For a brief moment, a shrill hawk's cry filled the air as he said so; followed by a sequence of explosions startling the other flocks in the area making for them to take flight in a state of seeming urgency.
'That sounded like-.'
'It wasn't like, it was precisely. What will you do?'
Lee arose from sitting on the outcrop and faced the direction of the call.
'Counterintuitive though it may be, the damn thing that got me here in the first place. I'm gonna meddle.'
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
(A few minutes prior)
Approximately 13 kilometers roughly East from where they had met the traveler, Daritz and his party were taking a break underneath the towering redwood canopy in relative solitude. Aside from the insects and birds chittering and singing their songs, it was relatively quiet. Very little sunlight was breaking through in this particular section, which brought about its own comforts
"Vivye," Daritz suddenly spoke up, "you held yourself back from mentioning something back there because of him, right? What was it?"
Vivye, who had been stone-faced most of the journey since their encounter with Lee, frowned solemnly.
"I know we have prior obligations that supersede all other priorities, but shouldn't we have at least pointed him towards the ? He doesn't know a damn thing about this place, you could tell as much from his first waking words."
Lexo nodded in agreement.
"That's nuts!" Arduen blurted out. "Don't you remember how you identify the Essence of an Exceptionary Function Actualizer!? That was very clearly a pocketwatch, he more than likely carries-."
"Be that as it may," Daritz cut him off. 'If looks could kill,' Arduen thought as his blood ran a few tenths of a degree colder, "Vivye, is there a reason you're vouching for him?"
Vivye ran her hand through her long bangs, brushing a generous bunch of hair out of her face.
"Sir, I'm not vouching for him. But I think you and I both understand that every word he said was, in fact, sincere. I don't need Seer's Syrum to know he's not lying, and there's not a damn living thing in this world that you can't get a read on swiftly."
"You're embellishing-," Daritz began before getting cut to the quick again.
"And you've got a slight blush on your face, come clean, damnit! Is some fucking empathy for something other than us too much to ask for where it's bloody well-deserved??"
"Well that was a low blow," Arduen suppressed a chuckle, with Lexo howling uncontrollably. "Hilarious, but a low blow."
"Vivye, your ease with trusting others could get you killed one day. It is an admirable quality, but it can leave you vulnerable as we saw when we first found him, no offense."
"It's good to be owed a favor, it's even better to make mutually beneficial conne-."
"And just for the record... I could not get a read on him as a whole, only his last response. Besides," he and his hawk turned back to the direction they had been traveling from and saw a plume of smoke several kilometers back. "That kid had other intentions anyhow. I get you want to help others, and it seems he wasn't planning on leaving that area anytime soon. If you want to see him off properly after we finish our-."
"Wait a moment, you only managed to read his last response?" Arduen and Vivye inquired simultaneously. Lexo halted his howls of laughter which had devolved into cackling as his ears perked up. "Hold on, is that true, Daritz?"
Reice's head perked up and turned abruptly to the direction they were initially headed in, at the exact same time, both the chittering and singing of wildlife all around them seemed to have vanished. The four party members noticed almost as quickly, but Reice had already taken flight. As Daritz looked up towards his companion, the other three had already assumed defensive stances.
"Well," Lexo growled, "seems our objective found us."
"Guess we're on the clock then," Daritz dismissed his prior humored notions as he drew his bow. From around them; a low, droning and metallic tone centered in from the unseen areas beneath the canopy around them. Reice cried out from above as a rain of daggers imbued with explosive charms began to rain down on them from every direction.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Back in the present time)
Lee opened the pocketwatch and pulled the knob. As the world's lushness faded to monochrome uniformity with the ceasing of time's march, he began to run in the direction of the detonations; a flood of thoughts caught up in an undercurrent in his mind. Among the many thoughts this riptide was composed of, the foremost among them was the most disquieting.
'What will I be able to do?'
His mirror soul was quick to interject.
'You ran into this without thinking it through; how predictable. Luckily, all you need to do is watch, at first. Seems that sparing them does have its merits after all.'
That answer caused Lee to furrow his brow.
'Only predictable to you because of obvious details. Explain, you were questioning whether I had made the right decision earlier; why the change of tune all of a sudden?'
'Did you already forget what Arius asked you, about Enigmatic Grasp?'
'That terminology again... what exactly is that?'
Lee's mirror soul paused before answering.
'You seriously don't know?'
'You're seriously asking? The only reason I'm asking you is because I *DON'T* fucking know,' Lee answered with evident agitation.
'Would it kill you to lighten up? I asked because I was genuinely surprised, not out of mockery. It's something akin to 'Copycat', but it's a magnitude of order more overbearing. Copycat would allow you to imitate any technique you've witnessed, but Enigmatic Grasp goes a step further and breaks down the theory, composition, mechanics of practically anything you'll ever experience, down to the most basic fundamentals.'
'So instead of being able to merely copy a technique, I can augment it and other aspects of it?'
'To say the least, yes. However, your original focus was on wanting to use Time in a more effective manner?'
Lee reaffirmed this, having already traversed roughly 1/4 of the space between his original position and the location in question.
'Freezing time is definitely not something to be taken for granted, and has plenty of uses; at the same time, if that's all I can do, it would count as nothing short of an insult towards the Lord of Time. How do I apply this?'
'Relevant question, how many ways off the top of your head can you think of using this power?'
Lee took a relative moment to ponder this question. How was this relevant-
'Five.'
'Alright, label each of those five ways of implementing this power in your head. These are your "Exceptionary Functions", excluding the obvious of being able to halt the flow of Time. To "activate" these functions, trace a gesture upon the focus of your claim; in this case, the pocket-watch in which I reside. To set the parameters of the effects, which should be done after you activate them; utilize the knob you've been pressing to freeze time by twisting it. Finally, press the knob again. Anything you pick up with Enigmatic Grasp is separate to these functions but not exclusive thereof, so don't be afraid to look at things from a different perspective.'
'...Alright, that is... A LOT, to consider...'
'That's just a crash course, but you'll make it alright; that's why I am here.'
'Speaking of, I understand you can't tell me who you are, so... how about [what] are you?'
'Finally learning the importance of phrasing?'
'Is that sass or are you just a piece of shi-?'
'For fuck sake, lighten up Lee. I can answer that to greater effect, however.'
'Then enlighten-.'
'After... you stop for a second, take a few deep breaths and calm. The Hell. Down.'
Lee slowed to a jog, further to a walk, and finally to a standstill at the halfway point. Though angry, he could feel the reason behind his mirror soul's words, and the fact that he could make time wait for him began to sink in.
'I am not your enemy,' it beckoned, 'I am of you, however, and I do understand why you are angry because the pocket-watch allows for a low-level psionic link between us, which is why we can communicate without me residing within your mind. Getting mad at me is definitely not conducive to your mental health. That is not a threat, it's just a matter of psychology.'
First breath in.
'Mirror souls are utilized by Exceptions far and wide, and are bestowed upon them by sponsors, like your Sponsors are the Triad of Sapience. More often than not, they're forged from pre-existing spirits. These mirror souls are the most common of the lot and are thus classified as "Legion-class." There are some cases where the sponsor will replicate a fresh facsimile of both their soul and the Exception's bound into one, and cast in Materia. I am a subclass of the latter.'
First breath out.
'In the cases of the latter, the most common means of procuring the Immateria necessary for the mirror soul is synchronized projection. Both create a proxy in the astral plane, each of which is fused together when cast in Materia. These mirror souls are classified as "Phenomena class" and are less common than Legion-classes, but still not quite a rarity.'
Second breath in.
'Very seldomly, however, a more specialized contract is formed wherein a deity will utilize an actual portion of themselves; a micro-causal catalyst is then set at the core of the to-be existence, drawn from the contracted to the contractor. The portion of the latter then reforms around the catalyst of the former. We are easily the rarest, and highly sought after mirror souls. "Singularity-class," we were declared when the first of us were forged.'
Second breath out.
'What this means for you, is that this power is only limited by your mental malleability. Not necessarily your capacity to be conditioned, but to a small degree it is. You have to allow yourself to change in order to evolve, obviously; you need not be subservient, however. However many ways you can think of applying this power is however many ways you can apply this power.'
Third breath in.
'Sacrifice yourself if you see it necessary, I will reconstitute you. Bleed yourself dry for whatever cause you see just enough to rationalize such an act, I will un-exsanguinate you. Whatever may become, I now am your shadow, your new other half that you never had before. Not by choice, but not unwilling; I enable your ability to be realized, just as surely as you enable my existence by recognizing me. I am the Soul of Time's Keeper, an Arbiter without a name, incarnate in your likeness, with the last of your Time in your world. As for my name... as I said, give it some genuine thought and don't rush it.'
Lee exhaled one last time.
'You seem to have calmed down a bit with this set of revelations. Good, you need a calm mind to ensure victory. So... I've told you what my game is. So how about you?'
"Oh you know me," Lee traced the symbol 'one' on the inside of the pocket-watch's open cap with his finger, set the dial to 01:15 and pressed the knob before taking a crouch position with his hands on the ground to either side. "I'm just a reckless meddler."