Primitive Culture (IC)

[Supercape]

GM

 

"<The Devil Speaks! Listen not to his forked tongue! He seeks to tempt you to the ways of Satan with honeyed words!>"

 

"<Verily! Words of Sorcery! See how he weaves a web of lies, invoking the nothingness of the void! We shall not have our souls taken to such oblivion! Nay! The Everlasting Paradise for us! For King and God! For King and God!>"

 

"<And gold!>" echoed the less than eloquent voice, adding further weight to the limited intellectual capacity of one of their number. 

 

The Conquestidors, for all their lack of wit and flexibility of mind, were of singular purpose in warfare. They were trained and effective. Taking cover behind trees, they unleashed a volley of musketshot at Hronos, the blackpowder sizzling and smoking...

[Vahnyu]

"<What a pity.>" Hronos said, dejectedly, at the singleminded stupidity of the people in front of him, as his shoulders slumped. "<It appears you are set on attacking me, regardless of my plight to you. But I am affraid that I cannot let you harm me so easily; I shall have to take action ag-ARRGHHH!>" Hronos stopped mid-sentence, as the first musket shot landed straight to his forehead, the shock of the impact landing with far more force than it ought to, and causing his neural wires to scramble. The rest of the shots flew a couple of feet off their target, a feat that wouldn't surprise Hronos much, had he been a native of this planet and familiar with its warfare history; muskets were, after all, notoriously hard to aim with weapons. Still, for their day, they didn't have to be accurate, what with the spread fire packing quite a punch, capable of felling anything short of a rhinoceros in one shot.

 

Still, while Hronos was technically made of mostly inorganic matter, his insides housed some very delicate circuits and hardware, that a well placed blow could very well cause them severe damage. In this state, Hronos clutched his head with his left arm, while he kept his right arm extended, in order to get his bearings. Feeling quite dazed from the shock of the blow, he could only stagger.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"<I hit him! I hit him!>" yelled the slightly denser of the group, a younger man with a huge black beard, huge nose, and eyes that sat a little too close together for comfort. How he had managed to put  a bullet in Hronos was pure luck. 

 

"<Praise God! The Devil is down! Thankyou, Lord for dry powder and your divine power of which there is no equal! Verily you doth guide the path of our.,..>"

 

"<Draw swords! Charge!>" said a more practical and less long winded member of the half dozen men, at which they - as a unit - drew thick sabres and charged Hronos, beating him left and right with well forged Spanish steel. 

 

"<Take that, Pagan!>" shouted one. 

 

"<By the power of the ever-merciful God! Die!>" screamed another. 

[Vahnyu]

Thankfully for Hronos, by the time the conquistadors had charged him, he had shaken off most of his dizzyness. He was aware enough of his surroundings to block the blows with his hand, shoulder, and back, avoiding any serious injury. Shaking his head, Hronos' eyes shone brightly. "<Very well. If you will not listen to reason, I will have to force you to pay attention.>" He growled in their native language, as his chest opened to expose the purple colored Essence of Time. Simultaneously, his entire body transformed various of it's parts. Using his hands, he guided the essence to steadily expand and grow. Then, after locking in on his targets, a giant transparent sphere of purple hue errupted out of his chest, that engulfed a large part of the area. The chronal energy unleashed by this attack came fully into contact with three of the 6 conquistadors, causing them to slow their movements down, until they were left completely still. In this time-locked state, they will be causing no one any form of serious harm, for the time being. Hronos confirmed to himself, not realising that he had left himself completely open to attack.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Vahnyu

[Supercape]

GM

 

"<Withcraft! Devilry! Sorcery!>"

 

"<Gooooooooooooooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllldddddddddddddddddd>" Said the intellectually challenged Spaniard, his voice crawling to a stop as he froze in time. 

 

A few of the Conquestadors pushed through the field by force of will. 

 

"<What foulness have you done, metal demon? Stolen the souls of good men! I defy you! A man's life has no price! We shall tear his soul back from you, have courage comrades!>" shouted one, lifting his sword and bringing it down on Hronos. 

 

The men were adept swordsmen, well able to handle both blade and musket. Under normal circumstances, they would have continue their work on Hronos, but they had been overcome by unusual slowness, the essence of time taking the sting out of the steel they held...

[Vahnyu]

The conquistadors' slowed down attacks gave Hronos the time needed to get his bearings back and avoid their attacks by taking a swift sidestep. Reconfiguring his body back to its original state, and hiding completely the essence of Time, the Mechanodynames was now faced with the task of pacifying the three remaining spaniards. "<Unfortunately and due to the stubborness you all have exhibited, you have left me no choice but to deal with you in this manner. So, do not be asking for my sympathy, nor my apology, considering that it is you youselves who forced my actions.>" He chastised them, taking a small step forward to where he was moments ago, and unleashing a punishing barrage of fists at the three fighters. The punches were directed away from the conquistadors, vanishing in portals that appeared out of nowhere. mere milliseconds later, newer portals started opening around the three people, and from each portal a closed fist or an open claw emerged, aimed at their bodies, nigh-simultaneously.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"<The Devils Hands!>"

 

"<Not the face! Not the face!>"

 

"<Lord lend me thy almighty strength and stri....oooof!>"

 

The three Spaniards fell to the floor to the sound of a barrage of rings - metal against metal. When they fell to the soft moss of the Forest floor their armour had received a powerful beating, and was decorated with a multitude of dents and bends that ill suited them. If the men had been conscious, they would have found it most unpleasant. 

 

Then - there was silence. An unnatural silence, perhaps. Like the wind had died down, or the twittering of birds had stopped. The temperature was slightly warm, slightly hot, as if a summer clime, but the air was clean. 

 

Freedom City was still in the distance. It was still the twenty first century, but Hronos felt that a whole lot of America from five centuries back had been dragged to this point. 

[Vahnyu]

Hronos staved off the attack of the conquistadors, but his troubles were far from over. This feeling... it was definitely a chronal disturbance. This spot, no, this whole area feels as if it has been lifted from the faraway past of this world and pasted over the present realitiy. Yes. Perhaps even these men were transported from that time. They did appear disoriented. Which would mean that not only did they travel through time, they were also unaware of the reason behind their current situation. A third party may have been involved, then? Or some kind of unnatural occurance has caused a form of time bleeding throughout the ages?... Hronos looked around. As he pondered were he should look for clues first, he decided that it would be prudent to disarm his opponents completely; even if they were out of commission for the moment, they still posed a large enough threat, as they could come to their senses or fight the effects of the time lock off.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The ground was a slightly different consistency to the forest, but the foilage was the same - if anything, it was more dense. When Hronos looked at the arms and armor of the Spaniards, and there clothes and undergarments, they were all in keeping with everything he knew about the 15th and 16th Century style. Perfect in every detail - at least from what his flawless memory had committed to his brain after reading about them. 

 

As he went about his task, he saw a familiar sight. The three indentions of a tripod, and a series of proto-writings virtually the same as the ones he had seen in Freedom City Park...

 

"<uuuuhhhh. Goooold....Goooold>" mumbled the less bright Spaniard, to himself and anyone who would care to hear. Presumably his relative lack of wit had served him well when punched in the head. He had blocked any attack to the more vital organs with his brain. 

 

"<Demon! Spare my soul!>" he whimpered when his drowsy eyes met Hronos. 

[Vahnyu]

Hronos was surprised to see the markings here. Approximately two months have passed since the first time I witnessed them. So... that must mean that this incident must be connected to the Freedom Park Dinosaur incident. Two identical occurances of happestance? Doubtful. Those writtings... I had connected them to John Smith, with the help of that Professor Brix. For them to be in this place must mean that the enigmatic man should have been here as well, at some point. This is still mere conjecture, but perhaps, once I- Hronos' line of thought was interrupted from the groans of the Spaniards who were slowly regainning consciousness and freedom of movement. Oh, how fortuitous. And I was beginning to wonder the exact time they would be regaining their functions. Hronos said to himself, with only the merest hint of irony.

 

"<It is good to see you regain your senses. Perhaps this time, you will be more receptive to my simple requests? And would you calm youself and your comrades down, if you please? I am neither a demon, nor am I after your souls. You must be reasonable enough to realise that had that been my true motivation, I would have extracted your souls by now.>" Hronos was observing the conquistadors intently. "<If the case be that we understand each other completely on this matter, then, would it be amiss of me to proceed with my questions? I promise you, once you answer my questions truthfully, I shall let you live with both your bodies and souls intact."> The Mechanodynamis made sure to inform the people, and waited for their response.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The big nosed and small brained Spaniard clapped his hands to his ears at the sound of Hronos. A dull ring of metal clanged through the forest as gauntlet hit helmet. 

 

"<Devil! Devil! I cannot hear you! Tralalala!>" he sang, clamping his eyes shut. 

 

"<No torture shall make me listen to your serpent tongue! For I shall give my soul to God, where I shall rest eternal by his side to the sound of golden trumpets played by angels! Golden trumpets!>" he wailed, tears running down his cheeks. 

 

He finished off by singing, in a loud and remarkably out of tune voice, a Spanish hymn to the power of God, over and over again, each time with a slightly different atonal variation, so as to compound musical insult. 

[Vahnyu]

Hronos regarded the Conquistadors long and hard. Finally, he decided that if they wouldn't cooperate with him, they were of no further use. "<How regretable. You and your allied Conquistadors appear to be completely unwilling to cooperate with me. I did not want to have to do this, but you leave me with no choice...>" Hronos said, pausing a bit for effect. "<You are free to go. You may do as you please, but bear in mind, this land you are standing now is not from your era. I would have loved to confirm the specifics with you, first, but I am willing to guess that you are not familiar with this aeon, the 21st one B.C., according to this planet's calendar. Quite a few aeons after your time, I guess. I will also be keeping your weapons, in case you feel offended enough to attack any natives in this land, as you did with me. Leave or stay, it is your choice, but if you ever wish to return to your homes and your families, I would suggest you do not wander too far from this spot. >" The Mechanodynamis said in spanish, deciding that he might as well let them free. He didn't think it would help in any way restrainning them or Time-locking them. Instead, what concerned him more at the moment, was finding John Smith. It would be the surest and simplest way to draw definitive conclusions. The appearance of John Smith in two sites that exhibited this chronal distortion, on a relatively close time frame, would cement beyond doubt his involvement with the incidents. He pondered to himself, continuing his line of thought from before the Spaniards regained consciousness..

[Supercape]

GM

 

"<tralalala All praise to his Glory tralalala>" sang the tuneless Spaniard, in defiance of any attempts by Hronos to convey reason. 

 

"<I believe you not, devil! Only lies and wickedness can come from your metal mouth! However, I will take oppurtunity to run away as fast as I can!>" he explained, as he got to his feet, and - with gauntlets still clapped over ears - started to run away. 

 

He fell, once, bashing his nose which started to bleed. But this did not stop his determination to keep hands over helmet and feet engaged in retreat. 

 

However, not thirty feet away, there was a blur, a silent explosion of shifting angles and ozone, and he was gone, just like that. 

 

Just like the Tyranassaurus has disappeared from Hronos' hands...

[Vahnyu]

Hronos watched the man disappear right in front of his eyes. This was just like when I struggled against the Dinosaur creature. He thought to himself. It probably means that the time limit of the effect ran its course. Hmmm... perhaps finding any more information here would be an excersize in futility, but at the very least, I have prevented this incident from growing out of control. Hronos decided to search the area, in case he'd stumble upon any further clue, but something gave pause to him. Turning his head quickly back, he spotted that the rest of the Conquistadors were still there, in the same timeperiod as Hronos. What is the meaning of this curious situation? If the effect that brought them to this instance in time, then... no... perhaps... that man, he disappeared after he moved away from this place. And when the Tyranosaurus disappeared, I recall that I was lifting it away from the park... could the effect be not timed, but instead, localized?

 

Hronos gave this idea some thought, and he wasn't late with coming to some conclusions. It should be safe to assume that once disappearing, the displaced entity is returned to its original time. Therfore, if what I suspect is true, then I could use the unconscious bodies of these time displaced men to not only return them to their origination point in the timeline, but to also determine the radius of the effect. Hmmm.... I would require at least three of them, in order to properly extract information about the periphery of the effect, as well as its point of origin, in three dimensions. Having set his mind on this course of action, Hronos got to work, bringing the unconscious people with him, and flying towards a different given direction at a time, and making mental notes on the relative dimensions in which the bodies would disappear, in order to triangulate the effect, or rather, to trilaterate it.

[Supercape]

GM

 

There was indeed a perimeter - a seemingly perfect circle. Anything that exited the circle evaporated - or more precisely, phased back to its origin time. 

 

Aside from the unconscious Spaniards who Hrnonos dragged out of the circle, upon which point they phased out of his hands, Hronos also caught sight of a blown leaf that fluttered outside the circle and vanished. 

 

Then, a squirrel jumped away, hopping brightly, only to phase away. 

 

Whatever time distrurbance had occured - it had dragged the earth, plants, animals and Spaniards right into the future. But only for a small area. As soon as something left that area, it went right back to the past. 

 

And at its epicentre, the tripod markings. 

[Vahnyu]

Hmmm... My suspicions proved correct, I see. Indeed, the effect is localised, and my calculations point towards a certain point... Hronos confirmed the coordinates of the intersecting data he collected, and followed it to find the Tripod markings, along with the proto-language scribbles. The implications of this hadn't quite come as a surprise for Hronos, but the fact that he had found such evidence so soon, and in such a manner, was still a mite disarming. Then... that means... This is... Hronos' visor shone brightly as he came to the inevitable conclusion. I have a definitive connection between the time displacing incidents, and that John Smith man. Now, I do not need to find him, to confirm my suspicions; I still need to find him, and make him speak what he knows. And if he does not cooperate, I have enough information and evidence to ensure that the local authorities will properly detain him, at the very least.

 

As Hronos looked around, he saw that the fauna and some of the wildlife was also disappearing. This would lead me to conclude that most everything in the imediate area got forcibly uprooted due to the time displacement effect, and is held in this instance by whatever device John Smith used. Not just humans, but animals, plants, and perhaps, inanimate objects... Very well. I shall have to notify the local authorities about what I have found. Informing them about John Smith and his characteristics would also be prudent. After making five more rounds around the perimeter of the area, in case there was something he did not notice, Hronos flew up in the sky, and from there, he headed towards the city in order to contact the police, leaving the rest of the area intact.

[Supercape]

GM

 

One week later...

 

Ping! Activated the dormant circuits of Hronos. Another temporal disturbance he was acutely attuned. And nearly identical to the prior two incidents. Again, in Wharton Forest, but several miles out this time. 

 

It seemed that John Smith was moving away from the city. Perhaps scared off by Hronos. 

 

There was something slightly different about this one. It seemed, if anything more precise. More tuned. More controlled. Was John Smith getting better at whatever power he was utilising? Perhaps...perhaps he had learned how to master whatever he was doing. 

 

And in that Forest, many miles away, a group of savages appeared. Dirty, grimy, dressed in animals skins and holding primitive clubs, with stone tools by their side. 

 

Humans from, say, 10,000 years ago...

[Vahnyu]

It had been some time, and while Hronos kept himself busy dealing with the occasional crime in the streets, he always remained vigilant of another incident. The ping gave him a pause for all of half a second, before Hronos quickly realised that this had been what he was waitting for. He started flying towards the new location, before taking a  small abrupt stop. Changing slightly course, he headed towards the closest police station. In there he informed the help desk about the imminent event that was going to take place in the Wharton Forest, and after giving them the referrentials he was given from his previous visit about the time displacement incidents, he made his way out and resumed flying towards the location he had picked.

 

---

 

Flying at top speed, Hronos arrived at the location, and found the men dressed in primitive gear. He had little doubt that they, too, had been victims of the chronal disturbance that John Smith had most likely cause, but he wasted no time finding out; still in the air, he scouted the land for traces of the elusive, enigmatic man, ignoring the ancient people bellow him.

[Supercape]

GM

 

'John Smith' was not hard to find. 

 

He was in the centre of the group of ten primitives, women and men, and was hugging a woman desperately, with tears running down his face. 

 

The language he spoke was ancient beyond counting, and limited in vocabulary. But a language it was still. The primitive men and women were stroking him and examining his modern clothing, entranced by curiousity, but even so, they recognised him. 

 

"<Hwana...after all these years...I had almost forgotten your face, my love. Lost in the years. But I remember the hardships, the disease, the cold. I remember all the suffering, eased only by the Gods. No man or woman should have to suffer so. I come to help. To show you the way. Here, I can help...I can help you all...>" he said, tears running down his face. 

[Vahnyu]

Hronos hadn't expected such a tender display from John Smith. It didn't take him long to realise that he wasn't speaking in english at that time, probably conversing with the primitives. He decided that he should calmly land near them, and slowly walk towards John Smith, instead of landing right in front of him. "<Greetings, everyone.>" The Mechanodynamis spake to their language. "<Do not be alarmed by my visage. I do not come here intending to harm anyone. I merely wish to speak to that man, who has introduced himself to me as John Smith."> As Hronos got closer to the elusive man, he addressed him. "<It has been a long time since we last met, mister John Smith. I would like to say that I am surprised to see you here, but that would have been a terrible lie on my part. Please, do not upset yourself about my presence; I merely wish to speak to you about the chronal displacement incidents that have been occuring in this city, for the last 3 months. Only this time, I would greatly prefer that you not lie to me as you did in our previous encounter, but rather answer truthfully.>"

[Supercape]

GM

 

John turned to Hronos as the primitives cowed, and gnashed teeth, in fear. 

 

"I had thought you would come. I spied you treating those Spaniards in so merciful a way. And don't talk to me about lies and honesty, metal man. I have lived ten thousand years and after that, moral absolutes become beyond wearisome. There is only the heart, and love. That is all" he said, simply. 

 

"It turns out I don't need you after all. I can pull the past here with accuracy, now. Perhaps it would have been faster if I had dismantled you, but time is relative. I can wait forever to accomplish my goals, it seems. I would prefer the ability to transport medicine, food, and knowledge back. But this will suffice for now. Teaching, training, treating. With my instruction, my people can jump ahead and save millenia of bitter suffering"

 

"And don't try to stop me. Metal man. For one, you won't succeed". 

[Vahnyu]

Hronos stiffled a laugh, and responded in English to John Smith. "Hahaha, do you trully believe that love is not muddled and soiled beyond all recognition, when lies distort it?" There was just the slightest hint of emotion, a faraway feeling of longing emiting from the mechanical being known as Hronos, as he said that. "If you insist on making such grand statements with such ease and carefreeness, I will have to be inclined to think you a deluded fool. And you are not a fool, are you, John Smith? You realise that, after your previous experiments, nothing in this era has changed? The timeline remains unbroken, and unaltered. If the experience had affected the creatures and people you brought to this era, even by a little, even if they simply had spotted a building, or a flying robot,  the ripples that such knowledge would cause would have radically affected the entire timeline. And yet..." Hronos, now close to John Smith, came to a hault. "... and yet, here we are, both of us inextricably tied together to these series of events, remaining unaltered in an unaltered world. Why would you believe that is, John Smith?"

 

"If you honestly asked me, there is but one deduction that can be made; once returned to their original time, the entities revert to their original state of being, before being forced out of their timeline, and bearing no marks of their travel, physical or mental. A form of a time paradox, if you will." Hronos sighed, turned his back, and started walking away. After a few paces, he stopped, and turned his head back to John Smith, adding "You told me not to try and stop you, John Smith? The truth is, I do not have to. Teach these people everything you can and anything you want. As soon as they return back to their era of origin, they will promptly forget anything that happened during their stay in this era. Perhaps it is not me the one that you trully feel you have to lie to, nor any of these people here. Perhaps, the only one you want to convince is your own self?.... Hmmm... I suppose that... you could instead opt to spend the rest of your lives in these few hundred feet of land. As far as I am concerned, there is little to no harm to be made, if that were the case. However!..." Turning his whole body swiftly, Hronos had one last thing to say to John Smith, and he wanted to make it perfectly clear. "In your previous endeavors to bring fruition to your dreams, you have endangered quite a few innocent people. That is something that you will have to answer, not to me, but to the police! And this time, I have enough evidence to give them reasonable grounds to detain you."

 

Hronos started levitating quite a few feet above the cavepeople. "So these are your options. 1) You remain in this immediate area and turn yourself peacefully, and hope that the Justice System of this land shall show mercy, 2) You attempt to run away, and 3) you could try to fight your way out of this situation. In either case, though, know that not only I am faster than you, I will make absolute certain that you do not evade the law."

Edited May 13, 2013 by Vahnyu

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Call the police then" said John Smith looking him straight in the eye. 

 

"What have you got? circumstantial evidence at best" he answered. "I have had millenia to study every aspect of humanity and every branch of science. Millennia. Do you understand that? A thousand lifetimes to master every aspect of human endeavour. I have forgotten ten times what you know, metal man. As the years grind by, you have to continually learn, if nothing else, to avoid boredom" he explained. 

 

"And I have studied human law, in every country, in every tongue. And especially in this one. It is true, you could probably tie me up in the legal system here. But I have waited years beyond counting. I can wait a few weeks to get bail and leave. What evidence do you have bar your own forked testimony, and my presence at the incidents in question.."

 

"I have no wish to kill anybody. But you see, I will not stand by and know all the pain of human development, without medicine, hungry and cold. I wish to completely rewrite history. I care not if this existence survives or not. I wish to save mankind, and any loss is worth that..."

[Vahnyu]

Aside from the matter of experience, Hronos could not make an argument to the contrary, nor did he want to, nor did he feel he had to. "What you say may be sound and true, on that, you are correct. It is also completely and utterly irrelevant. It is not my place to judge you by the laws of humans for bringing harm to them, only to make certain that they get a fair chance at judging you themselves. You call the evidence circumstantial, but even so, they are concrete enough to warrant a search for proper evidence by a professional investigation team. My testimony may be percieved as forked, as you say, but I have been upfront and transparrent with the law about my investigation, whereas I doubt that you have consulted other established in this civilization experts in the fields of science and magic concerning your experimentations. And if the system judges you and finds you innocent, that is neither my place, nor my concern. After you have been cleared or let free, you may continue with your work unhindered, once again, so long as you do not further endanger innocents. No person should achieve happiness, whether through their direct actions or not, at the explicit and unwaranted expense of others." Hronos stood in the air, adamant in his position, both in literal and metaphorical sense. Thinking that he had almost forgotten something, he added. "Ah! My apologies, I seem to have neglected to comment on one more statement you made, the one challenging me to, and I quote, <call the police>. The truth is, I do not need to do so. I already did it, about thirty five minutes ago."

Edited May 14, 2013 by Vahnyu

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Then you should not have told me" answered John Smith levelly. 

 

"I have no wish to engage the police. I have no real intention of harming you, but you are somehow able to interfere with my plans. I shall make better preparation for you next time" he continued. 

 

"Although I did expect you to come. And I have made contingencies!" he smiled, before returning to his ancient love. 

 

"<Hwana. I will not forget you. I will return, and bring gifts beyond that of the Gods. But it seems this metal demon has come to stop me. Fare well, you know what to do, my love>" he whispered, hugging her. 

 

She nodded, a tear running down her dirty cheek, smiling. 

 

A crack. 

 

John Smith knew the woods, he knew how to hunt, and survive. He knew more tactics than anyone on the planet, most likely. 

 

As the primitives turned to Hronos, a massive log swung through the air, right at Hronos...a booby trap...