Time is an illusion

[Darth Abyss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MLB4iiiYAc

Katarr, The Drowned Archives

It had taken some time for Abyss to truly return home. In his absence the galaxy had not remained still, shifts of power were after all the only constant it had to offer. That meant that his return so far had mainly consisted of housekeeping. Opening his metal hand above Malachor once more, replacing those servants that faded or died during his time removed from the world, checking in on bastion to inform the Empire that he had returned into his reluctant service to the Dark Lord and lastly collecting some information of the developments surrounding his old apprentices. To his satisfaction [member="Vereshin"] had shed the mantle of an acolyte and rose as a full fledged knight of the order.

While he desired to see that grow for himself, it was an issue rather low on his checklist. Only after business had fully been taken care of he considered to meet the new version of his old creation. Now that time had come. The Mindeater had retreat back into the cursed halls of the Drowned Archives, his most secret, and most dark sanctum.

In his absence the Inner Eye had kept an watchful eye on the black market, collecting every book and scroll sold that wasn't already in the sith lord's possession. Abyss had missed the opportunity to bestow more of his twisted knowledge upon Vi during his apprenticeship, but now he would make up for it by inviting the frail sorcerer into the archives that held the most rare and obscure pieces of wisdom he had collected. The message to him had been nothing more than a set of coordinates to lead him to the shore of the Black Sea, where a member of the Inner Eye awaited him with a ship to bring him down into the depths of the dead water.

The Mindeater himself already rested within his library, locked into the study of the new findings that his agents had brought him, the metal husk encased in the dim light created by the sparsely placed, and partly broken lamps above him. Vi's path to him would be a test in itself. The archives had a tendency to mislead those who entered them, whispering in the force of fear and power alike. Only those with a strong mind would find the knowledge hidden away inside it, instead of a quick, surprising death by water and stone

 

[Vereshin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8NIa3O2Uao​

Skulls tied to the posts of a derelict jetty faced the span of a dark ocean. One rested beneath Vereshin's hand, the large skull on his silver ring resembling the features of the morbid adornment of the jetty post. His coat swayed in the direction of the wind as it pushed the waves against the pier and carried a small ferry in the direction of his sight. A woman stood in the center of the boat and pushed the rudder, stark white eyes glaring blankly amidst ebony skin above a ragged burgundy dress. Vereshin paid her two credit chits and stepped into the boat assuredly. A ghastly smile of missing teeth greeted him as the ferry witch steered the two of them to the pinnacle of the drowned archives.

Seated on the other end of the ferry, Vereshin took the time to slide his notebook out from his coat and muse over his attempts to decipher the cryptic set of coordinates his former master had sent to him. All the while he exchanged unsettled glances between the woman steering the rudder. He played with numbers on the open page as the boat pulled into the tower spire of the drowned archives, the discrete head of the iceberg crowning the labyrinth winding deep beneath the ocean. The Sith sorcerer closed his arcane notes and concealed the book once more, nodding in acknowledgement to the ferry woman before stepping over the edge and placing both feet on the sand.

On a small island, a tower spire peaked into the grey sky. Torches guided Vereshin along a thin path which lead to a wooden door in the center of the dark stone. The door appeared innocuous enough and let him in with a firm nudge of the handle against the wood. Inside, a winding stairway lead far beneath the visible height of the tower. Waves crashed against the stone outside as he passed beneath the level of the ocean. Creatures living in shells clung to the interior and the grew thick with the salt of the sea. Vereshin made his way to the door at the end of the staircase and in the moment he gripped the handle, the stone behind him began to grind with a fury of dust and water. The light portraying the stairs rippled and morphed, before they spiraled into a encasing void and disappeared from the naked eye.

A blank slab of stone took shape where the door had been behind Vereshin. As he opened the door before him, water splashed at his feet and filled a lower chamber. No light escaped the dark abyss beneath the surface, making the sorcerer assume it plunged for miles into the depth of the ocean. Standing backwards in shock, Vereshin felt his hand lean against the slab of stone which his trapped him on remnants of a staircase. He watched the water below and on closer inspection, noticed that it was indeed rising. Numbers jumbled around in his head and continued in indiscernible patterns before his senses collected and they began to make sense. Vereshin placed both palms above the murky surface and muttered a spell beneath his breath. A substance resembling inky smoke formed above the waves as the surface began to lower.

Vereshin altered the state of the matter and dissipated every particle forming the body of water. Drops turned to opaque energy and disappeared into the air. The gaseous appearing state swirled inside of the chamber until the lower end of the staircase was revealed. He pushed forward and held his grasp above the water as it gradually disappeared and gave away to stone. The staircase loomed forward into darkness and Vereshin followed the steps further into the cavern, sighing as he followed the torches. As much as he enjoyed puzzles, everything had to be a test with Abyss, even dropping by to say hello.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Despite not being physical present Abyss watched the [member="Vereshin"]'s progress closely, the all seeing eye of the Prophet lingering upon the withered stones like an oppressing shadow. With satisfaction he noticed the wave of annoyance and frustration flowing through his apprentice, as the young sorcerer became aware that his master had once more challenged him to his endless series of tests. Those he had taught often failed to fully comprehend that there was nothing personal to the mockery and struggle he imposed on them, that it wasn't some petty game he enjoyed playing, and that it wasn't some crude attempt to still some misled sadistic desire.

It only served a single purpose, to force the strong to adapt and evolve, and the weak to perish. When the day would come that Vi would himself claim the mantle of lord, when all the torture and belittlement would climax in a being with powers far beyond the frail limits of reality, he would understand that each test had been another step born of a honest desire to grant him greatness.

While the husk remained locked in his research, he placed a last obstacle in the path of his apprentice, a last layer of trickery and deception to put his grow to the test. Summoning his twisted voice the Mindeater began to speak, forming the words to whisper and echo within the countless pathway in an attempt to further mislead Vi on his search for the true archives.

"I have been waiting for you, apprentice."

The feint was quite obvious, but would Vi fall for it and follow the sound of his voice then he would find himself lost and most likely dead and buried below the sea. Would he remain cunning and wise, as expected from a protegée of Darth Abyss, then his path would lead him right to the physical form of his master, waiting to share ancient and new found secrets alike with him.

 

[Vereshin]

The smell of salt and moisture guided Vereshin through the narrow passageway. Orange torches illuminated his path and lead him to the entrances of four different pathways. The pathways lead onto more pathways and entwined in an endless labyrinth of catacombs designed to fool any trespassers who attempted to breach the sanctuary of Darth Abyss. He stopped to eye them curiously when the familiar voice of his master echoed from the depths of one. Feint and crackled, the call sounded incomplete in the frequency and the strong presence of Abyss seethed from the pathway at the opposite end. He moved over the first passageway where the voice had sounded and heard only the gushing of the sea.

Vereshin knew better by now than to trust something directly without looking at all possible contradictions. He ignored the voice of his master calling from the first pathway and followed the presence of Abyss down the fourth. A dim light shone at the end and Vereshin followed the discrete illumination as the torches disappeared behind him, leaving him in almost total darkness. He followed the the pathway to a set of stairs which lead to a wooden door. Turning the handle, he met the light of more torches and the space of a vast hallway. Vereshin entered the drowned archives and the presence of his master, which he followed to a set of doors at the end of the corridor.

Torches illuminated rows and rows of bookshelves, set in salt smelling stone. The young sorcerer began to dawdle as he failed to tear his gaze away from the countless spines and titles filling the shelves. He scaled the hall and met the doors to his master's study before knocking once and waiting to behold the faceless visage of Abyss once again.

"I answer your summon, former master. It has been a while." Vereshin spoke modestly while the doors opened before him. While his tone remained soft, his confidence radiated within.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Welcome apprentice."

Once the door opened [member="Vereshin"] would find himself inside the Halls of Lost Knowledge. Bookshelves reached so high into the air that their top end was untouched by the eery green light that illuminated the library below, and each of them was filled with countless of books and texts that held even more secrets long forgotten within their pages. On a small table, dwarfed by the immense size of the archives, rested the husk that remained of Darth Abyss, a myriad of texts and books scattered across it.

"I was informed that your strength has grown considerably since my departure, and your journey here proves as much."

The hollow sith raised his left, and a chair by the table moved far enough for Vi to sit there. Once that was done he raised his hand even higher, and a strange whisper echoed through the library. Then more and more books began to descend down from the shelves around them, neatly stacking upon each other besides the place prepared for his apprentice. The selection was focused on Vi's area of expertise and interest, the tainted art of magic and sorcery, with spells and techniques collected from all orders across the galaxy.

"My absence left you to rise without a master to guide your path, but I have returned to fulfill my duty. I have submitted reality to my will countless times, and now I will share my hidden wisdom, so you may become a being of enough power to rival mine one day."

The tower of books began to move once more, some turning pages to certain passages, while other placed themselves below others that were required to fully understand them. It was truly a shame that the Drowned Archives were a place forbidden to all but his closest allies, as the Mindeater made a exceptional archivist and librarian.

 

[Vereshin]

Vereshin stood in the doorway of Abyss' study and arched his neck upwards to gaze over the endless spire of book spines. The Sith Lord spoke and the younger sorcerer failed to resist a smile and bout of modest laughter in response to the rare compliment from his master. The words were no exaggeration. He had grown considerably in power since ascending to the mantle of Sith Knight and pursued new ambitions, new techniques and esoteric limits to breach.

"I greatly thank my lord for his generosity." Vi remarked with a tone of enthusiasm as he sat down. Abyss slid the small tower of books across the desk and he felt silently touched, immediately straining his eyes to read the many titles his master offered. He slipped his hand into his coat pocket to retrieve his glasses and set them over his ears, before opening the first book to scan pages detailing numerous thought experiments and theory.

"My Lord, I have a request which may interest you." Setting down the first book to select another displaying a title baring the sorcery of time, Vereshin flicked through the pages idly while casually scanning for the relevant topic on his mind. "I am interested in owning an amulet which alters and stops time within a small radius. While I am able to imbue the device, I cannot craft the material from alchemy." The hand-painted design of a watch on one page caught his attention and he stopped his finger on the paper. The watch displayed a finish of rustic gold and the carving of an ominous creature of the deep sea.

"Although I am more partial to silver." Vereshin leaned back in his chair with a chortle. He decided internally on the design of a skull centered on the back of the watch. "Would my Lord be willing to lend his assistance to this little project?" He finished while removing his scarf and setting it over the back of the chair. Time distortion remained the one area of void magic Vereshin had to practice, let alone discover whether or not the feat itself was possible through casting. The amulet would assist in developing his first skills in the aspect.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"The manipulation of time is a dangerous undertaking, apprentice. Few have accomplished it, and more then a few lost themselves in the endless currents of time along the way."

Once more the sith lifted his hand, calling even more books to the table. There was little recorded knowledge on the manipulation of time through the force, and those few obscure sects the held knowledge over these arts were a secretive bunch. Even among those the known techniques had more to do with more subtle application that those [member="Vereshin"] had in mind. Most related to the perception of future and past, not the ability to change its flow in any meaningful way.

Yet there were to orders known that operated outside of these limits. The Sorcerers of Rhand, a group of dark, and incredibly advanced seers that created the art of darksight. Through it they couldn't just see into the future, but make subtle alterations to the probability of certain events to shape it to their will. Not exactly what Vi had asked for, but there was likely something in there that could be altered to suit his purposes.

Various books placed themselves on Vi's table, a collection of work on the Sorcerers. Abyss had spend quite some time on studying their wisdom, mastering the art of darksight in long hours of research and meditation.

"This is what I can offer, besides my abilities as an alchemist. Everything beyond will require research that is beyond my understanding."

The last book to come to the table was a single collection of personal notes, sparse notes on the secretive race of the Aing-Tii. They had mastered the art to travel through future and past, as well as space, by the ways of the force. Yet Abyss knowledge on them was limited, and despite his desire he never had been able to alter their ideas in a way that allowed the dark side to mirror their powers. Instead of following light or dark, they instead had created their own, strange understanding of the force.

 

[Vereshin]

A mischievous smile curved into Vereshin's cheeks in response to his master's comment. The Sith Lord's words failed to repress the insatiable curiosity of his apprentice and while the steps Vereshin took towards his goal were gradual, his need to meddle with the forbidden mysteries of the Force remained unaffected. His gaze drew to the books Abyss carried over the surface of the table and he plucked the cover of the first title, reading the first page and flicking through the sections. The Sorcerers of Rhand and Aing-Tii particularly piqued his interest.

"I know better than to meddle where my skills are not yet developed." Vereshin assured his master while he coursed over the pages. "Life is fleeting and time is to be cherished." The smile on his features turned straight when he realized his own shift in perception. When once he traveled around the galaxy and chased impossible feats, Vereshin found his life slowing his down to revolve around personal aspects. His thoughts turned to [member="Pom Stych Tivé"] and how she might feel if he were lost to some foolish experiment.

"I have found love, master." The Sith sorcerer admitted with a raised eyebrow. He smiled slightly and set down the first book to listen to the waves crashing outside of the stone.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"I assume I do not have to tell you how dangerous it is to share this information so freely. A wise enemy will always know to aim for your heart, and as a sith you will never be without enemies."

Normally one would expect Darth Abyss, a Sith Lord obsessed with taunting and testing his apprentices, to twist [member="Vereshin"]'s words into some sort of deranged challenge. Killing your loved ones was a common rite of passage among the sith after all. Yet instead of the mockery, or worse the anger, that Vi could've ignited, there was something else that suddenly shrouded the Mindeater's presence. A faint, distant sensation of sadness, a dark, empty sorrow seemed to resound from within the hollow armor, only to fade moments later, framed by Abyss' right claw involuntarily twitching into a fist.

"Good for you apprentice. Try to cherish it while it lasts, as this galaxy knows no forgiveness for lovers walking upon the darkest of paths."

It was clear, despite the inhuman nature of Abyss' voice, that the husk's words were filled with pain. He too had once found love upon his dark descend to hollow madness, and since he had lost it the hungering, all consuming abyss within him had grown stronger with every passing day, while the faded remnants of Atton were more lost, shattered and fragile then ever before.

"I hope for you sake that you have a save location somewhere, for when the day comes that fate decides that you have enjoyed love long enough."

The only thing that allowed Abyss to not fully unleash the Mindeater on the galaxy was the knowledge that the woman he loved was smart enough to hide from curious eyes, waiting somewhere untouched by his and hers enemies, even if he had no idea where this place was.

 

[Vereshin]

Vereshin tapped one finger on Abyss' desk as he gazed forlornly at the surface. His master spoke the truth and the sorcerer would be lying to himself if he claimed there had been no times he questioned his own loyalty to the Sith. Now with Pom in his life, he remained more cautious than ever. Vereshin's courteous nature had done him well and earned him very few enemies. His position in the Praetor, the group housing the most powerful knights within the Empire, pressed his conflict further.

"I do understand master." Vi responded while watching Abyss' reaction with caution. Sliding a hand into his coat pocket, he procured a cigarette already fastened in a short holder and set it between his teeth, before snapping his fingers and creating a spark of electricity to ignite the end. He crossed one leg over the other and inhaled, blowing smoke contemplatively while sitting on the topic on question. Vereshin loved Cylaeria. He was not prepared to allow any of his associates within the Sith come between them.

"We do not." He said in response to Abyss final question, lifting his hand from his mouth and resting his head against the fist holding the cigarette. "Pom and I do not live with one another yet outside of travelling." He explained while considering the matter. The young knight had little to offer in terms of locations or assets, meaning he would have to work harder within the Empire to earn a private retreat or more. He felt something change in the presence of his master. Where twisted madness once surged, he detected a pang of familiar sorrow.

"As for that watch of mine..." Vereshin changed the subject with a sly curve of his mouth. "When do we begin the crafting?" He brought the cigarette to his lips once again and inhaled to release a billow of smoke into the air.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The strange sadness around Abyss was sucked into a maelstrom of darkness as [member="Vereshin"] reminded him about the actual topic of their discussion. It was like the emotion was shredded apart, and the remaining pieces were devoured until noting was left behind, but the all to common, deranged hunger at the very core of his existence. His hand twitched slightly for a last time, then the construct straightened himself and rose from his chair.

"Never. I am a Warlock and Alchemist, not a clocksmith."

Like before Abyss raised his left, this time little more than a slight twisted of his hand, and a single, small book was pulled into it. The Sith Lord placed it besides his apprentice, before taking of one of the amulets around his neck and placing it besides the book. The text he had just offered were his personal notes on the amulet, explaining how it was made, and what it could do. Abyss assumed that Vi needed little help to understand why it would be useful.

"Read. I will be back soon."

The husk suddenly disappeared from sight, his physical from gone, hidden under layers upon layers of shadows. He was on his way to one of the storage areas of the Archives, looking for the various clocks and watches he had collected when he created his own.A few minutes later Abyss returned, simply standing besides the table like he never had left in the first place. In his hands was a large box filled to the brim with watches of various colors and sizes, taken from all kinds of cultures and orders across the galaxy. He placed the box besides Vi like everything before, and than took place besides his apprentice again.

 

[Vereshin]

Vereshin ended the topic at hand and a long pause held the air between himself and Abyss. The two men sat in contemplation regarding the women in their lives and the apprentice rested his elbow, longingly sitting on the clove cigarette and listening to the ocean crash against the stone. Vereshin pulled the cigarette from his lips and parted his mouth in preparation to speak as Abyss responded abruptly to him inquiring about the amulet. He watched as the Sith Lord commanded the book to the table and set down the chain from his neck.

"Indeed, My Lord." Vi stated with a raised eyebrow. He coursed over the title and flicked the leather bound cover to the front page. The contents contained formula and spells relating to the sorcery of time within a small diameter. Vereshin absorbed the details and coursed his gaze over every tinkering nook of the amulet beside him. When Abyss returned, he raised his head to view the large box of watches, not quite sure whether he intended to craft the amulet from scratch or imbue an existing watch.

Abyss placed the box on the table and Vi smiled slightly, folding over the book and setting it aside. He procured a portable, silver ashtray from his coat pocket and discarded the remainder of his cigarette inside the hatch. He slid the ashtray back inside his coat and rose to his feet, motioning over the box and listening to the discrete little ticking of the watches. He waved skeletal fingers over the faces and shuffled through delicately in search of the design he liked. He found a glistening silver pocket watch attached to a chain and exposed gears in the face. With the right augmentation, the Sith could imbue the properties with organizing tools and a display screen similar to a communicator.

Vereshin lifted the watch out of the box and held it over the candlelight, watching the reflection glisten and eyeing the movements of the gears. With a slight smile and the raise of an eyebrow in the direction of Abyss, he indicated his choice and moved back over to the desk where they set to work taking it apart and imbuing the arcane properties. The sorcerer slid a hand into his trouser and produced a neatly folded piece of paper displaying the rough sketch of a skull which he placed on the table beside the watch.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The husk glanced on the design his apprentice had sketched out on a piece of paper besides the clock he had picked. He almost made a snide remark about the skull, but considering that his own was adorned by the depiction of an ancient kraken, it would've been a little bit to hypocritical for his taste. After all such a trinket had to represent dark powers, and even if a skull was a bit of an obvious choice, it would still work in representing what [member="Vereshin"] had in mind.

"Before concerning yourself with the design of your tool, you should test if your spell has the desired effect."

It was something Abyss learned early on during his experiments with magic and alchemy. Somewhere in the archives was a box similar to that he had brought with him, filled with countless little trinkets that failed to fulfill their duty, not to talk about the myriad of notes and spells that did anything but what they were meant to do.

"As I said the twisting of time comes with many dangers, and it would be unwise to build and carry something that might does nothing more then ripping you apart between future and past."

There was a reason why Abyss never really tried to manipulate time to the degree his apprentice wished to, not only his lack of understanding about the arts needed to do so. Reality was already fragile thing, and even magic grounded in reality already had a tendency to damage its fabric. Going as far as to deliberately shattering and deforming it sounded like an easy way to create a spell volatile and erratic, with a strong chance of simply backfiring against the caster.

 

[Vereshin]

After glancing at the drawing of the skull for a moment, Vereshin cocked his head in disapproval and turned over the sheet of paper. On the other side he had drawn a secondary sketch of a cyclonic vortex within an inverted triangle. Making up his mind, he settled on the design and tapped the paper with one finger. He listened to Abyss speak and took a psychological note of his words while reaching into his coat for his notebook, which was perfectly dry following the adventure into the cavern of water which had been nothing but an illusion.

While setting the notebook open on the table, Vereshin also produced his cigarette case and flipped it open on the table for Abyss to help himself if he wished. On the last used page of the notebook, he had finished his revised formula behind the spell of the amulet, which had been scrawled out and visited again for pages. He reached into the box for one of the spare watches and levitated it above the table. With one eye on the notes, he read the formula aloud as an incantation and watched the hands of the watch slow down.

Vereshin maintained his arcane hold on the small area containing the watch and made sure not to affect anything outside of the radius. The hands froze completely and the ticking stopped. Satisfied, he snapped his fingers once and the watched moved into motion again. Without a word, he rose to his feet and selected one of the devices on Abyss' windowsill. Swinging spheres attached to strings rocked back and forward by nothing but the force of gravity. They were affected by no spell, so the sorcerer could be sure that magic was not interfering with his test.

He turned the notebook over and read the next spell under his breath. The spheres froze instantly within the concentrated area and he snapped his fingers again, returning them to time and setting them back into their rocking movement. "I assure you I am well prepared, Master." Vereshin said as he looked up to Abyss with a satisfied raise of his eyebrows. He had practiced and repeated every area of heavy magic along his travels, from dissipating mass and even his own body to travel through objects and fly through space, to conjuring duplicates of his own form potent enough to cause harm, the sorcerer was confident he was ready to explore the depths of time distortion.

Little to Vereshin's knowledge, the revision of his spells already affected him and his perception of past and future events began to misplace within his subconscious. Even if he knew, there was no returning the damage and no possible redemption for the dark sorcerer after he toyed with the laws of nature beyond fathomable reason. There was only forward.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The husk had watched with great interest as his apprentice showed his research in action. He truly had grown from a little amateur into a man that had nearly mastered the arcane arts, and in the future he would most likely surpassed his master in that regard. If it weren't for his frail physique and occasional lack of ambition then Abyss would've been certain that [member="Vereshin"] awaited a time in which the whole galaxy would bow to him.

With his strange chuckle he also noted the cigarettes which his apprentice offered to him as well. It was a nice gesture, but it surprised him that Vi actually assumed he would be able to smoke one even if he wanted to. Maybe he had once noticed him enjoying his pipe, which wasn't filled with tobacco, but with Korriban incense that only had an effect on him due to its arcane properties.

"I have to admit that this was quite impressive."

Slowly the husk reached for the watch that his apprentice had chosen. With the certainly that the young magican knew what he was doing when tackling something so dangerous as time distortion, it was now time to prepare his tool for him. While his left held the trinket, his right claw extended, the talons growing longer. With an rather unpleasant screeching metal engraved into metal, until small, almost unnoticeable runes rested upon the watch.

Satisfied with his work Abyss reached into his robe with his right, grabbing a small bottle of his own blood, taken from long before he transformed. He began to slowly drop the red liquid down onto the runes, while mumbling words in the old sith language. The runes began to glow in a crimson red as more and more blood rolled over them. Lastly he raised his claw once again, tainting it with blood, and the used it to create the pattern that his apprentice had designed.

Done with the alchemical part of the process he placed the watch back on the table, for Vi to finsih his work.

 

[Vereshin]

When Abyss offered Vereshin the compliment regarding his skill, the sorcerer blushed slightly and smiled, stifling a small bout of laughter. He knew such a kind remark from Abyss to be exceedingly rare and only offered under genuine circumstances. He leaned backwards in his chair and rested his hand on a fist, smiling coyly and speechless with gratitude. Vereshin excelled in his craft through abandoning all other areas of the Sith arts and the opportunities the wider galaxy had to offer. His focus remained entirely singular, whereas Abyss succeeded in a variety of talents and walks of life.

Once Vereshin finished the preparation for his skill, Abyss began crafting the alchemical components of the amulet. He watched in fascination as the Sith Lord carved the runes and imbued the metal with his own blood. Having abandoned the traditional methods of sorcery in favor of science, Vereshin still appreciated their roots. The surface of the silver pocket watch glistened as the rune etched into the back, an cyclonic vortex centered within an inverted triangle. As Abyss finished the crafting, his apprentice extended a wrist and levitated the watch, carrying it through the Force to his grasp.

"Beautiful work, master." Holding the watch up to the candlelight, Vereshin drew his eyes over the delicate runes and the metal polished in blood. He complimented dreamily and parted his lips slightly in wonder, anticipating the final stage to crafting the device. He set the watch down beside his notebook and flipped open the next page. Clicking his pen, he estimated the mass and density of the amulet and the amount of energy required to imbue the spell with maximum potency.

Vereshin scribbled the equations fervently and stopped on occasion to sit and ponder his calculations, before continuing the next line. As he wrote, the spell already began to take effect and the watch began to levitate off the desk. He set the amount of time which the watch could manipulate, an hour at the very most, as well as the diameter affected by the spell. He would be able to alter the time within an area of five meters, nothing more. The metal glowed with a lavender iridescence and Vereshin answered his final equation. He set down his pen and raised his hands, encircling the watch in his hold and lacing the spell within the energy surrounding the mass of the object.

Vereshin altered the very heart of the matter of the device, entwining the components of the spell within each particle and activating the arcane potency. The lavender glow dulled and the hands began to tick. Lowering the watch, the metal lulled slowly downwards and landed in his hands. The task was complete and Vereshin procured his handkerchief to polish the surface, before hooking the chain to the inside of his pocket and concealing the watch within his coat.

"I greatly thank my master for his assistance." With a nod of his head, Vereshin offered his gratitude to Abyss, having never appreciated or cared for alchemy. He would forever rely on the skill of alchemists such as Abyss for crafting amulets and anomalies of chemicals.

[member="Darth Abyss"]