Rise of the Guardians: Burning the Phoenix

Chapter 2: Tai M. Keeper

Jack groaned as he rolled his head side to side, as if trying to shake off his growing headache. He could hear the faint sound of voices, but they sound much too far away for him to pay any mind to. No. There were other things that were drawing his attention at the current moment.

Like the ticking of what sounded like a million clocks.

Jack covered his ears. The worst part about the noise was that there was a new one every half second. The ticking was not on time with the others and the gears that were running them were making such a racket. Where was he now and why did it have to be so loud?

“Jack!” A small hand was placed on his chest. Jack could only assume that the owner of the hand was also the one who had just said his name, though the voice sounded so far away compared to the touch. He let his bright blue orbs flutter open slowly, afraid of what sort of chaos he would see that would go with the din.

Clocks. Clocks everywhere. Large clocks and small clocks and clocks of every color. The walls were nearly completely covered with them. The areas that had no clocks were made up of large gears and mirrors. It kind of hurt his eyes to see the backwards time and moving gears in them right next to that of the originals.

“Jack?” the voice said again. The spirit of fun finally turned his gaze to the person floating next to his resting form. Tooth bit her lip and stared at his with wet, worrisome eyes.

“I’m fine.” Jack winced at his own voice. While Tooth’s voice seemed so far away and quiet, his own voice was loud and booming. It was all around him, echoing in his delicate ears.

“I’m so glad to see you up, Jack. We are waiting to visit Grandfather Time. He will make everything all better again. Just you wait and see.” Tooth stroked his hair gently, much like a mother would do to a troubled child. “You will be all better again in no time.”

“No time is correct, Miss Tooth. The thing that is uncertain is whether or not he will come out alright from it.” Tooth helped Jack sit up so that he could see the person who had spoken.

The man who was walking slowly towards them was basked in a warm, yellow glow. With every step, his body altered. His beard would grow long and the fall out, the fallen strand turning into white sand that swirled around him before packing onto his flesh once more. His wrinkly skin would break away, as if it were nothing more than a clay mask that was compacted onto his flesh. Much like his hair, these layers would crumble away into dust only for it to come back. even his height and weight altered in a flowing manor. Jack noticed that the man’s reflections in the mirrors differed as well, some showing him constantly as a small child, a young man, a teenager, or old man.

The man held out his arms. “Welcome. I know why you are here.”

“Jack,” North said. It was then that the winter spirit noticed that the others were only a few feet away from him and Tooth. “This is the master of time. This is Grandfather Time.”

“Tai M. Keeper,” the man introduced himself further. It seemed that his was the only voice that Jack could hear perfectly fine. “I am deeply sorry for what has happened to you.”

“What-” Jack cut himself off when his voice seemed to get even louder. He covered his ears and squeezed his eyes tightly.

“Jack!”

Jack wasn’t sure who it was that had shouted his name, or if everyone had, for his ears were still ringing from his own voice.

“I suggest you stop trying to talk, Mr. Frost,” Keeper said calmly. “Your senses are out of sorts because of what Mr. Black is attempting to do. It is only a slight side effect, but more will come.”

“Vhat exactly is Pitch trying to do?” North asked.

“He snuck into my tower and managed to take one of my time capsules. By taking Mr. Frost’s tooth and combining it, he was able to travel through time to the point when he lost that tooth without the aid of my magical ability.” Keeper gestured to the walls of the room they were in. Taking a closer look, Jack noticed that there were millions of those small hourglasses all over the place; on and in clocks, on the floor, and even some were on the gears, riding them and getting tossed around without breaking. “I know not what precisely he plans to do, but I do know his goal; wipe out Jack Frost.”

The guardians gasped.

“Wipe him out?” Tooth held her hands over her chest, as if soothing an ache there. “Are you saying that Jack is just going to disappear, as if he never existed?”

“Yes and no,” Keeper responded. “He will have existed. There is no such thing as going back in time, for time is always moving and on a singular plane. What Mr. Black has done is, in a sense, cause time to repeat itself. Wherever he is right now, time is moving the same for him that it is for us now. If he gets rid of Mr. Frost in the hourglass plane, then Mr. Frost will fade away now, not cease to exist ever. The idea of a time paradox is a rather ridiculous misconception, if you think about it.”

“Then how do we stop the creep?” Bunny asked, taking a step towards Keeper. “Popsicle here may be a frost-bitten pain in the posterior, but I’m not going to let him just disappear like that.”

Thanks, Jack thought with a roll of his eyes.

“You need to go to a time that is as close to Mr. Black’s as possible. I am sure that Miss Tooth can supply another tooth of his,” Keeper explained. Tooth nodded her head before pulling out Jack’s tooth capsule. “You may use one of my hourglasses to chase after him. I suggest you choose a tooth that was lost after the one Mr. Black used, for he has already been running around for a while now.”

I’ve got the one,” Tooth said as she held out the small, white molar. “We better get moving then.”

“Vhat about Jack?” North asked. Sandy nodded his head enthusiastically, creating a snowflake out of sand above his head.

“I will watch out for Mr. Frost while you are gone, since he is in no condition to travel. His body is trapped in the fabric of time now that the hourglass has been activated using his tooth. His body is preparing itself for any change that would cause for him to disappear.” Jack gulped nervously at Keeper’s words. “His current pain is only the beginning and it won’t end until either Mr. Black is stopped or is victorious.”

“We won’t delay,” Bunny promised, dashing to the side to get an hourglass before bringing it back to the group. Tooth handed the molar over to him, which he then placed into the hourglass and shook it. “Don’t ya worry, ya bloody show pony. You will be right as rain again in no time. Just try not to celebrate by freezing my eggs again.”

Jack smiled at him, but said nothing.

“Take my final words to heart, guardians,” Keeper said sullenly. “Nothing must be altered. Everything must go according to how it was meant to be. Do you understand?”

“Sure v do!” North bellowed. “Don’t vorry. Ve vill stop Pitch and save Jack vith no problems. He von’t lay hands on younger Jack. Promise.”

All of the guardians placed their hands on the hourglass before they threw it at the ground. It shattered, the white sand encompassing them. In a matter of seconds, all four of them were gone