the myst, and time

Secrets unravel

Time is the controller of man. It has always been, and would always be this way. Humankind has always thought that they chose their own paths, that they write their own stories, discover and embark on their own journeys, and that they would always have time.

Alas, The journey isn't what changes the world, it is the pace and the time it happens that does. Legendary revolutions, wars, protests, they all amount to nothing but tiny actions at the hands of time if they hadn't happened when mankind needed them most. Time is the controller of man.

Millenniums ago, Time took mercy on our fragile beings. It believed that mankind couldn't survive without time, and it in turn. And so, the first Myst graced the earth. When time blew the smallest fraction of its unimaginably powerful essence into a human it saw fit to bear the responsibility of handling time.

The myst was able to advance, stop, and reverse time as she pleased which in turn meant she played a powerful role in controlling the world we know.

The very first Myst ruled graciously and was loved by all, so when she neared death, Time decided that the Myst's powers must be restored back to to it somehow. And so The Clock Tower was built.

When the myst was mere days away from her untimely demise, she fled to the clocktower and restored all her powers through it back to Time, which then chose a new Myst to bear the blessing of Time.

This cycle continued on peacefully for eons; Mysts would rule peacefully, and then give up their powers to Time when they neared death. Other, lesser, time controllers came to be when the Myst would have offspring. There were three types of powers these offspring could inherit. They could become stoppers; who obtain the ability to stop time, advancers; who could fast forward time and go into the future, and lastly leavers; who are able to reverse time and go into the past.

Time continued selecting Mysts from the same family as they had proven themselves loyal. That is until one hateful heir came along. This Myst went by the name of Seth Rechtaw, and he ruled with an iron fist. He became so infatuated with his powers that when the time came to give up his powers, he rebelled.

He went back into the past to maintain his youth and satisfy his power-hungry cravings. Time was so offended by this act of dishonor and selfishness, that it stripped Seth's powers from him without thinking ahead.

You see, no other Myst had lived beyond the power removal stage and so no one had known what the effects could be, not even Time. Seth became trapped in his youthful body, unable to age. Therefore, unable to die.

With no one and nowhere to flee to his fury grew, and so did his hunger for power. He began to preach about the 'evil ways' of time, using himself as an example to what 'dark and cruel' things time could do. He convinced weak minds that it was unfair and unnatural for Mysts and time controllers to exist. Over the years people began to believe him, and their fury and appetite for revenge grew as well.

He formed a group by the name of the Watchers who were dedicated to severing the tie between mankind and time. By this point, time controllers were so hated that they were driven into hiding. They were forced to smother their powers and remained hidden for so long that the everyone eventually forgot about them. Everyone except the watchers.

While the Time controllers smothered their powers the watchers only grew stronger, their hatred brewing to the boiling point.

Their most recent breakthrough was creating a device that mimics the clock tower, a watch so small yet so destructive. It is capable of containing the power a Myst restores to it, like the clock tower. Unlike the clocktower, the watch doesn't restore the powers back to time. It instead it allows whoever wears it to have the Myst's powers.

They first used it on us 13 years ago. Seth Rechtaw himself came to the Clocktower to attack the Myst and force him to give up his powers to the Watchers. They were able to capture the Myst and even began the process of extracting his powers before something went wrong.

We think that the watch wasn't strong enough to contain the power, and it self-destructed, obliterating all traces of magic with it. Even Seth Rechtaw.

Without the curse that bound him to his youth, his body began to rapidly catch up with his actual age, and he was reduced to a carcass within minutes. The Myst? His powers being stripped of him, he now would forever be trapped in his current age. He also suffered irreversible damage to his leg from the fight, rendering him crippled.

The next waiting heir to the powers, in the family that had been inheriting the powers since the very first Myst, was never chosen by Time. How could she be? Without the Myst power being restored back to time, we assumed that another one couldn't be chosen.

We thought that the Watchers had succeeded in severing the tie Time. You, Asia, are living evidence that they haven't. You are the last remaining Myst.

For so long we had to stay in hiding, for although we all carry the lesser gifts from Time, we are still hated as much by the Watchers. We formed our own group by the name of The Hands of Time because none of us are safe from the Watchers on our own. They believe that we are the reason Seth is no longer with them, that we made sure his watch failed and his curse was removed, so they won't hesitate to make us suffer a similar ending.

We have no idea how, but we assume they found about your existence before us and so they began creating another watch to avenge Seth, steal your powers, and cut us off from Time once and for all.

We can't let that happen. A world where powers as strong as yours are accessible to power hungry tyrants like them is a world too terrifying to think about. We need you and your powers to help us destroy the watch, and then give up your powers to Time so history may not repeat itself.