Colin's posts

"I am." Chronos responded.

"You may not be the most level-headed. You may let personal bias get in the way. You may not be perfect. But since you started working at the Order, things have done nothing but improve." he told her.

"But that improvement eventually stopped when those relics at the top realized you were shaking things up and threatening their little cushy lives on their cushy little 'thrones'." he went on.

"So it matters not to me whether or not you act like the head, you ARE the head. And I KNOW that it'll make the Order better." he finished, certainty in his tone.

"I... yeah, I should be all right." Illias responded.

"With what I know now, I should be able to finish this on my own." he added.

"Yes, the head vanished." Chronos confirmed.

"Well, the old one did." he then clarified. "The new head should do a much better job." he went on.

"Who's the new head?" Leo asked.

Chronos just smirked, and gestured towards Syraene.

"....well..." Leo mumbled.

"Actually... I've been in contact with some friends, and we may be able to produce a system and hub that is entirely mana based." he told her.

"Now, granted, it'd need to be electric mana, but we MIGHT get it to work." he continued.

"Which is to say, it'd be a system that exists entirely for the Order, connecting to nothing else, but we might need to... refill the tank every so often... so to speak." he added.

"If it's feasible, do it." Chronos told him.

"And I will do what I can to help rebuild the Order." he then told Syraene.

"I want it back as much as you two do."

Chronos just sighed.

"I can bring it to 50%." he told her.

"But given that I will be maintaining dreams for a while, that'll be taxing for me." he said.

"But I CAN and WILL do that." he stressed.

"And YOU." he then said to Leo.

"....y-yes?" Leo asked.

"The records system of the Order has become too archaic. Can you bring it more into the technology age?" Chronos asked him.

"....that... presents some interesting challenges, but I think it's not outside the realm of possibility..." Leo admitted.

Chronos nodded.

"There's a salvageable amount left." he said.

"....how much IS that?" Leo asked.

Chronos stopped for a moment, pondering the question.

"I'd say we have about... 35% left from when the corruption started." he told Leo.

"That's a sizable chunk taken away." Leo mumbled.

"Yes, but it's not ALL gone." Chronos said, before looking at Syraene.

"How does THAT fit into your calculations?" he asked her.

"Hey, no worries, kid." Ryker responded.

Aly recoiled a bit when Eke placed the whipped cream on his nose. She then smirked, and deftly did the same to HIM, so they both had whipped cream noses.

"Hey, hey, hey." Ryker said.

"No playing with your food." he told them.

"Now clean your noses, and kiss and make up." he finished with a small smirk.

"Simple." Chronos replied.

"You two." he said.

"....us!?" Leo exclaimed.

"Look, it's no secret that my organization was bloated." Chronos then said. "There were far too many people that had far too little responsibilities, and were essentially doing nothing but ordering people around and flaunting their seniority." he continued.

"...." Leo was silent, knowing that what Chronos said wasn't wrong.

"However, I really couldn't just decide to reset everything. As bloated as it was, it was still functioning very well." Chronos then said further. "But with as many people corrupted beyond saving as there was, it was really in my best interests to just... remove them." he lamented.

"It's a shame, as many of them were genuinely good people, but even THEY had been so steeped in it, the process of rewinding them would have destroyed them anyway." he went on.

"So I'm putting my faith in you two to try and rebuild the Order to its former glory days." he told them.

"But what about maintaining dreams and sleep? There's no way so few people can do it." Leo said quietly.

"I'll step in and personally oversee the majority of them, and lessen my duties as more people are brought in." Chronos assured the two of them.

"That being said, don't get TOO dependent on my doing it. It WILL be a temporary measure." he then added sternly.

"...." Chronos was silent for a moment, and sighed.

"Right." he said.

He then looked at what they were doing, examined it for a moment, and then squinted.

"Ah." he said.

"Reverse this and this." he told them. "I'm not a scientist, but that seems like it might work better." he commented.

"...holy cow, he's right!" Illias exclaimed.

"And who's left? You. Leonard." Chronos then told Syraene. "And about... 30,000 more people." he added.

".....that's all...?" Leo asked in disbelief.

"That's all." Chronos confirmed.

"Ah, yes." Chronos said.

"Well... yeah, hm." he muttered.

"I suppose I just wanted to get that over and done with ASAP." he admitted.

"What.... what just happened!?" Leo then exclaimed, relief in his tone, but also confusion and remaining concern.

"I purged the Order of corruption." Chronos responded.

"....." Chronos was silent, before snapping his fingers.

"Ah, right, we're not done yet." he said.

Then, before Syraene could react, he placed his hand just above her breasts, and she suddenly felt... even more disoriented than before. She felt like her entirety was being... rewound.

And again, before she could even come to terms with it, he stopped.

"Ah, there we go." he said.

"NOW you're in the clear."

"......oh...." Leo muttered.

"Oh dear..." he said.

"What?" Illias asked.

"Just... back away... and let this happen..." Leo told him, taking the gorgon and moving several paces away from Syraene.

After about 10 seconds, Chronos himself, and not in spirit form, stepped out from the rune, clearing his throat a little.

"....yes?" he asked Syraene.

".....Syraene?" Leo asked, stunned.

"...Syraene!?" he then exclaimed further.

"What.... what happened...?" Illias asked, obviously confused and concerned.

"I don't know!" Leo shouted.

"This hasn't ever happened before! She didn't use mana to leave! She just... vanished! Gone! As though she just... stopped existing!" he said further.

"..........what?" Illias muttered, now FAR more concerned.

"What the SHIT happened!?" Leo then yelled.

"This is... what the HELL! This... WHAT!?" he stammered further, clearing growing more and more confused and upset.

"......." Hal was silent, and right there and then, he'd made a decision.

"I'll be right there, Liv." he told her.

"I'm coming to see you. I'll be there in a minute or so." he said.

There was a time for work, and this wasn't it. Olivia was hurting, and he'd be damned if he was going to haver her suffer alone right now.

Meanwhile, in the lab, some progress had been made in the equations.

"....ohhhh! So if we change THIS... and swap THESE two... it should work." Illias said.

"I think so, yes." Leo replied.

"....I don't know, either." Hal admitted.

"I just... I really don't." he said.

"I'll do all I can, I promise you that." he then vowed to her.

"...this is hard for a lot of people, but I can only imagine what you're going through, Olivia." he then told her.

"But... you'll need to try. Try and see if you can jog your mom's memory. You're her daughter. You two have such a strong bond, I would think it impossible to be completely severed... even by something as strong as the book and pen."