Tag: Chrona Tempora Quanta

#Lore24 – Entry #193 – Supers Month II #12 – The Order of Hecate

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

And so it was I got inducted into the Order of Hecate that day.  I was right surprised at seein’ just how many mages there were.  Less than a hundred in all, and many of them a couple hundred years old, many not lookin’ more than thirty, but knowin’ there were that many was just a shock.  Then the Sanctum itself was somethin’ else.  I weren’t exactly well versed on the “interdimensionality” stuff, and still don’t rightly think I’m where I should be on understandin’ all that, so I was gawkin’ like a child as we traversed the halls and libraries and alchemy labs and all the other places in the Sanctum before I was showed what would become my room. 

They’re a right friendly lot, and apparently, I was the first new member to join up in over fifty years, so it was somethin’ of a special occasion.  I kinda felt bad leavin’ Assane and Richard behind back at the Tower, but I didn’t know how the Sanctum behaved then, wouldn’t know it till later on when I finally returned to the “real” world, in fact.  After I’d got settled in and had some vague idea of where I was goin’ in the Sanctum, I started learnin’ more about what the Order did and how they did it.  More or less, they were doin’ the kinda thing I’d already been doin’ all on my own, protectin’ the world from them supernatural and magical things that wanted to see people hurt, killed, or somethin’ worse. 

They used to be more of a widespread group back in the ancient times, were spread all over the world back then, little chapter houses here and there, but over time, as magic began to fade and be replaced with technology, the Order shrank and began to recede from the material world.  Now they mostly exist to handle the worst of the threats to our world from the realms beyond, though our world don’t usually rank too high in terms of bein’ targeted by outer-planar threats these days. 

Chrona is the head of the Order, has been for longer than anyone can rightly remember, and is the only one who has mastered the intricacies of chronomancy.  I still ain’t got much of a knack for it myself, and probably never will; takes a special kind of talent, I reckon, and it’s just not somethin’ I got the head for.

I spent what felt like a few weeks learnin’ more about my own magic and gettin’ to know the place and the people, but my soul weren’t quite ready to settle down just yet.  I still had more places to see back home, and more work to do.  I’d learnt a few more tricks and methods to enhance my own abilities while I was there, though, and had worked on fine-tunin’ my gun magic in whole new ways that I’m not ashamed to admit I’m right proud of.  I daresay I can put any spell into a bullet and get it on target, even healin’ magic, though that one always gets me some weird looks and nasty stares when they ain’t expectin’ it.  Not that I blame’em; getting’ shot is a right startlin’ thing.

Anyway, once I was ready to pick back up and head out, Chrona showed me how the portal chamber worked, and taught me how to return once I was ready to come back home, and told me how time flowed differently in the Sanctum.  I went right back to the Tower, and by the time I’d come back to Assane and Richard, found that only a few hours had passed for them.  They knew right then what I’d been up to, sensin’ how my magic had grown.  We camped out there that night, then set off on more monster huntin’ and adventurin’ for the next few years.  I’d upgrade my gear, finally getting’ my hands on some proper revolvers (I’m particular to the Schofield designs myself) and repeaters, even a Sharps.

I could go on for hours ‘bout all the shenanigans we got into, but that’d take too long.  I can jaw about them stories for hours if’n you want to know more.  Suffice to say, I’d come back to the Sanctum sooner or later, havin’ experienced more than my fair share, and learnin’ why it is that most mages eventually decide to pack it in and depart from the material realm.

#Lore24 – Entry #192 – Supers Month II #11 – A Timely Meeting with Chrona Tempora Quanta

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

I found out not long after we’d cleared out that demon that our actions were bein’ watched by more powers than what we figured on.  Or at least, mine in particular were, cause Richard and Assane were already spoken for, so to speak.  As we continued on to the northwest through them Black Hills, a couple days after we’d recovered from our demon-slayin’ and I’d restocked my supplies with some ammunition from the dead town, which, ironically enough, Richard would send off with a proper funeral pyre, I began to hear this callin’ in my head.  It weren’t like nothin’ I’d experienced before.  I knew it was a voice reachin’ out to me, and I suddenly knew exactly where to go.

So, I led the way, and soon enough, we’d spotted what later came to be called Devil’s Tower by the majority of folk, loomin’ up in the distance, and even this far away, I could sense the power of the place.  It was an ancient place, the kind that many people over the centuries and eons had used for various rituals and magics and interdimensional travel and the like, and here it was that someone was callin’ me to it.  I’d told Richard and Assane about the call, and they’d told me to trust it, cause they were pretty sure they knew who it was, but it was up to me to answer it or not.

So, me an’ Asher rode on, the genies followin’ behind, though they’d wind up waitin’ for me at the base of the tower.  Usin’ one of the tricks I’d learnt from my companions, I spurred Asher on right up the side of that tower, and we rode to the very top.  I weren’t sure exactly what I’d expected to find up there, but I could feel the warp in reality as I traveled upward.  Atop the tower I passed through a cloakin’ spell like nothin’ I’d ever experienced before, and then, as I topped the rise, passed through the dimensional barrier.  In an instant, I found myself ridin’ down an ancient stone pathway, through a garden filled with strange plants and scents I didn’t recognize but surrounded by a strange sense of calmness and serenity.  Loomin’ up beyond the garden was a massive castle, or something like a castle, huge and ancient and radiating power the likes of which I’d never seen before.

There was a pond at the center of this garden, and waitin’ for me by it was a lady dressed up in some fancy duds, stuff I thought might’ve come out of England, but, bein’ the uneducated sort I was back then, were actually a whole lot older.

This lady introduced herself as Chrona Tempora Quanta, head of the Order of Hecate.  I was not exactly sure what any of that was, nor had I heard a name like that before, but I introduced myself in turn once I was dismounted.  I certainly felt small then, but in spite of the distance of her nature, Chrona put me at ease soon enough.  She said that she’d been watching me for some time, since I’d decided to get involved in that affair with the dogmen near Bowling Green, in fact, and had approved of what it was I was doin’ with my time.  She was rather amused at my choice of traveling companions, though when she called them children, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  Course, I didn’t know Chrona’s nature, nor her type of magic then, so it wouldn’t be for some time that I’d get what she meant.

She told me all about the Order of Hecate then, and had I not known magic myself, I’d have called her a loon, but somehow the idea of an ancient order of mages that existed on the boundaries between our world and the many beyond it seemed a good thing.  I would have much to learn, certainly, but with my aid in banishing the demon, I’d more than proven myself to join up with them.  She told me then that there would be lean times comin’ as far as magic was concerned in our world, and that, for a good while, I’d be the last recruit the Order would have, but that I’d always have a home with them, and could learn more about magic and how to hone my own in ways I’d never considered before.  And, if I wanted, I could continue doing the good work back on Earth for a while longer, cause she got the impression I weren’t quite done seein’ what the place had to offer.

It was a lot to take in, but the more questions I asked, and the more she told me, the more I knew I’d found myself a place to belong.  We must’ve talked for hours, but never did time seem to pass, and given what I’d learn about Chrona, that was no surprise.  But, after that good long chat, she bid me and Asher to follow along so that she could introduce me to the rest of the order and get me all settled in.