By Tymparal (Tymparal) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 05:47 am:

To view the thread, click http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2587077.

Tymparal glanced across at his opponent. The mage, garbed in a red cloak, gazed back. Without warning, he sent a fireball spinning across the room at Tymparal. Blue sparks crawled across Tymparal, and he waved his hands. The fireball turned around in mid-air, smashing into a wall. He grinned. This would be too easy. And yet, he felt as if something was going to happen, something big...He was woken from his thoughts by a goblin running towards him. The red-cloaked wizard smiled as the goblins blade bit into Tymparal. Thankfully, seeming as this was only practice, the spells could not do real damage. Tymparal frowned. That was not part of the plan. He responded by summoning his own creature. A spider shaped being appeared. Strange. He had not meant to summon that. The goblin came running again. The spider, semmingly made of stone, exploded. In its place was a giant wall. Then, morphing back into a stone spider, it picked up the stuggling goblin, who disappeared in a flash of mana. Tymparal grinned at his opponent.
"Wipe that grin of your face!" the mage yelled.
"You pyromancers have short tempers, don't you?" responded Tymparal.
The pyromancer responded with a jet of flame, which faded away before reaching Tymparal.
"Its gonna take more than that to get me" Tymparal muttered. Weaving a delicatly researched spell, Tymparal froze his fellow student, locking him in time.
"Enough" came the voice of Master Barrin. "You each fought well today.". WIth these words the dueling ground faded.

Tymparal enjoyed life on Tolaria. He was being instructed in the art of magic, and recently, his fellow student and friend Ertai had left on the ship Weatherlight. However, he still had a feeling that this day was going to be a lot longer than normal. Rumors were spreading through the academy of a strange, half metallic race. The rumors called these monster "Phyrexians", but Tymparal doubted their existence. He started to meditate, increasing his link to blue mana and Tolaria. Then he felt it. He had shown an excellent grasp of time magic. He understood what normally happened when time was being altered. Without warning, time ripped. His body at once felt fast and slow, and Tymparal's body was filled with energy as time, torn free of the wrold, poured into his body. He had heard tales of "the spark", and now he understood. Tymparal had acheived his destiny, and gained mastery over the flow of time. Tymparal, Time Mage. Tymparal, Planeswalker.

Tymparal looked around him. The island was completley shattered, and parts of it looked strange. He blinked. Some parts of the island were cloaked in various shades of blue - some lighter, some darker. Tymparal started to walk towards one of the lighter patches. He felt everything slowing down, and realised that he had been seeing the time flow of Tolaria. A surge of power rushed through him. Tymparal understood something - his body had been infused with temporal energy. Energy that was reacting with the shattered time streams. There was a flash of brilliant light, and Tymparal blacked out.

When he awoke, he was alone in a barren moorland. His head pounded. Being thrown hundreds of years forward in time could do that to someone. His senses he didn't know he had kicked into action. The plane felt like Dominaria, but different. He struggled to his feet. Tymparal set out, searching to find answers. Where was he? Why was the plane familiar, yet different?
And behind him, a figure watched. An aura of blue suronded it, and the figure vanished into the air.

Tymparal walked on. The land looked bleak, deserted, but he was sure he could see some green ahead. Walking there, however, would take a long time - his energy was low, and something about this place seemed to sap at his strength. Tymparal focused, trying to call upon some of the energy trapped inside his body. He felt a surge of power and ran at a speed no-one was meant to run at. The green patch he had seen turned out to be a small wood. Whatever it was, he might find rest there. Tymparal realised he had overstrained himself. The energy left him, hurling him threw the air as time corrected itself. He landed in the forset, and everything went black.

"Ugh..." Tymparal muttered. His head felt foggy, and he couldn't move. He opened his eyes. He was roped to a wall by vines.
"Who disturbs my sanctuary?" a voice said. Tymparal tried to turn, but the vines hold fast.
"Answer me! Are you another bandit?". With these words, the vines went tighter.
"I am no bandit" he managed to say. He finaly got a look at his captor. An elf, dressed in green druidic robes holding a staff made of oak topped with a shining emerald.
"Who are you then?" the elf asked
"I am Tymparal of Tolaira" he answered.
"Tolaria? Impossible! It was destroyed centuires ago!"
"Destroyed? How?"
"A volcanoe rose from the sea, obliterating it. Now I live here, trying to restore nature."
"What of the academy?"
"You are delusional, if you think an academy stood here. But I suppose you should see the island."
Tymparal felt the vines retract from him. The elf waved his staff in the air, and a green portal appeared.
"Go through the portal, Tymparal of Tolria" the elf said.
Tymparal stepped through, and discovered himself miles above the island. He gasped. A mountain that had never been there before stood just out to sea, and the whole island was barren, apart from the elve's forest.

A week had passed since his arrival in this place. The elf, who had intorduced himself as Anoth, had proved a friendly host. Apparently, the portal had been some sort of test. Had Tymparal been unworthy of staying here, he would have plummeted to the island.
"So just what are you?" Anoth asked, breaking Tymparal's thoughts.
"A mage. I was training at the Tolarian Academy..."
Anoth laughed. "There was no such place!"
"There was, but I don't know what happened to it."
"Hmm..." Anoth thought. "There is someone who might explain what has happened. Follow me!"
Anoth waved his staff again, a sign he was about to perform magic. Tymparal recognised this as his portal spell.
"Where are we going?"
"We are going to visit a wise scholar I know. He enchanted my staff with most of its power."
Tymparal hesitated, then stepped through the portal.

"Who has come to visit me?" the old man muttered. "The elf?" Although he had no sight, the old man found his way perfectly to the door.
"Ah, Anoth! I have not seen you in years! And who is this?"
"I am Tymparal of Tolaria!" Tymparal proclaimed.
"I see" the man said. "Well, you better come in."
He guided them to a table, and pulled out a strange device. A beam shot out of it, hitting Tymparal's forehead.
"Interesting. Young man, do you know what a planeswalker is?"
"Sort of. They're like a powerful wizard. There was rumors tat one of the Masters at the academy was one. They-"
"Now ask yourself who you are."
Tymparal thought. "Well, I'm-"
"You are a planeswalker, Tymparal. My eyes may not work, but I can see the past. Watch what happened."

A few hours later, Tymparal was still mulling over what had happened. The old man had explained that when Tymparal gained his pwoers, another timeline had split off. Tymparal was currently in that other timeline. To restore the world to normal, he would have to find what had split Time in the first place. A large amount of temporal energy had been absorbed into his body, allowing him to view the past - but not change it - and see the future.

The old man smiled to himself. He had set Tymparal on his quest. What he hdn't revealed was that Tymparal had been destinied to do this. Even his name reflected is fate.
"So, you think you've won, do you?"
The old man looked around. He was sure he had heard that voice only a few hours ago.
"You've set him off, and that will make my path harder, but not impossible."
"You! What are you doing-"
The old man rotted away in instants, time overtaking his body. In the darkness, a figure smiled, glowed blue for a few minutes, and vanished.

Tymparal constantly experimented with his planeswalker powers. HE couldn'y go back to see exactly what had happened on Tolaria, but he knew it was important. Anoth came running into the room
"The scholars gone. There was a pile of his robes and nothing else. What could have happened?"
"I don't know, but I think we might be under attack soon. Do you have any defenses you could prepare?"
"A few. I'll set them up."
Tymparal watched Anoth go, and started to think. Knowing what had happened would be useful. He focused, and started to manipulate time. Tymparal vanished.

The old man smiled to himself. He had set Tymparal on his quest. What he hdn't revealed was that Tymparal had been destinied to do this. Even his name reflected is fate.
"So, you think you've won, do you?"
The old man looked around. He was sure he had heard that voice only a few hours ago.
"You've set him off, and that will make my path harder, but not impossible."
"You! What are you doing-"
The old man rotted away in instants, time overtaking his body. In the darkness, a figure smiled, glowed blue for a few minutes, and started to vanish.
"Not so fast" said Tymparal.
"You! What do you want?"
"why did you kill him?"
The figure grinned. "That old man should never have intervened."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I am the reason the timelines split. And I will control this one."
"You're crazy!" Tymparal yelled.
"Am I? How do you know? For all you know, you could just be some forest animal having a crazy dream. In fact.. I think you are. Wake up, Tymparal."

"Are you alright?" Anoth asked. "You had a nasty fall there."
Anoth looked bigger than he remembered. Everything looked bigger. He looked down. He had shrunk, and his body was covered in brown fur. Tymparal tried to speak, but it came out as a seris of chatters.
He had become a squirrel. This was bad. Then he thougt. Talking was only a habit - he was a planeswalker now. He tried to communicate with Anoth's mind
"Don't you knowwho I am?" Tymparal sent
"No, I don't. Should I?" the druid said aloud.
"Its me! Tymparal!"
"That name sounds familiar. I think i've heard it once"
"The guy must have messed up time. Hang on, I'm going to try something."
Tymparal the squirrel focused. He was glad to see he still had all his powers - even though he could not change his shape. He reached out and restored the memories to Anoth's mind.
"What happened to you?"
"I went back in time to see what happened to the old man. I couldn't save him, but I saw who did it. He polymorphed me into a squirrel and then changed time, I think."
"Hmm...hold still". Anoth motioned with his staff, and energy surged through Tymparal. He could feel his body returning to normal, he was becoming himself again. Then, the spell failed. Tymparral shot back down into a squirrel.
"Strange. The scholar told us the shape of a planeswalker is defined by his mind. That person must have messed with yours. We'll need to fix it."
Anoth created a portal, and the pair walked through.


Indeed, by this point Tymparal is a time travveling planeswalking squirrel.

By Squeeman on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 07:12 am:

::glances around to see if Lord of Squirrels in in the neighborhood

By Tymparal (Tymparal) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 10:35 am:

I hope not. The squrrel started as a joke over on the MTG boards. because of my sig, everyone thought I was a squirrel.