Outside the Bounds of Prophesy

"Child," he said, "I would be lying if I said your appearance here didn't frighten me."

"Why's that?"

"Well, lass, the reason is, by all rights, I should have known you were coming. Every moment, right up until the time of my eventual death after I have been forced to flee Beacon Mountain and live in the wilds east of the province of Anfang, I have seen already. I know I am to die with the dagger of one of the madmen of the Court of Fools lodged in my chest, upon which they will heap stones upon my corpse and it shall become the site of my mockery. You, however, I do not know. You I have not seen in my visions as I spiral towards my own doom. That, I am led to believe, is an impossibility."

"That could well be," Astra said, "were it not for the fact that I believe magick is involved. I was sent here shortly after being trapped in an immense grandfather clock"

Myrddin's brow furrowed at this, his eyes showing recognition.

"Why my poor child, you've come unstuck!"

"Unstuck?"

"Yes! Unstuck! Anchorless! Adrift!"

"What on earth do you mean?"

"That clock you mentioned was once the plaything of the Hecatonhire, the hundred-headed giants. They are now exiled from the lands of men, but they dabbled in the arts of Chronomancy. You are now without an anchor, for such is the purpose of the clock. It strips one of the chains that bind them to their own time. After doing this, one may learn the fell art of Chronomancy, as only the Anchorless can truly practice it. However, as you could not be trained after it set you Adrift, you're merely moving through time aimlessly. I have to give you a new Anchor, or you may well shift again, and again, and again, eventually dissipating to nothing."

"What do I have to do to get an anchor?"

"Well, child, were this another time, it might have been simpler. For instance, were you yet to be born, or already dead, I could simply tie you right now. However, your childhood self exists here. This makes things more complicated. You see, I need to make you a different person. I need to pull aspects of you from other timelines, make you diverge enough to become stable, and then I need to give you a new true name..."
 
 

1. Myrddin pulls aspects of Astra from a timeline in which she suffers from the curse of lycanthropy, and gives her the true name Catherine 
2. Myrddin pulls aspects of Astra from a timeline in which she lost her right arm, only to have it replaced by a magickal silver one, the gift of a Seelie Fae Lord, and gives her the true name Branwen 
3. Myrddin pulls aspects of Astra from a timeline in which she was transformed into an elf by a strange shaman, and gives her the true name Moira 
4. Myrddin pulls aspects of Astra from a timeline in which she was a fierce and conquering warlord, and gives her the true name Fiona 
5. Myrddin pulls aspects of Astra from a timeline in which she was slain and rose again as a vampire, and gives her the true name Sarah 
6. First, Astra has some questions she would like answered. 

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