Author's Note: Well, you all asked (or demanded) this, but it's here! My third story in my AU MK Trilogy! It's not quite following MK11's storyline, but this'll set up some things to come. Hope y'all enjoy!

-Chapter 1: The Keeper of Time

Magnus Shadrix blinked and gave his head a sudden shake as he realized that things had suddenly changed. One moment he was at the Wu Shi Academy, speaking with Mileena. The next minute he was... here... wherever here was.

He found himself in an open room, standing on a narrow walkway. It was predominantly gray and had these strange, rotating devices that ran from wall to wall. In the center of the room stood a tall, rounded device filled with what looked like sand. Layered with intricate gold and white plating, stylized in an old yet fluid and timeless manner, it looked like some kind of hourglass. A confused Magnus looked this way and that, performing a 360 spin to try and find something familiar.

"What...? Where is this? Where am I?" He wondered aloud. This was a very bewildering predicament. A sudden female voice drew his attention skyward.

"Welcome, Magnus Shadrix, to my keep." There, floating in mid-air, was a woman... a woman unlike anyone Magnus had ever seen before. She was robed in a white cloak with a golden trim, her arms and legs bare but radiating a strange blue aura. She was hairless, save for a single strip of gold running down the length of her skull and her eyes were a piercing shade of blue, even more ethereal than Magnus' own electric blue eyes. The electromancer was momentarily in awe of the woman before he returned to the task at hand.

"Who are you?" He wondered.

"I am Kronika, keeper of time." The woman answered, giving him a small smile. She did not appear to be hostile, but Magnus was ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Are you an Elder God?" He asked, attempting to discern exactly who this 'Kronika' was. She softly chuckled before replying,

"I am so much more than an Elder God." Spreading her hands wide, she gestured to the room around her. "This is my domain. From here, I can control the flow of time." Her words did little to impress Magnus.

"What do you want from me?"

"Many things." Kronika answered. "But for now, we must wait. It is not yet time."

"Look, I get it, time is your thing. But I want out of here, and I want out now." Magnus demanded. Kronika chuckled again.

"I knew you would say such a thing. You are quite the temporal anomaly, Magnus Shadrix. You are unique to this timeline and yet I can still foresee our conversations. You may very well be abnormal, but you are not unknown to me." She mused. Magnus raised an eyebrow.

"You're using a lot fo words that do not resonate with me. So try some I would understand: release me. Now." He stated. Kronika's disposition suddenly changed, her attitude becoming hard and business-like all of a sudden.

"I cannot. Not until things have been sorted." She answered him.

"Fine." Magnus rumbled, electricity craklcing around his fists. "If you won't let me out, I'll find my own way out."

"I'm afraid that's impossible." Kronika informed him. "Geras... please put Magnus at ease for a while." She declared, suddenly floating away. The whirling of sand before him put Magnus on edge as the sands swirled into the appearance of a man. And a man was soon revealed, dark-skinned and baring similar white, gold and blue robes like Kronika. His eyes were ablaze with blue power, yet lines marred his entire body, as if he had been assembled or built.

"You will abide Kronika's wishes." 'Geras' commanded, hand swirling around his hand to form a giant knuckleduster.

"Forgive me for not being willing to listen to my kidnapper." Magnus replied, arcs of electricity jumping from point to point across his body.

"You will submit, or be broken." Geras threatened, but did not advance.

"Not today Sandman!" Magnus shouted as he lunged ahead, fist cocked back and cloaked with electricity. His fist collided with Geras' face and sent the enforcer flying backwards. Sliding ot a halt on the ground, Magnus unleashed a blast of electricity that struck Geras in the chest, earning him a cry of pain from Kronika's enforcer. Manipulating the electrons in the air around Geras, Magnus created a miniature storm around him and unleashed a burst of multiple lightning bolts, striking Geras from every angle. Leaping high into the air, Magnus delivered a massive overhead that sent his fist crashing into the top of Geras' head...

And clean through it.

Geras' head was obliterated by Magnus super-powered punch, a consequence of Magnus' heightened emotions in his powered state. Pulling back his bloody hand, Magnus watched as Geras' near-headless body keeled over, his knuckleduster disappearing into sand. Taking a few deep breaths, Magnus looked around as she shook off the bodily residue on his hand. "You might wanna rethink his contract, Kronika!" He called, hoping the so-called 'keeper of time' heard him.

But then, things took a turn.

The pieces of Geras' head dissipated and turned into sand, the particles then flowing towards his exploded neck like a river. The blood was gone, the bits of flesh were gone, all of it turning into sand and accumulating right where his head had been. A startled Magnus watched as the sand took on the form of a head and then crystallized into an unblemished, perfect replication of Geras' head. The enforcer slowly sat up, grunting as he did.

"I, Geras, am a fixed point in time. Every death and rebirth makes me stronger. I cannot be defeated... I cannot die." He revealed as he rose to his feet.

"Oooookay then..." Magnus muttered as he charged up again. But Geras struck him hard and fast, fashioning a hammer out of sand particles and sending it smashing into his chest. The air rushed from Magnus' lungs as he felt his ribs crack, sent stumbling as Geras forged a second hammer form thin air and sent it driving into Magnus' back, knocking him forward and into Geras' waiting knuckleduster. With the wind knocked from him, Magnus was thoroughly battered by Geras as he took a knee to his guts and then a double-axehandle to his back, putting him down and onto a bed of sand spikes. Crying out in pain, a bloody Magnus was suddenly hoisted up by Geras and thrown into the air. As he was sent flying, Geras rewound through time, performing his actions in reverse until he was no longer behind Magnus but before him, his knuckleduster ready. The giant metal fist collided with Magnus' jaw and sent him flipping through the air until he landed flat on his back. The elctromancer struggled to rise, but found no strength left in him. Lying on the floor, breathing hard, he was on the verge of passing out. Geras suddenly entered his vision, looking untouched like Magnus had done nothing to him.

"Perhaps, when you recover, you will be more compliant with Kronika's will." He mused. Magnus could muster no retort and soon closed his eyes, now faced with a grim reality...

Until further notice, he was a prisoner of this Kronika...