The Time Guardian — Kenneth Guthrie

The prior four stories are available in Mage: The Collection

Mage 5: The Time Guardian
With the worst kind of guard duty forced upon him, Sinth is in for a bit of a shock today. An accidental traveler and an outlandish warrior are going to make this a night to remember as the terror that lurks in the depths of the Caverns of Time comes out to play - at Sinth's expense! "A hilarious run off between two of this author's most notable characters."

Sample Content

This story is about 3300 words.

Sin heard the scream from inside the cave. It sounded like someone was killing a large bird with a blunt stone.
He stood up and spat out the half consumed red candy. The screaming got louder and louder.
Sinth started getting ready to run for it. He had heard stories of how the Mellow would come in the night and whole towns would disappear (as if they were never there at all). There was no way he was going to fight something that could do that.
A massive creature covered in mud raced out of the cave mouth and growled something at Sinth.
"THE MELLOW!"
Sin pointed stupidly at the overly proportioned human shape.
"THE WHAT?"
Sinth stopped pointing.
They watched each other from across the small space of rocky ground between them like to strange birds unsure of what to make of each other.
"What did you say just now?"
The creature had a much nicer voice when it wasn't shouting.
"I said, the Mellow."
"I'm sorry, but what the heck are you talking about?"
Sinth repeated himself again and got a blank look in return.
"You aren't the Mellow are you?"
"I hope not. My name is Oddity."
A greenish tentacle slowly flowed out of the top of the cave behind the dirty creature in front of Sinth.
His face was a mask of fear. The humanlike thing looked at him oddly then followed his line of sight.
"RUN!"
The big one grabbed him by the front of his robes and slung him over his shoulder.
The thing crawled into the light a little.
Sinth fainted in shock on seeing the face of oncoming death.

The Mage Fantasy Series
1. The Accidental Dragon (1# Short Story)
2. The Fire Renewal (2# Short Story)
3. The Accidental Dragon and The Fire Renewal (Combined Story Pack)
4. The World Untwining (3# Short Story)
5. Welcome To The Weird World (4# Short Story)
6. The World Untwining and Welcome To The Weird World (Combined Story Pack)
7. The Time Guardian (5# Short Story)
8. An Unexpected Dinner (Promotional Short Story)
9. Taming The Phoenix (#6 Novella)