The Chronurians do not know why time Fragmented. They cannot leave Chronur to do their work of observation, because the Fragmentation is taking all of their power. They cannot go out and fix it because it has unleashed energies of broken time that kill them, and a figure they call the Epochal Ranger hunts them when they use their powers to survive it. They take a risk and seek out those who the Ranger is hunting--people the surmise have pieces of littany metal. Their first attempt at this failed, as they gathered powerful warriors wielding littany weapons. All of them were killed before they could save anything. Thus, they turn to more unlikely people--those with more innocuous pieces of littany metal: jewelry, charms, tiny fragments, tools.

They call them together, and they give them three tasks: fix time, find out who did this, and avoid dying in the wrong time.