Mumyo
Legacy Name: Mumyo

Hmmm, I wasn't expecting a visit. Hello! Oh don't worry about the scythe, I'm on holiday at the moment, I won't use it, and neither will Edmund. Edmund put that down. Sorry he's a cousin and he's still young. So you want to know about me? Hmmm... I don't really know where to start...
Well, my name is Mumyo. Where does it come from? It's something like a pun. No harvester really knows what we are. Are we even made of flesh? It's said that harvesters asked a being who knew the answer, and that it answered "Mu". My parents have spent quite a long time on Earth, during Antique Greece, where flesh is said "myo" so it makes Mu-myo and means "saying we are made of flesh is both right and wrong". I admit it's a bit strange but I won't complain, so many of us are called Mortis, Death, or other name without imagination !
But we are not "Death". Not really. We are more like... hmm... House cleaners? Or maybe more something like macrophages? I'll try to explain.

We usually dwell in the Time vortex. The Time vortex is the place where every time-traveller passes. I remember at some points it was full with space-time machines. One could imagine there would be collision. Maybe even a time-machine colliding with the same time-machine but from the future ? That would be fun. Time-travellers can be so carefree ! So, my job is to correct time paradoxes and deviations with my special broom... err I meant scythe. I can do it in many different ways, according to the very nature of the "wound".

For exemple, one of the most common accident is a time-traveller preventing someone to die. In this case, I'll make sure he dies in a similar way. It just has to be done in a timely manner.

One of my first cases was a time-traveler who prevented a woman’s death -- she was supposed to get hit by a car. He asked the time to that woman. It was enough to slow her down, so that when the car that should have killed her ran the red light, she wasn't crossing. It took some time before the timeline change was important enough to be felt in the time vortex. I was dispatched to repair what I could.

The woman died of a stroke. I couldn't take the risk of making someone feel guilty about her death. There have been cases like that; when guilt prompted a person to commit suicide after killing someone by accident. Huge mess. Anyway, killing the girl wasn't enough to correct the timeline. So I checked the driver. Normally, the trauma of killing someone should have prevented him from driving for some time. Because the accident with the woman didn’t occur, he continued to drive without worry. One evening in particular, he was driving in the neighborhood where a girl was cycling home without being very cautious. If he hit and killed the child, her death would cause irreparable damage to the timeline, but we can't bring back someone from the dead. I had to prevent the accident by making him not drive that night, because of guilt if I could, to keep the circumstances as close to the original timeline as possible. Luckily for me, that man loved cats. So I killed a stray cat before his car, as he was running the red light. He felt guilty enough not to take the car that night. Of course, it was far from a perfect intervention. The cat shouldn't have died. So I chose the cat carefully so that things wouldn't get worse.

What's with that face? You're shocked because I placed the life of a human other a cat's one? It doesn't always work that way. It's all about balancing the risks on the timeline. I've killed people to save a bird. Time is complicated; I don't care if I sound barbarian. The interventions of us harvesters always leave some sort of scar, but it's better than total chaos.

We are known and feared by those who know about our existence because, as you saw, we are not very subtle when dealing with timeline deviations. For example, I once saw an open wound in the time vortex. I immediately went to its cause. When I got there, I saw some time-traveler saying, "I just wanted to say hi," while standing over his father. His father had heart failure after seeing his not-conceived-yet son coming back from the future "just to say hi.” That time-traveler’s existence no longer made sense as he would never be conceived. I killed him and the people who witnessed the scene. Many people think that this kind of paradox results automatically in the death of the one causing it. It's not really automatic. It's always our doing.

Sometimes, witnesses escape our scythe. Just the necessary amount of people to remind others of the danger of time-travel. That's how the notion of time paradox has been anchored in your civilization. I believe in prevention a lot. Once the harm is done, we can only hope to repair for the best, by killing or scaring. It's not by choice; it's an obligation. We can't really have a direct interaction with things outside the time vortex. I can't hold an apple for example. Or take your hand. Yes, I can talk, but I only do when I'm sure it won't interfere with my job. People usually forget me anyway, but one is never cautious enough. Speech is difficult to use, the meaning of words depends on so many thing it's impossible to rely on them. More than language, there is social background, time period, personal experiences... My scythe is my only link with the worlds I visit, even if I'm sure it isn't all about killing.

I can also choose to be visible or not. And I use it in some cases to scare people to prevent them from doing something or to make them do something. It's not easy to figure out how people will react, even if fear is a primitive feeling, so I use this method only in worlds I know well and always with caution. Someone once said my eyes were creepy. I met her several times, and I like seeing her. I think I can say she's a friend of mine. She asked me once if I had visited Lewis Caroll and inspired him the Cheshire Cat, as when I disappear the blade of my scythe is the last thing to be seen and it looks like a grin when I hold it near my eyes. I confess I now do it a bit on purpose.

You don't imagine, but my work can be dangerous. Sometimes time-travelers try to restore the timeline by themselves, and if they manage to do so when we are working on it, we die. Why ? Because in the original timeline, we don't exist. We came only after it was altered. So when the timeline is restored, we can't exist in it. So we die.

More coordination between time-travelers and us would be appreciated, it's true, but our job is too important to rely on others. Admittedly, time-travelers are more efficient than us in restoring timelines, as we can act only after the harm is done, whereas they can go back in time. But we never hesitate before leaving the vortex to do our job.

There are good aspects of the job. For example, when it takes time to restore the timeline -- if you don't act very quickly, waiting for the right moment to interfere can be long --, I take advantage of the situation to read. I love reading. And we have holidays ! Holidays are the best moment to gain knowledge in different worlds. I use this opportunity to travel through time and space. To see different worlds, different universes, galaxies, planets, continents, countries, cities... And to meet people, even if they seldom remember me. That's the advantage of living in the time vortex. No, really; I won't complain.

At the moment, I’ve brought my cousin with me, so he can learn some useful things, both at work as well as on holidays. He tends to kill a lot more than is necessary, so I hope he will gain some experience coming with me. How long are holidays? Well, I am on holidays until someone shouts in my head "TIME TO GO TO WORK.” Harvesters have some kind of connection between us. It's very useful on big cases, when several harvesters are needed. Also, as I am no longer in the time vortex, I can't sense wounds in it. This connection really is indispensable to do my job properly.

Oh! Someone seems to have messed with the timeline... That ends my holiday! Thank you for listening for so long! Have a nice day!

{More about Mumyo on his charahub page (don't hesitate to check the questions for a full interview !)}