As the alarm blared, Chloe lazily rolled over and hit the snooze button. It was a Saturday, and she just wanted to sleep in. But as she rolled over, she felt a strange sensation on her stomach.
She got up from her bed and rummaged through her covers to find the object, and sure enough, it was what looked like the hilt of a sword, with a red button and a rotary dial, but no blade. Out of impulse, she pressed the red button, taking care to keep the hilt pointed away from her. No sooner had she pressed the button than a white, glowing blade sprang out of the hilt, causing her to flinch. Out of the window, she could see several people and objects, seemingly frozen.
"Oh my god," thought Chloe. "I think this thing paused the world."
As Chloe looked around her room for anything else unusual, she noticed a piece of paper near her feet, and picked it up.
"Dear Chloe Brown - congratulations! You have been chosen to be the master of a unique object - the Reality Altering Laser Katana, or RALK. It is a sword that has several settings, but all follow a similar premise of cutting any body part but without repercussions of death or serious injury. What makes this sword special is that it allows the wielder to alter reality itself by stopping time and then making changes within the frozen time.
To enter reality-altering mode, press the red button. Time will freeze, and any changes made with the katana will become reality once you press the red button again. Bear in mind that merely cutting in any setting will not cause the parts to detach - if you want the parts to detach, you will have to move them. Moving a detached part will cause, in the new reality, the part to be treated as a separate part of the subject.
When a cut is made in reality-change mode, a glow, corresponding to the setting of the katana, will be visible on the cuts made. This glow will disappear once time has started again.
These are the following settings...
AUTHOR'S NOTE - See the previous page for detailed descriptions of the katana's settings.
Enjoy your new gift. Use it wisely."
Chloe pressed the red button again. Once the blade retracted back into the hilt, time resumed.
She looked at the hilt in her hand. This new item intrigued her, and she realised this was worth getting out of bed on a Saturday for. She knew she wanted to use it to mess with reality. But the question was, how would she do so first?
