Swamped

You start backing away. He advances, seemingly on instinct.

"Are you sure this is a god? There's some toxin going around..."

"My own mind is clear. Indeed, perhaps the clearest it has been in years. I can tell these feelings are not mine - but they will not pass readily. It is rare for any of the gods to call for judgment like this. What did you do?"

Nothing, as far as you know. At least, not to anger any of the current gods...

"There's an exiled god," you say, backing towards the door. You aren't sure if you can get around it in time, but your odds seem better than if you try to get around him. "One the others cast out. I am on a holy mission to stop that god's plans. Perhaps it is able to connect to you just as the others can?"

Mantis pauses for a moment. It's enough for you to open the door and get out, but he starts charging towards you. You shut the door quickly, but you feel him pressing against it.

"That seems somewhat plausible," he says from the other side. "Unfortunately, plausibility alone does not seem to be enough to hold back my doubts. I am afraid it will take firm proof that this exiled god exists before I can stop myself."

Proof. Wonderful. It would be nice if you could find some, but it's not exactly easy to search while a priest possessed by divine rage is coming after you. If only you'd had some advance warning before coming in, maybe you could have done something...

Just as the thought crosses your mind, there's a loud noise coming from the door. You leap back on instinct, further than you expected to be able to go...

...and then you feel yourself doing the same move in reverse. And then several other things.

"What's your name?"

You think you just used some time magic without meaning to, and pulled yourself back to your conversation with Badger.

And... you feel something coming. The stray ether... your inadvertent spell must have attracted it.

"You can call me Long," you say, before you even have time to think about it. "Yours?"

That's what you said the last time. Is time unfolding the same way? Are your own actions set in stone now?

You think carefully. The last time you rewound, you cast a spell just a moment earlier, making a crucial difference. So you're not completely powerless - though you can't be sure if you can change things without using more time ether. And you still have knowledge.

You find your feet heading towards the hospital. You try to change, ever so slightly, but the moment you try it, it feels like you're swimming through thick mud. Some unknowable force is pressing you towards the same timeline.

Except the stray ether is getting closer, in some sense you can't entirely explain.

As far as you can tell, you have two options. You can use more time magic to try to alter what's been done, which seems extremely risky, or you can think of a plan for what to do when you catch up with the timeline you just went through.

You'd really prefer not to resort to the first option if you can help it, so for now you focus on the second. Perhaps there was something you noticed in passing that could aid you.