In sixteenth century England, monks Thelodius and Chadwick hastily bolt the door of their abbey. From outside comes a brutal roar. From a silver case, Brother Thelodius takes a stick of charcoal. On some parchment, he writes the name of Kronos, their persecutor, into whose hands the Tools of Oblivion must not fall. Kronos kicks open the door. With an unseen object, Brother Thelodius scrubs at the written name, which blurs and fades. In that very instant, Kronos has vanished without trace. The monks vow to hide their miraculous Tools - in the new world…
One snowy morning, Max grumblers to twin sister Shelley about her frequent proximity to his social life. They pass Butch the dog, who crossly barks at them. On reaching town, Max, having lost his art supplies, visits the Magic Mansion. While Sardo attempts to sell Max an abacus, Shelley finds a small silver case. Inside is a small stick of charcoal, with a squared beige lump of some pliable substance. For ten dollars, Max buys it.
In Art class, Max, with his new charcoal, sketches a fruit bowl. Having made a mistake, he takes the squared eraser bought alongside the charcoal, and scrubs at his sketch of an apple. From her sketch, Shelley looks up, and is bemused to see the displayed apple to have suddenly vanished. Suspicious, Max scrubs out his sketch of the pear. The displayed pear vanishes. Max writes down "Shelley’s pencil," and rubs out his writing.
On the way home, Max and Shelley discuss the unaccountable disappearances. Just then, Butch runs over, and barks at Max. Alarmed, he climbs onto the branch of a small, nearby tree. As the branch starts to break, Max pulls out the charcoal. On some paper, he writes down "Butch," and erases it. The branch breaks and Max falls onto the snow - but Butch has vanished.
Back home, the doorbell rings. Shelley gets the door, and leads music teacher Mrs Fitzgerald to the piano - which has disappeared. Mrs Fitzgerald impatiently storms off. At the table, Shelley interrogates Max. With the charcoal, he writes "Shelley’s underpants and uses the eraser to scrub out the inscription. As told, Shelley checks beneath her trousers - and is suddenly aghast. Alarmed by Max’s power trip, Shelley threatens to tell their mother. Max threatens to erase Shelley.
Shelley telephones their mother - but before Shelley can explain the situation, Max scrubs out her name. She drops the phone, and, with a scream, realises herself to be gradually fading from view. Max blows away the residual charcoal, and Shelley is gone. Max picks up the phone, and puts down his sister’s sudden absence to a bathroom visit.
Having tied a rope to his bed and around his middle, Max picks up a sketchpad, on which are written his next targets for erasure: "Max and the silver box". With an apprehensive sigh, he rubs them out. From the deleted inscription bursts a brilliant white glow, which condenses into a swirling ethereal tunnel. Max falls towards it.
He lands, face down, on a blanketed couch, covered with old socks and sawdust. He stands, and finds himself in a gloomy, expansive hallway. From the ceiling hang faded shreds of cloth. Across the sawdust-layered floor are various shelves and boxes, which hold sundry items. Amidst them flicker several electric lamps. The full length of Max's rope has been transported with him.
Max walks through some more hanging rags. At a piano, finds Kronos. The raider explains them to be in Oblivion, where end up obsolete items. Since Max erased himself, he must have the Tools of Oblivion. Kronos threateningly advances. Max runs. On a wooden cupboard, he charcoals the name of his pursuer. Kronos looms, axe aloft - and dematerialises... only to reappear behind Max.
In a derelict car, Max writes and erases a name. On the passenger seat materialises Sardo. Just then, Kronos announces himself with a vengeful growl. Sardo and Max get out and run. Through a clearing calls Shelley's voice. On a still conveyor belt laden with boxes, Shelley kneels inside a five foot yellow cage. Before her, in an open trunk, sits Butch. The conveyor belt clunks into motion.
Kronos reappears to grab Sardo from behind. This, explains Kronos, is where items are obliterated, to make more room. He dangles the cage's key, and offers it in exchange for the Tools. Max throws the silver case to Kronos, who flings the key onto the far end of the conveyor belt.
Shelley’s cage lurches further towards a draped hole. Max and Sardo try to shift the cage. On a sketchpad, Kronos sketches the abbey door through which his prospective victims fled. Before him, the door, sans walls, materialises. He kicks open the door, revealing the monks.
Having secretly kept both a fragment of eraser and half a piece of charcoal, Max, on his sketchpad, writes something - he's going to erase Oblivion. In horror, Kronos turns away from the abbey door. With a roar, he raises his axe, and runs towards them.
With a flash, Max, Shelley, Butch and Sardo find themselves in a hazy, echoing white void. Max lifts his sketchpad, on which, in a protective bubble, are the names of himself, Shelley, Butch and Sardo. Max sketches a door, and turns to Shelley. Shelley rubs out the image. Before them materialises the door to Max’s bedroom.
Back in Max’s bedroom, they hear, from downstairs, hear mother Carol return. Max puts the mess down to a game with Butch - with whom he now seems to be on friendly terms.
Having spent the story working at his own sketchpad, Tucker now shows the others an impressive sketch of them all. Tucker isn’t quite satisfied with it, and prepares to cast it to the flames. They fretfully stop him.
This episode provides examples of:
- Angry Guard Dog: Subverted with Butch, who initially readily barks at Max, but eventually mellows around him.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite their bickering, Max is horrified to have erased Shelley.
- Conveyor Belt of Doom: In Oblivion, a conveyor belt carries items to a chamber for eradication.
- Cool Gate: Things written of or drawn by the charcoal, when rubbed out by the eraser, are, in a swirly flash of light, instantaneously pulled into their etched representation.
- Eldritch Location:
- Oblivion, an extra-dimensional region where, it seems, all forgotten extraneous matter eventually ends up.
- A white void, into which it eventually vanishes.
- Inconvenient Summons: Sardo is pulled into Oblivion whilst cleaning his teeth.
- Narnia Time: Despite having been trapped in Oblivion for centuries, Kronos is able to summon a door back to the time from which he was banished.
- Power of the Void: The eraser banishes any given object from earthly attainability. Their receptive chamber then vanishes into a white void.
- Stern Teacher: Mrs Fitzgerald.
