Aiden and Kayle were hit almost simultaneously, but their fates were drastically different.
Protected by Divine Aegis, Aiden was almost unscathed, merely knocked away; Kayle, though she tried to parry, still had Frostmourne pierce her body. Even her Lightforged Armor couldn't completely block Arthas's full-strength blow.
"No!" Seeing Kayle critically injured, Aiden's eyes nearly burst with fury. Why was she always so foolish, willing to risk her life to protect others?
"Let me add some fuel to the fire!" Nozdormu laughed, inverting the Hourglass of Time, its sands flowing backward. Aiden and the heroes around him all felt their movements become sluggish and slow, their time decelerated. This instantly reversed their situation, plunging everyone into crisis.
Aiden saw blood seeping from the gaps in Kayle's armor. She flapped her wings, trying to fly into the sky, but in the slowed time, she couldn't escape Arthas's next attack. The sight pierced his heart.
Not far away, Mograine, who had been gaining the upper hand, was also being suppressed by his corrupted self; Sejuani and her mount Bristleback could no longer run, Gladiator Varian cleaved her flail with a single blow, aiming another at her neck; Rhonin tried to cast a spell, but in almost the same time, his opponent, the blood elf prince, could complete two. He could only counter one, and the remaining one would kill him or Vereesa, who was entangled by the phoenix; the Banshee Queen fired a Void Arrow, blocking Quinn, and lunged at Vayne, the Night Hunter unable to defend against her possession; Garrosh's wrist was entangled by Thresh's chain, but before the opponent could exert force, the orc used brute strength to yank the chain, hurling the corrupted Gorehowl in his hand towards Miss Fortune...
The battlefield was a chaotic mess, and in an instant, they were at an absolute disadvantage. In just a few breaths, everyone would be either dead or injured.
"I must stop this from happening!" Only this intense thought remained in Aiden's mind. He mobilized all the time power he could muster, trying to disrupt the Hourglass of Time's interference.
"You dare try to stop me, change your destined fate?" Nozdormu's mocking voice echoed in Aiden's ears, "The game is over, your death is at hand. This is your fate—you intruded upon time, yet failed to see that all of you will die here and now?"
Aiden dared not be distracted for a moment, exerting all his strength to correct the distorted time. He felt something rapidly draining from his body. His once-black hair gradually turned gray, his skin loosened, and wrinkles crept across his once-youthful face.
His time was running out. But the resistance ahead was also diminishing, until it vanished completely—he succeeded! The time slowed by the Hourglass of Time had returned to normal!
However, when he opened his eyes, everything before him filled him with utter despair—Kayle was dead, fallen beneath Arthas's sword. Pamyel also lay beside her, blood staining the ground beneath her. Then Sejuani, Vayne, Quinn, Miss Fortune, Ashe, Lissandra...even Kassadin and Karthus...everyone was dead...
The Lich King Arthas and the Scourge heroes surrounded him. "Killing an old man is hardly an achievement." Arthas plunged Frostmourne into Aiden's heart.
His consciousness also plunged into darkness.
'No, no! The ending shouldn't be like this!' Aiden found himself weightless, as if his soul had left his body, appearing in an absolutely dark place, completely devoid of spatial and temporal awareness.
"Kayle! Where are you?"
"Vayne, Vayne!"
"Quinn...Valor...Karthus! Where are you?"
There was no response, no hope.
Aiden desperately cried out, wanting to break through this darkness, to see where he was.
Hell? The Void? Or where?
He tried to summon Silver Judgment, but the divine weapon did not respond to him.
However, the Chronomancer Staff appeared, appearing in his hand.
He stared blankly at it. When Zilean gave it to him, he said it was a decent replica—but why couldn't he summon Silver Judgment?
Aiden's gaze finally settled on the Reverie, he always remembered Zilean said that it was sealed with a powerful spell - Time Rewind!
Zilean had repeatedly warned him not to use this spell lightly, because such magic that forcibly interfered with the timeline would inevitably be punished by time.
He laughed self-deprecatingly. They were already like this, what more severe punishment could there be?
As long as he could save them, he was willing to pay any price!
Aiden removed the Reverie, activating its incantation.
A power that he was all too familiar with bloomed from the Reverie—the power of time!
In his perception, the originally normal timeline began to twist and even fold under this power, as unbelievable as a river flowing backward.
A figure suddenly appeared before him, it was the Chronokeeper who he was most familiar with:
"You have finally reached this step." Zilean's voice contained some complex emotions, seeming somewhat gratified, yet also regretful or relieved, "Aiden, I am very happy to see you grow to this day. I have witnessed this process. However, the road ahead is even more arduous, and I can no longer give you more guidance. But I believe that you are now capable enough to face all difficulties."
"Zilean! What should I do?"
Aiden felt an ominous premonition, but Zilean's image didn't seem to hear his words, continuing to speak on his own:
"Now I will tell you one last thing, watch carefully—" he pointed to the void beside him, where the images of Volibear and himself appeared, as real as if they were alive.
Volibear roared and pounced on Zilean, his claws carrying the power of lightning, striking Zilean. But Zilean was unharmed. Volibear clearly hit, but it had no effect at all, as if he had hit an illusion.
Of course, in this absolutely dark space, they were indeed illusions. But this was definitely not what Zilean wanted to tell him.
Aiden was fully focused, he heard some resolute meaning from Zilean's words - which made him extremely anxious and worried.
He thought hard about the scene before him, he couldn't fail the Chronokeeper's last expectations.
The scene changed, Volibear pounced on Zilean again, this time his claws hit the target - Zilean's body was torn to pieces by him, blood and flesh flying everywhere.
"Time cannot exist independently of space. They are an integrated existence. When time is void, space will also be void; when time is solid, space will also be solid."
Hearing these words, Aiden associated them with the two scenes just now, seeming to understand something, yet not grasping what it was. He felt like he was close to an answer, about the essence of time, but there was a layer of window paper in between, easy to break through, but just missing that one finger.
"I didn't lie to you. The one who cooperated with me was indeed Murozond. And the one who prompted our cooperation was you!" Zilean said, "Please take care, I hope we can meet again in the future!"
Zilean's image disappeared. Aiden felt empty in his heart, he felt that the other party was saying "goodbye", but the tone was like a farewell forever.
An indescribable, inexplicable emotion surrounded him. He didn't want to delve into what it was, only the responsibility that was completely clear until this moment.
The power in the Reverie was completely unleashed, Aiden's consciousness left the darkness, and light returned to his eyes. He heard Nozdormu's laughter in his ears:
"Let me add some fuel to the fire!"
It was at this very moment that the Bronze Dragon Aspect began to invert the Hourglass of Time, slowing down the time of Aiden and the heroes around him, eventually leading to the death of everyone!
Aiden had never felt that he would hate someone so deeply, wishing they would die!
Now there was such a one—
"Nozdormu!" Aiden saw the inverted hourglass, his own time being slowed down, forming a sharp contrast with the Scourge heroes in normal time. There seemed to be a layer of separation between them, which created such a strong contrast.
He saw that layer of separation. This was the principle Zilean wanted to tell him.
He understood that he didn't need to fight against time itself, he only needed to fight against that layer of separation, or the artifact that created that layer of separation, to break the predicament—Aiden's Chronomancer Staff pointed forward, the hourglass was frozen, and everything returned to normal.
The Chronomancer Staff seemed to have transformed. At this moment, he clearly felt the powerful power contained in this weapon—it was not a replica, but a true artifact, the unique artifact that Zilean possessed!
An artifact powerful enough to fight against the Hourglass of Time!
"No! This is impossible!" Nozdormu manipulated the hourglass again, trying to repeat the same trick.
But this was destined to be useless.
"You! You are not that person's pawn! You are that person!" Nozdormu roared angrily. He superimposed Zilean's image and Aiden's image in front of him, believing that they were the same person!
"Nozdormu, I will prevent everything from happening, you will not succeed!" Aiden's cold gaze stared at this giant dragon. He would never allow the scene before time rewind to happen!
"What are you relying on to stop me, just this little trick?" Nozdormu roared, "Without the Hourglass of Time, I can still defeat you! I am the Titan-blessed guardian! The Lord of Time! I must undo this mistake, you and your people must be purged from this world!"
Aiden held Silver Judgment, the sword emitting an unprecedented light. He had enough confidence to face this mad dragon Aspect: "You are just a pitiful worm fooled by time, a paranoid lunatic. If you are destined to go down the wrong path, I don't mind letting you die early!"
Aiden's Chronomancer Staff slammed heavily on the ground, the same time power spreading out, but this time, it was the Scourge whose time was slowed down!