Just as I said those words—major jinx—my chest tightened and my heart raced. I squinted at Draco, who was putting away his walkie-talkie. He probably told the people who work here what happened.
"You doing alright, boy?"
'Does it look like I'm doing alright?!'
"Definitely no."
"Wait here, I just asked for medics, I'm going to look for where that bastardly insect came from."
With a slight nod, I lay down and curled up with the hope of reducing the pain in some way or another. Unfortunately, it wasn't useful. This is far too much pain for anyone. Wait, could this be one of the side effects of using this ability, as Azura told me?
"Child! Can you hear me?!" asked a familiar voice.
"Azura!" I squealed. Draco looked back at me while he was still walking to the far end of the room.
"Boy, who are you talking to? There's no one here."
"Huh?!"
"Child, I'm speaking to you telepathically. Even if you said 'no' before, I would still have begun speaking telepathically. Along with this, I can explain everything that you wish to know, along with what you MUST know. Speak in your head rather than aloud; it's your choice, of course. Though speaking aloud might get a lot of weird looks and unnecessary attention…"
'Is this better?'
"Much better, with this, we'll have privacy," she replied.
'Okay, so now explain to me what an Error is.'
"Very well, child. Errors are abnormalities made by the convergence of Timelines. There are five ranks in Errors: Hollow, Scavenger, Aberrant, Wraith, Nightmare. Hollow rank Errors are what you would call "newborns"; they are extremely weak. Scavenger ranks have stronger bodies but aren't so hard to kill. Aberrant ranks contain abilities, for example, the spider you just fought. The Errors in this rank also have this consumable item named: Error gems, which either increase your main ability's strength or contain a new ability. Humans can only own two abilities. Sometimes, Aberrant ranks don't drop any Errorgems—"
'That's an insane amount of Information. I doubt my brain can handle such a buttload.'
Azura giggled before continuing: "Wraith ranks are much more agile, along with higher intellect, paired with much stronger abilities. They also drop Error gems, but there's a higher chance of dropping an Error gem that significantly upgrades your ability instead of providing a new ability. There's a 0% chance for a Wraith rank to not drop an Error gem. Finally, the most dangerous rank… NIGHTMARE ranks these are catastrophic; they are not like the rest of the ranks. Each Error from the previous ranks was born and grew from the Hollow rank. Meanwhile, Nightmare ranks are immediately created when four different realities overlap. They can cause catastrophes and kill hundreds of armies with one of their five abilities; they also possess the power of speech, which allows them to speak in any language."
Because I was so concentrated on what Azura was saying, I had forgotten about the pain in my chest. Just as I was about to ask Draco how much more time the medics would take, the two white metal doors at the end of the bloody hallway slid open as two men wearing white coats with square glasses ran over to me, both looked the same, pretty much twins.
The left one kneeled beside me:
"How are you, Mr. Horacio?"
'DO I LOOK LIKE I'M ALRIGHT?!'
"Very much in pain."
"Don't worry, this is probably because you received your first ability. Most people have the same issue when they receive their first ability. You just need some rest."
The one on the right put down the folded stretcher he was carrying, then opened it. Lefty and Righty plopped me onto the stretcher and took me beyond the hallway. Deeper into the TLP headquarters.
'What about this "Time technique: Creation" thing of mine? What is it exactly, Azura?'
"Time technique is an ability that you were blessed with by the current ruler of Time. Each Timeline has a person with the same ability as you. The current ruler of Time needs someone worthy enough to take his throne; apparently, he is losing his divine form. Due to this, they created a competition to the death."
'Wait, so you're saying there are others that have this Time technique ability of mine, and we're all competing to kill the person who governs over Time?!'
I groaned in pain. I stole a glance from my stretcher at a sign that read "Medical Ward". Righty swung open the double doors as we entered the medical ward.
"Yes."
'You know, you kind of basically are my own ChatGPT. Which is not bad, not bad at all.'
"You know I can hear your thoughts…"
Lefty and Righty grunted as they put me onto the hospital bed.
"Ah, that should do it. Keep resting, you'll have to be here for the next two days."
Lefty and Righty disappeared into the room just across.
"The Timelines are merging because each Timeline contains a Time-bender, a person with the Time technique ability. Because of so many Time-benders along with the ruler of Time, the Timelines just can't handle all this power of Time because of this, they are merging to keep existing. Killing a Time-bender destroys their Timeline, but destroying a Timeline also kills billions, if not trillions, of inhabitants inside the Timeline. The ruler of Time never told me what's so special about you. You seem like a worthless candidate for the throne of Time. Plus, exactly what will you do to save your Timeline from this impending doom, child?"
'That hurt… Couldn't you have said the end bit a little kinder…'
I turned round, facing the digital clock placed right beside me on the bedside drawer. The clock displayed eight in the evening.
'Anyways, I'm exhausted, let me rest for a while, thank you for the information. As for what you've asked me, I still need to know more. I'll think of a way to save my world, just you wait. For now—goodnight.'
"Goodnight, child."