'Upon my passing, I found myself adrift in a vast, endless void for what feels like an eternity.'
'Throughout my thirty-two years, I've struggled to find true meaning in my life.'
'The one thing I truly valued was caring for the orphanage. I sincerely hope those dear children are doing well.'
'Jonathan is such a bright child, though he does have a bit of a temper. Juliet is full of energy and confidence, but beneath it all, she's the most sensitive.'
'Timothy, Henry, Runor, Abdul, and Sara are inseparable. James, Tuesday, Marvis, Tega, Raj, Cobby...'
'Those delightful little troublemakers, I wonder how they are doin----'
—help me— a muffled voice reached him.
'Is my mind playing tricks on me? Perhaps I've been in this place for too long.'
—Somebody..... "" "" "" ...please—
He heard it again.
So, he quieted his mind and listened closely.
—Somebody..... anybody help...please—
'Could there be someone else here?' he wondered, and without hesitation, he plunged into the boundless void, using his soul as a guiding light.
Diving deeper into the nothingness, he continued his descent for an unknown period.
He arrived at the source of the voice, yet there was only emptiness.
He searched tirelessly, but to no avail, and found himself back where he started.
–Somebody..... anybody help...please–
'Here goes nothing,'
He thrust his hands into the void, grasping at the nothingness and tearing it apart.
Though it seemed like nothing happened, his instincts told him to keep going.
He tore at the space he had opened and continued to claw through the void, as if digging through something, despite knowing it was truly nothingness.
After countless attempts, he suddenly tore apart the very concept of absence, revealing a world beyond description. It was dark yet luminous, swift yet sluggish, stagnant yet progressing and regressing. This world was filled with countless colors, some known and others unknown to humanity.
—please..... help...please—
He leaped down, observing strange shapes and invisible entities approaching. He intensified the glow of his soul, a skill he had acquired during his timeless journey in the void.
Then he saw the figure of a man, slowly dissolving into the fabric of this maddening realm.
He extended his hand, and the figure grasped it. Without delay, he flew with all his might, pulling the man's complete form and continuing towards the fissure he had created, which had already begun to mend itself.
The semi-invisible shapes swarmed in, and his intuition, rarely failing him in life, screamed of danger.
So he continued to fly, evading the invisible attacks.
Suddenly, they entered a region where time and space were being drawn into the unknown. They were instantly ensnared by the overwhelming force.
—within the river of time that flows in rage yet appears frozen—
A tiny seed flowed in reverse against the river. Giant aquatime creatures attempted to devour it, yet they always seemed to miss, continuously moving backward.
Within the grey seed resided the soul of Zaphaer, trapped in a memory trance.
Within the trance—in a memory stored within the artifact—
"Greetings, descendant of mine. I am uncertain if you still bear the same surname as I, but if you are viewing this message, it means you possess the 'wishing stone.'"
"The so-called wishing stone is an artifact crafted by my dwarven friend Dalkintorn, my dragon friend Arkantaxis, and my esteemed self. It is composed of the blood essence of the bird that chases stars and devours falling stars, and the beast of misfortune that controls plausibility. It is held together with a worm that fell from the river of time and completed with other materials, dwarven technology, and Dragonic magic. It can grant a single wish to any individual, but I trust it is in the hands of my descendant. Subsequently, it will be destroyed, but there are requirements that I am unaware of, as artifacts of this power create their own prerequisites. Oh, it also has passive functions to enhance your perception and a three-time active teleportation setting."
Following the explanation, a battle scene unfolded.
A colossal white bird that covered the sky with multicolored eyes and a golden tail that burned space, and a giant mountain-sized creature with the body of a bear, tiger paws, rabbit-hide legs, goat horns, and a wolf face were engaged in combat, destroying the sky and earth wherever they passed. Even dragons were mere ants to them.
Four heroes stepped forward to slay the beasts after suffering great injuries. A dragoniod, a human, a dwarf, and a half-spirit.
....
Outside the memory and the seed, a waterfall of chaotic time cascaded from above and stabilized with the endless river of time. Suddenly, two figures were flung out from the time waterfall.
One was a soul of pure light, constantly appearing in lights of pure black or pure white.
The other was a soul composed of multiple colors, its aura constantly shifting. Sometimes young, other times old.
Gazing at the endless flow of water and the infinite information within, the multicolored soul addressed the other.
"River of time."
"River of time?" Although they spoke different languages in life, at this moment, language restrictions did not exist, as both of them were simple souls. If anything, they could be considered speaking the language of souls.
"It is a river that flows endlessly from the past to the future. It never flows in the opposite direction, and that is why everything moves forward," the multicolored soul explained.
Observing him briefly, the light soul pointed at something, and the multicolored soul followed his gaze.
They beheld a ball-sized grey sunflower seed, flowing in reverse.
"How is that possible?" the multicolored soul asked in amazement.
Reflecting on its experiences from the 'entertainment world' (manga, manhua, manwha, cartoons, movies, dark novels, light novels, and more), the light soul inquired,
"What should I call you?"
"Solmen... and you?" he responded.
"Timothy," the light soul answered.
"What kind of world is this?" Timothy asked.
"In what sense?" Solmen was somewhat puzzled.
"I mean, does magic exist in your world?" Timothy inquired.
'So you truly are not from this world...' Solmen thought.
"Yes, it is a fundamental force for our civilization and a driving force for our existence," Solmen explained.
"If so, then that might just be our means of escape from here," Timothy suggested.
"Why do you think so?" Solmen asked, gesturing towards the river.
Within the river, monstrous fish rose and battled each other incessantly, yet they were unable to affect the river's flow. These were beings of time, to whom time was akin to a solid entity. Some sought to devour the seed but were unable to, as it always managed to elude them.
"We cannot remain here indefinitely, and you said it yourself, the river flows endlessly towards the future. Something I can tell you is that the future is unpredictable, but the past is much more controllable. I do not know how long you have been trapped in the hell dimension, but the past is our only option," Timothy asserted.
"Even if that is true, it is impossible for beings to enter the river of time for multiple reasons. Firstly, the creatures of time are hostile to everything, and secondly, the moment you touch that water, you will either immediately regress to absolute nothingness or progress to absolute nothingness," Solmen cautioned.
"You see that seed flowing in reverse? From my understanding, that is someone attempting to defy the laws of time and regress. From the looks of it, they are succeeding. Even if they could fail, I would still like to take my chances," Timothy declared as he descended with all his speed.
After hesitating for less than a split second, Solmen followed him with all his speed, murmuring,
"What kind of mad being is this?"
Dodging the colossal beings of time, they both reached the seed.
Compressing their size and liquefying their forms, they entered the seed. The interior of the seed suddenly became tighter as the greyish glow of the seed diminished by half.
Both Timothy and Solmen entered a trance as well.
Their soul minds appeared within a white space.
Standing before them was Zaphaer, observing them with a peculiar gaze.
Zaphaer's soul had an appearance unlike the other two abstract souls.
"Greetings, friend. Would you mind if we accompanied you?" Timothy asked in a friendly tone.
"What are you two? The beings of time should not be able to touch, let alone intrude into this place, due to the law of plausibility protecting this vessel. Are you some sort of time parasite?" Zaphaer inquired with caution.
"Should I simply eliminate him?" Solmen suggested with irritation.
"He is a soul... souls cannot die, and even if they could, you should not. You do not know what could happen to this vessel if you were to eliminate him. Besides, it is his vessel; we should seek an arrangement rather than resort to violence," Timothy advised, breaking out in invisible sweat as he pondered the nature of the person he had rescued.
"You wish to eliminate me? I can banish you from this vessel and ensure you are unable to re-enter. You have ten seconds to convince me otherwise," Zaphaer warned, though he had already activated a protocol to expel them, counting down from five seconds.
"We mean no harm. We are merely wandering souls seeking passage to the land of the living. If you allow us to accompany you, we will compensate you with knowledge from distant dimensions," Timothy proposed.
"Such as?" Zaphaer asked, though he was uninterested, merely buying time.
"Knowledge about the true chaos plane and an even higher dimension from which this being hails," Solmen offered, employing negotiation techniques he had learned from demons.
"Falsehoods... How can you claim to possess information about the true chaos dimension and a non-existent higher dimension?" Zaphaer mocked as the timer reached five seconds.
The seed began rejecting them.
"Wait... wait, it is true. That is precisely where I originate. I can tell that you are a human soul, as am I. The chaos realm has transformed my entire soul into this. If you grant me even two seconds, I can prove it," Solmen pleaded urgently, realizing this peculiar individual had not allowed him to negotiate.
Zaphaer reduced the rejection by half. "Prove it," he demanded.
Solmen bit open his soul's finger, allowing the chaos-reformed soul essence to leak out slightly.
"ZETERRIC ORIGINAL: BASIC CHAOS magic, chaos fire—Miniature," he whispered.
As his soul rippled, the chaos-tainted soul essence reformed and collapsed into itself, producing a grey flame the size of a candle. Its presence began distorting and destroying the immediate laws within the seed.
"Extinguish it, extinguish it!" Zaphaer exclaimed in fear as the small flame distorted the law of plausibility guarding the seed.
"Very well, we have an agreement. I will drop you off in the mortal realm as I descend, and you will teach me chaos spells and about chaos," Zaphaer proposed.
"That was not the agreement. Only information about chaos and a higher dimension, nothing more," Solmen insisted with a hint of menace.
He had noticed that his chaos fire caused harm to the seed vessel, and he was pleased to have a means to threaten this individual.
"Agreed," Zaphaer conceded.
"My name is Zaphaer, and your presence here has reduced the energy I can travel with by over thirty percent. I had planned to start life anew, but due to your actions, I cannot do so any longer. I will require compensation for that," Zaphaer stated seriously.
"Then I will teach you two high-tier dark magic spells and one high-tier light magic spell. Is that satisfactory?" Solmen offered after careful consideration.
"Acceptable," Zaphaer agreed.
"My name is Solmen, and this being here is called Timothy," Solmen introduced after receiving Timothy's consent.
Solmen treated Timothy with great respect, as he was unable to gauge his nature and because Timothy had rescued him.
They spent four 'weeks' together, and somehow they grew closer.
Zaphaer explained to them that although he somehow had basic control over the vessel's functions, and they were grafted into his mind upon entry, claiming he could banish them, he could designate a point in time at which he 'existed' and ensure the seed sank, allowing him to awaken as 'himself' at that specific time with all his memories.
He admitted he did not truly understand how it worked, nor did he know how to deposit them in the mortal realm, but he assured them he would do his utmost, and that assurance sufficed.
"But Solmen, I thought dark mages were all insane and depraved. You are different from the others I have encountered," Zaphaer remarked.
"Well, you should have seen me while I was alive. I was particularly insane and cruel to my enemies, but I like you, so I will remain composed. Furthermore, being imprisoned within a realm of absolute madness for tens of thousands of years, one grows weary of insanity, and the only madness left is normalcy," Solmen replied, with sarcasm gradually fading from his words as he continued.
"But you are exceptionally skilled in magic theory... I am almost envious, though fortunately, I possess more experience," Solmen praised.
"Even though I hail from a prestigious mage family, that is the only area in which I excel," Zaphaer responded nonchalantly.
Timothy remained mostly silent.
Suddenly, Zaphaer's expression changed.
"What is amiss?" Timothy inquired.
"I believe we must descend here... something overwhelmingly powerful is approaching, and I have the sense that the law of plausibility may not be able to safeguard the vessel," Zaphaer explained.
"When precisely are we descending?" Solmen asked, having not inquired about Zaphaer's temporal origin.
"550AX... 3-4-567 to be exact," Zaphaer replied, gesturing and pointing downward.
Outside, the seed began sinking, yet from afar, a massive shadow approached with extreme velocity.
Before it could even reach them, its tentacles were already within the vessel's range.
The vessel sank faster and faster.
"550AX? When is that?" Solmen inquired, unfamiliar with the term 'AX.'
"AX stands for 'After the destruction of the Xesphaxion Empire,' which threatened the entire mortal world... Before AX, we had BG and AG, the 'G' period lasted exactly two thousand years, and even before that were the 'FCA' years, denoting the Four Race Alliance years, lasting approximately two to three thousand years..." Zaphaer explained after noticing they were no longer pursued.
"Four Race Alliance? Are you perhaps referring to humans, dwarves, elves, and giants?" Solmen inquired.
"Yes, although little is documented about that era," Zaphaer confirmed.
"My life! So I have been in that hell for over six thousand mortal years? It felt like over twenty thousand years there, but honestly, I could not tell," Solmen lamented.
Suddenly, the vessel vibrated, and again, then even more intensely.
Suddenly, they were struck with great force as the vessel sank deeper and faster.
Outside, the vessel was cracked in multiple places, and its grey light was less than twenty percent.
Inside, Zaphaer's expression changed drastically.
"What do you mean, damage beyond repair... drawing energy from an external source to repair? What external source?" Zaphaer shouted in panic, only he could hear and comprehend the vessel's will.
"What is the matter?" Timothy asked.
"The vessel has sustained damage... it claims it will draw energy from an external source to repair itself," Zaphaer explained.
"What external source? Do you have any other energy sources here?" Solmen inquired.
"I do not know," Zaphaer replied with a hint of panic.
Outside the soul mind realm, within the main vessel, the liquified souls of all three of them began merging together and absorbing into the tiny cracks of the vessel.
Suddenly, the vessel was thrust out from the sea of time...
—Within a dilapidated, broken-down room—
A young man, approximately sixteen years old, lay on the ground, his eyes rolled back, foam frothing from his mouth as he convulsed occasionally. Beside him were numerous empty medium-intake sleeping pill bottles and an empty capsule container.
The door of the room was being pounded incessantly...
The door was blasted open with a fireball spell, and a very chubby girl with brunette hair in a noble school uniform rushed in.
Her uniform was stained with oil and food crumbs, her hair was somewhat wet...
She called out his name, yet he remained unresponsive... she carried him on her back and ran to the infirmary.
She watched over him until she succumbed to sleep.
Deep within the night, an invisible light flashed, and a finger-sized invisible seed appeared above the young man's head. It emitted light, yet the light was imperceptible to all those who were not souls.
The seed entered the young man's forehead, as the necklace around his neck glowed brightly before permanently losing all its luster, appearing as a mere accessory.