They walked through the endless white expanse of the Hall. The air shimmered faintly—like glass reflecting time itself. Every step they took echoed without sound, as though the world around them existed a few seconds out of sync.
Leo broke the silence first, his voice hesitant.
"Uh… Zycrist, can I ask something?"
"You already are," she replied, her tone calm but heavy with age.
"Then… you must know about the temporal disruptions, right?"
"Of course I do," she answered instantly.
Leo frowned.
"Then why can't you fix them? You're—well—you're you. If you understand them, then you should be able to stop it."
For the first time, Zycrist didn't answer immediately. Her great wings lowered slightly, and a sigh—like the wind of centuries—escaped her throat.
"Because I can't handle them alone anymore."
Leo blinked.
"What do you mean, anymore?"
"Once," she began, her voice soft but resonant, "there were ten of us—ten Zycrist. Each one born to govern an aspect of reality itself. Space, Time, Cause, Effect, Memory, Soul, Destiny… and others even I have forgotten. Together, we kept the threads of the multiversal timelines from tearing apart."
Her eyes dimmed, golden light fading slightly.
"But now, only three of us remain. The others vanished—some destroyed, some fallen asleep, and some…" she paused, "some chose to forget they ever existed."
Leo's eyes widened. "Forget? You mean… they abandoned their own existence?"
"Perhaps. Or perhaps something made them forget. I can't know anymore." Zycrist turned her gaze upward, where faint strands of light crossed above them like webs of glass. "Each Zycrist sustains a fraction of temporal order. With only three of us left, the balance trembles. I can delay the collapse… but not stop it."
Aurelius finally spoke, his tone softer than before.
"Then how do we fix it?"
Zycrist looked at both of them—the Khronokai burdened by time, and the mortal carrying stolen power. Her voice became steady again, ancient but resolute.
"You can't repair time by force. You must stabilize it—anchor it to something constant, something real. A soul strong enough to bear the weight of every moment lost."
Leo tilted his head. "You mean like… a vessel?"
"Exactly. A vessel born of paradox," she said. "One who exists both within and outside time's law. Someone who can see the forgotten and remember what never was."
Her golden gaze lingered on Leo.
"You, boy—your soul already touches every echo that time has lost. That is why the disruptions follow you. You are not their victim…"
She lowered her head until her eyes were level with his.
"…you are their center."
The Hall fell into silence again, the faint threads above them pulsing like a heartbeat.
Leo's throat tightened. "So what you're saying is… to fix this, I have to become that vessel?"
Zycrist nodded once, the light around her scales flickering faintly.
"Yes. The world bends around your echoes. If you refuse, the collapse will continue—until every memory, every life gets erased."
Leo stared at the radiant dragon before him, her wings shimmering like galaxies unraveling.
"Why me?"
His voice cracked through the silence. "Out of everyone—why not him?"
He pointed at Aurelius, who stood nearby with folded arms, his silver armor gleaming faintly under the realm's eternal glow.
"He's a Khronokai, isn't he? He looks like someone who should fix… whatever this is!"
Zycrist turned slightly, her golden eyes sweeping between the two of them.
"Aurelius is a guardian. His kind stands at the borders of existence—to protect, not to mend. Khronokai are the shields of time, not its hands."
Leo frowned. "Then you're saying he can't do anything about it?"
Aurelius exhaled, his voice deep, calm, and ancient.
"Our purpose is to ensure that no being disrupts the Zycrist's balance. We are born to defend, not to heal. Even I cannot touch the flow she commands."
Zycrist nodded softly. "Exactly. The Khronokai preserve what is. The Zycrist guide what becomes."
Leo clenched his fists. "Then why me? What can I even do?"
Zycrist's gaze sharpened. For a brief moment, the light around them dimmed.
"Because you carry Void Reclaim."
Leo's eyes widened. "Huh? How do you even know that? That's supposed to be sealed—it doesn't even work anymore! Same with Echoes of Forgotten. They both just… stopped."
Zycrist's laughter was low and distant, like a storm whispering through a dying sun.
"I was the one who stopped it."
A flicker of violet energy coiled through the air, twisting around her form like a living shadow.
"Void Reclaim is not a mortal gift—it is a curse of unmaking. It devours existence itself, leaving nothing to remember what once was. Even I feared what might happen if you used it without understanding. So, I silenced it… before it silenced you."
Leo took a step back. "You… locked my power? Without asking?"
Zycrist's voice softened, almost motherly.
"To protect both you and the threads of reality. You hold something not meant for this age."
Her gaze drifted toward him again, her tone turning steady, deliberate.
"As for your Echoes of Forgotten—it did not fade. It evolved."
Leo blinked. "Evolved?"
"Its new name… is God's Sight."
She raised one claw, and the white void around them rippled into endless mirrors—each one showing a different version of Leo.
One standing in a city of glass.
Another surrounded by corpses.
Another crowned, eyes hollow with power.
"Once, your skill let you hear what was. Now, you glimpse what could be. God's Sight lets you see across possibility itself—to read the past and future as the same truth, because in essence… they are."
Leo stared into the mirrors, overwhelmed by the shifting versions of himself. "That's… too much."
"It is incomplete," Zycrist replied calmly. "Until you learn to control it, it will show you everything—and teach you nothing. But once mastered, it will allow you to navigate the storms tearing the timelines apart."
She spread her wings, and the fractured space beneath them revealed countless rifts—gaping holes where entire worlds blinked in and out of existence.
"These are Temporal Disruptions. When the flow of time collapses, worlds lose their past and future. They become echoes—places without purpose."
Leo swallowed hard. "So how do we fix it?"
Zycrist looked at him solemnly.
"Normally, my kind would. But only three of us remain, and I am the last one still guarding the temporal core. The others… have forgotten their purpose, drifting in their own worlds. I cannot mend the realms alone."
She lowered her head toward Leo, her golden eyes glowing brighter.
"That is where you come in. You will become my Conduit."
Leo blinked. "Your what?"
"A Conduit of Restoration. Someone who can absorb the unstable temporal fragments and erase their corruption using Void Reclaim—without erasing the existence itself. You will devour the damage, not the world."
Leo stared in disbelief. "That's… that's insane."
"And yet necessary," Zycrist said softly. "Your Void will cleanse what my light cannot. Your Sight will guide you through what I cannot perceive. Together, we will rebuild the order of time."
Aurelius stepped forward, his expression grim.
"Zycrist, this path is too heavy for a mortal soul."
"It is," she replied. "But his soul is no longer bound by mortality. His essence is a fragment of what was lost to the voids between creation."
Her gaze returned to Leo.
"You asked why you. This is the reason: because you were never meant to exist, yet you do. You are the paradox this reality needs."
Leo's breath caught in his throat. "So I'm supposed to… what? Eat broken time?"
"Yes," she said simply. "Consume the corruption, not the cause. Erase the fracture, not the flow. You are the bridge between the lost and the yet-to-be."
For a long moment, silence hung over them—only the hum of shattered timelines filling the air.
Leo finally spoke, quietly.
"And if I fail?"
Zycrist's expression didn't change, but her voice trembled with quiet truth.
"Then everything that ever was… will forget that it ever existed."