Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

I slowly opened my eyes as a strong headache hit my head like a hammer and closed them again. It took a while for the pain to go away before I managed to open my eyes again.

The first thing I noticed was that I was on the ground, and back with my true form. Looking around I saw various monitors with a bunch of stuff written on them, constantly changing, rows of computer server-like cabinets filled every centimeter of the walls and in front of one of the walls there was a massive monitor with a creature in front of it looking at the monitor that was full of strange text and graphics that I couldn't understand, and it seemed as if it hadn't noticed me yet..

Looking at the creature, it resembled a lion that had black fur from head to tail and a massive glowing green mane that seemed to flow with energy. The mere presence of it felt like I was looking directly into the universe… It's a sensation I couldn't quite explain.

"You'll need more than that if you want to stop the collapse" The creature said, its voice reverberating through the air as if its very being exhaled pure power, but at the same time it felt tame, as if the creature itself was holding its own power back. "And you", the creature said, turning directly to me.

So much for not being noticed.

"Hello again" It said, and made me pause. Again? What does that mean? I thought, as I clearly hadn't met him before.

"And it will be right about… now" It said, but before I could say anything back another headache crashed into my skull and made me scream in agony. At the same time, memories came crashing down into my mind.

It lasted for a few minutes before I was left panting on the ground as a flush of memories came from nowhere.

"I…Remember. You're the God of Time" I said as I looked at the lion, who nodded. "So it didn't work and I'm here again. But I don't understand why I slept when I encountered myself…"

"You will understand that when a soul is supercharged with temporal energy and sent back through time it tends to implant thoughts on their past selves. What were you thinking when you encountered yourself?"

I thought for a moment before answering.

"I was thinking about how tired I was, that the time jump made me so tired and that I would sleep for a few days after…I…Finished… Oh"

It clicked. I had already encountered that rock, or rather, boronita, and I had already exploded it before, and then I was sent to this place…whatever is this place, and met the lion in front of me, the God of Time. He had sent me back in time for a reason he didn't care to explain. After I returned my body was so charged with temporal energy that I felt like it would burst at any moment, and at the same time it was tiring just to exist there and that's when I found myself, literally, running through the woods, just as I remember doing before. I leapt and crashed into myself, and after that I couldn't fight the sleepiness that washed over me as our bodies made contact and I fell asleep…That is, what I felt happened with me, but I remember clearly as I watched as my body broke down into temporal energy before my memories seeming returning here, in this space and into another version of me and merging as one. Honestly it feels weird, because I remember both versions of what happened to me, the first time without the time travel and the second time with my time travel, and is at the same time, but not overlapping in my memories.

"That's what usually happens, yes" The lion said, and that made me stop. Was he reading my mind?

"Yes, it happens when you're the embodiment of a concept of the universe that you're living in" He said. "Oh, and this explanation is what your mind will comprehend"

I guess that makes sense? I shake my head. Now it's not the time to be thinking about that. I looked at the lion in front of me.

"I guess I'll be sent back in time, again?" I asked, for which the lion nodded its head. "Is there a way to not explode the boronita?"

"There is a way to not cause the boronita to explode and take that entire forest with it. But you'll need to find it yourself" He answered.

"...I see. What happens if I don't?" I anxiously asked.

"You'll try again" He answered.

"And if I still don't?"

"You'll try again"

"...I think if I ask the question in a different manner you'll answer exactly the same, so here's another question. What happens with my memories? Right now I know this is my second attempt, going to the third. I remembered it because I'm in this weird place, but what happens after I succeed? Will there be two of me? Will my memories flow to my past self like it just happened?" I asked

"That's an interesting question. You'll find out when you finish up" He answered.

"... That's not helpful"

"I know, and I'm sorry, but you need to do this on your own. Think of me being here just as an observant, as the God of Time watching someone time traveling"

Suddenly a magic circle appeared beneath me and began shining with light. The sight of the circle appearing and beginning to light up made my heart beat faster as memories before I died in that ritual back on Earth came to my mind.

"Our little time here is up, you'll get sent back in time for the first time, and again" The lion said and chuckled when I looked at him with confusion in my mind, but I hadn't had the chance to ask before I was enveloped in a white light and all the sensation of weight vanished as I felt my body begin to twist and change. Without me knowing, my [Genetic Dysphoria] skill was triggered and my body returned to that latex-like substance before changing into a wolf form.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As I regained movement of my body, I was back in the forest in the Lunespectra Wolf form. It was night and I felt as the energy of the moon began entering my body and charging my energy levels, before they suddenly plummeted as I suddenly feel the same exhaustion I felt in my first time, but this time I knew that I couldn't think about resting as the same scenario of the last cycle would repeat. I needed a plan, and unfortunately I couldn't do it in that weird place where the God of Time was…

"I…am…too…tired" I said as my mind started to clog as I tried to think about what to do… A sudden idea came to me. If my current self will burn away like last time anyway, I need to make my past self do it for me… But how to convey this to myself?

I heard running footsteps in my direction. I was out of time, I needed to do it now. I began running towards where I last jumped at myself and, just as I expected, I saw myself running parallel to me. Like the last time I was in this position, I jumped at myself and past me barely had time to see present me as I crashed into past me and at that moment I thought about leaving this forest as fast as I could.

I came to a stop after rolling through the ground for a few seconds. I was exhausted, but I managed to look myself in the eyes as we made eye contact. Surprisingly some of the exhaustion wore off, but not enough as I felt my body breaking down and my vision turning black.

Your turn now I thought to my past self before my consciousness slipped away.

[Past Marcos, at the same time]

I watched as the other wolf slowly burned away with green energy, stunned. I honestly didn't know what to make of it, as it was completely random. A random wolf just rushes me and then evaporates seconds later? What is this? I tried to ask [Knowledge Library] but…

[Information not available]

Predictable… Anyway, after the other wolf vanished, I noticed some of the green energy that burned him tore off and circled around me before being absorbed in my body. For a moment I thought I was going to die just like the wolf before, but nothing happened after it touched me, so it's safe. I think. Anyway I went ahead and asked [Knowledge Library] again.

[ Temporal energy ]

[ Temporal energy exists in infinitesimal quantities within the world due to its presence within the timestream. Temporal effects, such as paradoxes, can result in a minute fraction of temporal energy from the timestream slipping into reality ]

Temporal energy? Does that mean the wolf was a time traveler? Time traveling wolves? I swear there must be some kind of novel about this somewhere and this universe just copied it… Anyway, this forest is beginning to get too weird for my taste. I really need to get out of here. I knew I should have done this earlier, like, a week earlier, but I…forgot… I should have set my priority list on that kobold village before I ran from it like a stupid lizard… Maybe I am a stupid lizard, actually. Who knows what being reincarnated as an actual mythological dragon can do to a human mind.

I shook my head. First things first, I need to leave this forest ASAP, and to do that…

I looked in the direction I came from, and then shook my head. No, I won't go to a place where I'll potentially get killed in the hope they'll get me out of this forest. I'm a monster, for all they care. Then a thought occurred to me.

What is the shortest path for me to leave this forest? I ask my skill. As an answer, instead of a voice echoing in my mind, I just get a sensation about what direction I need to go, which is, surprisingly, where I was going before was the fastest way to leave this first.

Without wanting to wait more, I turned to where I was going and began to run again only to trip in an elevated root and tumble down a slope where a cavern was located. I hit my head a few times on some of the loose rocks around, making me dizzy and unable to control my body properly, and when I came back to my senses I was already deep inside the cave.

Looking around the cave I spotted various green crystal glowing along the walls, ceiling and ground, with each of them looking like small suns in my vision and yet, the cave remained pitch black, with me only being able to somewhat see because my lunaspectra wolf eyes are great at picking up moon light, which is being reflected around in the stone for a few more meters in front of me before actually just turning pitch black.

My mind was screaming to turn around and leave this place, but another check with [Knowledge Library] told me to keep going, so I sucked it up and, with a sigh, began to walk towards the darkness.

As I'm not stupid enough to just walk into the unknown without any light for me to actually see, and as far as I knew there weren't any creatures that could kill me anywhere near this place, I used [Spell Planner] to create a simple sphere of light. Unfortunately I didn't found a way to anchor it to myself or a way to keep feeding it magicules, so it's just a floating sphere of light that has a small internal magicule battery, and I don't even know how long they will last, but at least they only cost a few dozen points of magicules to create.

I kept walking following the feeling my skill gave me and after an hour of walking I ended up in an underground lake. The environment around the lake was full of shining gems of myriad colors, enough to light up the cave in an iridescent hue and the lake itself was spouting water in the middle and with it a steady stream of emerald green energy, honestly I could stay here looking at it for hours. I look at some of the gems and use my skill to learn more about them. They are what I expected them to be, meaning gems of various elements filled to the brim with magicules.

As I looked around the gems, I noticed that the green energy that filled the cave was getting thicker and thicker and at the same time the time element gems were getting brighter and brighter, at the same time the other element gems were getting dimmer. The Emberflare Crystal in my paws, the actual name of the fire element gem I've found, started to grow hot and small sparks started to form around the edges.

"Oh no" I said as my stomach dropped as to what I guessed was about to happen. I threw the gem in my paws into the lake and ran back to where I've come with all my might, which gave me a few dozen meters before I felt the ground shake and my body assaulted with a shockwave that threw me into the stone wall, making me lose consciousness.

I woke up soon after submerged in water, almost drowning. Thankfully the water drained soon after and I started coughing water out of my lungs. I stayed on the ground for a few minutes as I slowly regained my breath and then looked around finding myself in a cave filled to the brim with the same green energy that is everywhere in this damn cave, and if it weren't for the fact that I'm already over it, I would find the cave I'm currently in a mystical place, but alas, it's just another cave for me now.

Looking at the cave it was a random cave I could find in the last hour, except this one had a rather impossibly smooth looking wall a few meters away from me, it looked so smooth that it created a distopic sight and created a sense that it didn't belong there. Curiosity took the best of me and I used both my skills on it at the same time.

[ Boronita Ore ]

[ The Boronita ore possesses the most intricate structure ever documented in history. It exhibits a high degree of instability and may spontaneously undergo quantum decay when outside controlled environments. Under no circumstances should any form of magic or skill interact with even a microgram of it, as the resultant decay has the potential to level an entire city ]

The moment my mind registered the information my skills gave me, I saw the Boronita turn white for a split second before my entire vision turned white as well.