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.

"It…didn't work… again" I said through gritted teeth as the pain that threatens to rip my head apart slowly fades away.

"It did not" The God of Time nodded his head at my statement.

"You really can't help me?" I asked, but I already knew the answer he would give me.

"Just as you already know, I cannot offer you the answer you so desire. Just as I already have said in your previous attempt, think of me as a mere observer" He answered me.

I sighed.

Can't really force the God of Time to do anything, I'm just a level 3 dragon and he is…well he is a God. I shake my head. It was not the time to be thinking about this, I needed to use the small amount of time I have in this weird place to think about a way to escape the forest, and how will I pass this instruction to my past self… Do I really need to jump at myself? Can't I just… you know, speak with me? I looked at the black lion watching over me, and he just shrugged without me saying anything, reminding me that he could read my mind and knew the question I was about to ask.

Okay, planning time. I need to get out of the forest, but the three times I tried I got trapped inside the cave where the boronita is and ended up exploding myself. The first time wasn't so different from the third, I fell into that cave entrance and then those crystals exploded and collapsed the cave and threw me into the boronita cave. The second attempt I got further, but the cave explosion still threw me into the boronita cave. The first thing I noticed was the time discrepancy between the explosions. Why did the second attempt take so long to explode? I slept and even still it exploded around eight hours after I encountered myself, why?

"Time is not a singular, fixed current. Each object, each creature, each pulse of energy follows its own timestream, and together they form what mortals perceive as the flow of time. When one timestream shifts, it sends ripples through the others, distorting the ambient temporal energy around you. Your actions, no matter how small, alter these streams, increasing or decreasing the pressure of time itself" the God of Time said.

Huh? I didn't understand at first, as I was occupied thinking, but then what he had said settled and made me pause. If I understood correctly, each thing in existence has its own timeline and whenever something time travels it ripples through the central timeline, that's what I'm going to call the collection of all the timelines, and causes changes, in other words, the butterfly effect is real and whatever I do, no matter how small will cause changes, and those changes will cascade out of control.

That is interesting to know, but something else caught my attention in the sentence he said. The pressure of time itself is what he said. You might think it's his way of saying about the butterfly effect, but the cave was filled with temporal energy, and the way he phrased it can only mean one thing.

"When I get too close to the cave I increase the temporal energy inside of it, causing the entire thing to cascade" I said to myself. It's not just a theory, because [Knowledge Library] basically confirmed it as well.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[ 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 effects can result in a minute fraction of temporal energy from the timestream slipping into reality" is the key. Me going to the cave increases the bleed of temporal energy into reality, causing the entire cave system to be filled to the brim of temporal energy that reacts with the elemental crystals already present.

Suddenly bright lines formed below me, forming a complex magic circle. I already knew what circle it was.

"Your time here has ended. I wish you good luck in this next loop" The God of Time said to me as blinding light enveloped me and with it all the sensation of weight was gone. The next thing, as before, [Genetic Dysphoria] is triggered by something else, probably the God of Time himself but I couldn't be sure.

Just as before, as the light enveloping me vanishes I feel a wave of exhaustion that almost makes me collapse on the ground, but I held on. I was back at the forest, in the same place I was placed the other times. I turned towards where I knew I would be coming and walked towards it, I didn't run because that would only exhaust me more and I needed all the energy I could muster. I even looked at my status screen and saw how my HP and MP were dropping quickly. And my sense of timing is right, it's just about at the same time I burn away and go back to that room with the God of Time.

I stood in the direct path my past self was going to cross and waited. It was just a few seconds before I heard the footsteps and then saw me rushing from behind some bushes. He saw me and immediately stopped.

"Listen….to me….don't continue………this way….turn….around" Even speaking was tiring and the only thing I wanted to do was to rest my eyes for five minutes, but I knew that was a trap.

I watched as confusion crept up in my past self's face. He did the dog thing of turning his head in confusion, which would be cute if I didn't know that it was myself and that it was not even my real body. He then made a weird guttural sound, akin to a growl and a hiss…Ohhh, I can't talk in this form…That is a bother

I then looked at myself right in the eyes. I was about to try something else, but the moment our eyes met was like something clicked and the few seconds I still had turned to nothing as I felt every part of my being hurting as if I was thrown into a spinning grinder and the only thing I couldn't do was to take my eyes off from my past self's. Then, everything went black.

[Past Marcos, a few seconds before]

I kept running and running. I don't know how long I've spent running, but it was enough for me to be exhausted and I should be far away enough to be able to rest without anyone finding me. As I was about to decelerate to rest a little, I saw a wolf standing in front of me. I stopped a few meters away from it and observed it.

The wolf was clearly a Lunaspectra Wolf, but had emerald green like flames that seemed to burn it, but it just stood there, menacingly. Then started to make sounds that looked like a combination of stomachache and a whizzing as if it was out of breath. I was confused as to what was happening, as out of nowhere this flaming wolf was just making weird noises at me and looking at me.

"I don't know what you want, but I don't understand what you're trying to say to me" I spoke and, for a moment, I thought I saw it's eyebrows, do wolves have eyebrows? Honestly I don't know, the equivalent of eyebrows rising in surprise and I was not prepared for what was going to happen next.

The wolf then looked me right in the eyes, and I looked back. Its eyes were a swirling green, almost as if the eyes were made of the same flames that were burning him and then a immense pressure came over me, locking me in place and pressing down on my head as if it was placed below a hydraulic press, but apparently it was not as bad as the wolf in front of me.

The moment our eyes locked and the pressure came over me, the wolf let out a yelp and almost collapsed on the floor as the green flames shone brighter and brighter but never once breaking eye contact with me, and not even I could break eye contact as the pressure kept me in place.

Flashes appeared in my mind. An exploding cavern, an impossibly smooth stone and a black lion. I didn't know what those images were, but I felt they were important somehow. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to ask the wolf in front of me, because the next thing I knew, the wolf had been entirely consumed by the flames and vanished, not even leaving ashes behind. As the last vestiges of the wolf burned away, the pressure holding me in place vanished altogether and I fell to the ground, panting and just as sudden as the pressure disappeared, I fainted.

I woke up an unknown amount of time later only to find myself inside a cage, with a weird pressure on me, it was nothing like the sheer pressure that locked me down before, but it was a strange feeling combined with a tingling all around my body that I almost couldn't contain myself to scratch it. Looking at the cage I found weird inscriptions that almost seemed to glow, and of course I tried to appraise it, but what I got was far from an answer I was hoping for

It felt like I had static inside my head as the skill activated. If I was to guess, there's probably something like anti-magic in this cage, considering that lunaspectra wolves have magic, and is interfering with my skill. It's a fair assumption to make, though, I wonder if this tingling feeling is the same anti-magic affecting [Moonlight Absorber] or [Genetic Dysphoria].

Looking outside the cage I saw I was on the outskirts of a military encampment. I could see soldiers walking around the place, a some with the regular swords one would expect of seeing on medieval soldiers, those were the ones the closest to the forest, circling in an outer perimeter, there were other soldiers circling what I will say is the internal perimeter of defense, and about one in three soldiers in this patrol area was holding something akin to a staff or wand.

The sun was starting to rise and I didn't know why, but I was feeling like I was running out of time. All around me I could feel a tension rising, like the world itself was holding its breath for something big that I would soon find myself in.