1575 Beginnings: The Fire Wolf
The corridor dissipated like smoke, revealing a floating room in a sea of fluctuating silvery space.
Varian sensed that he couldn't even jump. All his power was curtailed, at least he until he reached that room.
He had to walk on a shady bridge formed by tiny chips of condensed space. It was brittle, shaky and scary as hell.
Even though he faced dangers far, far greater than a simple bridgewalking, Varian couldn't stop his mind from shaking.
It was as if something bad was going to happen once he crossed the bridge. Something whispered in the corner of his mind that he would not like what would happen. And he'd regret his own decision.
Either undeterred or uncaring, Varian moved ahead.
When he stepped into the floating room, it transformed into a huge glass house, trapping him in.
Left or right, up or down, all he could see was reflections of himself staring back at him.
Due to the way the size of each individual mirror, there were hundreds of Varians staring at him at any instant. And for some reason, the reflections looked more than just reflections.
It reminded him of a memory when he and Sia visited a huanted house in theme park.
Young Varian had been depressed for not awakening and not catching up with Sia who was advancing well in her mind path.
So, she took her to the place to cheer him up.
He wasn't scared by a mere haunted house, of course. But Sia…she used a bit of her mind powers to mess with his head.
And the result? He ended up running out of the haunted house after punching a ghost actor in the nuts while screaming at his loudest. For the next three days, Varian had dreams about a scary haunted house.
It was something Sia seriously regretted and apologized for. Varian forgave and forgot. Or at least, he thought he did.
"I got over my fear of haunted house long ago. There is nothing to be scared of. Nothin—fuck!"
At the appearance of something in the air, he punched before he could even analyze the object.
His fist passed through empty air and a shockwave materialized, taking the shape of nine consecutive rings.
And then, it began to reach the mirrors, as if pulled by them. However, the closer they got to the mirrors, the slower they got.
Varian wanted to check them out when he noticed what the thing in front of him actually was.
[ Time ]
The familiar writings of an ancient script hung in the air and through the usage of aura, he was able to decipher the meaning with ease.
[The difference of a second makes a world of difference. Too many lives have proven this truth already.
A question naturally arises.
What if the river of time blinked once? How big would an individual change? Would it be better to intervene as much as possible? Or to let things take their course?
Out of the infinite possibilities, how to narrow a favorable intervention?]
Varian shook his head at the ramblings, wondering if this was written by a god or a frustrated researcher.
And around the same time, the three rings of compressed shockwaves which were extremely slowed had almost reached the mirrors.
He stepped forward, deciding to neutralize them lest anything adverse happen.
But as the distance between him and the mirrors diminished to arm's length, something flashed in them.
It was a series of events, like a movie. Everything played at a speed that was tens of thousands of times faster than normal. A normal person would've seen only a flash.
But Varian was able to see everything with clarity.
It depicted the birth of a boy to a military man and a young woman.
"Dad...?"
The father rushed back to military, fighting against a strong alien race while the mother raised the child mostly alone.
Still, he gave the child as much as love, attention and time he could. And then, tragedy struck.
The man died, leaving the family in grief.
The son changed. He was still as active, bright and cheerful. But there was fear in his eyes everytime he looked at his mother. Fear that she'd leave him too. The difference in behavior was something he didn't even notice.
But his mother did.
So, she brought him a companion to live with. The girl took away the fear in his life and filled him with courage.
The boy trained hard, hoping for a great future where he could fulfill his aspirations and protect them both.
He became a failure, falling behind the girl who awakened and raced ahead.
Efforts continued but despair began to take over.
And then, one fateful night…
The family was attacked by a fire wolf.
"W-Wait…" Varian's eyes shook violently and his breathing stopped for a moment.
How did a fire wolf even break out of dungeon, sneak into the city, slipping past patrols before even attacking them?
As if sensing his intentions, the incident was traced back to the dungeon from which the wolf broke out.
"No, no, no!"
The wolf didn't break out in the normal sense. A power, a foreign power opened up the dungeon for the creature to get out.
And when it did, the wolf's speed skyrocketed to the point no one could notice it. No, it wasn't even speed.
"T-Time flow…and the power of space…"
Varian's face paled and his head buzzed.
Disregarding the sweat flowing down his space, Varian placed his hand on the mirror and the playing sequence split into two.
The first one was the life he was familiar with.
And the second…had no intervention. There was no wolf. Amanda lived. Sia didn't suffer torture. Enigma didn't blame herself.
Varian's chest heaved up and down.
Out of the many lines floating in the air, one line caught his eye.
[The original timeline will be represented in the purest white. The alternatives will be green.]
Clenching his teeth, he turned his gaze to the mirror.
The life with the wolf, his current life…was glowing green.
