Chapter 5: Being Dasein

The white plain under Aris' feet shook like an earthquake. The Purusha stared at him for a long time. The shadows stopped moving in all directions, then slowly converged to one side, as if reality had finally discovered where the light came from.

"Being a Dasein means you are no longer just an existence" he murmured.

He raised a finger, then pressed it against Aris' chest.
DUUM...
conceptual pressure entered Aris' body. The pocket watch in Aris' hand exploded into light. The needle slipped out, spun in the air, and stuck.... directly into Aris's chest, right at his heart.

Aris screamed in pain. His scream caused the time around him to crack.
Their surroundings broke into layers: pieces of Aris' childhood, his mother's face, Anna's face, the giant eyes he had seen, Dasein's tower, and millions of possibilities that never happened.
Everything spun, then merged.

Aris fell to his knees. His chest burned. His body felt heavy, like it held the meaning of existence. The Purusha spoke, and this time his voice was layered.

"Dasein is not just a title. It is also the state where you are no longer just in the world but you are responsible for existence."

A symbol appeared on Aris' chest. A spear-like vertical carving, a circle on the outside and inside, within the circle were symmetrical curves and hooks like horns and a crescent moon.

"What changed?" asked Aris, breathing heavily.

"You can now see the time knot," replied The Purusha. "And the time knot will see you again."

As if in response, the white plain suddenly tore. The tear widened into a black fissure, and from within it came a sound like cloth being torn.

-SSRRRAAAKKKK-

followed by a metallic clang and the echo of footsteps. From the rift emerged tall figures in pale gray robes. With a symbol in the form of an ancient seal in the shape of a circle. On its outer edge was engraved the phrase:

"Obscura of Kronos".

At the center of the seal stood a giant hourglass, inside of which the dark sands at the bottom seemed heavier than those at the top, giving the impression that the past was piling up, never truly gone. Attached to the front of the hourglass is a silhouette of a winged eye, its wings spread symmetrically, resembling a fallen angel or a gatekeeper between life and death.

And in that eye was engraved the number XII, a twelve symbolizing the last cycle.
"He's one of the twelfth members of the Obscura Of Kronos, Veritas" The Purusha said calmly.

Aris was startled, he remembered the last message of the anonymous voice call.
Veritas' footsteps echoed without touching the ground. Each step seemed to cut through a thin, invisible layer of reality. His gray robes turned like stitched folds of time fog.

His face was hidden under a hood, but the silhouettes of his red eyes glowed coldly, like long-dead stars that still emitted light.
The Obscura of Kronos seal on his chest rotated slowly. The giant hourglass at the center of the seal pulsed, the black sand at the bottom clumping and rising little by little, as if the past was trying to climb back into the present.

The Purusha stepped forward, its shadow lengthening, then breaking into fractals. Each fractal showed a different cosmic face: a nebula-skinned giant, a galactic horned creature, and something resembling a whale of light with countless eyes.
Veritas raised his hand. From that palm, space split. A weapon appeared

-Plasma Vortex Sword-

The hilt was made of titanium, the blade was not metal, but a blue-violet vortex of light spinning at relativistic speeds. At the center of the vortex, a thin black line extended like a mini singularity tethered by a laser field.

"Hand over that pocket watch" said Veritas.
"How could I let that pocket watch fall into the hands of the Obscura Of Kronos" replied The Purusha.

The Purusha raised both hands. The white sky collapsed into a black vortex. From the cracks of reality emerged cosmic creatures: Leviathan Kausal, a giant moissanite-skinned serpent; Chimera Entropy, a three-headed entity that spewed hot, cold, and gamma rays respectively; and Archivist Void, a giant book-shaped entity with red-lit wings.

"Attack," ordered The Purusha.

Leviathan launched, its jaws opening as if to swallow Veritas' future. An attempt to erase its existence.
Veritas drove the Plasma Vortex Sword into the ground. The blade spun wildly, creating a wall of cosmic cuttings. Leviathan's jaws stopped right in front of his face, slicing into the spectrum like time out of sync.
Veritas took out the Black Sand Clock from under his cloak. It was small, yet its weight suppressed the reality around it. The sand inside moved in opposite directions.

"Seal of Kronos: Obscura Claudere."

He turned the hourglass over.
Time around The Purusha slowed, then thickened like dark honey. The cosmic monsters froze in mid-motion, their expressions trapped. The Purusha felt the pull...an attempt to seal her between two cycles.
But he smiled.

"You can't catch me the same way you used to" he said softly.

He stomped his foot. The symbol on his chest lit up, emitting a spiral pattern that the eye could not follow. making time crack. The Black Sand Clock trembled, hairline cracks appearing on the glass.

The Purusha summoned something from beyond the cosmos. A gate of the "Porta Aeterna" opened, and from within came the Palimpsest Giant, a creature whose body was composed of layers of history rewritten countless times. Every step it took over Veritas' past, trying to rewrite his existence.
Veritas darted, his body leaving an hourglass shadow in the air. He cut off the Palimpsest Giant's arm, and it collapsed into an archive of a civilization that never existed.

The battle escalated. Every impact produced flashes of countless colors of light. Space warped, shattered, then reunited with new natural laws. Aris, staggering at the edge of the battlefield, felt the symbol in his chest throbbing. He saw the knots of time...points of light connected by invisible threads. Every swing of Veritas cut one thread. Every movement of The Purusha reweaved ten new ones.
Veritas raised his weapon high. The Plasma Vortex Sword extended, transforming into a spear of light that pierced the skies of reality.

"Cosmic Cutter: Sectio Azoth."

He threw the spear. The spear traveled through the layers of the world, cutting through twelve cosmic layers at once. It struck The Purusha, nailing his image to the wall of time.

The cracks spread. Kronos' seal spun wildly, trying to close the gap. The Black Sand Clock broke, its black sand spilling out, forming an illusory chain wrapped around The Purusha.

The Purusha threw off the chain with all his might, making the ground around him tremble. But in the midst of releasing the chain, he turned to Aris.
"Now," he said.
He tore through the reality behind Aris, making a shimmering door appear.

"Go and find someone named Logos"

Aris hesitated for a split second. He saw Veritas pull back his weapon, preparing for a final attack. He saw The Purusha holding the seal with cosmic power.

"What will happen to you?" Aris shouted.
"Go, this is not the end," he said.
An invisible push slammed into Aris, throwing him into the door to Noosfera. The white world disappeared, and the door closed.

Back on the battlefield, Veritas and The Purusha collided once more. Plasma and cosmos beams clashed. The Purusha summoned its remaining monsters, sacrificing them one by one to create a path of escape. Explosion after explosion went off like colliding supernovas.

Veritas pierced through the causal smoke, swinging the blade of his sword. But all he cut was the trail of The Purusha. The Purusha had disappeared, leaving behind a layered echo of laughter.

Veritas stood alone. The Obscura of Kronos seal on his chest stopped spinning. He stared at the cracks leading to Noosfera that were beginning to close.