In The River of Time
863 Words
The floor cracked. Marble stones peeled off the cracked ground then Yao swallowed.
A breath.
Two breaths.
And Yao felt a chill. From the point where he slid down, the sharpness in his eyes took a drastic change and his spirit energy drifted from him and simply painted the sky a transparent hue.
For a moment the world stood completely still. Not influenced by the river of time, but rather— something that actually ignores the river.
Yao saw the flash arrival of a spear, its tip glistening with an unholy sharpness, the kind capable of splitting the heavens.
All of a sudden, the surrounding rivers started to boil. Heaven and earth instantly changed colour.
Yao's face turned pale.
Although this spear surpassed the limit of what he could handle, he needed it so that he could stop his dreadful fall. He just had to ignore the pressure and avoid contact.
Now the spear is only inches away from cutting him open. Yao took a deep breath, triggering the chills.
There was a blinding flash as the universe turned white, then a thunderous shockwave, that turned the sloped ground into shards and pieces of stones, flying in the air.
Yao thought that the moment this spear strikes, he should probably be able to dodge and escape to the other side in case the sloped ground is destroyed. However, thinking of what he had to do and doing it were on a completely different level.
Thinking was easy, doing it became a hassle.
Then he watched his whole plan take a 360 degree turn against him.
Yao was unable to avoid the strike. Not that he was struck squarely, but when the mountain slope shattered, he was right within the midst of this annihilation so—
He started freefalling right into the river of time.
The fall is deadly, not that falling could kill him, but what would kill him is what lies at the end of the fall.
Yao did not think that everything would take a turn for the worse. So since the first plan failed, he could as well implement another plan that would save his life now, because he really needed it.
Within his inner world, his third eye started to spin rapidly.
He kept falling, watching the river become closer and closer.
And just when he had almost neared the surface, the river distorted and it was as if Yao was returned to the farthest end of the sky and allowed to freefall again.
Yao blinked.
“Time changes space…”
When time distorted, it changed Yao's space completely making it so that he repeats the fall.
Yao did not doubt the conclusion he's made, but set up precautions just in case he was wrong.
When he had almost plunged into the depth of the river, the surface distorted and Yao's space changed yet again.
Yao sighed in relief.
He had gambled with his life just to prove a point. But now, he is sure that space changes the moment a falling body meets time.
Then, without thinking twice if it would work or not, he released his spirit energy— all of it, and at the same time bearing in mind that one mistake is all that is needed for him to lose his spirit energy to time completely. So he had to be careful not to be swept away by the current.
His spirit energy transformed into a space ignoring boat. Yao was inside that boat and he watched the boat fall down with a speed difficult for the naked eye to follow.
When he got to the surface, time distorted, changing space, however, the boat Yao created ignored space and landed upon the surface of the river with a deafening splash.
Currents suddenly boiled from the impact and Yao braced himself for a terrifying clash with time.
It was like, fighting against a raging tsunami and the moment it drew closer, Yao started to lose the connection he had with his spirit sea.
Time was trying to sweep through his cultivation, sweep through his life and probably, his memories, but Yao's third eye continuously spun rapidly, almost on the verge of malfunction.
The third eye helped him to reinstate a modicum of his will on the river of time which made it difficult for time to completely sweep him off.
He lost his cultivation in a blink of an eye.
He got it back.
He lost his sense of self.
He got it back.
He died in one timeline and resurrected on another. This action brought him back and Yao gasped, like the entire world was against him.
He grabbed the boat, his entire life depending only on that particular action.
And while all these was happening outside, his inner world was transforming unbeknownst to him. His third eye spun and spun, the violet patterns that had merged with his spirit sea strangely absorbed something that was causing this inner world to transform.
Yao meanwhile was drenched in sweat. He did not see any way to survive, except by clutching his boat.
Plus the tsunami he started did not promise to stop anytime soon.
Yao despaired.
- Writer
