NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: 13. deVoid & Time
Ryusei turned to Anon, his eyes narrowing as he sought to understand the stranger who now stood alongside them. "So, when you speak of the Void, what exactly do you mean?" he asked. "I have some understanding of powers beyond our world, but it sounds like we might share something similar."
Anon met Ryusei's gaze, the intensity in his eyes shifting as he prepared to answer. Rather than replying directly, Anon extended his arm, and the air around them began to shimmer, as if responding to a silent command. Ryusei, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura watched as the world around them shifted once again, colors bleeding into one another, the atmosphere thickening with a heavy, almost palpable tension.
The Realm of Time fell away, and in its place, an immense, shadowed landscape took shape. Anon had transported them to his domain: the Eternal Abyss.
The scene that unfolded around them was vast, seemingly infinite, yet it felt contained, bound within unseen walls. To their left was a realm bathed in a soft, radiant glow—almost ethereal, with light so pure it bordered on the heavenly. The air was calm, almost serene, as if this side of the Abyss held the essence of peace. Vast, floating temples and gleaming towers reached toward the sky, casting gentle reflections on the ground below.
But to their right, the contrast was stark. This side of the Abyss was soaked in red, as if the very air were tinged with blood. The sky was dark, roiling with storm clouds that cracked with silent lightning. The ground was littered with the remnants of countless battles—shattered weapons, splintered bones, and echoes of violence that seemed to linger in the atmosphere. It was a landscape scarred by perpetual conflict, a place where bloodshed was carved into the very essence of the world.
Between these two extremes lay a series of swirling portals, each one hovering above the ground like a dark mirror, surrounded by crackling energy. They stretched as far as the eye could see, each portal seemingly connected to a different timeline, a different moment in Anon's existence. They pulsed with a cold, otherworldly light, beckoning but somehow foreboding. Unlike Ryusei's panels in the Realm of Time, these portals did not offer glimpses into alternate versions of himself. Instead, they allowed only movement within his own linear path—forward and backward, through the years he had already experienced and the few he had yet to reach.
"Welcome to my world," Anon said quietly, his voice echoing through the Abyss. "This is the Void I know. The Eternal Abyss. This place is my prison, my sanctuary, and my battlefield. Unlike your Realm of Time, where you see countless variations of yourself, my Void restricts me to a single path. I can travel forward and backward, seeing who I was or who I will become, but that's as far as I go."
Ryusei's gaze wandered across the portals, taking in the magnitude of what Anon had shown them. "So, these portals… they're like windows into different points in your life?"
Anon nodded. "Yes. Through them, I can access memories of myself—stronger, weaker, older, younger. But I can't see alternate versions, like you can. I don't have glimpses into countless possibilities. All I have is a singular path. I've encountered versions of myself at different ages, stages of power, and points of vulnerability, but they're all… me. Just one continuous line."
Naruto took a step forward, peering into one of the portals that flickered with a scene of Anon as a younger boy, alone and training in a dark, barren field. "So you're stuck, just seeing yourself, but not really… yourself, you know? Not like what we've got here in the Realm of Time."
Sasuke glanced between Anon and the portals, a hint of intrigue sparking in his gaze. "It's like you're bound by this one existence, with no way to break out of it. No way to explore beyond your own life."
Anon's face was unreadable as he watched Sasuke, but his eyes reflected a deep, unspoken weariness. "That's the curse of the Abyss," he replied. "I'm bound to this one existence. The Void grants me immense power, but it confines me. I've learned to wield it, to use it as a weapon, but I'm constantly on the edge, balancing between the peaceful and the violent, the heavenly and the damned."
Ryusei stepped closer, feeling the intensity of the energies around them. "Our powers… they're similar, but also worlds apart. While I have the freedom to explore infinite possibilities, you're limited to a single timeline, repeating the same moments. But what if there's a way to break that limitation? Maybe by combining the Void and the Realm of Time, we can go beyond what either of us could achieve alone."
Anon looked at Ryusei, a flicker of hope barely visible in his eyes. "You think it's possible to break these chains? To move beyond the Abyss?"
"I think it's possible," Ryusei replied, his voice steady and sure. "The Realm of Time and the Void might be parts of a whole we don't fully understand yet. If we work together, we could find a way to explore not just different moments but different realities."
Anon's expression softened, the weight of his existence momentarily lifted as he met Ryusei's gaze. "Then let's try. Maybe together, we can do more than just survive these timelines. Maybe we can finally be free."
As they stood together, the forces of the Eternal Abyss and the Realm of Time converging in their shared goal, the portals around them pulsed with renewed energy, as if acknowledging the potential of their alliance. The two warriors had found a new purpose, a reason to reach beyond the limits of their respective powers, and with it, a glimmer of hope that perhaps even the Eternal Abyss could be escaped.
Ryusei took a step forward, his eyes narrowing as he pulsed his energy through the surroundings, allowing it to spread like a web across the Eternal Abyss. He could feel every shift, every pulse of the realm's distinct energies—the serene peace on one side, the violent bloodshed on the other, and the portals in between, like fractures in reality. As his energy continued to flow, he sensed a subtle, yet undeniable shift in the balance of the plane. Something was off.
"Let's run an experiment," Ryusei murmured, concentrating on maintaining the flow of his energy. He could feel the two opposing forces—the peaceful and the violent—stirring in response, almost as if they were reacting to his presence, and not necessarily in a harmonious way. He turned to Anon, a question on his mind. "Anon, I can sense the balance here shifting. It's as if this plane has its own rules. Can you explain the laws that govern this place?"
Anon regarded Ryusei thoughtfully, his expression a mixture of wariness and resignation. "The Eternal Abyss isn't like your Realm of Time, Ryusei. Here, the balance is everything. It's not just a place; it's a force. The peace and bloodshed are two sides of the same coin. They maintain each other, but only just. If one side becomes stronger than the other, this realm starts to break down. That's why it reacts to our presence—it's trying to keep the equilibrium."
Ryusei absorbed Anon's words, watching the surroundings react to his energy. The peaceful side seemed to ripple in response, almost as if it were trying to draw him in, while the violent side flared up, as though challenging his influence. "So, the balance is precarious. It requires both aspects to exist simultaneously, without one overpowering the other?"
"Exactly," Anon replied, a hint of tension in his voice. "The Abyss demands balance, but it's always on the edge of collapse. The Void grants me power, but it also binds me to this constant struggle. If I pull too much from one side, the other reacts. I'm allowed to move between timelines, but only within my own life. That's why I haven't seen other versions of myself. This place locks me into a path where I have to maintain the balance, or risk everything falling apart."
Ryusei nodded, understanding the significance. "It's like a self-contained system, a perpetual cycle. The Abyss has its own laws, and you're bound by them." He paused, considering the implications. "If we disrupt the balance, what happens?"
Anon's eyes darkened. "The realm would retaliate. The Void would try to consume us, to restore equilibrium by whatever means necessary. That's why I have to be careful when I use my powers here. Every action has a consequence, and the Abyss always demands a price."
Ryusei looked out over the expanse of the Eternal Abyss, the weight of the plane's rules settling over him. This wasn't just a test of strength; it was a test of control, of understanding how to navigate a realm that existed on the edge of destruction at all times. And he knew that experimenting with the balance would require both caution and insight.
"Then let's proceed carefully," Ryusei said, his tone resolute. "If we can find a way to maintain the balance while still pushing the boundaries of our powers, we might be able to uncover a path that neither of us has seen before."
Anon nodded, his expression softening slightly. "Agreed. But remember, any change we make here won't just affect us—it'll affect everything. The Abyss doesn't forgive, and it doesn't forget."
They stood together, contemplating the abyss before them. The realm pulsed with an almost sentient awareness, its energies swirling around them like a silent warning. Whatever they were about to attempt would test the limits of their powers, and the laws of the Eternal Abyss would not yield easily.
But Ryusei could feel it—a path, however narrow, that might lead to the answers they sought. The only question was whether they could maintain the balance long enough to reach it.