The void materializes around myself. I don't see it. I scream and splay out onto the ground at the phantom pains I had held in. My chest hurts. My arms hurt. My whole body is in pain yet isn't and my mind isn't able to understand it well. The last death had been quick. I couldn't resist, and I died in mere moments. But this death came from a fight. A long battle of blood and violence and suffering.

  {Title gained: Twice dead}

  I spend a while longer panting and shivering on the ground before I eventually manage to get ahold of myself. Even then I continue to just lie there, staring into the screen. Twice dead, huh? it's accurate if nothing else. What does it do?

  {Title: Twice dead:}

  {You have died twice, yet continue to defy the element and live once again. You have begun to walk upon a path of success through suffering. Do not waste it. Do not die. Do not live. Thrive.}

  {Title reward: Automatically evolve any death looping skills owned by one rank.}

  {Skill evolved: Throughout time[species max]Legendary to Many last times[species max] mythic}

  I stare at the screen for a moment. A mythic skill. Something most tier 4s don't even have. Something even gods crave. Something I gained unintentionally. By dying. I do not deserve this. At least, I think I don’t. Do I?

  …

  I expected an answer. Jim?

  …

  No answer. That's weird. Slowly, I push myself up onto all fours. I look down at myself. I'm in my dragon form, not my demiform that I died in. Why? I suppose I should figure out what my new skill does. But I need a moment. And the void is so cold and inviting. I just… want… to rest here… forever.

  <{0}>

  How long has passed? Hours? Days? I don't care. Time doesn't pass here. Time doesn't pass anywhere. I'm fine to rest here as long as I need.

  “Life is just so hard, isn't it?”

  I turn to the voice. The god of darkness and time stands beside me once again.

  “It is.” I answer blankly, returning to my position lying on top of nothing. “I don't see why it's worth it.”

  “Because you have something to fight for.” He says softly, resting a hand on my shoulder. He looks down at me. “You're strong. But you’ve been breaking down for too long. Take this time to rest. You have all the time in the world, until you're ready.” I look up at him. It takes me a moment. Or perhaps more than that. Time is off here. Not truly tangible. But I manage to push myself up into standing. “I am done pitying myself. I have taken enough of a break. I need to move forward.”

  “Alright.” Abhorrance says, turning and waving a hand. 2 doors form. “Your skill evolution has come with 3 effects.” He says, turning to me. “Firstly, your skill recharges every 10 days now.”

  “I expected an upgrade like that.” I say with a nod. “What are the other two?”

  “Im getting there.” He says with a chuckle. “Secondly, the amount of checkpoints you can set has increased to 5.”

  “Again, not that surprising.” I nod. “Less time, more checkpoints.”

  “Lastly, you can maintain the minds of 2 select individuals through the time reversal.”

  “Yeah, that-” I pause. I turn to him. “What?”

  {Select 2 individuals to maintain their levels and memories of upon reversal.}

  {Note: Individuals must have been within 10 miles of you upon your death.}

  “Thats- thats insane!” I say, turning to Abhorrance. “Really?!”

  “You know, none of the other Abhors had a death loop skill.” Abhorrance grins. “This is new territory for me. It's fun, and it offers me more chances to talk to you beyond when you contact the void.”

  “You didn't talk to the others as much?”

  “Once you reach tier 3, I'll be able to talk to you the same way your voice of the world does. Until then, however, times like this are best to interact with you.” He sits down on nothing, glancing down at me. Despite being shaped like a humanoid, he seems to loom above me. Yet he doesn’t emanate cruelty or evil or anything. He's just… him.

  “Guess I’m friends with 2 gods then.” I say, chuckling as I think.

  “Technically, I'm you, so that's like being friends with yourself.” Abhorrance points out, a grin on his partially obscured face. The purple light that makes up his eyes dance and twirl as he gazes to me. “I'm curious. Who will you choose to maintain their memories?”

  “Actually, I had an idea about that.” I say, flicking my tail from side to side as I approach the doors. One leads to before saving Darkness. With a wave of a claw, that door vanishes, leaving behind one other door, this door leading to what appears to be the entrance to the darkness chamber. Staring inside, I grin. “At first I wanted to choose Snowstorm and Aftermath. Maybe Miria instead of Aftermath? Or perhaps Evelyn? But then I realized I could just tell them myself, couldn't I?” I turn to Abhorrance. “But you know who I can't just tell? Pyro.”

  “You are… what?” Abhorrance stares at me for a moment, before bursting out laughing. “Aftermath would hate that! You gotta do it!”

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  “Right? Also, the part where it'd probably result in something good. Or maybe he would tell the higher ups. But honestly, they have no way to know that we know. It wouldn't be enough for them to significantly change their plans even if he spilled the beans. I think it should be fine.”

  “Who will be the other person?” He asks, leaning forward, clearly interested.

  “Do you know the name of the girl who Snowstorm was fighting? She seemed connected to him in some way.”

  “Phoebe was her name I believe.” Abhorrance said, nodding. “I do feel obligated to ask if this is really what you think is best.”

  “Probably not.” I shrug. “But I'm feeling unstable, and want to rest in a real bed instead of this nothingness. So lets lock it in.”

  {Selected: Pyro Akabis}

  {Selected: Phoebe Akabis}

  {Checkpoint selected}

  “Good luck, timeling. Don't die just to see little old me.” He winked, and then I was gone.

  <{0}>

  The world comes back into focus in pastel colors, before solidifying, the shapes gaining their rigidity again and becoming more solid. I sit within the dark zone, the area around myself silent. I sniff the air, turning from side to side. My eyes lock onto a figure entering.

  “Hey Evelyn.” I say as she enters.

  “I heard you have a hot tub in here!” She says, entering the room. She frowns and squints her eyes.

  “Your night vision sucks.” I comment, chuckling.

  “Better than no night vision.” She says with a shrug, stumbling over to the hot tub and pulling her shirt off the reveal a swimsuit top. She pulls her baggy trousers off as well and sinks into the hot tub. She lets out a sigh as I chuckle, but don't join.

  “You're not hopping in too?” She asks, sounding slightly disappointed.

  “I have something I need to do. And I need to mutate.” I frown, then open the menu of options.

  “Can't you do that here?” She asks, frowning.

  “I… guess so.” I say, walking over. One demishift later and I'm floating in the tub with her. An interesting thing about the clothes that I can make appear on my body during the shift is that their's a pretty flexible limit as to what those clothes can be. Like, for example, a swimsuit.

  “What're you looking for in an option?” She asks, flicking the water with a finger.

  “A scale mutation, no question.” I say. “Something to make me more durable.” Evelyn chuckles.

  “Yeah, because what else would mutating your scales give you?”

  “Right? Tha-” I pause. What else could a scale mutation give me?

  My scales are a defence on my body. They are durable and heat resistant naturally. Making them more durable is absolutely what I want from my mutation of them. But what else could I get? Opening the menu, 3 options catch my eye.

  {Manabreak scales(A): Shimmering scales with high resistance to mana of all types. This also makes it more difficult to channel mana through them}

  {Inkly drip scales(A): Scales with a deep black and slightly wet appearance, as if made of ink. Highly flexible and resistant to physical attacks, and with a high level of mana conductivity. Minimal resistance to magic attacks.}

  {Nightlong temporal scales(A): Scales as black as night, with a soft purple underglow, sometimes appearing to be covered in purple stars. Extremely receptive to time mana, dark mana, shadow mana, and star mana, while extremely resistant to all other mana types. Imbuing specific mana types has different effects.}

  “So, what sounds good to you?” I ask. I know which one I want, but I feel it would be best for a second opinion.

  “Not the Manabreak scales.” Evelyn says immediately. “Strength against mana is nice, but the shimmer would make you more noticeable in the dark, which would eliminate one of your advantages, that being night superiority. Also, not being able to use your own magic to enhance yourself would be crippling.”

  “Yeah, that was my train of thought as well.” I say with a nod, flicking away the screen as if it were a disgusting bug or something. Jeez, I suck at analogies. Or is that an analogy? It was some sort of wordiness. “What about the inkly drip scales?”

  “Would it make you wet?”

  “No, but it would make me look wet. I think.”

  “Honestly, it's a pretty good option. As long as it doesn't get everything painted black, it is one to consider. Higher flexibility isn't something you really need, though. You have a lot of flexibility already, right?”

  “I do, yeah. I have Shadow step gate to move as I need. And my body is quite flexible already.”

  “Shadow step gate?” Evelyn tilts her head. “When did you get that?”

  “Oh, my shadow warp foundation skill evolved.” I say.

  “When?” She asks, curious.

  “Uh… recently.” I say, not meeting her eyes. “Anyway, what about the last one?”

  “I think you'd be a dumbass if you didn't pick it. But I also know you are a dumbass so I wouldn't put it past you to pick it.” She leans forward, squinting at me. “You're hiding something.”

  “I-I-... I'm not a dumbass.” I retort, crossing my arms. I look away.

  “You didn't deny hiding something.” She says, jabbing at me with a finger. I sigh.

  “Camica is going to be here soon.” I say. “2 weeks and 2 days away.”

  “...what?” Evelyn freezes up, just staring at me for a moment. “And… how do you know this?” She asks, her voice quieter now. It reminds me of how she spoke back when we met. The terrified, weak girl, barely having a level. Nothing like the tier 2 elven woman she is now.

  “You know how.” I say. I turn away and reach over, my fingers and claws gripping against the side of the hot tub as I go to pull myself over. My tail flicks the water off it as I climb up. Then I'm stopped by Evelyn's hand yanking me back in by my tail. I yelp as she pulls me back in, then wraps her arms around me in a hug. I go completely still as I stare at her.

  “You’re an idiot.” She mutters. “Totally stupid.” But she doesn't mean it. We both know it. I rest my head on her shoulder and slump into her.

  “We need to tell everyone.” I say.

  “We do.” She agrees. “Later. But for now, just mutate, ok? Then tell me everything.”

  <{0}>

  Everything returns to focus slowly. I find myself lying in my bed in my home. I hear the sounds of someone stumbling about in the kitchen and jolt up. Getting out of bed, I throw a housecoat on before exiting the room. I find Phoebe stumbling about in the living room, panting as she uses a wall for support. She's shivering, despite the room being warm. She turns to me when I enter.

  “Pyro!” She says, sprinting over to me and gripping my shoulders. “What happened?! Why are we back here? Weren't we just fighting?”

  ‘I honestly hoped you knew.’ I say, blinking. THen pause. I frown. ‘Let's sit down. Are you cold? You’re shivering.’

  “No, not cold.” she shakes her head. “But my body doesn’t realize it yet. It still thinks its just out of a fight with winter incarnate.”

  ‘Was it that bad?’ I ask, frowning.

  “That kid was a genius if I've ever seen one.” she says. “He had ice mana, which my ice mana was perfect against. Yet he used it in every way he could that I couldn't counter, and used normal mana when he couldn’t. And the way he folded mana to make better barriers was so ingenious that I'm ashamed I never thought of it.”

  ‘The boy I fought was a nightmare too.’ I say, nodding. ‘He was agile and defensible, with the ability to jump out of my own shadow to attack me. It was like fighting the boogeyman.’ I think back to the fight. Those black and purple bolts he threw. The way it rotted and aged what the purple bolts hit. The way he seems to be hit in multiple ways from a single strike. Then…

  ‘Oh.’ I say. I turn to Phoebe. ‘Is time mana a thing?’ I ask. She stares at me like I'm an idiot for a moment before remembering I'm technically an alien.

  “Yes.” she says, nodding. “But it's incredibly rare. Anyone can use the 4 basic affinities without the affinity skill for it. But with hyper-advanced mana types like that, it's incredibly difficult to learn, and even rarer to have the skill for.”

  ‘What color is it?’ I ask.

  “I don't remember exactly…” She furrows her brows, thinking. “I think it was…”

  ‘Purple?’ I offer.

  “Yeah! Purple!” She nods, then pauses. “Wait, how did you know that?”

  ‘The moment I killed Abhor, we found ourselves back here.’ I say. ‘He flung purple bolts at me. They rotted my skin and made things they touched brittle. I thought it was some sort of curse magic. But it might be time magic.’

  “Wait…” She freezes up. Then she goes very, very pale. “Death looper…” She mutters, bringing a hand up to her mouth. “But how do we remember? My mind has no natural resistance to temporal changes, and even so, the reversal of time is the undoing of things. Even a primordial wouldn't retain their memories from such a thing, unless they were the god of Time or of Knowledge. That kid must be a death looper.” The frowns. “But I only know of 2 existing death loop skills from the archives. Both are owned by currently alive people. It's hard to kill a death looper, but doable. and only one person can hold the same death loop skill at once. Like a unique skill, in a way. But I don't know of one that allows others to retain their memories. And I don't see why he would allow us to even so.”

  ‘So… I killed him… and he remembers it.’ I say, staring down at my claws. ‘You were right, Phoebe. I regret this.’

  DEATH, Other-worlder

  FREEZE, Tier 2 evolution, Humanify, magic prodigy

  Herald of the ice age[Species max]Epic+