Chapter 323: Mentor and Protg (2)
On the continent, every human—no, every life, every presence—was bound by time. The time of their existence was perpetually held captive, and their very lives were measured by it. To live was to gain time, and death was merely the end of one's allotted time.
Therefore, time was the absolute shackles that bound even the smallest aspects of nature on the continent... but Epherene was not included in that natural order, and she was neither subject to nor constrained by time.
Epherene, a mutant cast away from the straight line of time that none could escape, belonged not to time but to an interval. The beginning of this interval was the moment Sophien's regression entered her body, and its end was the activation of the lighthouse—which meant the continent's destruction.
Therefore, the end of the interval clearly existed, and Epherene was endlessly repeating the time between its beginning and end. Like a radio's loop playback, Epherene had been enduring that mere two-year time for decades, all alone.
Rustle—
This place was somewhere in the Empire, and a newspaper, swept in by the murky wind of the city, fluttered around her ankles, which Epherene merely lifted with a subtle gesture of her eyes.
... Lead Elite Guard Deculein Faces Expulsion Crisis
The newspaper's headline was concise, detailing Deculein's ruin. He, who had always radiated authority from on high, was crumbling, and everything he had built was precarious and under assault.
The Mage Tower, the Round Table, and the Floating Island gathered to denounce him, while the Imperial Palace remained silent. Epherene could only watch these developments, for she knew she must not interfere.
Epherene moved her eyes from the newspaper and moved her legs once more. Her objective now was simple—to confine as many people as possible within Quay's painting prison, whether ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or a million.
Even if the continent faced destruction, she would ensure their lives were preserved, for the alien meteor was bound to fall, and the continent's destruction was an undeniable certainty.
“Barcious...”