12-52. End of the Loop
A scream pierced the air, sending a chill up Elijah’s spine. He whipped around to see a blue-skinned djinn looking around in confusion. A second later, they disappeared, only to be replaced by a group of three that followed the same fate after only a few moments.
It fit the theme.
All around, the city was in chaos. Buildings disappeared and reappeared at a moment’s notice, and in various states. Some stood tall and proud, while others had clearly been abandoned for centuries. Still others had been reduced to rubble. Nearby, a djinn was caught in an invisible whirlpool, only to rapidly age. Seeing them slowly crumple as their body gave out, then rotted, was a horrifying sight to behold.
“What the hell is going on?” Elijah wondered.
“Time.”
“What?” asked Benedict, who’d joined them near the remains of the giant automaton.
“It’s time,” Hu Shui stated. His arm had been scorched down to the bone, though Elijah’s ongoing healing spells had already regrown some of his flesh. Still, it hung limp by his side, evidence of his sacrifice to teleport the cubic core far enough that the resultant explosion hadn’t killed them all.
But that hadn’t prevented the eruption from sending everything into chaos. Not only did pockets of the city disappear and reappear at a moment’s notice, but much of what was left had been destroyed. It looked like a warzone where the laws of physics had become mere suggestions.
Never was that clearer than when Elijah saw an entire building floating a few hundred feet above them, inverted so that it seemed to descend from the sky.
“Those whirlpools. They’re time pockets,” Hu Shui elaborated.
“What does that mean?” asked Elijah.
“Don’t touch them. They are unpredictable.”
“Have you seen them before?”
He shook his head, saying, “No. But I have read a few guides. Time and space are closely related. I…the djinn made quite the study of both, which is why I wanted to accompany you.”
“So, you lied?” asked Elijah. Back when they’d met, Hu Shui had claimed that his reasons were rooted in Earth’s collective defense against an unspecified future threat. He’d also established that he had come at the behest of a prophet.
“No. I told you the truth. Just not the whole truth,” Hu Shui insisted.
“Sounds like a long way of saying you lied,” Elijah growled.
“It’s not the time. Did you check your notifications?” asked Benedict.
Elijah nodded, though he looked again:
| The calamity has arrived early. Reach the Godroad and challenge the power of gods.
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