"Some of you will die, others faint, maybe a coma or something else. Here you will make a contract, a contract from God- or if you don't believe in God, with the devil himself. This here is what is called the Time Lapse, for those of you who haven't read the 890 chapters about it, I'll some it up short." A man in a classroom, tapped a holographic projector showing images of the well known Hunters in from both history and present day.
But the final image was that of a massive void that many would venture into to find a new chance. But a new beginning was a dangerous game. Slamming his hand onto the holographic board it sizzled a bit due to impact.
"You see this? You get lost in here, you die. You lose sight of yourself, you die. You go the wrong path within time, you die. Your main objective is to simply reach out to a potential time keeper to make a contract to use Code, a power that is the only thing that can push back those monsters in the Time stream. Digits, the very beings of the monsters you may have seen ripping your loved ones apart."
The young cadets listened as the man went on about the Time Lapse Gate and how everyone was going to die, a very interesting pep talk if anyone had the guts to speak up to the guy. His hand waved in front of the void as he held up a harness and cord that would later be attached to minimise their risk of death.
When applying for a contract with Time Keepers one had to be at least in there teenaged years, the earlier the better. Any older and you stood no chance becoming a contractor. The oldest to try is 19, however the older you were the more chance it was to have your brain fried. So many rich families would send their young ones to training camps before their 3rd birthday. That way they would have their chance ahead of anyone else.
The Time Keepers weren't hostile as much as Digits, Digits being monsters that leaked into Time streams that were not their own and essentially took away the time people had to live making them nothing but dust in the end.
Time Keepers watched but never left the Time Lapse, the Time Lapse was another world that would shape and shift, distorting reality and make belief into one or combining too much or not enough.
People expressed that going in was like eternity, when in reality those who did go in were there five minutes if not a max of ten. People died more each day without contractors than those applying to become one. So the Government started a program called Gadget'.
If lucky even if not from a rich family, a willing family could be sponsored in the full training program. Training their young people from as young as 4 to know how to fight and survive in the harsh Red Zones of particular parts of the world that were overrun with Digits.
"Now as we say, Long Live The Freedom Of Mankind!"
-
"Ran! Happy birthday! How old are you now?" Spoke a distorted image of his mother as Ran now sat on the ground, his once wheelchair had disintegrated so long ago that he barely remembered why he'd been in one.
"I don't know how old I am…" as he spoke, the place he was in seemed to crack into 10 pieces before shoving him into darkness. He'd gotten used to this though, this was normal now regardless of how long he'd been there.
'5, 4, 3, 2, 1' he thought as the pieces of reality reformed and he was right back were he started.
"Ran! Happy birthday! How old are you now?" Spoke a distorted image of his mother once more.
"17" Ran picked a number he just found to be of importance as the figure tilted her head before smiling while her eyes were in glitches.
"Wow! You grew up so fast baby!" 'Did I?' Ran wondered as once again the place he was in cracked, but this time 17 times.
'oh so that's what happened' he figured it out now.
The reason why reality to where he was broke 10 times was because he had said 10 last time. Now his reality had cracked into 17 before plunging into darkness once more.
Yet the darkness this time was cold and wet, he could still breathe but bubbles seemed to leave his mouth and float upside down.
'Am I upside down or right side up?' He wondered again as he reached out to nothing in particular.
Yet just like before time reversed once more and he was back where he started, only this time, no distorted mother awaited him.
Instead it was a weird being, one of wings and a tail.
'A Dragon?' well at least to Ran it was perceived as one. It wasn't big, 'maybe it was a baby?'
However would approaching it would be ideal? Or would his reality distort again? Then again, what did he have to lose exactly?
'How do I walk again?' He thought as he placed his hand on nothing but air this time that seemed to solidify as he touched it.
'It was something like this right?' Pushing up Ran got on his knees and started to move forward on his knees rather than his actual feet.
'The movement feels right but the way I'm doing it feel wrong?' Getting a little frustrated he looked to see the creature still there.
There was an odd urge to reach it at any means necessary but for whatever reason confused his senses. Yet he tried again, but on close inspection it looked like he didn't have anything past his knees.
He had no legs- falling onto his stomach he grew angry. Instead of trying to walk this time he crawled using his arms to pull him along towards the creature on the other side.
'I just need to touch it right?'
Little by little he moved yet it was like as he moved he got further away. Slamming his right fist curled up on the air of nothingness, he grew impatient and just angry at the fact that this was happening.
The first change in forever and as simple the task was, he couldn't even complete it?
He was trash, worthless at this point, doomed to stay there for eternity if he didn't get that creature before it was too far away from his reach.
But why? Why did he not have legs? Or even feet? Why were they gone? How had he not even noticed their absence?
Why was that bothering him now? He'd never thought this hard before, not even back then.
'Back then?' Why did he think of it as back then? Looking up he saw that the creature was now flying in front of him.
'You bastard!' He hissed in thought as all this trouble this anger was just to be smeared in his face later for not reaching it?
Reaching up at it he got up and chased it around like his life depended on it, Ran forgot everything and simply chased and chased. He hadn't even realised that his legs had somehow returned as he ran for the creature that flew extraordinarily fast into a tunnel of some sort.
'Just wait till I get you!' He shouted in his mind as the creature only flew fast but Ran's speed only increased to be hot on it's tail. The creature at this point was more scared of him than just playing a game as it accelerated once more but so did he.
Reaching out unaware of his new found legs or the extreme speed he was exceeding, he grabbed the creatures tail making it yelp and yanked it towards him as they both went forward tumbling down the rest of the way down the tunnel.
Lights, colours, frames, weird symbols and more dashed passed them as Ran gripped the creature close to his chest as if to protect it now than what he'd originally set out to do.
Their bodies seemed to mash together in the shared space of the tunnel as the tunnel suddenly aimed upwards rather than the sudden down hill they had been going at. The sheer speed the two went at had them skyrocket through like it was nothing.
They sped straight across what looked to be gates and other interesting things that Ran would have never saw where he was originally at.
Suddenly a darkness above seemed to take a hold of them as they seemed to exited out of the forever loop Ran had been stuck in to the outside world that he'd not seen in God knows when.