It was a pleasantly warm Saturday morning.
Not that it was ever not warm on planet Turia though. No, this Saturday was very special, although only four people knew it.
Today would be a day that, should everything go without a hitch, no one other than those four involved would ever remember!
Messing with time was kind of ironic in that way, just like suddenly spent wealth.
Turia, who had always been incredibly wealthy, was nearly broke after five weeks!
During the last month alone, she had spent absurd amounts of money on cultivation resources. Entire warehouses full of treasures were compressed by her so that they'd fit inside of her body.
She dared not leave the confines of the island, in fear of splitting the ground due to the weight of her physical body.
While her whole body technically included large sections of the planets computerized core, Turia had used her ability to the limit and crammed as much as she could into her physical avatar.
Theodore had no idea how close Turia walked the edge of the knife, using her ability this way!
If she ever overdid the matter compression even slightly, space itself would collapse, with her at the center of the event!
This was the true reason that the staff had been evacuated. The evacuation was merely a good gesture on Turia's part however, as the potential explosion would reach far past the island if she failed to control her [Space].
Theodore had slowly begun mastering his mana.
His greatest breakthrough came when he used powerful emotions to fuel his spell-work as his spells began to show signs of altering reality itself if he wasn't careful enough!
His body cultivation had proceeded by leaps and bounds as well, thanks to the resources provided by Turia. He had already reached a cultivation of level six with the help of her treasures.
His body cultivation ensured, that he was superior to others in the same level!
The majority of cultivators would naturally evolve their bodies over time, during their advancement. Body cultivators on the other hand took this to the very limits of human ability.
Their methods focused on refining their bodies into the mightiest weapons. This arduous process was shunned by many, because of how torturous it was!
It was untold amounts of suffering and pure agonizing pain. Cultivating any true cultivation manual to success meant obtaining strength.
This was true, body cultivator or not. The rare few though are those, who laugh in the face of agony to steal her prize.
In exchange for the untold suffering, Theodore had become very strong by human standards!
Along with his increase in cultivation, he had obtained near-perfect control over his physical body. Body cultivation caused agony in parts of the body that normal people typically would never expect.
Once one knew the agony of cultivating that body part and lived through it, that body part would remain under one's complete control afterward.
That is until the next torturous attempt at further refinement would take place!
Theodore had long become scarily numb to physical pain. He could use his mana to dull his senses and strengthen them at will. In this way, he would cultivate in a trance-like state.
When he opened his eyes on this Saturday morning, Theodore felt as ready as he could be. Unlike other methods, his Sutra needed time to properly cultivate to fruition.
Ironically, Theodore was able to manipulate [Time] but his ability excluded his body mostly, when used.
Theodore had long suspected, that his future self had sacrificed his body to send his ability itself into the past!
Theodore had no way to know if this was all that his future self was capable of.
Perhaps, the travel itself prohibited physical matter or personalities from crossing over?
Maybe this was why only his ability had survived the journey and no memories had?
The bet he was about to commit to with Turia was risky. There were many unknowns. But a promise was a promise!
He was not going to bail out now, after consuming all of her treasured resources!
Turia waited for him at the pavilion.
She didn't show it but Theodore knew that she was nervous!
During the last few weeks, they had slowly come up with a plan.
Theodore always struggled to manipulate enough mana for any object larger than a duffel bag. To attempt to move both him and Turia required way more mana than he could produce.
The missing mana would be provided by Turia, to fuel Theodore's ability!
Turia owned this beautiful planet. Deep inside her hollow world, large factories produced and stored the energy required to send them both through her [Space] and his [Time].
They had rehearsed well for this day and Turia had taught him all she knew about mana.
Neither one of them spoke as they arrived inside the pavilion!
The mood was heavy, but neither he nor her expected the other one to bail out at this stage.
They simply nodded at each other and sat back to back, cross-legged.
If Theodore's [Time] was the irresistible force, Turia's [Space] had become the immovable object.
They both knew the risks of what they were about to attempt. Their bodies and memories could easily be obliterated by the transfer process. All that they were could be lost in an instant!
Both of them were strangely calm, after all, they both had seen what would happen, if they failed.
There simply was no other way.
Regardless of whether they wanted to be the lucky ones, fate had put them on the spot. Mana abilities were rare after all. Their death would be an immense loss to the civilized galaxy, if people could remember it at all!
That wasn't a sure thing seeing as they were about to mess with time and space itself.
"Ready, Theo?"
Turia rested her back against his. It felt like the safest place in the world to her.
"For you, always."
Theodore's flirty reply made her blush and they held each other's hands.
A low rumble began extending from the island as Turia began funneling ever higher quantities of her mana to Theodore.
The very world itself began to tremble under the strain!
Theodore's [Time] devoured more and more of Turia's mana. All of Turia's mind was completely focused on maintaining the stability of her [Space] around them.
The planet's core that had become Turia screamed in agony.
Enormous, continent-sized components of her screamed in protest. Her awareness, which normally encompassed the entire planet, was forcefully compressed into a single point by Theodore's ability!
Both of them suddenly disappeared and when they left, the universe itself froze in gray
Somewhere on the edge of the galaxy, on a small planet clad in grey, a lone flicker of color remained!
A flicker, that should one examine it closely, resembled a golden pathway.
A golden path, to lands unknown...