Tai and group remained sprawled out on the floor in absolute exhaustion.
It had been really taxing, both mentally and physically as one mistake would have put them back in the dying and waking up again cycle.
But now they had a new issue on their hands: they had to get out of the island as soon as possible.
The Time Storm blowing under the island definitely had an ending, and Tai did not know how much time they had before then.
He had never reached the end of the loop.
Once the time loop reached it's end, Tai would wake up back on the flying ship.
He would lose all his hard work, and the dragon would come back to life.
He could not possibly let that happen.
Staggering to his feet, the red haired teenager sighed.
"Alright guys, let's get out of here."
***
Tai, Nikki and Claire limped towards the majestic flying ship.
They had to be careful and avoid every single creature as even the weakest beast they ran into in their current condition could easily snuff the little spark of life left in them.
Then Nikolah jerked up.
"My expedition journal!, I've lost my fucking journal!!!"
The blue haired girl cared more about the grade she would get than surviving the time loop.
Tai glared at her darkly.
"How the heck can you think about some stupid grade in this kind of situation?!"
They were literally running against time as they had to leave the island as soon as possible.
Tai had no idea when the time loop would reach it's end for the day and restart, and Tai did not want to lose his precious Shadow Dragon summon.
Soon the three Unlocked had arrived at the hull of the massive flying contraption, and they had swiftly gone in. In an instant, the ship was in the air and they were ready to leave.
But how could anything in life ever be so easy?
As the ship swiftly ascended and shot away from the island in frightening speed, the three found themselves back at their starting point.
Each and every time, they would leave the island, each and every time, they would find themselves back where they started.
Nikolah's face turned pale white as she froze in realization.
"Guys,... I think we had challenged a Time Storm."
***
In the Floating Isles, time moved in a very odd way.
It was literally in the form of a gentle breeze that forever blew forward in every direction. Thus, when a storm happened, the breeze of time would turn into a wind, then a mighty gale.
This would cause a disturbance in the time space continuum.
This disturbance was known as a Flashback.
When a Flashback occurred, the time Storm behind it would spew out great monsters from the past.
A Protector cohort would then have to go into the time storm and kill the beasts before they can completely overrun the world.
As soon as the last creature was out of the Flashback, or killed, the disturbances would stop and the Time Storm would end. However, to get out of the Time Storm, the Protectors would have to go into a vortex in it's centre.
Usually, one would have to be at the Masters level to survive the storm itself, so weak people could not even attempt conquering a Time Storm.
***
Tai frowned slightly.
"What do you mean by we challenged a Time Storm?!, We're just Unlocked for godd sake?!"
Nikolah sighed deeply and shook her head.
"Think it through, Tai!
We never spent more than a week on the island, yet we spent two years.
If three students were to suddenly go missing on a dangerous island, wouldn't the P.A have sent someone to investigate?
We would have been rescued after the second day.
But in reality, we are in a time storm. None of this really happened in the real world. This is just a disturbance in the winds of time.
The Dragon is just a Flashback monster, and we are stuck in here..."
Her pristine face turned gloomy.
"...Forever."
Claire bent her head in disappointment and Nikki slumped down on a chair.
It could be centuries before anyone discovers the time storm as they had already ended the Flashback.
The black dragon was the Flashback.
However, Tai would not let his hard work go to waste.
"If the P.A won't come for us, then we'll come for the P.A."
Claire raised a brow and Nikolah jerked to her feet, a mixture of suprise and shock written over her face.
"You don't mean..."
The red haired teenager smirked in determination.
"We've just killed a friggin dragon and survived.
What the heck is a little breeze going to do?
We've been here for two years, it's about time we left this cursed island.
I don't know how we got into this mess, but I do know that we're going to get out of it."
Call them crazy if you may, but thede three Unlocked.... These three stupidly brave Unlocked were going to fully conquer the Time Storm.
They were going to get to the eye of the massive hurricane and leave the goddarn Flashback once and for all.