A child lay crumbled beneath his body within an endless, cloud-white expanse, where no beginning or end could be discerned.
There was no sense of direction—no up, no down, only a vast, ethereal nothingness stretching infinitely in all directions.
He didn't move.
He couldn't move at all.
A feminine figure stood before, though he was unable to see, or detect it.
Like a bare mannequin, it was devoid of any distinct human features beyond its shape. It bore no clothing, yet stood tall and gallant, with its back turned to the child.
"drip, drip, drip"
The faint sound of water droplets splashing into a distant puddle echoed through the emptiness.
The child stirred, attempting to lift his head, which lay pressed face-first against a misty, translucent barrier.
He couldn't move—not even a flicker of an eyelid nor the slightest twitch of a finger. His mind screamed for control, yet his limbs remained heavy, unresponsive as if bound by the very barrier beneath him.
His face glued to what was seemingly a barrier, reflected his image, like a mirror.
Peering through the barrier, he saw his mirrored sef move, but he remained sprawled.
Through the translucent barrier, his reflection pulled itself inward, bracing with both hands and slowly rose into a standing position.
Then, without warning, the boy's perspective shifted.
As if perched atop a glass ceiling, he now found himself with a bird's-eye view of his "reflection," watching it stand tall beneath him—free and in control, while he remained trapped above.
He saw a feminine figure with long silver hair, and his reflection running towards the featureless figure.
His reflection moved with urgency as if drawn to her.
Just as the boy's reflection was about to reach the figure, it turned around.
He watched as the featureless figure opened its arms and gently embraced the reflection of the child.
The two figures melded into one, and with that embrace, the image vanished—like mist dispersing in the air.
In an instant, the boy's reflection reappeared, now parallel to him, mirroring his position.
"Drip, Drip, Drip"
The droplets echoed like tiny, distant heartbeats, rhythmic and hollow.
This time, as he lifted his head to search for the source of the noise, he succeeded.
A good distance away from the child, he saw a figure, Exactly like the one he saw his reflection embrace. Long lustrous silver hair, and its back facing towards him.
But unlike what he had seen, the figure had its hands on its face, and droplets trickled rhythmically from its featureless face.
The boy ran as fast as he could toward the figure, and as he was in her reach, he opened his arms as if to hug it, to comfort it.
And she vanished.
The boy stood alone, in a vast expanse of nothingness, a void.
Looking down again, he saw himself.
His face was missing.
Just like the figure, it was featureless.
Feeling his face, his fingers traced over the smooth surface—it was cold and flawless, like uncarved marble
Strangely, he could see his reflection mimicking him perfectly, even though his own eyes—along with the rest of his features—were absent.
It was as if his sight had transcended form, leaving him with only a hollow awareness of himself.
The boy collapsed to the ground, his limbs heavy and lifeless.
No cry escaped him. No scream found his throat. Those avenues were robbed from him.
His body, once again beyond his control, refused to move.
All he could do was lay flat against the unyielding surface.
Indefinitely.
Waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
.
.
.
Exnil slowly pried his eyes open.
He looked at his surroundings.
Rank bed, yellow stained walls, cracking floorboards, a not-so-cluttered space, but a space which bore marks of wear and tear throughout the decades.
Eerily, he was calm.
His hands roamed his face, tracing each feature as if rediscovering them for the first time.
He felt the sharp bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply through it, drawing in the heavy, stagnant air that clung to his lungs.
With fingers pressing against his ears, a sudden "Snap" pierced the silence as he tested his senses by clicking his fingers together.
Opening his mouth, he ran his tongue across his grimy palms—a bitter, salty residue assaulted his taste buds, the dirt clinging stubbornly to his skin.
"I'm back." He verbalized.
He slumped back into his squalid bed.
An emotional numbness unlike any other was suppressing him, and as he recalled his "dreams" and "deaths" they slowly came back to him.
He could cry, scream, throw a tantrum, even take his own life—if only it would matter.
But the universe seemed determined to thwart him at every turn. Even death refused to embrace him.
His mind raced, recalling his dreams, recalling his sister, recalling Kiana.
The leader of the Grand Magi and one of its 5 founders.
.
.
.
Only a few years after the discovery of magic, his eldest sister had reached the pinnacle. At least, the pinnacle of her time.
Mana is present everywhere throughout the universe and has infinite potential for energy generation.
ALL of humanity's genes were modified by S.A.G.E. At a certain point in its development, humans could sense energy. And with that, came the sensation of Mana.
But to even utilize mana, the Spirit Zone must be utilized.
To this day, no one is aware of how it functions physically, but the essence of the spirit zone is compressing time within the mind using the vague control of Mana everyone possessed.
In this state, the user leverages Mana and the atoms surrounding them.
Through Mana, mass is created, and utilizing nuclear fission/fusion, enormous amounts of pure energy are released.
The user must stabilize this energy by storing it within their dantian, or create stable atoms/molecules, the most common being Hydrogen.
This cycle is repeated endlessly when the user focuses on the spirit zone. Generating energy until their mental energy is exhausted.
The spirit zone does not corrode the mind, as one would think.
Magicians detail that once the first atom undergoes fusion/fission, the process becomes imprinted, and autonomous, much like a catacalysed nuclear reaction.
When they awaken, the feeling is akin to waking up from a nap.
Kiana was the first to surpass the 0.1-second spirit zone plateau. Or the equivalent of 24 hours in real-time due to time compression.
Surpassing this barrier greatly increases the energy generation efficiency of Mana.
Where below this barrier, effective energy waste was about 99.99%.
This means only .01% of the energy created/harnessed was available for use, the rest becoming entropy.
Kiana's breakthrough reduced effective energy waste to about 99.95%, statistically, an overall 5x increase in efficiency.
And the only way to achieve a breakthrough was to manually control the process of nuclear fission/fusion, forgoing the aforementioned autonomous process.
After that, it becomes automatic, unless the magician wants to attain another breakthrough.
Most magicians generate energy like a leaking faucet—they catch only drops while the rest spills away. Kiana's breakthrough turned that faucet into a controlled stream, significantly boosting efficiency.
.
.
Kiana would go through many, many more breakthroughs until she reached the limit of 99/100 seconds, unable to surpass one second.
She'd go missing during the Great Magic War, whereabouts and status unknown.
To this day, 500 or so years later, her feat has yet to be surpassed.
.
Exnil had spent a good chunk of time recalling his memories again.
Neither angry nor sad, expressing neither tears nor rage.
He wanted answers.
And he would go as far as he could to get them.
.
.
.
"Peppy, what time is it?"
"Master, it's currently 4:29 Am March 13." Her girly cheerful voice projected from the nearby digital clock.
"It's been 2 hours since you've awoken, would you like a shot?" Peppy added
"..." Exnil pondered for a second.
"Master?" Peppy asked, awaiting a response.
"So... that confirms it." Exnil resigned.
"Master? What's wrong?" Peppy asked again, worried.
"Peppy... What if I told you, that every time I died, I go back in time?"
"..." The Ai was silent.
"I've killed myself about 4? No 3 times now, and it seems like every time I die, I go back exactly 24 or 25 hours, back in time, I'm not sure yet."
"Master, are you alright?" Peppy said with genuine concern
"You've never acted like this... ever." she continued
"I saw Kiana" He firmly stated
A flustered "W-What??" came from Ai
"You... Saw? You Saw sister?"
"In a dream, or 2 dreams". Exnil replied.
"Mas...Exnil, you haven't mentioned her since their disappearance." Peppy stated solemnly
"Why now?"
"Is it because her birthday is upcoming?" She concluded.
"You said today's March 13th right?" He asked
"Yes."
"About 2 days ago, or maybe 2 days in the future? I don't know..."
"I killed myself on March 15th, and I woke up exactly 24 hours back in time, back in bed where I was sleeping the day before."
"I confirmed that the date was March 14th through you, and killed myself from in front of you with the gun".
"And here I am now, March 13th" Exnil concluded.
"Are-Are you sure?" Peppy asked
"We can test it." The man affirmed.
"I even brought you with me on one of the days I killed myself, and it seems only I retain the memory".
"You know I'm not a good actor, right? you can analyze the physiological state at any time. To sense if I'm truly lying." Exnil stated firmly.
"Yes." The ai answered
Peppy had never seen her master so confident, so sure, and assertive in the millennia he'd spent wallowing in vice. She found it hard to believe that her master would lie, as even in his younger years, he would not lie.
"Okay, tell me the time, and I'll kill myself exactly 24 hours later."
"To me, it would seem like I went back in time, but to you, nothing would have changed."
"Except for the physiological changes, like my heartbeat, breathing, emotions, and thoughts".
"I'll rile myself up, so that the changes you can scan are instantaneous, without external stimuli from your perspective." Exnil finished.
Speaking with such conviction, Peppy could not deny her creator
"Okay, it's currently 5:01 Am March 13" She replied
"Stay put for a minute so that I can monitor your physiological and mental state."
"Okay! All done..."
"Master, what would you like to do today? If you won't take a shot."
"We've got 24 hours!" Peppy said with strange enthusiasm
"It's been a while, let's go outside yeah?" Exnil responded
"!!! Yes, that would be nice."
"Could you take me with you?" She added
A weary smile formed on Exnil's mouth "Of course" he answered.
All Peppy could think of, was the sudden change within her creator. Perhaps he was truly delusional, but she knew he'd resolve himself to end his own life 2 days from now.
Perhaps he was telling the truth, but if so, she thought of how lonely it would be, to be unable to die, and even her memories of him would cease to exist.