ARCEUS PENDRAGON

I was drowning.

Deeper and deeper.

Was I dead?

Suddenly, my vision changed, as if my surroundings were stretching and transforming.

As if everything around me was made of malleable clay. I could feel the immense amount and force moving around me.

A sensation of nausea hit me like a truck, similar to using distortion portals, but multiplied by ten. I could feel the bile and stomach acids rising and clawing at my throat. I felt my body being propelled forward, despite not moving. No... it was more accurate to say that the space around me was moving instead of me.

I could physically feel time and space moving around me. I could hear different voices, different things. All in different times. I saw things that only the greatest poets and writers could describe.

Stars and entire worlds being born from cosmic clouds. I saw great marine leviathans that were only spoken of in long-lost legends and myths. Creatures so vast they seemed more like moving mountains than living beings.

Time distorted, I witnessed the first signs of life, sprouting like flowers. Great kingdoms and empires rose and then fell. I saw it all, in that brief moment when I was between realms, I saw all the infinity of creation.

Stars appeared in the distance, first a few, then hundreds, thousands, millions. Planets of every imaginable size and color orbited distant suns. Nebulae of cosmic gas and dust painted space with vibrant and ethereal colors.

It was a spectacle of indescribable beauty, but what caught my attention most was the sensation that time had stopped. There was no movement, no change. Everything was suspended in an eternal moment.

—It's beautiful, isn't it?

The voice, surprisingly familiar, made me turn. There, floating in space a few meters away, was... an unknown man. However, he had strange similarities to me. But he wasn't exactly me. This man was older, his eyes shone with knowledge and power that I didn't possess. His hair, white as snow, fell like a waterfall over his broad shoulders. His gaze was the coldest I had ever seen, and he wore a beautiful black armor that shone in the glow, I had no doubt that his mere presence would provoke terror even in the bravest of men.

Perhaps it was the barely perceptible wrinkles around his eyes, or simply his own eyes that seemed to have a hypnotic effect when I looked at them directly.

I approached, the feeling of unease only growing. I felt as if I were conversing with an entity that was beyond my comprehension, as if my weak mortal mind could barely perceive it.

—Arceus, there's a good reason why I brought you here. —He spoke, this time in a more serious tone.

—And what might that be? —I asked, intrigued.

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The man smiled sadly. —I am you, and I come from the future, from a different timeline than yours.

I tried to process this information. —Am I dead?

—Not yet, —replied my future self—. You're in the threshold, in that space between life and death where everything is possible and nothing is decided.

—Why are you here?

The man floated closer, his expression hardening. —I'm here to change the course of history, to prevent a tragedy that destroyed my world and threatens to destroy yours.

I felt a shiver run through my being. —What tragedy?

—In my timeline, at this moment, in this battle, Anastasia dies.

The words hit me like a physical punch. —No, it can't be.

—It is, —he continued, his voice laden with pain and regret—. She dies and with her death, the world's last hope vanishes.

I felt my mind spinning, trying to comprehend the magnitude of what I was hearing. —What do you mean she is the world's last hope?

The man extended his hand, and the space around us changed. Images began to flow, scenes of a dark and desolate future. Cities in ruins, skies covered with toxic clouds, unknown creatures invading the world.

—It's your future and...my past.

—Are you really... my future self?

—Yes and no, you and I are different. We have walked different paths and when the time comes, you will understand. Unfortunately, I can't tell you much, there are things that cannot be changed and must happen because destiny itself will ensure it, but you must know that, without Anastasia, the world's balance breaks. Her power, her presence, is the only thing that will keep at bay the dimensional entities that will invade the world. Without her, the world will fall into chaos and destruction. So we don't have much time. If we don't change the future... everyone will die.

The man said it clearly, but even though he told me suddenly, I didn't know if I should believe him. Not to mention that he appeared just now, it was clearly suspicious.

Was it really me? Those dazzling eyes, there was something somber in the depths of those pupils.

To speak frankly, they were the eyes of someone who killed people as if it were mundane. Cold eyes that didn't think about the life of a single person.

So I'll be like this in the future? I thought it was absurd.

It was completely incredible, but the man's expression was serious.

The man raised his gaze and looked into the distance. For a moment, he seemed to look toward the middle of his life. —It was a lonely life, a life with nothing—He began, his voice was an echo that traveled through the void—. Looking at it again now... Maybe I just wanted to die, but I didn't. I always survived like a disgusting cockroach, everyone is dead now, I have nothing left.

The man raised his hands and grabbed his head and like a tsunami, his voice rose and thundered. —Now I am strong!! Stronger than anyone!! I could protect everything I had now lost!! But what's it for?!! I have nothing left to protect!! Why?!! Why only now was I so strong?!! What was the point of all this strength?!! —He paused, breathed deeply, forced himself to smile sadly again and like a broken glass, his voice cracked—. That day... If I had had this strength. How much suffering... How much pain... How much regret... If only... I had a second chance. Day after day I repeated the same phrase: One more time... Just one more time...

—Then... Give it to me!! —I ran toward him, grabbed him firmly by his clothes and roared.

"..."

—If you don't need it... then give it to me! I need strength right now! —His bright eyes locked onto mine, his gaze pleading and hopeful, but conflicted.

—...Yes. That's why I'm here. —The man pulled a multicolored sphere from his chest and with a movement I couldn't see, embedded it in my solar plexus.

—... Huh? —I looked up and could see in the man's eyes an indescribable pain and desolation, —Can you feel it... That day... How much I resented... How much I hated... This strength?

—AAAHHHHHHHH!!

The shattering scream escaped my throat as overwhelming energy flooded every fiber of my being, when my body lit up with a blinding light, and I felt as if every cell of my being was being rewritten, improved, pushed beyond its limits.

—At this moment, past and future became one.

With those words, while suffering agonizing pain in eternity, the last thing I could see was how my future self turned to dust and returned to me before my vision darkened completely.