'Guess I'll dive'

With that decision I joined my palms together then stretched out my arms and legs while keeping my head down, just like a diver does before jumping right into a pool.

Though being aerodynamic like this might cut my time short before the conclusion of this unexpected journey I was happy to be having such a vivid dream this entire time.

Still I had no intention of ending it short while seeing a boring green pasture therefore I closed my eyes.

The winds kept getting on stronger yet did not cause any harm that the laws of physics otherwise might have suggested. Still if I were to ever have fallen like this without a parachute at hand then finding trees to fall on would be my first course of action which wasn't even possible in the location I was falling on.

A change occurred in the wind flow, subtle at first but gradually then piled up making me realize there was a change happening in the speed at which I was falling and that I was somehow slowing down. Though before I could confirm it my fall abruptly stopped and I opened my eyes seeing the world turned upside down.

Then I was flipped over mid-air with both my feet facing downwards. As my mind soon caught up to these sudden shifts did I realised that all in front of me there is a vast plain of grass.

Before I could look down, whatever force that kept me floating stopped doing so making fall down with a small "*Thud*" on top of a cushioned chair.

In front with a blue color circular shaped table with some gold symbols that kept reappearing and disappearing in a fashion that sent me in a trance state which took away all my notice I did not pay attention to what was sitting on the other side of the table in a chair much similar to mine.

"*Tap*, *tap*", with that noise my trance broke as I watched with a frown believing that something must quite be wrong.

"Before you start rubbing your eyes, yes I am here and yes I look as if a shadow was torn out of a person and made solid. We don't have very much time and you have lot of questions to ask from me that I promise to answer truthfully"

At those words from the silhouette of a man, I looked downwards to my own shadow and found it present.

'What is he? Though whatever he is atleast seems to be reasonable to admit his unique appearance and giving me a promise as well for whatever it is worth'

The silhouetted man had meanwhile stood up and as I looked over his slightly hunched figure it appeared much taller and imposing than it should be with a dark mist coming out and through him of a same as his entire body was making me question if this entity was a human despite his human shape and aged voice of an old person.

He then took a step forward and his body went into ground making stand over and look down to see if he had fallen down but only to get startled as he was there standing to my left placing a copper color typewriter on top of the table and then again disappear to the ground. This time I saw the process in which his body dissolved to the ground and he moved away like a black blur and came back and materialized with a new object.

Looking at him this closely from time to time made me feel like I had seen him before, well not exactly him since I would vividly remember seeing a solid human shadow but rather somebody with his general shape.

Finally when he put the last item from the assortment he pulled out of somewhere I did not know, which included a page that was pushed at the top of the typewriter with not a single letter of any alphabet that I had ever seen, alongside a small glass ball with moving dots of light in it and finally put an ash grey mallet with much more care than the rest by putting the back of it first and laying down it down whole.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

After that he sat back to his seat and spoke while nodding first, "You can ask your questions now"

"Yes. Introductions first", I gave him a reply briefly and said nothing more.

"Alright. I am the owner of this world and a Divine whose name [Secrets of Shadows]-" He raised his hand in a stopping motion just as I was about to speak.

"And before you ask the obvious of who, what and why I am, let me make it clear to you first of how I come to know your name or of several other things"

Seeing my silence as affirmation he then continued.

"It is because I have repeated this conversation with you many times Auden through a large scale spell which manifested a time-loop in every single manner except in changing the linear time flow. Think of what I did more as a simulation with everything exact to how it would happen in reality. Now let me answer your questions, even though I know most of what you will ask"

Ignoring the obvious goading at the end I chose to keep my question the details about the time loop for later one, as I did not have enough information to go through.

"What is your purpose in bringing me here and in being so transparent?"

"For your first question, it is same as anybody since my purpose is to survive then live another day but you Auden are fated to eventually take over my position as a Divine of wisdom so I tried to cut short and rewrite fate once more"

Pointing to the sky he said more.

"Only this time I severely failed and with the cost turned out to be too great and a great calamity is falling towards us. You can even look at it. Why don't you guess?"

Looking up there I noticed the object which was from the start of my fall till now

"Is it that red comet which only keeps getting bigger?"

"Yep"

"So will you try to kill me to avoid dying?"

"Such an innocent question if not for that cheeky 'try' in the middle. Let me answer that and the other question you had. I can't harm you whether directly or indirectly. Anytime I try it leads to my death before I could succeed and even the few times I've end up succeeding it still leads to my death. Delay it by wasting time is futile as my execution occurs within twenty-four hours without fail making my fate to be sealed"

Ignoring the failure of a pun, I saw as he unfolded his arms and spoke in a calm but firm voice.

"Unrelated to all that and why I am am telling you all of this boils down to the respect I've gained for you despite-no, especially after having learned so much about you. You are a brave kid with a great depth in the thinking and a wisdom that is seen rare, the last ones who were fated to take over my position infuriated me so much that I chose to circumvent fate as I could not trust it. Yet, I'm fine if the authority of the Divine of Wisdom goes to you"

Those were some heavy words with a lot of unexpected details that I would need to unwind later so I decided to further the conversation by the

which I needed to understand yet there was one thing that took hold of my curiosity the most and given the least detail on.

"How does your time loop function?"

"Of course it was coming. Here, what I am going to show you will tell a lot of details about the time-loop spell that you had labelled as Simulation one of them. Though, I hope you waste less resources if you recreate it"

Picking up the ash grey colored mallet he struck it at the glass ball with dots of light and as he did so the clear glass ball started turning black with all the dots of light inside it moving faster and growing more in numbers while the mallet itself having disintegrated.

The grey dust left from the mallet settled over the glass surface and a calm was present for a moment.

Then it exploded.