Shinmu's eyes widened as the edges of reality warped and blurred around him. The very fabric of time was being distorted, closing in to swallow him whole. Had Zephyr's time prison got him?

Every muscle in Shinmu's body tensed. How could this be happening to him? After everything he'd been through. He simply wanted to retire and live the rest of what was left of his life in peace.

No. He couldn't let it end like this. Not after everything he'd sacrificed.

Shinmu's fingers twitched, itching with power. He'd sworn never to use his abilities again, but now they might be his only chance at escape.

The world tilted sickeningly around him. Shinmu felt the familiar dizzying sensation as his ability took hold. The forest blurred into a turbulent whirlwind of colors and shapes, timelines intersecting and branching.

He pushed harder, recklessly tearing open a rift and exerting his will over the temporal flow. With a guttural yell, he flung himself through.

The dark void engulfed him instantly. He tumbled weightlessly, surrounded by the howling of a thousand possible futures.

He focused with all his might, searching for an anchor in the chaotic maelstrom. But nivosecs turned to tetrads. Minutiaes turned cycles.

After countless phases thrashing against the dark, trying to will himself back into the physical world he found a compatible timeline. With a violent lurch, reality took form around him once more.

Had he done it? Escaped? Or did he end up trapped in Zephyr's inconvenient time prison? He still wasn’t sure. He’d been swimming around timelines for so long that he didn’t understand the full extent of his ability.

The churning multiverse solidified around him and he found himself standing in a quiet forest.

Shakily, he got to his feet. He couldn't stay here. He couldn't live in this timeline. When is this timeline? He had to keep moving.

He set off into the trees, hoping to get his bearings. The forest looked different here. Younger? Older? After several minutes of walking, Shinmu spotted something through the branches up ahead. A house.

The sun's golden light filtered through the leaves, illuminating the quaint homestead nestled in the forest clearing. Shinmu crept closer, curiosity piqued.

Children's laughter drifted on the breeze as they played in the yard, while adults moved busily about various tasks. Shinmu watched from the shadows at the edge of the treeline, intrigued by the idyllic scene.

There was something familiar about it all, though he couldn't quite place why. A sense of déjà vu tugged at his mind as he observed the family. Fragments of memories threatened to surface but remained just out of reach, like a word on the tip of his tongue.

Among the playing children, one stood out to Shinmu in particular. A young boy who bore an uncanny resemblance to Shinmu himself at that age. Shinmu watched the boy curiously, trying to understand the strange connection he felt. Had he stumbled into his own past somehow? Or was this child merely a doppelganger in this alternate timeline?

The sense of familiarity continued to nag at him as he observed the boy interacting with the others. Laughter and playful shouts rang out as they chased each other around the yard. Shinmu felt like he almost remembered participating in these same games and activities.

Familiar banter and affectionate scolding floated through the open windows as the adults went about their daily routines inside the home. The warm chatter sparked more disjointed memories in Shinmu's mind. He strained to grab hold of them, to make sense of their meaning, but they danced just out of reach.

Why did he feel such a strong pull to this place and these people? What were they to him? The answers lurked in his subconscious but remained obscured. Something about this scene, about these people, anchored him here. He had to figure out what it was before he could bring himself to leave.

Shinmu continued observing the family, transfixed. He noticed the father call the young boy that resembled him into the house. The man ushered the child to hide inside a kitchen cabinet, ruffling his hair affectionately before closing it securely.

Shinmu's breath caught in his throat as he watched this interaction. Though seemingly innocuous, something about it resonated deeply within him. A long buried memory threatened to surface. He could almost grasp it, could almost see...

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But a blood curdling shriek shattered the moment. Shinmu jerked his head up to see creatures erupting from the tree line. Horrific shadow monsters swarmed the property, blanketing the grounds in writhing darkness.

The family's laughter turned to screams of terror as the monsters descended. Not monsters—kaelumines. Adults shouted warnings, attempting to herd the children inside, but it was too late. The creatures were everywhere, relentless in their attack.

Shinmu reacted on instinct, rushing forward to intervene before some ingrained sense stopped him short. An invisible barrier blocked his way, ensuring he remained an observer to the tragedy unfolding before him.

Helpless frustration mounting within, he could only watch as the family was overcome by the ruthless assailants. Their numbers dwindled rapidly, the monsters leaving twisted corpses and sobbing children in their wake.

Soon, an eerie silence fell over the homestead, the kaelumines retreating as quickly as they came. Shinmu stared out over the devastation, mind reeling. The cabinet containing his young doppelganger remained untouched, the sole glimmer of hope in the gruesome scene.

Shinmu stared in horror at the carnage surrounding him. Bodies littered the grounds, the air thick with the coppery scent of blood. Cries of the dying echoed in his ears.

He strained against the invisible barrier once more, desperation fueling him, but it refused to yield. Forced to remain an observer, agony tore through him at his inability to intervene.

The shadow creatures were thorough and ruthless in their attack, slaughtering indiscriminately. His father, mother, brothers, sisters - none were spared by the merciless assailants.

Shinmu's eyes tracked the monsters as they swarmed like locusts over the homestead, leaving twisted corpses and sobbing children in their wake. He watched in anguish as people he somehow knew, people he somehow loved, had their lives brutally extinguished.

But the monsters avoided one area - the kitchen cabinet where his young doppelganger hid. The boy remained protected, shielded from the horrors surrounding him.

That's how he had survived a thousand years ago.

Shinmu watched as the last wisps of shadow retreated—the barrier disappearing with them—an unnatural silence settling over the now lifeless homestead. The metallic scent of blood hung heavy in the air. Shinmu trembled, pushing past the space where the barrier had been, and stepping into the devastation. His boots squelched in the muddy earth.

Eyes downcast, he carefully stepped over the broken bodies of the family he somehow knew yet couldn't remember. The numbness of shock shielded him from the full force of the loss.

He entered the house, floorboards creaking under his weight. Moving through the ransacked rooms, he followed an instinctual pull towards the kitchen. The trail of destruction continued - furniture overturned, possessions scattered, more bodies crumpled.

But the kitchen itself remained untouched, save for bloody handprints smearing the doorframe. Holding his breath, Shinmu approached the cabinet, both dreading and anticipating what he would find inside. Would it contain his younger self, miraculously unharmed? Or would it stand empty, just another shattered hope?

He reached for the handle with shaky fingers. The wood creaked as the door swung open.

Shinmu froze, struggling to comprehend the sight before him. Where he had expected to see his younger self curled in fear, there was instead a shimmering orb pulsing with energy. A valtite core. The Gustatory Core hovered just above the cabinet floor, casting the dark interior with a warm glow.

Shinmu stood paralyzed. He knew about valtite cores - artifacts of power that allowed one to take their valtite to imaginable heights, but he’d never even touched one. He’d always thought they were for the rich…and the accomplished. Yet its presence here, in this shattered moment, made no sense.

Cautiously, he reached a hand toward the Core. It bobbed lightly, as if beckoning him closer. He could feel the raw energy radiating from its smooth surface. Every instinct screamed at him to pull away, but something deeper compelled him forward.

His fingers grazed the surface. A violent shock jolted through his body. Shinmu cried out, stumbling back. For a moment his vision went white. Then the pain subsided, replaced by a wholly unfamiliar sensation.

It was as though a veil had been lifted from his mind. Suddenly he could perceive the twisting branches of time in acute detail - each fluctuation and divergence laid bare. And with this insight came the ability to discern the unique song of each timeline, resonating in harmony.

The Core had awakened something dormant within Shinmu. Staring at his hands, he flexed this newfound power. He could feel the imminent collapse of this timeline, its energy fluctuating wildly.

Shinmu knew what he had to do.

Shinmu focused, channeling his timelines into the Core. It began to pulse in his hands, attuning itself to his desires. He pictured Zephyr, bound in that cursed prison between moments. The Core responded, spinning faster, beginning to tug at the seams of time and space around it.

Shinmu held on tightly as the Core tore open a rift. Howling winds whipped past him as he was sucked into the void. It was like plunging into an icy river, shocking and disorienting. But Shinmu kept his mind fixed on Zephyr, using her presence as an anchor.

After what seemed like an eternity, the journey ended abruptly. Shinmu collapsed to his hands and knees, gasping for breath. The Core slipped from his fingers, its light dimming as it settled onto solid ground once more.

As his vision cleared, Shinmu saw that he was in the same forest, but the quality of light was different. He had arrived to Zephyr's timeline.

Shinmu stood, determination steeling his nerves. No more hesitation. He was armed with the power of the Core and the revelation of his lost forgotten past—which he didn’t know what they meant. He would return to the present, no matter the cost.

With decisive steps, he marched toward Zephyr's prison, ready to tear it asunder. Shinmu swore to himself, “I'm coming, Zephyr. This time, I’ll entertain you.”