Obsidian's POV:

"Are you ready?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"The next time you'll see me, I will be a timeless existence!"

"I like your confidence."

"Make sure to follow the map I gave you. You will be brought to a bridge. Don't go into any of the other doors. Look for the one that is made of obsidian."

"That'll lead you to dimension 0. Come through the gateway afterwards."

My teacher opened up the portal to the chaos realm.

I stepped through and was immediately hit with an overflow of visual information.

It felt as if I was gazing upon the gods.

I was going insane.

Everything started to slow down.

I could feel myself rapidly aging.

My visualization technique was speeding up though!

I found myself on a bridge.

There were doors everywhere.

And staircases leading up to the doors.

I remembered the map that my teacher had given me.

I began to walk.

But as I took the first step.

I ended up further away from the bridge.

"What's going on!?"

I reached out for the nearest door and it zoomed in my vision.

I can feel myself aging a year every second.

I have about 13 minutes until I reach the end of my lifespan.

I try to use all my willpower to fly through the chaos.

But the realm shifts as if it is rejecting my me.

1 minute of no progress.

2 minutes of no progress.

Doubt begins to cloud my mind.

"Am I really not fated to do the impossible?"

8 minutes with no progress.

"Do I not deserve plot armor as well!?"

I angrily shout at the heavens.

"I WILL DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!"

But the heavens don't care about me.

I have no plot armor.

I am not fated to be a Parad-

[ECHO]: Hivemind detected!

I found himself on the bridge again.

I'm actually able to walk forward.

I then find a door made of tree roots, covered in vines.

I was told not to open other doors.

But I only have around a minute of my lifespan left.

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I'm out of options

I open it and step through.

The door closes behind me and then disappears entirely.

I find myself floating above an endless stone maze.

A floating island covered in vines is above me.

On that island is a giant tree monster.

I noticed I have stopped aging.

But I'm already an old man.

"I was quite surprised to see someone that is not a Paradox moving around in the chaos realm.".

"I'm also quite surprised that you have echo"

"I see. I have read your mind. Apparently 'that' thing has found you worthy to become a Paradox of your multiverse."

"To be honest. You lack all of the things that make a time walker. You have not synchronized your other selves. You have not fused with nonexistence. You haven't experienced an endless loop. Neither have you gone insane or comprehended any laws. You are completely a background character."

I clench my fist at the insults.

"But I like the fire in your eyes."

"So I'll give you a proposition."

"Help Zero fight Owtz Eerth."

"If you kill him. I will help you become a true paradox."

"Who is Owtz Eerth?"

"He is the creator of your multiverse."

"He is GOD!?"

"Yes."

"You will have to fight him in the future. If you take this deal that is."

"What's the deal?"

"I can't fully replicate the uniqueness of Zero."

"He has fused with the abyss itself."

"But I can make your lifespan infinite."

"That is my first reward."

"Think of it as a down payment. Once you get the job done. I'll give you the ability to exit and enter the chaos realm at will."

"Is this the same deal you made with Zero?"

"No. He figured out how to do that all on his own. You can also do the same... You'd need to master multiversal formations first though."

"So do you accept my deal?"

"I accept!"

I can feel an infinite life force radiate from me.

I check my properties

[ECHO]: {Name: "Obsidian Hellfire", Species: Paradox (Zero), Energy: 0 GR, Strength: 10, Vitality: 30, Mana: 720, Spirit: 20, Soul: 4}

"Congratulations on becoming a Paradox."

"I have set your existence outside of both your birth and death."

"You'll understand what I mean when you head back."

"You have always been a Paradox now."

"I have also engraved your origin multiverse coordinates into your soul."

"You don't have a way to leave the abyss unfortunately. I will give you a brand of my power."

"You may return your consciousness to the chaos realm three times using this brand."

After that you will be stuck in the abyss.

"Return my consciousness?"

"You will definitely lose your body if you die. Only your soul will survive. You will be able to reincarnate three times using the coordinates I gave you. You never set up a loop to return to."

"So I essentially have three lives? How many lives does Zero have?"

"He has an infinite amount. There is a difference between a destined Paradox and one crafted by me. More then just his consciousness survives in the abyss. He has fused with it. It will always reform him no matter what."

"You do not have infinite stamina."

"You still need to eat."

"You still need to breathe."

"Your body isn't in the abyss. Just your spirit body."

"While Zero physically survives there with his body."

"The only thing different about you now, is that you won't age."

"This is the basic requirement for being able to explore the chaos realm."

A red portal opens up.

"This leads back to the chaos realm."

"Go!"

With a snap of the creatures fingers I return to being young

I step through and find myself back at the bridge.

I follow the path Zero gave me and eventually end up at a obsidian door.

I open it and step through.

I find myself in a plains.

I walk in a random direction and find a town.

I ask what year it is.

110th year of the greshia kingdom.

I join a random academy after proving I am a rank 2 magi.

After over a thousand years.

Somebody named Zero creates Gateways

That's my teacher!

I try to find him to explain to him that I'm alright.

But realize that he will not recognize me.

It isn't the right time.

A few decades after he creates gateways.

Dimension 1.

My home.

Opens up its Gateway every hundred years.

I register myself as Obsidian.

I make sure to meditate until I have 1439 runes.

I just need a rank 3 spell model.

Instead of waiting for the darkness sect to get founded.

I create it myself.

In the same location it was going to be.

After over 2,000 years.

My sect is thriving.

I had become a rank 4.

I decide to step down from being the patriarch and become an elder.

I fell in love.

I then had a child.

I name him after myself.

I then realize something quite scary.

As he grows up he resembles me to an uncanning degree.

I allow him to begin meditating once he is 18 years old.

His aptitude is also a 10.

I scanned him.

[ECHO]: {Name: "Obsidian Hellfire", Species: Human (Demon - Warlock), Energy: 0 GR, Strength: 2, Vitality: 10, Mana: 360, Spirit: 10, Soul: 2}

It would seem he inherited his mothers genes.

It is likely due to the laws of dimension 1.

If he inherited my genes as a zero.

He wouldn't be born as a rank 1 magi.

This would go against the rules of the dimension.

So it was not allowed to happen.

The Brightness Sect declared war on us.

It was at this point that I realized it was time.

I made sure to send my son to the front lines.

I used my arcane eye to keep a watch on him.

I watched as Zero saved him.

I watched him kneel at his door for years.

I was watching myself.

I was unable to use my arcane eye to pry into Zero's realm.

So the day my 'son' entered the chaos realm.

That would be the last time I would see my past self.

I suppose this is what Gaia meant when he said I would exist outside both my birth and death.

I was always a Paradox.

I gave birth to myself.

How Paradoxical.

In the end of things.

I decide to not show myself to Zero.

I will help him from the shadows.

I'll show myself at the perfect time!