"Yes. I am you… from a distant future—more than two millennia ahead."
The words still echoed in his mind—the future version of himself appearing in that desperate moment, wielding mastery over time and space. A figure so overwhelming that Emery couldn't help but compare him to old headmaster Altus Dreyden himself—perhaps even stronger.
It all felt surreal.
Yet now, a week after the incident, that awe had soured into frustration. Each passing day, Emery grew more annoyed with his future self.
"Why can't he just get me out of this monster completely?"
He had escaped the collapsing realm only to find himself trapped within what seemed to be the beast's true belly, a chamber stretching like an island, nearly a thousand kilometers across. The place was a grotesque imitation of a world: walls of pulsing flesh, veins glowing faintly with otherworldly energy, and the constant sound of a living heartbeat reverberating through the air.
