At the age of 1,364, Ian began searching for records of Lost History in the God’s Library. Most scrolls had gaps, broken letters, or pages missing. One scroll, however, repeated a strange line: "Before the first word, there was silence too loud to hold."
At the age of 1,369, Ian placed the line on the Safe Wall. It stayed in his thoughts even after the Safe Wall vanished. He didn’t understand the meaning, but he felt it was important.
At the age of 1,370, he read a page with a symbol that pulsed like it was alive. The symbol was gone when he blinked. That night, he dreamed of a crack in a mirror and a shadow with no source.
At the age of 1,375, he saw the Mirror of Nothing and noticed a tiny crack. It hadn’t been there before. He ignored it, thinking it was just time playing tricks.
At the age of 1,377, he passed a young god holding a book titled Calter. Ian felt cold when he touched it, but gave it back without a word. He forgot the moment soon after.
At the age of 1,380, he wrote a plan to break time’s loop. He split his soul into three. One piece lived in the Safe Wall, one in his core, and one he placed inside a starless realm. He believed this would anchor him.
At the age of 1,410, he made a small god rise to power in secret. That god disappeared months later. Ian could not trace him. There was no name, no soul mark, no record.
At the age of 1,500, Ian felt a strange pull in the universe but ignored it. He thought the vortex might be gone for good. He even allowed himself to think he had won.
At the age of 2,100, he burned his plan. His anchor had failed. He was still in the loop. He stopped changing things and let many events pass like before.
At the age of 2,678, the Grand Devil returned. She asked him once again to bring silence to the 10th Universe. Ian refused, certain that agreeing would pull him into the vortex again. She nodded, but her shadow shifted behind her in a way that felt wrong.
At the age of 2,679, he hid far from the 10th Universe, inside a quiet world with no stars. Time passed. No vortex came. He waited in silence.
At the age of 2,700, Ian began to think he had escaped. But the stars above him whispered the words from the God’s Library: "Before the first word..."
At the age of 2,703, the Mirror of Nothing cracked again. He wasn’t near it. But he felt it break in his bones.
At the age of 2,704, the Time Vortex opened, not with force, but slow, quiet, almost careful. He saw the Calter book floating inside it.
At the age of 2,705, he was pulled in again.
At the age of 1,351 (again), Ian stood in silence. But this time, he remembered something new. Something that had stayed.
And this time... he had a secret plan.
At the age of 1,352 (again), Ian began his first move. It was small, he adjusted a thought in a weak god’s mind, made him walk left instead of right. That shift would take years to matter.
At the age of 1,356, Ian planted a fake book in the God’s Library. It had no power, only wrong words. But if touched, it would leak false memories into whoever read it. He called it the "Doubt Seed."
At the age of 1,369, he cracked a soul crystal and left part of himself inside. It was shaped like a question, not an answer. Only those who knew nothing could find it.
At the age of 1,401, Ian began to write songs that whispered the truth inside dreams. He sent them into the dream-planes with no name. No god noticed. But some mortals began to see pieces of the loops.
At the age of 1,500, Ian watched the Grand Devil closely. She acted the same. But the deeper he looked, the more he saw: she had no memory of the loops. Not even once. Ian tested her, pushed her, and saw only confusion. That was when he realized the truth.
She was never part of it.
At the age of 1,690, Ian followed a voice in his dreams to a planet made of broken time. There, he met a being shaped like dust and numbers. The being whispered one line: "You were not chosen. You were left."
At the age of 2,000, Ian linked the three strange things from the past: the Calter book, the Mirror of Nothing, and the soul-less god. They were not from his world. Not from time. They were intrusions.
At the age of 2,677, he prepared his final test. He called it "The Mirror Cut." A soul-slice placed inside the Mirror of Nothing that would reflect only the true cause of the loops.
At the age of 2,678, he refused the Grand Devil’s task again. This time, he saw nothing in her eyes. No secret. No shadow. She was not the enemy.
At the age of 2,704, when the Time Vortex opened again, Ian released the Mirror Cut. The moment he was pulled, he sliced through the Vortex light with it.
At the age of 1,351 (again), time shattered for one second. Ian stood in the middle of a white field. Three beings stood there, no face, no sound, just shape. One held the Calter book.
They were not gods. They were Time Editors. Their job was to remove dangerous beings, mostly reincarnators and transmigrators. Ian had confused them as he was an unknown variable that wasn’t in the timeline. He had changed too many things, too fast, too early. Their system broke, so they looped him to study his effects.
He had not been chosen. He had not been punished. He was a study, rather, an experiment.
His refusal to go to the 10th Universe had nothing to do with it. They did not care. The Grand Devil had never been part of it. Not Adam. Not even fate. Only error.
At the age of 1,352 (again), Ian smiled for real. He finally understood.
He was not trapped anymore.