More and more days passed within the time loop. Elios saw the insects, the birds, and the few squirrels that lived on the island. Some of them rotted away, their bodies were not immortal. Others found small amounts of sustenance, but in the end, all of them were stuck in the same time loop. Only he was conscious.
By now, he had spent two more weeks within this time loop—conscious weeks, that is. In reality, Elios had no idea how much time he had truly spent trapped. After all, the amount of food that had remained within his designated area—food that should have lasted months—had completely depleted. By now, he was forced to hunt the island's wildlife to survive.
Every day, he searched for a new way to escape, to be liberated from the time loop. At first, he built a raft, hoping he could at least try to leave the island. But that did not work. He tried casting flares by creating fire and letting the smoke rise into the sky.
But since there was nobody around in the endless ocean to see it, the effort was fruitless. He tried many things, but every new attempt led to another dead end. In the end, only one option remained—The Cave.
He did not know what was inside that cave, but he knew that whatever it was, it did not want him near it.
Now, he stood upon the peerless white sand of the small island, his back facing the endless ocean. He looked upon the towering redwood trees, his golden eyes filled with melancholy as he sat cross-legged upon the sand.
He began to do the one thing that had helped him cope throughout the apocalypse—and now, through this situation. He thought back to the times he had spent with his good friends, with the children and the elderly he had played with, with Ashley, his caretakers, and many more.
As he did so, a soft smile appeared on his lips. It was strained and tired. He didn't want to think anymore—he just wanted to relax. But he knew far too well that he couldn't.
This situation reminds me of a novel I read as a kid. It was about a man trapped in an infinite cycle of realities, each one changing again and again. He escaped one only to fall into another. Eventually, he became complacent. He stopped trying to escape. He began to live his peaceful life in a reality where everything was just too perfect.
And by the time he was an old man, he found the gateway to the next reality. As he happily stepped through that gateway, he saw his original world—and he broke down in tears. That was the end of the novel.
Many people hated the author for it. Others accepted it as a true and rightful ending—a perfect representation of how a human would truly act.
With so many things happening in my world, the moment I finally got a place to relax, to calm down, I became complacent. I almost fell into the trap of this time loop. But unlike him, I will continue to keep trying. There must be a way to escape.
I have been trying to contact Gaia for a long time, hoping to gain access to the knowledge of the world—anything, really. Anything that could tell me what this island was, why it was like this, who the shadowy figure in my dream was.
But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't access Gaia. I couldn't even make Gaia hear me. It felt like I was alone. An endless ocean. No life but me. Trapped in a place where I could not escape.
It was frustrating to think that a being practically considered a god couldn't even respond. Lowering his head to gaze upon the pale white sand, his eyes filled with melancholy grew wet—but no tears fell.
If the me in the past had seen me right now, he'd be nothing but disappointed. I've done nothing but wallow in my misery and cry about my pain. In any other moment, I would have told myself to man up and deal with it—to stand up and make things right.
But saying those words and living through these situations are completely different.
Realistically, the only way I can escape is by entering that cave. Whatever is causing this time loop must be inside. But I don't know. The more I ponder it, the more it worries me.
A while ago, I proclaimed that I desired to be a guide for those who had no path to walk. To be the one who would bring light to a world that had no light to guide it.
And to do that, I must first walk the path myself. But what if that path kills me? I want to live. I have too many dreams and goals to simply let die. I promised myself I would survive so that I could bring hope to others.
So why can't I even bring hope to myself? Why can I not be hopeful for my own survival? As my mind cycles through these emotions, these endless thoughts that cloud my very being, a single word comes to mind—weakness. The same weakness that stopped me from saving those I held dear.
The same weakness that made me fall into a state of hatred and rage when I first awakened the Dragon Path.
Yet, as these thoughts clouded my mind, the familiar rage, the wrath, the hatred I felt toward my own weakness returned. My eyes gleamed with something dark. The wind brushed against my hair, pushing it back without my help.
The endless ocean responded as well. Its calm, almost imperceptible waves began to shift—wild, chaotic surges of water.
I stood up, tilting my head back to gaze upon the endless ocean behind me. I forcefully calmed my emotions.
There was one thing I had not tried—something that was not The Cave.
The words left his lips slowly, as if uncertain. As if for the first time, he was truly weighing their significance.
His golden eyes lingered on the horizon. His mind, momentarily blank.
Then, clarity returned.
His expression hardened.
"My realm."