Thinking of a name took a few minutes.
It had to carry something that made sense of how far this had gone. I thought of what I'd seen like the gods and the history.
"How about… The Ophaniels?"
There was a pause. The voice answered with something almost like approval.
"The Ophaniels… watchers of the unseen. It suits you."
A faint warmth stirred around my chest, as if the word itself settled into the air and reshaped the temple's essence.
"Yeah. It's got that mysterious, possibly-divine-possibly-terrifying ring to it. Perfect."
"A good name. You have chosen well, Phaser. I am glad you have been chosen."
"Okay, speaking of that, which one do I have? You mentioned eight relics earlier, right? Gloves, staff, crown, sundial, mirror, wine glass, mannequin, and tome. So which one's mine?"
"You already hold the Black Faceless Mannequin, which is the Archeon of Bondage."
"Wait, that creepy mannequin thing?"
"Think of it and it will appear."
I closed my eyes and thought of the strange energy I'd felt the last time I touched the murals. When I opened my eyes, it stood there.
The Black Faceless Mannequin was exactly my height and build. It was eerily precise, down to the angle of its shoulders. Its surface was smooth and obsidian-like, devoid of any features. It has no eyes, no mouth or nose. It was as if someone had sculpted a perfect human form out of the night itself and then decided faces were optional.
"You know, I've seen some creepy things before, but this one's definitely going to haunt my dreams."
"It is bound to you. You are its echo and it, yours."
"Great. I always wanted a doppelgänger made of existential horror."
I took a slow step toward it. The mannequin tilted its head slightly... or maybe that was a trick of the light.
"Alright then. Guess I should get used to this. So, mysterious disembodied voice, do you have a name, or do I just keep calling you... Voice?"
"I have no name."
"Seriously?" I said. "You've been narrating history like an omniscient audiobook for the past hour and don't even have a name?"
"I observe. I record. I remember. I do not need one."
"Yeah, yeah, that's poetic and all, but I can't just keep saying 'Hey, Voice.' That's lame. You need a name. You said you observe, right? Alright then. I'll call you Observa."
The tone shifted slightly, as if he was pleased.
"Observa. Yes. I like that. You have given me a name."
"Well, happy birthday, Observa."
"You are amusing."
"I get that a lot. So, Observa, let me ask. Is there anything else in this place? Because this hallway and one big empty room are really killing my aesthetic."
"You misunderstand. You are an Outer. You can use the Masquerade System, which is a creation of the Eight, forged through the Chronological Temple itself."
That made me straighten up.
"Wait. You know about the Outers?"
"I know of them. I do not know why they were sent here, nor the true purpose of it. I contain information about the world but the intent behind their arrival remains obscured, even to me."
Figures. Nothing's ever straightforward with divine systems.
"Since you are an Outer, your Masquerade System is tied directly to the Chronological Temple. It will evolve through stages. Right now, it is at Stage One. It's a reflection of its current state."
"Ah. So basically, a sandbox with no sand."
"Precisely. The previous owner stripped it bare. You can reshape it, if you will it. Simply imagine."
"Wait, wait. Are you telling me I can just… redesign this place with my imagination?"
"That is correct."
I looked around at the cracked floors, the hollow walls and the ceiling that looked like a night sky in mourning.
"You know what? That's actually not a bad deal."
"What would you like to create?"
"Well, first of all," I said, pointing upward, "let's get some actual light in here. Maybe some glowing or floating lamps. The brooding darkness vibe is cool for ten minutes, then it gets depressing."
"Noted. And what of the structure?"
"Oh, I'm thinking bigger. A throne room, a garden trees, maybe a library."
"As you wish."
Faint glimmers of light began forming around the edges of the room, as if reality itself was bending to imagination.
"Okay, now this I can work with. We're gonna make this temple look like it belongs to someone who actually has taste."
"Then let us begin."
°°°°°
It took me exactly eleven days to form the entire Chronological Temple or, as I later renamed it, the Chronological Palace.
They were eleven painfully long, creatively chaotic days that felt more like months of trial and error mixed with moments of me shouting at thin air because I accidentally imagined a floor made entirely of reflective glass. It looked cool for about five minutes until I realized every step I took echoed like a hammer smashing cymbals. Observa didn't say anything at first.
"Acoustically, that design would make sleeping here unpleasant."
I got rid of it.
He told me early on that time worked differently here. One full day inside the Temple was only an hour outside.
"So basically, I can live here for a month and it's just dinner time out there?"
He replied with his usual eerie calmness.
"Correct. Though extremely prolonged exposure to temporal variance may alter your perception of time—"
"Yeah yeah, I'll risk it."
Who cares? I basically have a time-pocket palace. I could get lost here and the world would barely notice.
Now, as for the place itself, I completely remodeled everything based purely on imagination. The Temple didn't even have floors to begin with so I made it better. I made four full floors, each one distinct.
The first floor became the Grand Hall, a colossal space large enough to fit an army, though I had no army yet. I constructed the Throne Room, where the real magic of my new world began. Observa, with all his knowledge of past Archeon wielders, helped me shape it, though "help" mostly meant him telling me when something was "aesthetically inconsistent" or "dimensionality inefficient."
The room was deliberately dark. I liked the mysterious vibe. The light came from glowing torches carved into the black stone. On the walls were eight massive thrones, each mounted on the walls high above the floor. They were enormous and positioned like watchful eyes overlooking the hall.
I put my own throne opposite the throne room entrance, of course. It was the biggest one, naturally. I wasn't about to rule from the sidelines of my own damn palace.
On the hall of the throne room, Observa helped me etch the emblem of my new order there called The Sigil of the Ophaniels. It was a beautiful hourglass, made from spiraling lines. Its glow pulsated faintly whenever I stepped close, like the palace itself recognized me as its core.
After that, I started filling the place with the essentials. I made a ballroom (because, why not?), a ridiculous number of bedrooms with built-in showers (because apparently I was an expert when it came to self-comfort) and my own personal bathroom. That one I took way too seriously. I even told Observa:
"I'm making this bathroom sacred. No one will know about it."
He didn't respond immediately. Then, in the most calm yet slightly amused tone, he said,
"Understood. The sanctity of your lavatory shall remain eternal."
I couldn't tell if he was mocking me or not.
Anyway, I added a massive kitchen, because my imagination was running wild at that point. Unfortunately, I discovered that I couldn't just think food into existence. Believe me, I tried. I imagined mountains of fries, hot chocolate fountains, even grilled steak that refilled itself. None of it worked. The system refused to create anything "organic." Apparently, imagination didn't count as a recipe.
So yeah, that was disappointing. I had to bring food from the real world to stock up. Still, I made up for it by constructing a massive storage room that preserved everything indefinitely with rotting or expiration dates. It was a perfect little eternal fridge. I thanked the ancient Archeon wielders for thinking that one up.
Only this time, I imagined a fridge with the same function where I stored snacks.
Beyond that, I added a treasury, though it was empty for now. I planned to fill it with relics or gold or maybe just… cool Fluviums. There was also a library that looked impressive but contained zero books. Observa promised we could import "records of memory" later. I didn't fully understand what that meant, but it sounded poetic, so I nodded.
And then there was my chamber.
I designed it with a panoramic view of the eternal snowstorm outside. The sky above the palace was dark and silver, filled with drifting particles of snow. I could watch it for hours without getting bored. It was peaceful, isolating, and for once, I liked that. The time dilation made sleeping here even better. I can rest for a week, lose a few hours outside. I could live entire lives in here and no one would notice.
Observa told me that the palace was built within a permanent Fluve Field, which was apparently a dangerous place filled with Fluviums. I didn't see any, though. Observa said they avoided the palace due to its Xana signature. Still, he warned me not to go outside yet.
"You are currently in Stage One. Until you reach Stage Five, external exploration is restricted. In your terms, have not unlocked map rights."
Map rights. I swear he made that sound like a mobile game feature. I sighed, accepted it, and decided to focus on the interior instead.
I even made a modern living room, complete with couches, bookshelves, a fireplace and a coffee table that I didn't need but wanted anyway. Finally, after days of sculpting, shaping, and arguing with myself over carpet colors, I looked at it all and thought. This isn't a temple anymore. It wasn't sterile or divine or ceremonial. So I renamed it the Chronological Palace.
And it deserved that name.
One evening—if time even worked here—I stood at the edge of the palace, watching the snow fall endlessly into the void beyond. I could have altered it, cleared the storm and put blue skies but I didn't. I wanted to save that for later for when I had company. That's when I asked Observa.
"How am I even supposed to find other members?"
He didn't hesitate.
"You can use the Globe of Happenings."
"The what now?"
In a blink, I was teleported back to the throne room.
A massive globe, easily three stories tall, was hovering above the floor. It wasn't a simple sphere. It was a swirling representation of Altera Earth, with clouds of rotating around continents. I just stood there in disbelief.
"Whoa."
Observa's voice echoed softly through the hall.
"The Globe of Happenings is a relic created in conjunction with the Temple... now, Palace. It records and projects every occurrence across the world in real time."
"So basically, it's a worldly livestream."
"If that is how you wish to perceive it, yes."
I reached out, brushing my fingers across the surface of the globe. It rippled like water but didn't feel wet. I could see cities forming and people moving.
"This is going to make recruitment a hell of a lot easier."
Thars when Observa spoke the words I didn't expect to hear.
"Master, we have confirmation of a potential member."