As I opened my eyes I found myself in the middle of a wide-open area of dead grass and wilting flowers. The sight threw me for a loop because I was certain that I was in my room reading the books of the Tortoise.

“The hell…?”

I could see no buildings, people, or living things for miles. All there was the starless night sky and a freezing cold wind that blew against my body.

“H-how did I get here? Wasn’t I just in my room?”

Scratching my head, I tried to make sense of my situation. I went into my brain to try and dig into my recent memories.

“I was starting the third book…did I fall asleep?”

Getting frustrated, I started to walk around the dying field to see if I could find an exit or anything. However, my journey was in vain and I felt like I was going in circles. No matter how far I went, I saw nothing but the same dried-up grass and decaying trees.

“Where the hell am I!? Where am I supposed to go!?”

“…Hello?”

“HUH?!”

I jumped as I heard a soft voice speak directly into my head. I spun around in a circle to spot anyone but all I saw was the same dying field.

“W-who was that? Hello? Who spoke?”

“I-it’s you! The person I heard before!”

The voice exploded with loud excitement after I responded. I covered my ears to not be deafened by the loud noise but then I recognized the tone of the voice I heard. It was the same soft and gentle voice I heard the day before—when I was training with Iris.

“Who are you?” I asked as I continued to look around. “Where are you?”

“I-I…you won’t hurt me right?”

“Hurt you? N-no no! I don’t even know how I got here!”

“Really? Y-you just…appeared here?”

“Y-yes…?”

“…Turn around.”

“Huh? What do—HOLY CRAP!!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs as I saw a new area appear behind me. Instead of the same old field, I saw a small hill that led up to a giant tree that seemed to rise past the atmosphere. The tree looked very healthy but its bark was gray instead of the usual brown and the leaves were blue instead of green. And the strangest thing about the tree was that there were about a hundred human eyes all over the bark, all blinking and crying silver tears.

“What in God’s name…”

Despite being very uncomfortable from seeing a tree full of eyes, I walked up the hill to stand next to it. I squeezed my eyes shut as I inched closer to the tree and placed my hand on it. My palm rubbed against the bark that felt as cold as ice and numbing my skin.

“Please…don’t touch…”

“Woah!”

Turning to my left, I finally laid my eyes on another person in the bizarre land. It was a little girl with brown skin, long curly blonde hair, and hazel eyes that seemed so empty. She wore only a torn cloth and no shoes and there were also chains on her neck, arms, and ankles. And finally, the girl had goat-like horns sticking out of her head.

The horned girl looked up at me. She was breathing heavily as if she just finished running a marathon. The moment her eyes laid on me they wided.

“Ah!”

She then crawled away from me as if I was a monster. Once she hit some distance, the horned girl turned back to face me, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

I held up my hands to try and show that I meant no harm.

“D-don’t worry little girl…I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanna go back to my room…a-are you okay?”

“Y-you’re a human!?”

The way she said human gave away the idea that the girl herself was no human. Well, to be fair her horns gave that away as well but I was not exactly sure what she was at the time.

“Y-yes, I am a human.”

“W-what is your name?”

“U-uh…Baxter…Baxter Ale…”

“B-Baxter…Ale?”

“Yes…”

The horned girl proceeded to stare at me with a suspicious look for a few minutes before finally relaxing. She let out a heavy breath before slouching against the strange tree, not caring if her back was touching both the extremely cold bark or the weird crying eyes.

‘She’s braver than me,’ I said to myself as I observed the girl.

“Baxter Ale,” the horned girl said aloud. “That is a weird name.”

“W-what?!” I was greatly offended by her words. While I have been mocked for being a Null, I never thought anyone would mock me for my name. “Screw you brat!”

Not even batting an eye to my anger, the horned girl raised her right arm outwards towards me.

“Come here please, Baxter Ale.”

“What? Uh-argh! Fine!”

Still very confused and frustrated that I was getting no answers I stomped over to the horned girl. 

“Grab my hand…please…”

“Why?” I questioned the horned girl’s instructions with my eyes squinting with suspicion.

“Just do it!” The horned girl grumbled. “I don’t have much time!”

I wanted to be stubborn and argue some more but the urgency in her voice made me put my feelings to the side.

“Fine…”

After grabbing the little girl’s small hand I instantly felt like I was struck by lightning. My body started to seize and I saw colors that I had never seen before in my life. I couldn’t even begin to describe them as it felt like my brain was frying. 

Letting out a blood-curdling scream, I fell to my knees, panting and sweating profusely. As I caught my breath, I looked straight at the horned girl, enraged.

“THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

The horned girl timidly replied, “S-sorry, but I need to form a link with you.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN A LINK!?”

“It’s been centuries since I have seen anyone, I know our meeting will not last. So needed to make sure I could still make contact with you.”

I forced myself to stand despite the pain going through my body and continued shouting.

“WHAT ARE YOU!? AND WHAT IS THIS PLACE!?”

The horned girl let out a long sigh before answering me.

“This world…is under my control. And I am…Chronos…”

“Huh?” 

My anger subsided as I heard the familiar word.

“Chronos?”

The horned girl nodded.

“Yes…Chronos is my name…well, not my real name…more of a title really…”

“Are…are you connected to the Council of Chronos?”

Chronos stared at me with a confused look and raised an eyebrow.

“The Council of Chronos? What is…”

Before she finished her sentence, Chronos shook her head violently and then looked back at me with a serious expression.

“You know what, never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

The horned girl then tried to stand but she struggled as her knees were shaking and she was panting heavily. I was going to go over and help her, but Chronos held her hand out in front of me, indicating that she didn’t want any help.

I watched worriedly as the little girl eventually used the strange tree to get up on her feet.

“A-are you alright?” I asked. “You like you’re gonna collapse at any minute!”

Chronos replied with a shaky voice.

“I-I…well, I’m not really fine but…I need to do this on my own…”

I cleared my throat.

“So…why are you in a place like this?”

Chronos was silent for a minute and then replied to my question with a very sorrowful expression on her face.

“I was imprisoned here…by my mother…”

“Y-your mother? Why would she do that?”

The horned girl sighed.

“I’m not sure…to protect me? Maybe that it’s …b-but I have been in here for far too long! I haven’t seen any other living being for years, there is no food, I can’t sleep, my magic isn’t obeying me, and every single day it feels…i-it feels like I am being torn apart and my body can barely take—c-can take—“

Chronos broke down and released a loud cry as she fell to her knees. As she was sobbing she coughed out a bottle's worth of blood onto the grass which terrified me.

“M-my mother threw me in here…she took away my old name and gave me the new name…Chronos…”

“S-she gave you a new name…?”

“The name C-Chronos…it means time…and mother said that I will be the New Age for Ocaleveth when the moment is right…but I don’t care about that!”

“The Coming of a New Age?”

“I hate living like this! I want to go home! I WANT TO GO HOME!!”

Chronos then ran over to where I was and hugged me. My shirt became damp as she cried some more.

“P-PLEASE BAXTER! PLEASE SAVE ME! I HATE IT HERE!!”

I was taken aback by the request from the strange girl I just met.

“I-I don’t know how…I don’t even know where we are—“

Out of nowhere, I heard the booming sound of a bell ringing throughout the entire land. The area began to shake and the eyes on the stranger closed tightly.

Chronos hugged me tighter as she let out a deafening screech. 

“Chronos!” I shouted. “Do you know what’s going on!?”

“It’s mother!” Chronos yelled. “I’m out of time! I have to send you back!”

“What!? But what about you!?”

“You can’t get me out of here! I can’t explain—there is no time! If my mother sees you—I don’t want to imagine what she will do!”

The dark and blank sky lit up and I saw a galaxy coloring the entire atmosphere. The multiple colors were so blinding and nauseating to look at that I had to bring my head to the ground to avoid throwing up or passing out. 

“You have to go! But when I see you again…please…please set me free!”

Chronos then pushed me away and in a few seconds, a bright light appeared below my feet, sucking me in.

“W-wait—AH SHIT!”

The light then consumed my entire body, I had no choice but to cover my eyes. As I opened them again all I saw was an empty white void and displayed before me was a sword embedded within a rock, covered in vines.

“Baxter…”

The voice of Chronos echoed throughout the area.

“When the time comes…please set me free…”