The experts took a while to absorb everything that they had witnessed. The topics involving the Immortal Lands, their creation, and their history had always been a mystery that no one could confirm due to the immense amount of time that had passed from those events. Yet, the time dragon had shown proper answers, and they found it hard to decide how to react.
Noah and the others didn't know how trustworthy the time dragon was, but the creature stood at the very peak of the ninth rank. Everything around them would lose sense if they couldn't even believe in such strong existences. Still, some of those scenes answered doubts that had remained in their minds for millennia. It felt strange to have a complete view of the world.
The images had stopped right after Heaven and Earth started building the sky that covered the landmass. The dragons that expressed the four fundamental aspects of the world had appeared in that instant, and the same went for the green creature's memories.
Noah couldn't help but review everything in his mind. He had witnessed those scenes while time flowed backward, but his sea of consciousness took care of sorting them out before playing them in his vision.
Heaven and Earth enveloped the landmass with their sky and filled it with "Breath" meant to benefit their old species. However, the laws that they replaced ended up creating armies of magical beasts.
The wars and struggles of the dominant species on the landmass couldn't do anything against the unstoppable magical beasts. Those creatures conquered the world and marked Heaven and Earth's defeat.
It was unclear how connected the defeat and Heaven and Earth's failed breakthrough were. The two events had clearly affected each other, but Noah couldn't understand which was more influential. Still, they led to the same outcome. The rulers decided to change their existence and resume their conquest.
Heaven and Earth abandoned their previous orange shades and destroyed the entirety of the landmass with an immense Worldwide Tribulation. The energy released by the dead magical beasts and the ground fueled the transformation and allowed the rulers to gain their current appearance.
The transformation allowed the white sky to release chaotic laws and create the storms that gave birth to the new landmass. That marked the beginning of the higher plane since Heaven and Earth made sure to build areas meant for divine beings.
The laws of the previous world still existed in that system, so Heaven and Earth couldn't stop the appearance of the magical beasts. However, the rulers now had enough power to attract the nearby worlds and use them as fuel for their slow and steady absorption of those old true meanings.
The process had flaws. Heaven and Earth had changed, but their transformation had been rather abrupt. Their existence couldn't completely deal with that relentless absorption, and their overall stability eventually worsened.
Heaven and Earth tried to regain stability by throwing away some of the absorbed laws. That procedure generated the empty existences that Noah and the others had faced inside the void. Yet, the rulers were only patching up their flaws with that approach. They never fixed their core issues.
Still, Heaven and Earth didn't need to be stable to win. They only required enough power to methodically take control of the laws of the old world and finally put an end to the curse of the magical beasts.
The time dragon had revealed that Heaven and Earth were close to succeeding in their plan, which clearly hinted at a final battle between the sky and the magical beasts. The event would have massive repercussions throughout the entire system, and Noah's organization would end up in the middle of a war that it couldn't affect.
"What will happen once Heaven and Earth take over those laws?" Noah asked after everything in his mind became clear.
"They'll probably succeed in the breakthrough," The time dragon explained while moving its gaze toward the sky. "I've only caught a glimpse of the worlds past these lands, but I believe Heaven and Earth will start going after them at that point."
Everyone looked at the sky past the small chunk of sky hovering around the landmass. The time dragon didn't manage to get a good view of the worlds past the void at that time, but it had seen a few details that left the experts speechless.
Noah fell in a daze when he gazed at the almost complete darkness. The void past the incomplete sky featured small lights in the distance. They were too far away to inspect, but he recognized them. They were the same stars that his ambition wanted to reach.
Faint immense auras even came out of those distant lights. They felt like strange existences capable of wiping out the entirety of Heaven and Earth's system. They seemed to belong to the true overlords of the universe.
"Heaven and Earth won't have much use for us once they stabilize their existence," King Elbas commented as an ugly expression appeared on his face.
"Why are the other dragons different?" Noah asked after he mustered the entirety of his determination to stop looking at the stars and turn toward the green dragon.
Only the time dragon looked the same in the memories. The others belonged to very different species, and Noah understood that the matter had something to do with some of the words mentioned before. However, he wanted the creature to explain everything. He couldn't deal with doubts anymore.
"I'm the only one who survived throughout the eras," The time dragon sighed. "Time is the most resilient aspect of the world. Even the destruction of my body couldn't put an end to my first life. My consciousness resisted even after entering the sky and flowing into the storms. The others had to experience countless deaths as Heaven and Earth kept destroying them."
"Do you reincarnate every time?" Noah asked as a tinge of shock filled his mind.
"We represent the core aspects of the world," The green dragon explained. "We'll be the last laws to end up in Heaven and Earth's existence. My powers allow me to bring the reincarnated dragons to their previous peak quickly, but I seem unable to stop them from dying. The current issue with the space dragon proves that the rulers are only getting better at hunting us."
The dangers connected to the powerful level of the three dragons disappeared from Noah's mind. Even his instincts stopped feeling fear in front of them. Something else had taken control of his feelings, and he couldn't help but curse in his mind when he understood what his group had to do.
The individual cultivation journeys were meaningless in front of Heaven and Earth's complete control of the world. Rank 9 existences already struggled to face the rulers at their current power. It would be impossible to survive once they succeeded in the breakthrough.
The successful breakthrough would doom everyone living inside the sky. Noah could almost feel the end coming after he inspected the recent events. The last destruction of the landmass only brought Heaven and Earth closer to that goal.
"We'll help," Noah eventually announced. "But I want something in return."
"You all have yet to reach the ninth rank," The black dragon scoffed. "This explanation already goes beyond what you deserve."
Noah didn't even look at the other dragons. His eyes remained on the green creature while he announced his request. "I want you to teach me time."
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Author's notes: I have a really comfy chair, and I ended up falling asleep there while I was writing. The chapters will arrive in the next hours. Sorry for the massive delay.
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