Ocean Of Broken Dreams

The more Nameless was observing, the more confused he became. It wasn't a problem of not being able to see but the exact opposite one: he saw a bit too much.

'Is he one…or there are many of "him"?'

Indeed, the Timeless guy seemed more like an overlap of many different transparent people. Their movements were synchronized but not completely. So, one slightly different movement produced by infinite number of overlapped figures made Nameless slightly confused and disoriented.

"Your young friend seams to see a Timeless one for the first time." – The new arrival pointed towards Nameless while speaking to Captain.

"Yes. I need a guide to the fifth island." – John was visibly irritated and didn't even tried to hide it. – "You can guide us, or you can just lose your future self."

It was difficult to describe given the transparency of the other party but Nameless was sure that the creature paled under this strange threat.

"I will guide you. If you want, you can also make a stop at our village?"

He was very gentle. John thought for a moment and nodded. – "Ok."

All of them followed the creature. Nameless was curious about may things. 'What are Timeless people? Why Doctor and Captain seam to hate them?'

Unnoticed by the boy the humanoid creature arrived near him. – "My name is Harulè."

"I don't have a name."

"A nameless one…Pity. The names are important." – He stopped talking and so did Nameless, but he continued throwing some curious glances towards Herulè.

"You seam curious about something, boy?"

Nameless nodded eagerly. – "Yes, I wanted to know about what the Timeless people exactly are? You're like an overlap of many different people…"

Herulè was surprised to hear this. – "You're already an awakened?! So young? Only who awakened the bloodline can see my true self…"

"Yeah! Awakened some days ago."

"Oh…" – The timeless one stopped talking for a moment. A few minutes passed before he talked again. – "We, Timeless people exist in three overlapping states: Past, Present and Future. Each state has its own past present and future, e this goes on infinitely. So, then you look at me you can see an infinite number of my Pasts, Presents and Futures overlapping and partially synchronizing."

Nameless was left speechless. 'What does it even mean?!'

"We exist outside of time and can't die from aging. Moreover, as we become older, we also became more powerful."

"So powerful…" – Commented the boy. John suddenly scoffed from behind. – "Yeah, more powerful without doing anything. Only some of the Eon Elders can be considered strong. Others are only old vessels for energy without any ability to use it."

Nameless subconsciously nodded.

Herulè stayed silent but some of his Futures seamed angry. – "Tell this to the ambassador from our main world. He is an Eon Elder and he is just at our village now."

John suddenly stopped. – "What did you just say?" – His gaze became sharp. – "There is someone from Pendulum World here?"

Timeless one felt that he made a huge mistake. – "Yes, he arrived yesterday and wanted something from our chief."

Doctor grinned. – "Such courage!"

Captain frowning. – "Ok, lets hurry up to your village. I'm very curious what elder is he."

"Cap, want to make a bet? I think it's the Seventh Elder." – Doctor took out some gold coins.

"I bet on the Third. He is more arrogant."

[…]

The village was very simple. Some small wooden houses placed under the trees. In the middle of the village there was a statue of an old man. It radiated the air of warm ancientness. For the first time when something had to do with Timeless people, Captain and Doctor became slightly respectful.

Herulè quickly introduced the village to them. – "This is my home, the Scattered Time Village. I will go and inform the chief…"

"LOWLIFE FROM PENDULUM WOLRD! COME HERE!"

The voice of captain made the whole village shake creating some commotion. After some moments an angry shout arrived from the biggest building. – "Who dares to be disrespectful to the Seventh Elder of the mighty Pendulum World!!!???"

"Damn it…" – Captain passed some gold coins to Doctor.

In the air above the village suddenly appeared a short haired middle age man. For a second, he wore an angry expression but suddenly he froze and started trembling. 'An Ocean Lord!!! F*ck!'

"O…O…Ocean Lord…Earlier…I was…disrepec…"

John interrupted him right away. – "I don't care. You, people from Pendulum, are not allowed inside our world."

A black scroll materialized above his head. – "With my authority as Ocean Lord, I require, by the laws of the Deep, the destruction of the Seventh Elder of Pendulum."

Some gloomy gray clouds gathered in the sky above the village. Herulè was trembling on the ground.

John with a beautiful smile stamped on his face pointed his finger towards Seventh Elder.

"[Destroy]"

Thunder roared from the sky and ground trembled. Infinite snakes of electricity danced in the air and Nameless's hair stood up.

The space around the Elder distorted but the nature was quicker, and thousands of lightning bolts hit him in the same time.

A painful scream was interrupted because the Elder vanished. Clouds slowly dispersed leaving only a hot summer sun in the sky.

"He escaped." – Commented Doctor. – "Should I hunt him?"

John dispersed the black scroll above his head and shook his head. – "No need. He we be killed by the Godly Spirits stationed around our world. They don't care and attack everything from Broken Ocean."

Doctor was visibly disappointed.

Once the Seventh Elder left the happy summer atmosphere returned but the residents of the village were still somehow stiff and fearful.

[…]

Inside the Chief's house reigned a very nature-based stile of decorations and furniture. The chairs they were sitting on were directly growing from the ground and couldn't be moved.

'It's a bit inconvenient…' – Thought Nameless while the other two talked with Chief. He was playing with his purple flame. It was difficult to move without any practice.

Suddenly he remembered something.

'What happens if I try to push some of my flames inside the gray circle on my hand?'

It was mark that suddenly appeared on his hand after a strange vision he had before arriving on the second island. A small flame appeared above his palm and he command it to enter the gray circle-shaped mark on the back of his hand.

Nameless smiled. 'It's working!'

Indeed, the flame was immediately absorbed by the mark. He repeated the process another time but still nothing special happened. One after another the cl.u.s.ters of purple flames were absorbed by the mark.

[…]

"What did the geezer from Pendulum wanted?"

The village chief poured some tea to his guests. – "The same thing as usual. He wanted the artifact of the Ancestor."

John sighed.

"They will never leave you be." – He made a sip from the wooden cup. – "Delicious tea."

Doctor was silent the whole time. Suddenly something drew his attention. It was Nameless who was manipulating his flames. Apart from the bloodline energy his sensed something else.

'Really? An artifact…?'

[…]

The circle after many rounds of feeding finally stopped absorbing more of his flames. Nameless let out a sigh of relief because he already was slightly tired.

'And now?'

A silent figure arrived behind him. – "And now you should just wait some moments for it's activation. The information about it will automatically appear in you mind." – Explained Doctor.

Nameless jumped from surprise. – "Why should you sneak behind me!? And what exactly is this thing on my hand?"

"Ah, you don't know?" – This time Doctor was surprised. 'To acquire something like this without even knowing…' It was many years since he was jealous about something but, now he was about this kid's luck.

"It's an artifact. They're extremely rare and have many functions. They consume the energy in your body for their activation. Wait for some minutes and you will understand yourself what the ones that you have does."

"How many minut…AAAAAAAAAAH."

Suddenly a head splitting pain assaulted Nameless. It didn't last for long. Only a few seconds. – "Earlier than I predicted."

After the pain subsided, Nameless saw Doctor looking at him with some expectations. – "I still don't know how to use it…"

"Think better, Kid."

Indeed, suddenly Nameless noticed that there some new things in his memory. 'Its name is Endless Map. He just unlocked the first level of this artifact. On the first level the functions were basically two: investigation, and store. Every single place where he was, was memorized by the map, and once he was in some new place, he could investigate a few kilometers around him by activating it. The store thing was exactly like the name suggested: he could store thing inside the Map and retrieve them with a single thought whenever he needed them.'

Nameless extended his consciousness inside the artifact. 'Well it's not very big but still extremely useful…What is it?' He suddenly noticed an object inside.

'It's…!'

It was the sword of the warrior killed by captain on the second island, The Third Sword of Shurika, Gray Jagerlock.

Nameless remembered then the weapon suddenly disappeared the moment he touched it back then.

'So, it was stored here for some reason.' Suddenly an enquiring voice returned him to reality.

"So! Boy, what artifact is that?"