Chapter 41: Reverse Time Dilation (Part 1)

As the two people walk towards the tomb, they sense something in the aura surrounding the island.

Sneha: "Has it started already?"

Ethan: "Looks like it has."

Ethan says as he sees the fluctuations in time-axis get larger.

Ethan: "Time has started to flow much faster than it normally would."

Sneha: "Do you have any numbers?"

Ethan thinks while trying to focus on the aura his eyes can see.

Ethan: "I am not particularly sure but time seems to be running … about 12 times faster."

Her eyes widen on hearing that.

Sneha: "What!? That's a lot!"

Ethan: "It is. It means a day will pass in the time equivalent to two hours normally."

He realizes that this could present a problem to him in the long run, even if he's confident that his objective here will be achieved.

Ethan: "I guess that means we need to hurry."

Sneha: "Hmm … there's no other way than to hurry now."

Ethan nods as Sneha turns back to the direction in which the pond is. She takes a long breath in order to send her aural energy to her legs.

Sneha: "You won't be able to keep up though."

Ethan: "Yeah I know, but that's fine."

He says as he notices Sneha transferring energy into her arms as well.

Ethan: "Just get to the tomb and try to make sure no one is able to ambush you, if they for some reason want to."

Sneha nods and opens her eyes which had been closed for a moment and says,

Sneha: "Okay then, try not to take too long."

Ethan smiles on hearing that.

Ethan: "Don't worry. I am not planning to miss out on all the good parts."

She sighs.

Sneha: "I should have expected something like that as the response."

She says as she starts running towards the tomb.

Ethan: "Damn!"

As he sees her running, or rather, disappearing away, for a moment, even Ethan stands still in astonishment.

Ethan: "I wonder how fast she is right now, mach 1 maybe … no, half of that."

He says as he too starts running through the forest.

Ethan: "If I am reading the aura of the island right, which I should be considering how much experience I have built reading it, she should reach the tomb in about two minutes or so."

He keeps running while avoiding obstacles as he says so.

Ethan: "Even considering this distorted time, only 24 minutes would have passed by then."

He sighs because of the words that would come out of his mouth next.

Ethan: "I, on the other hand, would take 2 hours to reach there. So one day would have passed all in all."

He keeps running despite feeling disappointed in himself.

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Ro: "Does anyone else feel that?"

Dragon: "Yeah, there's some sort of interference with time going on."

The dragon says as he tries to observe the changes around us.

Barry: "I think you are right."

Barry affirms what the dragon says. And truly, it does feel like the flow of time has gotten faster.

Sona: "If time is moving faster, shouldn't that affect our perception of it?"

I get the point she is trying to make. From what I have come to learn in the past day, time moves much faster on this island. But it's not like we feel that's what's going on. That difference can only be observed by someone who looks at us from outside the island.

Barry: "Well, what is going on is that the time is moving faster but our sense of time is not. According to our sense, time is moving at the same pace, but it's not. So, we are able to see the difference."

That makes sense too. Time and sense of time are two different factors. Our sense of time can lead us to think that time is moving faster or slower depending on our mind-sets. I haven't personally experienced things like these but I have heard people saying things like time seems to fly by when they do something they like and it seems very slow when they are doing something they don't like. That's the most common example of how our sense of time can affect us. Usually, our sense of time on the island is fast enough that it coincides with the fast moving time on the island. But for some reason, our senses have remained the same while the time has gotten faster.

Ro: "Well, this isn't the first I have seen something like this."

Barry nods. I think I know what he is talking about too.

Barry: "The difference between the moment we reached the island and the moment I saw Kais and Ethan talk in that dark cave-like place should have been, on the island, two days."

Kais: "Yeah, technically that should have been how it went. But it seems like only some hours passed between those two things."

It seemed like instead of time flowing slow like it usually does, it had started to move in faster than outside even.

Sona: "Okay then, what should we do now that the time is moving so fast? And what will happen to …"

She doesn't complete her sentence as she takes a look at the dragon.

Dragon: "Well, I wish it depended on my sense of time but it doesn't. If three days come to pass sooner than they should, I would die sooner than I should."

That's … infuriating.

Sona: "Then I suppose, we have a guess as to who is causing this?"

Then only one I can think of right now who would benefit from the dragon dying sooner is Ozyllus.

Barry: "Even ignoring the motive, if anyone has the power to cause so much interference with time, it would be Ozyllus."

Ro: "Even though he has become a ghost?"

Barry: "Especially because he is a ghost."

Ro: "What!?"

I think I get what he is trying to say. After all, it doesn't make any sense for Barry to be the only ghost who could use psychic.

Barry: "It's because of him that after becoming a ghost, I was still able to use psychic abilities. So even if I have never seen him using any, it only makes sense that he would also know how to use them."

Dragon: "Yeah, I can confirm that he has been able to use psychic abilities even after becoming a ghost."

Sona: "But can psychic abilities, or even combine them with everything ghosts can do, would still be enough to cause something like this?"

It does seem rather suspicious. Psychic abilities are not omnipotent. And I don't think ghosts abilities would be either. This type of time-interference doesn't make a lot of sense.

Barry: "Well, unfortunately, it seems we don't have enough time to think about that right now."

He says while looking back towards the tomb and getting alert.

Kais: "What's wrong?"

Barry: "There are a couple of people with hostile intent coming towards us."

Dragon: "Can you tell me who they are?"

Barry: "I can't discern their identities though it does seem like I know at least one of them. I do know one of them is a ghost and the other is a psychic and both of them have insane amounts of energies of their respective forms surrounding their respective auras."

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