The hourglass man

*WHOOOOOOOSH*

The small egg-like object accelerated as it left Noth's atmosphere, heading towards the very centre of the huge fracture in reality above the planet. No damage was visible on the egg's exterior despite it flying past explosions, frenzied mana and collapsing space-time.

The egg moved at break-neck speeds, passing both of Noth's moons within seconds before reaching the crack itself; a cracked-window looking area the size of a small planet.

Never slowing down, the orb entered the surface of the crack and passed through it without a hitch as if it entering a cave behind a waterfall.

As soon as the surface of the crack was breached the sight on the other side would leave anyone speechless.

Swirling galaxies of ever-changing colour danced with star-sized organisms of varying gradients. Sounds of explosions, flowing water, laughter and orgasm were present all around the small egg-like object.

The person on the inside of the small orb was none the wiser to the lovecraftian sights happening just outside.

Planets and moons were being destroyed in a show of grand cosmic destruction, sending flowers made of dust throughout this crazy dimension.

In the next moment those same destroyed planets emerged again, some bigger some small, some turned to gigantic animals of grotesque fashion with tentacles, bones and excrement adorning their bodies.

How long the orb travelled through this chaotic realm was unknown, it's destination was unknown, even the safety of it's only passenger was unknown.

Days, months and years passed as the orb journeyed across the chaos, bouncing around looking for a way out.

Finally, one day it noticed a suction force coming from somewhere; the orb adjusted it's course towards that suction.

Time passed by as the orb looked for the source of the suction.

It found it behind a floating mountain decorated with body parts dressed in cheese clothes.

As soon as it passed the cheese mountain, the orb sensed something was different.

CRAAAAAAAACK

Bursting through an invisible wall, the orb crash landed in what appeared to be a bare island in the middle of a lake.

[Scanning environment]

[Scan interrupted!]

[Unknown entity approaching!]

The orb had no time to finish it's analysis of this strange place before it was descended upon by some insurmountable pressure.

"How did you get in here little guy? Has the nether crack not fully healed?" The owner of the voice was a normal looking human with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache; his sideburns connected to his well-kept hair giving him a look of wisdom.

His defining feature were deffinetely his clothes, a set of formal and tailored articles of clothing including a suit, jacket and plain-cut trousers with polished black leather shoes.

His outfit was screaming: BUTLER

The man pressed his hands on the small orb and inserted some of his Essence, to which the orb responded with a *click* sound.

The orb opened like a flowering rose and released some fluids and vapor before revealing a small hourglass object in it's center, connected with tubes filled with some turquoise liquid.

The old man had no time to analize the object further as in the next moment the small hourglass figure released strange particles which materialized into the form of bare-naked man.

The hourglass man, as the butler so named him, started coughing and shivering heavily causing panic in the butler's mind.

"Full Heal!" His voice echoed over the waters of the lonely lake.

A surge of golden dust entered the hourglass man's body, giving restoring his condition to absolute perfection..

A few seconds later and the hourglass man woke up.

"What? Where am I? Who are you?" The man spoke in a hushed and low tone, still in a small state of shock from waking up after so long.

"I should be asking you the same question, who are you and how did you enter my abode?" The butler replied in an irked tone.

"Huh? Butler? Am I some wealthy heir whose every need is tended to by his butler?" The hourglass man spoke up with an innocent-looking, childish smile adorned on his face.

"Guess the nether realm isn't safe even if you're traversing it in that fascinating ball. Stand up, I want to try something." The butler instructed and Del rose to his feet while the butler pressed his hands on Del's upper torso, where the mana core was located.

A soothing energy came of the butler's hands, heading straight to the centre of the man's mana core, where a small hourglass was located. Upon reaching the centre of the man's core, an immediate reaction was seen.

His body stiffened as a flood of information entered his jumbled brain, some of the information was lost, some retained and some locked away.

The hourglass man fell to his feet again and clutched his head in pain.

"I-I remember! My name is Delvin Mayes, my home planet is named No... Nod..." The man, who was obviously Delvin struggled to remember some basic facts about his past and how he ended up here.

As he rose to his feet, the look of the island changed from a 10 square meter bare island to a luscious grass field filled with flowers as soft as clouds.

"Ah, how many powerful spells will be used on you today Delvin Mayes." The butler said before another stream of golden energy entered Del' body, this time soothing his mind and allowing him to take a breather.

"First take a seat on these wonderful Restoration Morel flowers and take a deep breath, thaat's it. Now, I'm gonna ask you a series of question and we're gonna right down what you know and what you don't know." The butler said as he sat down on the cherry-coloured flowers.

"The mystery of your arrival will probably be solved by closer examination of the artifact you came out of. But let's get your information first before deciding what to do with you, you can't stay here for long." The butler explained.

"Why not? This place is pretty and soft and warm, if you had some food and drinks this would be paradise." Delvin replied.

"I have food and drink aplenty, but even if I wanted you to stay it wouldn't be possible, just being near me will cause your inner realm and mana core to atomize. In other words being ripped apart into atoms." The butler replied and took out a notebook and pencil from a pocket on his suit.

"Let's not waste time, first question: what can you remember about your past?"

What followed was an intense questioning session lasting 2 hours, during which the butler found out this Delvin Mayes wasn't from this plane of existence; a more accurate description was that he wasn't even from this temporal period.

Based on what the butler observed with his inborn Trait, this person's mana core was saturated with non-present mana, in other words mana that hasn't yet been synthesized by the laws of the universe.

That wasn't even the weirdest thing, that prize was give to the hourglass object powering the man's mana core; this was an object that even the butler couldn't fully identify and its cloaking capabilities were far too advanced to be contained in the core of tier 0 being.

This wasn't even mentioning the orb in which the object and man arrived in, it's molecular structure was a highly advanced alloy made from extremely rare metals including mithril, briotine and xucroenyx; a combination of metals which could only be made by near-divine beings.

The problem was that this human had no idea about any of this stuff, he barely remembered basic information and had gaping holes in his memories.

"I thank you for your sincerity and patience little Delvin, as I said before you can not survive being near me for too long so you will have to leave." The butler put the notebook back in his pocket and clapped his hands twice.

Delvin found himself back on the bare island but this time there were dozens of rotating circles surrounding the island, each and every one of them calling out to him, beckoning him to cross through them.

Before Delvin could move a muscle the butler's voice fully captured his attention.

"Delvin Mayes! As a non-aligned being who harbours no ill-will, malicious intent or hostile tendencies towards the integrity of the Verse you are granted passage and right-of-stay on one of the newly awakened worlds spread throughout the cosmos. Your one choice will be final!"

"Waiting for you beyond these," The butler gestured towards the swirling portals. "Are newly-awakened worlds, freshly exposed to mana and the laws of the universe! Your fortune is and will be of your own making; become the saviour, the butcher or the king of this new world, all is in the palm of your hand." The butler paused briefly before continuing.

"This right is granted to thee by the 15th seat of the Eternal Council, and is to be enjoyed in perpetuity. Now pick and choose little Delvin, begin your journey anew. I will contact you via your system interface in due time when I find something more about the capsule you arrived in." The butler saw Delvin was hesitant to step through any of the portals.

"Worry not, as soon as you cross through your system should boot up again, crossing the nether realm tends to mess with reality so it's not strange it still hasn't turned on." The butler remembered how Delvin tried calling the system's various interfaces during their questioning session earlier.

He paused before instructing Delvin one last time.

"Now go! Remember what we discussed and don't look back; grow in strength and prestige, gather allies and develop your holding on your new planet. Only by doing these things will you have a chance of rescuing those you lost." The butler paused when he remembered how Delvin mentioned loosing many important people in some kind of disaster whilst being powerless to help them.

Delvin gathered his courage and walked to one of the few red coloured portals located on the edges of the island before pausing for a brief moment and asking the butler a question.

"Hey, I never got your name." He said

"If you stick to doing what you're supposed to be doing, you will learn of it one day." The butler replied

"Hey, wh-" Delvin was cut off by a pull coming from the portal which sucked his entire body instantly.

"Delvin? What the?!" The butler was shocked to see all of the portals rapidly vanishing one after the other from the moment Delvin was sucked through.

He then turned around and noticed the egg-like object had transformed into a crimson-glowing pyramid which emitted some high-pitch frequency.

In the next moment the orb-turned-pyramid object oxidized and turned to rusted dust, leaving the butler scratching his head.

"Was it trying to attack or incapacitate me?" The butler wondered. He felt no pressure from the item, and even his Divine Audit skill yielded no results when checking out the orb. 'So it carried some Essence, but if it had a speck of it inside, Divine Audit would have picked it up instantly'

The butler's confusion only increased when he heard the sound of a notification that drew his attention immediately

*DING*

In his Messages and Contacts tab he saw something impossible.

[DELVIN MAYES] (Cloaked)

That orb had somehow interacted with his own system, blocking him from locating or contacting Delvin and even the portals' destruc-

A sudden realization hit him.

Was the human even the one he talked to? Was that orb a mental-type Soul Armament gone rogue, taking over the mental faculties of its host, Delvin Mayes? A sense of worry welled up inside the butler.

"Newly awakened worlds are hidden from outside observation/interaction for at least the first two cycles." Even scrying spells of the highest orders were useless when trying to peer beyond the System's disguising shroud, the butler had learned that when he faced the first Awakening of his own world.

'Destroying the portals assured I wouldn't be able to follow Delvin's mana signature, and not being able to contact him prevents me from using any form of tracking magic." The butler's eyes took a meaningful glare as it looked towards where a red coloured portal stood shortly before.

"Just what the hell have I just released into the Verse..." The butler waved his hand and a ripping sound reverberated throughout his local Universe, signalling his return to the cosmic stage. Many beings of terrifying power retreated to their own abodes and realms in hopes of avoiding his gaze, or rather, his retribution. He was the ruler of this space after all.

But the powerful beings were mistaken, The Servant of the Order was not going on one of his missions of dishing out justice, oh no. He was going on a far more urgent mission of locating a mortal human who hadn't even made his first steps on the road to greatness.