Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 355: The Path to Closure

[Hey Jamie,] the Galaxy Sword said, [let’s go find the rust guy after this.] 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Jamie replied without hesitation, "The Rusted Blade’s in the Dark Multiverse. I’m not heading over there until I get all my power back."

The Galaxy Sword frowned, crossing their arms and clicking their tongue. [Tsk. Bummer.]

Sarina cut back in. "You can talk about your Rusted Blade later. You said you’ve seen this particular sword before, and it’s part of a Rule Breaker?"

The Galaxy Sword nodded. [Yeah. Rule Breaker Chrono Controller. That’s the full name. What you’ve got in that image is Chrono’s Minute Hand.]

They continued after a short pause, [Chrono’s a clock, literally. He’s got a minute hand, hour hand, and second hand.

Each one’s a weapon that detaches from the clock, and they can be used separately. Each piece also has a fragment of his will embedded in it, about 10% of his consciousness. The remaining 70% stays in the main clock body.]

Jamie briefly questioned whether the Galaxy Sword should be exposing what felt like private Rule Breaker information, but chose not to say anything yet. Instead, he turned to Sarina again.

"I know who the current wielder of Chrono Controller is, or at least, who I believe it should be. Unless the weapon changed hands in the 12,000 years I’ve been asleep, they should still have it."

A lot could happen in 12,000 years, so Jamie wasn’t giving any guarantees.

"When I first saw Chrono Controller, it only had the hour hand and the second hand. The minute hand was missing.

That was the case until 25,000 years ago, when I saw the weapon again. This time, all three parts were present, and it was in the hands of a Candidate of Time."

After Jamie said this, the Galaxy Sword tilted their head and repeated an earlier question, [Exactly how did you get that image anyway? Where did you find Chrono’s minute hand?]

Sarina remained silent for a moment before she finally responded, her voice calm.

"It brought me back from the dead, over a billion years ago."

At that, the Galaxy Sword blinked, clearly surprised, and then asked, [You weren’t anywhere near as powerful as you are now back then, right?]

"Of course not," Sarina replied.

The Galaxy Sword gave a small nod. [Ah, then that makes sense. Chrono’s shrivelled-up form definitely wouldn’t have had enough energy to revive someone like you now.

How did it bring you back to life? Did it rewind the entire time axis, or did it just restore your existence to a point before you died?]

"The latter. And it vanished right after."

Hearing that, the Galaxy Sword hummed thoughtfully to themselves, rubbing their chin.

[I think I can take a guess at what happened. Remember how I said Chrono’s condition was due to him running out of energy?]

Sarina nodded. "Yes. When I found the sword, it was in an even worse state than this. I did some repairs and restored it to this level."

The Galaxy Sword blinked, clearly caught off guard by that statement.

[It was worse than this?! And you repaired it to this point? Damn, woman, you’ve got skills. But anyway, what I was saying is that a shrivelled-up Chrono’s barely got enough juice to do anything useful.]

The way the Galaxy Sword spoke made it sound like Chrono bringing Sarina back to life wasn’t something particularly significant, but they didn’t seem to notice the implication and continued on.

[So if I’m right, after he revived you and vanished, Chrono was probably looking for someplace with a decent amount of cosmic energy just to keep himself functional until he could reconnect with his main body. This place might’ve been one of his stops, or even where he stayed the longest.]

Sarina nodded at that. "Your theory holds up. I’ve found traces of the sword across the universe over the past billion years, and every one of those places was rich in cosmic energy.

Strangely enough, by the time I got there, the cosmic energy levels had dropped significantly.

Because of this, I already assumed the sword was trying to repair itself by absorbing cosmic energy, given how damaged it was when I first found it. Seems I was right."

The Galaxy Sword agreed with her.

[Yeah, Chrono was probably travelling between energy-rich spots, leeching off whatever he could to stay alive. Eventually, he settled here, where he must’ve remained for millions of years. The place is saturated with his energy signature.]

They gave a slight shrug. [He was probably dormant for most of that time. But then, around 50,000 years ago, whoever had the rest of his main body must’ve come close enough for Chrono to make the jump and reconnect.]

When the Galaxy Sword finished, both Jamie and Sarina went silent for some time, considering the Sword’s words.

The theory made sense. It explained why the sword always seemed to slip through Sarina’s fingers over the past billion years.

It wasn’t avoiding her, as she’d once assumed. It was simply trying to survive.

It had spent all that time moving from one source of cosmic energy to the next, sustaining itself long enough for the rest of its body to get within range. And once that happened, it had drawn on the reserves in this place and attempted a return, something Jamie had already confirmed was successful.

Sarina turned toward Jamie and asked, "Do you have any idea where the sword’s wielder might be?"

Jamie rubbed his chin for a moment before responding.

"I do, but I’m not sure if they’re still with it. Like I said, the wielder was a Candidate of Time, and from what I found out a couple of months ago when I went to speak with Ranus, the Candidate Selection is over. It apparently concluded while I was asleep.

That Rule Breaker was given to the Candidate of Time because they were in the running. I don’t know if the Eternals took it back after."

"I see. But since you have an idea where they might be, it wouldn’t hurt to check, would it?" Sarina asked.

"It’s going to require a trip outside the universe, and for an extended period of time. Vladi is quite far from here."

"Vladi?" Sarina questioned.

"That’s the universal supercluster where we’re most likely to find some clue about her location. She’s a princess from there, and though she’s estranged from her father, he’s a stalker who always keeps tabs on her.

If anyone knows where she is now, it’s him."

That dysfunctional family dynamic wasn’t something Sarina cared to comment on. All that mattered to her was the sword she had been chasing for so long.

"You don’t have anything holding you up in the universe now, right? If not, then let’s head to Vladi. I want to at least get some closure and finally find the answers to my questions."

Sarina had many things she intended to ask through the Chrono Controller, but of all the questions swirling in her mind, the one she knew she would ask first was ’Why?’