Death... and me

Luan immediately used his eyes' ability to look around the region, only to be surprised by what he saw. "Impressive... this is the first time I've seen this." In front of him, space flowed outwards like a stream. As long as no one was manipulating it, the space Luan's eyes saw was usually static. Yet, space here kept moving nonstop.

"Wait!" Luan narrowed his eyes, trying to see the flow of space better. Eventually, he noticed something strange. "Father, throw something as far as you can. Use a Divine Stone, if possible. Also, throw it in that direction, please." With that, Luan pointed his finger in the direction the flow of space was coming from.

Roan looked at him for a second. "Throw the Divine Stone back from where we came?"

Luan looked at Roan and shook his head. "No. You might think that way, but in fact, you didn't come from there. That direction is further inside the swamp."

Roan was taken aback for a moment but quickly understood. Simply put, this place confused one's sense of direction. That was probably another reason why no one came back from this place, although it was not the only one. In the end, he nodded his head. He quickly took out a Rank Three Divine Stone from the Dimensional Realm before throwing it out using all his strength. The stone shot into the distance like a shooting star, creating a streaking sound on its way.

Luan observed it very closely and confirmed his suspicions. "I knew it... Father, the space in this place is affecting time."

"Affecting time?" Rean and Roan had puzzled expressions. "Were your eyes able to see time as well?"

In response, Luan quickly shook his head. "Time isn't something you can see. Even my eyes aren't capable of such a thing. However, I can see how it affects space."

[So that's what it was!] Sister Orb's voice quickly echoed outside in response. [I told you something was different in this place, but I couldn't put my hand on it. The time here is warped.]

Luan nodded in agreement. "I can't tell if it's the space that's causing time to change or if it's the time that causes space to flow. Nonetheless, I can guarantee that time is being affected. When father threw the stone, I checked its surroundings as it traveled through the flow of space. The change was pretty much unnoticeable. Definitely not something one would notice with the normal naked eye. However, it was different in front of my eyes. The further the Divine Stone went, the faster it reached its maximum velocity before falling far away."

Roan immediately understood what that meant. "You're saying that the stone ended up falling into the swamp before it should have, right? Are you sure it wasn't due to the environment, like the wind or something else?"

Luan nodded. "Father knows that my eyes can see the elements. If such a thing was the reason for it, I would have already seen it. But that wasn't the case. The elements around the Divine Stone were acting as normally as they could. It's just that Dark Element is very, very concentrated. Though, it should have no implication on how fast the Divine Stone reached its final momentum. I'm certain about it, father. If we keep moving forward, time will accelerate around us."

[He's correct.] Sister Orb agreed with Luan. [It's not like you haven't seen this kind of effect before. If a simple natural formation can cause such a change, why wouldn't a fragment of the Universe's foundation? Of course, I'm not sure if it's the fragment that's causing it, but you get the idea.]

Roan crossed his arms and closed his eyes for a moment to ponder over it. "So, the further we move, the slower the time outside the swamp will seem to us."

Luan nodded in response. "Yes, father."

"Can you tell how much the difference is at the moment?" Rean took the opportunity to ask.

Luan pondered about the normal environment outside and the place they were in at the moment. "It's very hard to say since the change is minute, even over great distances. At the moment, I would say that the time in where we are at that moment is no more than a thousandth faster compared to outside."

"Just a thousandth?" Rean was surprised to hear that. "If so, the change won't be anything scary."

[That's not it.] Sister Orb intervened. [Now that Luan dispelled my doubts, I can tell you that the effect will only multiply from now on.]

Luan confirmed Sister Orb's words. "That's correct. At least, that's how it felt when I looked at the Divine Stone father threw a moment ago. It's pretty much meaningless at the moment, but it won't be for much longer. Also, the further we go, the harder it'll be for me to tell how much faster we move through time. I won't be able to tell if we're two, three, ten, or a hundred times faster. I just know that it will happen."

"Forget it." In the end, Roan decided to take the opportunity. "Since that's the case, we might as well make good use of it. Regardless of the time warp, we need to go in to retrieve the fragment. At least things wouldn't have changed much by the time we come out of the swamp."

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response. "And here I thought that the Floating Island of Time would be the place where something like this would happen." They knew that the Floating Island of Time had a fragment as well. It was also the place where Kentucky's race lived.

"Now that I think about it, Senior Rui said that no one that went further into the swamp had ever returned, didn't he?" Rean remembered Rui's words. "Even an Elder Devil had disappeared. Could it be that they didn't really disappear? Perhaps the time difference was so different that those who went further inside didn't feel like they spent that much time."

"That's a possibility." Roan agreed with Rean. "But we also saw that this isn't exactly a walk in the park either, so they might be dead as well. Though, they could also be lost."

Luan nodded. "Indeed. Without something like my eyes to guide us, I wouldn't be surprised if others simply couldn't find the way back."

Roan then covered Luan with his Divine Energy and pulled him to his side. "Alright, Luan. We need to reach the source of this phenomenon. Lead the way."

"Yes, father!"