The two of us walked straight into the middle of the museum, into a giant round area, filled with a dozen statues. The place was ornate, but casual, filled with tons of infographics. Each statue had a tablet with some information written on it, alongside a few pictures. They depicted the Lancets, an ancient group of heroes who lived through the Mana Emergence and built our society into what it was today. Not everything was known about them, we didn’t have all their full names or all of their Aspects, but if there was one thing we did know, it was that they saved the world.

  The Mana Emergence was an event that could basically be called the apocalypse. According to history records, humanity used to be more widespread than it was now and cities dotted the land. Numerous cities even gathered together as countries as well. In a world that did not have magic, the sudden emergence of mana tossed everything into turmoil. No one knows why it happened, only that it did. Every person alive was subjected to an intense amount of magical stress, having magic power directly infused into their bodies, which killed many of them. The ones that survived evolved and became the different races we all knew today. This came alongside the emergence of monsters and disasters that shaped and destroyed the land. Casualties were immense.

  So immense that time itself was turned back. The first Time user was the Lancet’s leader, and using his knowledge of the future, he recruited each member in order to save the world. Each member was numbered after a number on the clock, which I suppose didn’t mean much, other than No. 0 and 12 being the same.

  I looked at the clock that stood above the Regressor’s head, acting as his halo. It didn’t look like the actual thing itself, but everyone knew that it was supposed to be a halo. In his presence, it was what dictated time itself. And it was that same halo, bereft of the person it was connected to, that sent me back in time.

  “Let’s go in reverse order,” I said, a little hesitant on heading to the Time Angel’s statue.

  “Kay!”

  The two of us walked to No. 11. The person depicted was a taciturn-looking and stern man who had grey hair. He was pretty handsome. He didn’t look anything different from a human, that’s for sure. His eyes were chiselled with a dull sparkle in them however, signalling his Major Aspect was Star.

  “Alistair, the Pure Star,” Machua read aloud. The title was straightforward.

  “The leader’s closest confidant, yet we know the least about him. His Aspect was Star and he had the purest mana out of all of them. The only other thing we know is that he wasn’t particularly close to anyone other than the leader.”

  “Huh, how weird.”

  No. 10 depicted a woman wearing a unique-looking outfit, to say the least. She had on a craftsman’s outfit, with little bits and bobs sticking out of the various pockets and belts she wore. Which all tied together into her fashion if you could call it that. She had greyish-brown hair, and a sparkle in her eye. Not an actual sparkle like the Pure Star though. Her gaze looked confident, self-assured, as if she could do anything. Her eyes looked set on a new horizon ready to go forth and do greater and ever greater things.

  Strange, why was I able to glean so much from just her eyes? Guess the sculptors did a really good job.

  “That’s… an Italian name?” Machua squinted at her name.

  “Yeah. Vincetta Polendina, the Great Inventor. She invented airships, Mobile Cities, mana impurifiers and a whole lot of other things. It’s debated whether her Major Aspect was Creation or Construction, but it’s generally agreed she had them both.”

  “Ooh, remember when mom took us to the Earth Observatory? It was so fun to look at the Earth before magic. Now that I think about it, isn’t the inside another dimension?” Machua asked.

  “It’s a plane to be precise. A higher order dimension anchored to the world itself, instead of a specific person or object. Though, you do need an object as a planar key to enter one.”

  The Earth Observatory was located in City Paradiso, the city of science. It was created personally by Vincetta Polendina, where she spent the rest of her days inventing. The Earth Observatory was the star of the Polendina Museum there. It was a plane that was used to show the state of the Earth in the past before the Mana Emergence. Not just show even, people could literally walk history inside of it. Tour guides could set it anywhere from a day ago to a little more than a thousand years ago, when the Mana Emergence happened. More than that though, the Earth shown would be just conjecture. Though, the pre-Mana Emergence era was the funnest part by far. It was cool to see what people had to use instead of relying on magic and it was interesting to know that the world didn’t used to be one continent.

  “Wow. She was dealing with stuff on that level?” Machua admired.

  “And you have to remember this was all new to her. She lived in a world without magic, so when all of their tech suddenly became obsolete, she had to work her ass off to adapt them into a magical world.”

  “Everyone says her greatest invention is the mana impurifiers. Something about literally saving the human race.”

  I nodded. “Babies are born with 0% mana purity, so they need to be born and taken care of in areas less than 10% pure, because even getting sick can be fatal. In that era, that meant the places where children could even be raised were extremely few. And even then, with the changing times, purity was prone to raising or lowering on a dime, so families had to constantly be on the move. Mana impurifiers lower the purity of the mana, which allowed us to live anywhere we wanted, so long as we had enough. It’s not an exaggeration to say they were critical to our race’s survival. Without mana impurifiers, babies and children would have no place to grow up in.”

  Machua snarked, “Wow, you can just rattle that off like it’s nothing? Someone’s a big fan.”

  I rolled my eyes. All of that just happened to come to me, and I explained since I remembered. It was a bit strange though, I didn’t remember where I got that from. It must have been school, or whatever textbooks I read.

  “… Hah. School just stuck with me, I guess. Let’s go.”

  Before leaving, I gave the statue one last look. It gave me a very strange feeling, and I wasn’t sure whether I liked it not. Whatever it was, it was very heavy-handed.

  No. 9 depicted a kindly woman with a straw hat. In her hand was a hoe and the other a bag of seeds. She was wearing a farmer’s outfit as well.

  “Ooh, Malikah, the Garden Wellspring,” I said. “Her Aspect is Life and she’s the one who developed the modern day farming industry. She worked closely with the Great Inventor to make it possible. She had to find the appropriate fields and strictly control the mana purity to cultivate plants properly. And then there’s the fact that the plants all evolved too, so she had to find the right one as well.”

  “So, here’s the next one you’re a big fan of.” Machua made a cheeky smile.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “I’m grateful for all the rice she’s passed down to us. Without her, we wouldn’t be able to eat rice so often.”

  “Since when was I a big fan of rice?” Machua muttered.

  It was a friend who got me into it. A friend that she hadn’t met yet.

  No. 8 depicted a woman with greyish-dark blue hair striking a martial arts stance. She had flaming wings jutting from her back.

  “Zhu, the Blazing Wings. No one really knows her race, even though we know for a fact she had blazing wings.” Machua pointed out.

  “Aspect is Flame, which is obvious. From what rumours I’ve heard, she knew magic before the Mana Emergence happened.”

  “Really? Guess there must’ve been a little mana back then….” Machua trailed off.

  “Oh, right! You use some Merapi moves, don’t you?”

  I raised an eyebrow. That caught me off guard a little.

  “That’s right. Primarily the sweeping kicks. How’d you know?” I questioned. I didn’t expect her to have figured that out by now, but it was welcome. It meant her observation skills were improving.

  “It’s what Qing Fen practices. And also I saw a trailer for Fist of the Dragon Bride 2 recently.”

  I nodded. The Merapi style was a popular martial arts style focused on harnessing the power of the elements through bodily focus and fine mana control. It focused on flame in particular. As for Qing Fen, that’s our favourite movie actress. She primarily stars in action movies and does most of her stunts herself. Fist of the Dragon Bride is like the best movie of all time.

  “I should have expected,” I snarked.

  No. 7 depicted a fierce man with raging purple hair. He had a pair of purple horns jutting from his head and wielded a staff. He was evidently a fierce oni.

  “Yamato Takayuki, the Storm King. Aspect is Storm, duh. The Yamato clan over in City Ryo’s descended from him and they’re one of a few families that can actually pass down an Aspect. Though, I think technically it’s referred to as they naturally have a high aptitude for Storm, is that right?” Machua asked.

  “Yep. Erebus Squad’s Reina and her kid are actually Yamatos too, though she cut her ties with them.”

  “Wow, didn’t know that. They seemed like nice people when we were cleaning that shrine that one time.” Machua suddenly turned back to me. “Oh, did you do that?”

  “I did.”

  “…” Machua thought silently.

  “Did that old guy make you dress up as a shrine maiden too?” She asked while glancing away.

  “Yep,” I answered nonchalantly. “Said I passed as a girl, so it didn’t matter if I wasn’t.”

  “Wow… Can’t believe he did that.”

  The head priest of the shrine was in urgent need of shrine maidens after most of them fell ill, so he dragged me in to replace them. Of course, I wasn’t a ‘maiden,’ but he still made me dress up in their clothes. It was pretty fun, all things considered.

  “I don’t mind. People mistaking me for a girl has its advantages. And besides, I’m used to it.”

  Machua scratched the back of head. “Don’t know if I like that or not.”

  We made for the next statue, but as we were walking, I couldn’t help but take a small look back. I’d see those horns again soon enough.

  No. 6 depicted a middle-aged woman in a judge’s attire, with her signature gavel. This woman’s face was always hung in courtrooms, a true testament to her status.

  “Oh Soo Jae, the Scale Bearer. She formulated the modern day justice system and passed several of the most integral laws to our society. Key among them being the Mandatory Hunter Service law,” I read.

  “It says that during the Mana Emergence, she was a university student studying law. So, she was actually around our age when the Mana Emergence hit her and gave her Judgment as an Aspect. That’s a super rare Aspect too.”

  “Hm, she requested for her to be depicted in her later years, as she felt that was when she had contributed the most to society.”

  “I guess I get not wanting to be seen as a young woman by the next generation forever.”

  No. 5 was a muscular man who wore a cracked mask that had all broken off except for the part that covered his eyes. He had wild white hair and had his arms raised in a battle stance.

  “And there he is. Our Dimension boy, Kain Ripley, the World Tearer,” Machua happily commented.

  “The mask is a means to control himself. After pushing himself too far, he underwent Refraction, splitting his mind and soul apart into multiple ‘personalities,’ alternate versions of himself. The Great Inventor made the mask to keep him under control.”

  If Qimranut hadn’t taken me by surprise, he probably would have pushed me to Refraction that day. I would have gone the distance for Kalina.

  “Machi. Have you Refracted before?” Machua asked, while staring at me straight in the face. She must have caught on to my lingering thoughts.

  I answered with some hesitance. “Yeah. I have. It’s the worst thing in the world. You can feel your soul almost literally rip itself apart, and if you can’t get yourself under control, you feel like you could lose a part of yourself. As if your heart is being torn from your body. And when it’d torn, you have to put yourself back together. Like a piece of glass just shattered in your hand and you have to put it back together without any glue.”

  “That’s scary…” She murmured, while patting my back.

  “You’ll have to worry about this too, since you have Dimension.” I turned to her. “Aftereffects are side effects only an Aspect holder can experience, and it’s different per Aspect. If you push your Dimension too far, you’ll feel the onset of Refraction. Luckily for us, it’s the most famous one, so it’s well-documented.”

  “I’ll be careful then. Dimension can be pretty scary.”

  “It comes with how rare it is. Oh, it says he’s the little brother of our No. 1.”

  “The leader?”

  “No, the leader’s No. 0. Or 12.”

  “What a confusing number scheme.”

  “It’s just a clock, Machu.”

  No. 4 depicted a young man holding a book and staff in his other hand. He was wearing a coat and had a strange monocle. His face looked very studious.

  “Aurel Schwarzer, the Truthseeker. His Aspect’s Reality. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone but him having that. From the looks of it, no one really knows what it does either. The name’s too vague, I guess,” Machua commented.

  “It says he was a reclusive person and enjoyed learning about any and all things. He made it his goal to ascertain the secrets of magic and why the Mana Emergence happened. Since we don’t know, it’s safe to say he failed.”

  “Boring. Let’s keep on keeping on.”

  No. 3 depicted a shadowy figure in a dark cloak. There were no facial features in the statue, and in the photos, the person’s face was always obscured as well. They did wield two sickles, however.

  “Shakir, the Mortality Reaper. He had Death Aspect obviously. He wielded sickles and always liked hiding his appearance. That’s pretty much all we know about him.”

  Though, if the rumours were true, he might have had something to do with the Phantoms. He could be the founder of the title, but then again, the actual first Phantom might have been totally unrelated to him.

  “Bet he was just shy. Could be a girl too.”

  “I doubt it,” I responded without a second thought.

  Machua shrugged. As we walked away, I had a second thought. ‘Was he a girl…? No way.’

  We were getting close to the Time Angel. Just a quarter of them left. No. 2 depicted an elderly woman with a kind look on her face. She had a kind grin and long, flowing hair.

  “I knew I remembered a Lancet with Barrier. So, it’s Deirdre Arswell, the Heavenly Guardian.” Machua pointed at her.

  “Yeah. This was her actual age when the Mana Emergence came around, so she didn’t have many years left to live. Still, she fought alongside her other Lancets to protect the world.”

  “Can’t imagine a granny fighting catastrophes. She must have been turbo strong,” Machua said.

  “Yeah. She must have been.”

  Next was No. 1. No. 1 depicted a woman with white hair, tied into a long ponytail. Her eyes were sparkling in a way that did not indicate Star and she had a smug look on her face. She had a long, black, and bony tail, alongside what was seemingly arm blades jutting out from her elbows.

  “Pallas Ripley, the World Ripper, and the world’s first Space Aspect user. The co-leader of the Lancets, and also its leader’s polar opposite. It says they butted heads a lot,” I read aloud.

  According to Kalina, she was the only one out of the Lancets to equal him. Space was Time’s opposite, and like him, she was also Space’s only holder in the world. Her remains were considered precious Space artefacts, which was why Kalina was so shocked to learn Qimranut’s staff was forged from them.

  “We don’t know her race either. A race with arm blades feels like it could be a praying mantis, but there aren’t any insect beastkin, right?”

  “As far as I know, no. Praying mantises don’t have weird bony tails, anyway.”

  “That reminds me, we really gotta go binge some movies with Plu, you’re up for it right?”

  “Course, Machu. Just give me a heads up.”

  “Yes!” Machua happily exclaimed, while walking to the next statue. The next and last. The first, really. The first beyond all firsts. The zero.

  I found it a bit difficult to follow after her. No. 0 or No. 12. Shial Park. The Regressor, the Time Angel, and the saviour of mankind. The man who turned back time to save the world. He was the only one who had memories of the past timeline of the world, in which the Mana Emergence was worse than it was. All we had to go off of was his words, but unfortunately, he didn’t live a long life. When he saw the world was safe, he sacrificed himself to break the Time Aspect, so that no one could abuse such a power ever again.

  Yet here I was.

  The sound of footsteps stopped next to me. “Hm, he’s rather imposing, isn’t he? I get it.”

  I didn’t turn to look at the stranger.

  “…Yeah.”

  “Do you ever wonder what it was like in the past timeline he lived through? A world where monsters rampaged through the world more than they already do, where disasters struck the land and rendered the world almost inhospitable. It must have been terrible,” the stranger said.

  “What must be worse is living through a world after a regression. Turning back time… must have been more painful than he could have imagined,” I replied, trying to hid as much of my emotions as possible.

  “Haha, that’s true. Records say it was a very troublesome beginning for Shial Park. It wasn’t until a year later he formally set out to fix the world.”

  The stranger continued, “You know, I happen to be the Heavenly Guardian’s descendant.”

  “Oh, are you?” I asked. I wanted to say more, but my voice was slightly quivering.

  “Yep. He had some choice words for her when they first met, and she hung on to every single one.”

  The stranger stepped in front of me, looking into my eyes. She was wearing a cap, had blonde hair, and had a mischievous smile on her face. It was the face that kept me going.

  “You want to know what he said?” She asked.

  “…”

  “He said, ‘Do you want to join us? It’s better than dying here in a retirement home, surrounded by dead bodies.’ Crazy, right?”

  The stranger backed up and made a gesture.

  “I can’t believe he’d ask an old woman that. She told us it was her greatest achievement to fight alongside that man.“

  “… Hah…” I looked away.

  “Hey,” she moved back into my vision. “Am I being too overbearing or something?”

  “I think you’re getting a bit too close to my brother there.”

  Machua finally walked back to us, giving me a chance to catch my breath. She stood between me and her and gave her a wry smile.

  “I’m sorry.” Kalina raised her hands up.

  “You apologise to him. Not me- Where is he? Oh, look, you scared him off!”