Void-Touched Veridian

Chapter 24

Heh, Heyo! I'm so sorry for being so late! I've been super busy lately, things are happening and stuff, and I'd hit a pretty bad writer's block, but i'm back, with another chapter! I hope y'all enjoy this one, the song above is well, Thrawn's Introduction from Ahsoka, by Jeremy Brauns Music! I love it so much! Enjoy!

Snug within the frigid warmth of the Void, Izuku sat, his eye focused solely on the ethereal blue flame before him, as some sort of Voidic meat seared nicely within the maybe hellfire that was burning before him.

Age had finally caught up to him, and where the rest of the Void lacked any semblance of time, this Paradox held time precious, a commodity envisioned and brought to power by the being in control of this place.

Unlike Reality, where Time was split around him like a vast ocean pierced by a lonely and immovable mountain thanks to the Void, this Paradox brought time from Reality into the Void, and because the Paradox was also the Void, equilibrium meant that Time now, for the first time in quite literal aeons, had meaning for Izuku.

His face, which was once smooth and unblemished, was now covered with thick, dark green facial hair that grew on him like moss on ancient stone. Wrinkles had begun to mar his brow, his youthful visage once kept within the confines of his teenage years, began to give way to a young man.

Vast landscapes Izuku had travelled, and his body aged more than it ever had and his body ached with the feeling of growing old. Still, he had yet to find Rell.

Precious years had maybe passed in but a moment, and Izuku was no closer to his goal; the massive collective of islands and lost lands held Izuku back, his search halting to investigate each and every island for Rell, yet none held his brother.

Around him, the Void contorted, twisted in a beautifully vile way, a seductive lullaby that battered at Izuku's mind's eye, the barrier within his mind a bulwark against the tsunami of terrible might. Even then, with his barriers at their utmost power, whispers and shards still leaked through, a singular voice boomed with the command of a lord, a master, who expected their little slaves to dance to their every whim.

"Again! Again! AGAIN!"

Each command was followed by time, which twisted around everything within the boundaries of the Paradox, everything but him. Ironically, once the command sounded everything around him was reset, they were all frozen in a time loop, forever kept the same from when they had first started the loop, all but Izuku himself, who aged normally for once, with Time now obeying his physical body, he aged, not enough to reach old age, but enough for him to leave his once teenaged body.

Like trying to find a grain of sand in a haystack, Izuku searched, his soul calling out for his lost brother. Weary bones ached as Izuku poked at the void meat, pulling it out of the fires as he looked to the fractured skies of the Paradox, a bone tired sigh leaving his cracked lips as he ate his meal.

Time, it turned out, gave Izuku time to think, to ponder, to delve into his truly shattered mind, it allowed him to poke and prod at his unhealed wounds that lingered deep within the recesses of his darkened mind. Was it any wonder the Void, the Man in the Wall, saw so much potential in him; his soul was tainted with the blood of billions, a darkness hung drearily inside the confines of his mind. Chaos was his calling, whether it was to be at the centre of that chaos, or the cause of it was up for debate, but Izuku had no doubt that his soul sang for chaos.