It is said that there exists an omniscient entity which oversees all operations of all creation. How things would exist. How they would act. Where they would be. What would become of them. What should not exist. What laws would bind them.

Everything was a product of that ancient thing.

No one knows if that omniscient entity is living or not.

But it exists.

The higher beings both within and outside the five realities refer to it as The Akashic Record. The one that manages everything. The one that knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen at the very end.

And no creation could ever escape its entry.

So, just imagine what would happen if someone could read any record they wanted. They would know everything about a person, more than that person knew about themselves.

This was the power Dreamweaver spent his entire existence chasing.

He gathered knowledge from different species and different realities after ascending to Calamity rank. Anyone looking from the outside would call it foolish.

Something like that could never exist within reach of a single being in any reality.

But he made it happen.

Dreamweaver succeeded. With the help of his wife.

With Dr. Anise’s help, they created a replication of the Akashic Record. Even though its range only covered the small city they had founded together, it worked exactly like the real thing.

Every piece of information in Evana was operated through the Akashic Record building. The computation was so precise and powerful that it could even predict the future. And that feature was what Dreamweaver was after.

When the project finished, he decided to run an experiment on Evana’s people. To test how accurately it could predict. For this, Dreamweaver put people through random trials. Some even deadly.

When his wife found out, they had a huge argument.

Because the sequence key to operate the Akashic Record was with Anise, she locked its prediction feature entirely after knowing Dreamweaveer’s true objective.

Anise expected Dreamweaver to retaliate. To force it out of her. But he did none of that.

He simply vanished for years.

Anise assumed there must have been an urgency in the upper realities that pulled him away from something this important.

Years passed. Lillian grew. And Anise prepared herself for the worst. Because she knew he would come back.

And he did. Just yesterday.

◆ ◆ ◆

"...He came to make a deal with Dr. Anise." Irene finished.

Ethan did not say anything for a moment.

The fifteen minutes on the prism had dropped to eight.

"He proposed a deal." Irene continued. "He offered Anise a position in the uppermost reality. A Calamity rank in exchange for the sequence code."

Silence settled between them. Ethan felt a shiver run down his spine.

A Calamity rank would place Anise among the Five Calamities. She would become a literal god if she wished. Anyone would do anything to obtain that kind of power.

Ethan gulped and looked at Irene.

"What did she say?"

Irene looked out at the city below them.

"She said no."

The prism dropped to five minutes.

And from that moment, Dreamweaver moved to take away the people she was protecting. If the people here ceased to exist, if they all drifted into a comfortable dream for eternity, then Anise would have no one left to care for. She would be left with nothing. And she would be forced to use the Akashic Record herself to fight back. And when she did, he would be there to take that from her as well.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

"Then... does that mean she used it?"

Irene shook her head.

"No."

The moment Dreamweaver activated his Calamity skill, devastating enough to affect neighbouring kingdoms and cities, two others of his standing descended to Evana.

The twin sisters. Everbright and Silvermoon.

To protect the neighbouring cities, Everbright shifted the entire chunk of Evana to a new location, hidden from the outside world entirely. And to prevent the people living inside from falling under his spell, Silvermoon used her time authority to lock the city into a single looping day for over two centuries.

Dreamweaver’s spell had only affected a select few, pulling them into a coma state. The loop prevented it from progressing any further.

Only those same people would be affected every loop.

She could not fight him. And he could not fight her. The oath the Five Calamities had taken to maintain the balance held both sides in place.

So deadlock was the better option.

Evana still existed. Dreamweaver never got his hands on the Akashic Record. And no major deaths occurred.

Until someone capable enough decided to save them all.

This was the whole point of the loop. It was not a curse. It was what was keeping them alive.

"Wait, does that mean you, and more specifically Dr. Anise, were aware of this loop the entire time?"

Irene bit her lip. "We were not. Our memories reset as well."

"Then how do you know all of this?"

Irene looked ahead toward the tallest building touching the sky.

The Akashic Record.

As long as the loop existed, Dreamweaver would not come here. Which meant the building was safe to use. Which meant Anise had access to it the entire time.

"You used the Akashic Record." Ethan felt goosebumps rise across his skin. "So we were the reason..."

He understood everything now.

Irene nodded.

"When you decided to tell us about the loop, Dr. Anise investigated the matter and used the Akashic Record to check all entries. She found this log from there."

It all happened becase of them. They chose to tell them the truth about Evana’s loop early on. But doing this much, they have gathered a crucial piece of information.

Ethan looked at the timer.

Three minutes left till next reset.

"So that means, after this loop..."

Irene finished his sentence before he does.

"Dr. Anise and I will forget everything we just found out. The memories will reset with everyone else."