It turns out that this place is a lot bigger on the inside than it looked to be on the outside. It's interesting in a way, though I don't think I can comprehend how this place actually works. The system welcomed me as “Abhor of time”. First of all, I've never been called that before, yet I felt both right and wrong being called that. It felt like it was my name, but something in it felt incomplete, like just calling Iron man Iron. It makes no sense without the Man beside it. Marvel lives on even after bankrupting 200 years ago. But it also implies that something about this place recognizes me. It felt like a butler welcoming me home. And what a home it is.

  The top floor has 5 large sections. Snowstorm immediately latches his eyes on a very cold looking section of which he bounds over to and flops down. There are 5 squares on the ground, like they could raise up in each section to become a pedestal for… something. The section that draws me most is the section 2 over to the right of Snowstorms. The darkness is physical here, flowing like water. Yet I can see clearly.

  “Evelyn.” I turn to the little human who stands in the green, vibrant section that also seems full of white rock.

  “Have you ever heard of this place?” I ask. Snowstorm seems out of commision for the time being as he basks in the cold, so she is my only source of info.

  “I haven't.” She tells me, running her hand along the large spike that look eerily like a rib.

  “It feels fake, you know? Like its too perfect to exist. The air feels cleaner then anything I've ever breathed, and everything is so sharply colored.”

  “Im going into that dark area. I doubt I'll pass out from pure bliss like Snowstorm did but I might as well see what it'll do.”

  “You guys were talking about essence earlier. Is it something to do with that?” She asks and I nod.

  “Do you not have essence?”

  “I don't. Essence is a statistic only paladins and priests of the ten gods get.” Thats interesting. Im not a worshiper of anyone, so where is this essence coming from.

  “System, why do I get essence?”

  {I don’t know everything, you know.}

  “Figures.” With no other ideas, I just wade into the darkness. It feels so cool and right, like a sauna for the soul. I sit down in the center of the room and curl into a ball.

  {Massive influx of essence detected. Would you like me to notify you on essence rates?}

  “That sounds complicated, but sure.”

  {You are gaining approximately 1 essence per minute while waking and 0.5 essence per minute while sleeping. Would you like me to automatically purchase the mutation offered when you reach the cost threshold, or would you like to utilize the essence in other ways?}

  “I can use essence in other ways?” I ask. That sounds interresting.

  {While in tier 1 of 5, you can spend 2 essence to increase a single statistic by 1. The cost increases with each subsiquent evolution.}

  “Holy mother of overppowered stats.”

  {Each stat has a maximum amount your body can take without breaking, so its not infinite power.}

  “How much essence do I have right now?”

  {36.}

  “So… 19 stat points?”

  {18.}

  “Whatever. put 6 into durability, 6 into strength, and 6 into speed.”

  {Are you sure you want to apply the essence this way?}

  “Uh… yes?”

  Everything goes black

  {Name:Abhor

  Level:1/50

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Age:16

  Titles:Timebreaker, Barterer, TIME

  Strength:26

  Durability:27

  Speed:26

  Stamina:22

  Intelligence:18

  Essence:0

  Juvenile time dragon[1/5]

  Skills: Night vision(Low), Enhanced Skills:stamina(medium), Bartering(low), Heat resistance(Low), Breath of time(Low), Voice of the word[Species Max], [LOCKED], Illusion mana manipulation(Low)

  Techniques:Mana manipulation(E), Time manipulation(F), Mana defence(E), Potential(???), Calm(D), Overload(C), Confusion(D), Illusion mana manipulation(C)

  Mutations: Void seer eyes(B)}

  Wow, it worked. I'm a hell of a lot stronger than before now. This essense stuff is way too powerful. But at tier 1 I bet I'm still at the bottom of the food chain.

  {You have slept for 2 hours. You have 125 essence.

  Warning: The more essence you have past the 500 essence point, the more it will cost to get. Mutation:Void-seer eyes have been automatically purchased.}

  The entire spire is full of interwoven wires of essence of every type I’ve ever heard of. This was made by some master artificer for sure.

  “Snowstorm?” I call out, sitting up to find Snowstorm and Evelyn talking. Evelyn is sitting in the central typeless area close to the icy area, where Snowstorm lounges. They both turn at my voice.

  “Oh, so the sleeping beauty has awoken from her slumber.”

  “Stop quoting ancient movies.”

  Evelyn giggles, and I find myself amused by that.

  “You two are getting along better than I expected.” I say, coming out of the darkness. Evelyn jumps and Snowstorm flinches.

  “What?”

  “You practically materialized out of the dark.” He says. Looking with my void seer eyes I notice how instead of his mana flowing through his heart like it should, it flows through the soul gem. That's interesting. Looking at Evelyn, her mana flows through her heart like normal. But it's also far less thick than ours. Is that a soul core thing or a humans and dragons thing?

  “Also your eyes are different.” Evelyn says.

  “Oh?” I got an idea. I use some illusion mana to form a mirror. It's surprisingly easy and I'm shocked that it works on the first try. The large rectangular mirror in front of me shows me myself. My scales look saturated in darkness, though it's slowly pooling off back into the dark zone. My eyes are a deeper purple than before. My pupils have layers upon layers of slits overlapping black. It looks… awesome.

  “I look so cool!”

  “You look like a shadow monster.” Snowstorm counters. I dispel the mirror to frown at him.

  “Well, you have a horrible taste in what's cool, snowball.”

  “Call me Snowball one more time and I'll-"

  “C-can you guys not?” Evelyn says, then flinches when we both turn to her. “O-or do, it's not up to me…” I sigh. We’re freaking out the poor mammal, and thats unfair to her. This is really just brotherly banter, but I can see how she might get scared from it.

  “Evelyn, it's fine.” I say, and Snowstorm nods.

  “We're brothers. We say this sort of stuff to each other all the time.”

  “That's what makes a bond what it is.” I told her.

  “We say this sort of stuff because we know that no matter what we say we don’t mean it. A true friendship comes from being able to speak and act freely around someone without fearing judgement.” Snowstorm and Evelyn start at me for a moment, then to each other.

  “Isn't he supposed to be the dumb one?” Evelyn whispers to Snowstorm and he nods.

  “I can hear you.” I say flatly.

  “Thats why its great. Because we dont fear your judgement.” Snowstorm says in a mocking tone. Evelyn starts laughing. For once I donr respond, just looking down at the human. I’m glad she's happy considering we kinda kidnapped her.

  “I’m gonna go fish.” Snowstorm says, sitting up. I nod, grateful. My stomach growls and Evelyn's eyes widen.

  “Did that come from your stomach?”

  “I have a big stomach.”

  “It sounded like the dying wails of a tiger.”

  “How do you know what that sounds like?”

  “I heard the dying wails of a tiger.”

  “Creepy.” I mutter, plopping down onto the ground beside her. I tuck my wings to my sides.

  “Hey Evelyn?” I ask, turning my head to look at her. She sits down on one of the stairs. The center of the room has a spiral staircase where each stair is as big as she is which makes things harder.

  “Yeah?” She says, turning to look up at me.

  “Do you hate us?” I ask after a moment’s hesitation. She pauses, surprised, then looks away.

  “A little…” She eventually says. I'm glad I put my wings down, because they would be drooping a lot if they weren't. “But…” She continues before I can say anything. “I like you both more than I hate you. So its worth it.” I can't help but smile at that.

  “Thank you.”

  “The fact that you even bothered asking shows your character.” She points out.

  “I mean, I also kidnapped you while in a fit of rage.” I point out.

  “So? I stood up for you and got clocked in the face by my own commander as a result. Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I think I can trust you guys.”

  “You say “You guys” a lot.”

  “Huh. I never noticed.”