The river of time.
Unceasingly flowing through the past, the present, and the future. It irrigates all worlds with its reality.
It connects the beginnings with the ends seamlessly. It pairs up with space and supports the existence of all that exists in the multiverse.
The river is ever-flowing. The time is ever-changing.
The river of time flows through all the fabric of existence and allows things to be born, prosper, and die in an endless cycle. Without its ever-flowing nature, everything in existence would be nothing but a lifeless oil painting.
Everything living and otherwise is akin to a small fish in this ethereal river that gets carried by its currents and eventually reaches its destination.
There are rules for traveling in the river of time. Nobody is allowed to swim in reverse or swim ahead of the current. Nevertheless, there are always exceptions to every rule.
Exceptions that break the known norms and leave a distinct mark on the ever-flowing river of time. As if they were whirlpools that bent the currents in their direction.
What happens when these ever-flowing currents are bent by one of these whirlpools? What happens when such exceptions take place?
It would allow one to re-experience the past. Or give a glimpse into the future.
The events from this point onwards serve as one of these glimpses.
***
The Oni dungeon.
At the peak of the only giant pyramid located in the middle of the subspace. The sacred telesterion.
The monsters of various races had climbed the pyramid and occupied various floors that existed as the steps of the pyramid. There was almost no societal hierarchy among monsters while they were being part of the festival. They were all the children of the Echidna after all.
The usually lonely and desolate pyramid felt like a world of its own as the monsters gathered over it and interacted with each other.
They had cheered and jeered at the worshippers who had played their part and fought with their opponents. Almost all of the losers of the mortal combat had already died.
The pyramid would draw unknown energy from the emotions of these spectators and sacrifices. This energy would then be shared with the winners of the duels.
As the festival progressed, more cheers were heard in the surroundings. More emotions were stirred. The unknown energy began to accumulate over the winning worshippers. The energy would then be amplified when the worshippers received it, fusing with their very existence.
These winners would then be pitted against one another, resulting in the winner getting stronger than ever in the process and the lower losing their lives and the unknown energy that had been part of their existence not long ago.
The cycle of winners fighting against other winners continued. Finally, two warriors had accumulated a crazy amount of sacrificial energy in their bodies.
The result of the battle between these two warriors, also known as worshippers by their audience, had just been decided. A powerful ogre had lost against an even more powerful orc.
This ogre was the only worshiper who had been left alive and not killed immediately. That was because he was the final sacrifice. A sacrifice that would summon a vestige of divine presence among them.
The festival would end when the loser ogre gets sacrificed at the sacrificial altar that had replaced Har Jahar's throne in the Sacred hall. The kill shall be done by the final winner of the festival. And he will receive Kirin's hand in marriage as well as the blessing from the divine.
The Oni festival had almost ended after days spent selecting the two final worshippers. The winner of the festival would kill the loser finalist and become an arch worshiper, worthy of receiving the blessing.
This was the moment of final sacrifice.
While the monsters were present on various floors of the altar, their tribe leaders congregated on the top floor of the pyramid. The festival's final moments were witnessed by them.
A sacrificial altar had been raised using the flesh and bones of the defeated worshippers' bodies. The remains of the dead worshippers had dried up before fusing to create a dried and almost-dead-like tree trunk with no tree leaves present on it.
The tree trunk gradually became the sacrificial altar as more worshippers kept on dying. At this point, the altar's platform had been raised some 7 meters away from the sacred hall's floor. There was a series of steps that one could use to reach the top platform of the altar.
The top platform of the altar had a large bowl of fire serving as the hearth, which held an azure flame. The flame was set against a hazy blue water-like spatial fabric that seemed to connect to a different world.
Distinct otherworldly mana-pulses were emanating from the fabric of space, which had stopped being intangible and invisible for some reason. The water-surface-like spatial fabric would stretch sometimes and would trace various shapes and figures before returning to its normal state. It was as if someone was trying to reach this side of the fabric from the other side.
Har Jahar was standing at the bottom of this sacrificial altar with his hands behind his back. Kirin was beside him.
The Oni King had acted as the overseer of this festival. It was his responsibility to ensure the rebels did not do as they wished. He handled festival matters as the king of this place. He was to make the festival a success.
Kirin was standing silently beside her father. But her eyes would quickly scan over an Orc Leader before looking away.
This Orc Leader was special because of the incredible feat he had achieved. He had defeated an Ogre Lord while still being evolutionarily at a lower stage than him.
His battle performance had pleased the pyramid as well which seemed to have a mind of its own. The energy originating from sacrifice, which was accumulated in the winner's body in significantly higher amounts than the Ogre Lord, had a hand to play in his win.
His mute status had worked in his favor and had given him mysterious vibes. His audience became his voice as they shouted and yelled at his opponents.
This Orc Leader was about to be the first child of Echidna in the Oni dungeon to receive a blessing while only being at his second evolution stage. Therefore, the audience praised and cheered this orc warrior.
Monsters or not, the spectators always liked underdogs. The dark horse of the event. The show-stealers made the audience stand in its seats and cheer for them with all their might.
Kirin was no exception to this rule either.
