Dorian stood in front of the pitch black cube, utterly dwarfed by its size. Now completely rested after a full night's sleep, the time had come to enter it, and he had no idea if he could accomplish it. The only way inside was to use his power to bend space and allow himself to phase through the indestructible wall.
The three girls watched as he stepped closer, unsure of what they were about to see.
Putting his hand on the smooth surface, he took one last look back at Aya. Then, facing the giant cube, he concentrated on his task. At first nothing happened, but he soon began to feel his palm sinking into the impenetrable material. It felt as if some force was repelling his hand, though he kept pushing until his arm was entirely inside. Continuing, he pushed his head into the solid material. Unable to see, he kept moving forward, not knowing how thick the walls of the cube were.
Finally, his head passed all the way through the thick wall, emerging on the other side. His body soon followed, giving him a moment to observe his surroundings. The inside of the massive cube was illuminated by a faint green light that seemingly had no source. The interior was sparse, practically empty aside from an orb placed atop an altar in the center of the room, a sleeping mat pushed against the wall, a small cargo container, and a man.
Dorian kept pushing, trying to make out the details of the mysterious figure but his vision began to fade. The strain of phasing through the thick indestructible wall was proving to be too much, and he lost consciousness as soon as he pulled the remainder of his body through.
***
Opening his eyes, he was startled by the sight of a man leaning over him, causing him to quickly sit up.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to frighten you." The man said, sounding genuine.
Dorian had expected the man to be much older considering how long he had been inside of the cube, though he was surprised to see that he looked only a few years older than himself. His shoulder length hair was the same brunette brown that the twins outside possessed, complemented by a short beard. He wore a flowing blue robe that concealed most of his body.
The man reached into the cargo container and pulled out a small nutrience bar, holding it out for Dorian to take.
Dorian groaned as he sat up, feeling dizzy. "Are you...the keeper..?"
The man nodded. "Name's Rhodri, and I've waited months for you."
"Months? You've been in here for twenty years." Dorian stated, feeling suspicious of the strange man in front of him.
Rhodri smiled kindly. "Technically, yes. However, time works differently inside this cube. Only a few months have passed since I entered, yet twenty have passed outside. It speeds up and slows down randomly, making it impossible to know how much time has passed outside of it. The only reason I know it's been twenty years out there is because that's how long your father predicted it would take for you to find me."
"That's...incredible.." Dorian responded. "How is that even possible?"
Rhodri reached into his robe, carefully pulling out a small data chip. "This'll teach you everything you need to know."
Taking it, Dorian secured it in one of his jumpsuit's pockets. "Four down, two to go."
"It'll teach you how to control time. You'll be able to slow down and speed up time. Though be warned, time can not go back. Just as this cube changes your persecution of time, it never reverses. Past events cannot be undone, as every action is written permanently in time. You can slow it down until it stops, but it'll never go backwards."
"I understand..." Dorian replied.
"Good. Now, that isn't the only bit of knowledge in this cube." He said, standing up. "Come."
Obeying, Dorian stood and walked with the keeper to the orb in the center of the room.
"Place your hand on the orb."
Dorian did as he was instructed, and gasped as soon as his palm connected with the orb's smooth surface. His mind was filled with two separate visions. In the first, he was standing on the balcony of a massive tower, overlooking a huge technologically advanced city. He was surrounded by servants consisting of an alien race that he had never seen before, with dark blue and purple skin. Everyone was watching from the balcony as a gargantuan mass of tentacles ripped through the city, heading towards their tower that it easily dwarfed.
He was walking down a ship's landing ramp in the second vision, stepping onto the stone roof of a massive cylindrical fortress hanging over a pit by gigantic chains. The pit's walls were covered by a powerful waterfall that wrapped around the rim of the pit. He was met by several members of the same blue and purple aliens, looking at him in utter terror.
The visions ended, and Dorian stumbled backwards. "The hell was that?!?"
Rhodri held his hands out in a calming gesture. "It's alright, just breathe. What you just witnessed were visions from the past, viewed through the eyes of your father. The first was when the great tentacled beast known as Zhalla destroyed your father's capital and overthrew him as emperor forty five thousand years ago. The second vision took place only three decades ago, when he discovered the last living members of the hybrid species that he created."
"Why..why did he want me to see these things?" Dorian asked, his mind still recovering from the experience.
"Well, firstly, he wanted to show you why you must never unlock the power to create life out of nothing. He taught his people this power, and his advisors used it to create The Great Zhalla. After five thousand years of ruling over the entire galaxy, the thing that brought him down was the mistake of giving his hybrid descendants too much knowledge." Rhodri explained.
"But...why shouldn't I be able to use it? They used it to overthrow him, but the first empire is gone. Surely he can't be afraid of me using that power against him when he isn't even in this dimension anymore, right?"
"He wasn't worried about what you might do to him, but rather, what you might do to the galaxy. Zhalla's reign brought destruction and death, something that his creators didn't intend for. You could create a creature with the best intentions, only to have it destroy worlds. Your father couldn't allow that possibly, which is why there is no data chip to teach you that. He had hoped you'd understand."
"I...I think I do. He didn't want to repeat his mistake, I get it."
Rhodri looked at him with a sceptical expression, though didn't push it. "Either way, that was his decision. As for the second, it took place on the planet Pakor. He discovered a small group of the last surviving members of his hybrids, imprisoned by the Varian Empire. That is where you'll find the next chip, if you're resourceful enough to find them."
"Can you be more specific? Planets are usually pretty big."
"That's as much as I know. Besides, your father seemed to think that you'd be capable of finding it, one way or another." Rhodri replied.
"Fine, I'll figure it out. What's next?"
Rhodri smiled smugly. "What's next, is I finally get out of here."
Before Dorian could ask how, Rhodri grabbed his hand and forced it back onto the orb. He felt a rush of power flow out of him and into the orb, before shooting out and projecting a portal that tore space, large enough for them to step through. Still grasping Dorian's hand, Rhodri pulled him towards it.
Passing through the portal, Dorian realized that they had exited right in front of the massive cube. Seeing that the cave was empty, he felt a twinge of worry. He had no way of knowing how much time had passed while he was inside.
"Everything looks the same. You sure I was in there for twenty years?" Rhodri asked.
