BOOM!
The rift in time sealed shut again with a tremendous impact.
Chronos no longer cared about the pain tearing through his dragon soul. His soul and body trembled violently from forcing himself to cross dimensions over and over. Yet the image of Rea's blood soaking his robe, along with that final kiss in the middle of a sea of flames, continued to burn away his common sense.
He had made the most radical decision of all.
("If I hide in the forest, you find me. If I run to the ends of the world, you torment me by chasing me to death," Chronos thought, breathing heavily. "Then in this timeline... I will never meet you. We must never know each other from the beginning.")
Chronos returned to his colossal form. But he did not go to a remote forest. He did not spread his wings and cross the ocean. He returned to settle on the first mountain he had created hundreds of thousands of years ago—the highest peak in a world isolated by an eternal ice storm.
He coiled his massive body inside his stone lair.
("It's safe here," Chronos thought as he squeezed his golden eyes shut. "In the forest where you'll be born, there won't be a dragon named Chronos. You'll grow up as an ordinary girl, marry a village youth, and live a happy life without ever knowing this suffering.")
The dragon sank his consciousness into a long sleep. He decided to sleep for decades, allowing the timeline to proceed as it should without interfering in the slightest.
Twenty years passed in cold silence.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
A faint vibration pierced the layer of ice covering the dragon's body.
Chronos suddenly jolted awake. His golden pupils widened behind the ice. Those footsteps... they weren't unfamiliar. They were far too familiar—and far too frightening—for his traumatized soul.
Fragile footsteps. Weak. Accompanied by a savory aroma spreading through the ice storm.
Chronos frantically raised his colossal head, bringing down the ice coating his neck.
CRACK!
There, at the edge of his stone lair... stood a young woman. She was beautiful, her golden hair shimmering in the cold wind, and a basket of warm roasted meat was tied to her hand.
The woman was Rea.
An overwhelming frustration suddenly erupted in Chronos's chest. The dragon's mind was struck by a lightning storm.
("Why?!” Chronos screamed hysterically inside. "Why is this happening again?! In another timeline, when I was in the forest, she never came to this mountain! She never even planned to! Why is it that every time I sleep on this mountain, she ALWAYS comes here and brings me meat?!")
Chronos could no longer hold back the turmoil in his chest. Confusion, anger, fear, and regret melted together into unbearable despair.
SWOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, Chronos shrank his form into that of a silver-haired humanoid. Without caring about the ice storm sweeping across the mountain peak, he strode forward and seized Rea by both shoulders with his trembling hands.
"Why are you here, giving me meat every day?!" Chronos shouted, his voice trembling violently.
The dragon's golden eyes stared sharply into the woman's eyes, hoping that this harsh outburst would scare the young girl half to death, make her cry, and send her running away from him forever.
"Why don't you just live comfortably out there with the other humans?!" Chronos continued, his voice hoarse with burning regret. "Why do you have to climb this frozen mountain?!"
Yet, contrary to the dragon's expectations...
Rea did not tremble. She showed not the slightest hint of fear as the figure before her shouted at her.
Instead, an incredibly soft and warm smile appeared on her lips. A faint blush rose on both her cheeks, and her eyes gazed at Chronos with a warmth that time could never extinguish.
"Because I love you!" Rea declared without the slightest hesitation.
The answer came so easily. So sincerely.
Chronos froze at once. His hands, which had been gripping Rea's shoulders, slackened, losing all their strength.
("That answer again...") Chronos thought in a daze. ("After thousands of cycles, I know that you love me, Rea... But WHY?! How can you love a creature that has given you nothing but suffering?!")
As Chronos sank into confusion and torturous thoughts, Rea moved closer.
RUSTLE.
The golden-haired woman wrapped her warm arms around Chronos's waist, hugging the silver-haired body tightly amid the howling ice storm. She rested her head against Chronos's chest, listening to the dragon's racing heartbeat.
"Chronos..." Rea whispered softly. Her voice was as smooth as silk, her warm breath brushing the dragon's neck. "...you might not know this. But I remember everything."
BOOM!
As if struck by lightning in the midst of silence, every organ in Chronos's body stopped functioning for a moment. His golden pupils flew wide in an indescribable shock.
"What... what are you talking about?" Chronos's voice trembled violently.
Rea held him tighter, pouring out all the longing from the thousands of timelines stored within her soul.
"I remember everything, Chronos," Rea whispered again, her voice filled with warmth and profound sorrow. "From the very first time we met... even when we had a child..."
Chronos couldn't speak. His tongue was numb.
"...then you destroyed the entire world after losing our family and decided to erase your own memories," Rea continued softly. "I remember all those repeated timelines, Chronos. I remember everything."
An oppressive silence swept across the highest mountain peak in the world. The snowstorm seemed to stop moving as that dark truth was revealed between them.
Chronos stood rigid as a stone statue. Destroy the world? Have a child? Erase his own memories?
"I love you, Chronos," Rea whispered as she lifted her head, looking directly into Chronos's golden eyes, which were brimming with tears of shock. "You're the one who always comes when I need you. You're the one who makes my life never boring... and you're the one who's always present in every life I've lived."
Rea smiled sincerely and brushed away the tears beginning to fall down Chronos's cheek with her warm fingers.
"That's what makes me love you, Chronos. In the past, now, and in every timeline you create."