'Kid, that's the symbol of Time Temple. Now I understand why I felt familiarity when entering this dimension. Be wary of any possible dangers.' As he looked at that bell in puzzlement, Azolla's warning echoed in his head like thunders. The next moment, he was frozen in shock and got anxious inside.
'Time Temple? Azolla, shall we get out of this dimension?' Abium asked in a scared tone. He didn't even dare to delay any longer as he realized that this Temple was Time God Udnir's and took out the Returner's ring from his spatial ring.
'I don't want to lose the mysterious fountain and the Time divinity! Did the 'Time god' manipulate me to enter this dimension?' A strange thought crossed his mind, making his whole body stiffen.
'Possible!' Abium grew warier and took a few steps back from the silver bell.
'Kid, I don't think Udnir is in this Temple. If Udnir had been hiding in this Temple all this time, you would have long lost the Time Divinity.' Azolla said solemnly. Upon hearing those words, Abium froze and widened his eyes!
'Yes.'
He breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded his head.
'But you have to be careful. Time God Udnir may appear in the form of memory fragment and might cause you some trouble.' Azolla paused for a moment and continued,
'Don't ever think about that mysterious fountain once you walked into this Temple. Gods are strange beings who could read one's thoughts easily.'
Abium's complexion grew pale as he heard her words.
'Scary! Can a god able to enter my mind?' Abium asked while glancing at the Temple cautiously.
'It's the Sea of Consciousness. If you think deeply about something when talking to a god, that god can easily able to bypass your spiritual barrier and enter into your Sea of consciousness. Although you will be invincible inside your Sea of consciousness, a god's memory fragment can deal some damage to it, so be careful.' Azolla's words made him anxious.
After a slight pause, Abium made up his mind and walked ahead while cautiously glancing at the surrounding vines. Before long, he arrived at the entrance, opened the half-broken door, and stepped into the Time temple.
He then walked past the broken debris, entered the main hallway, and finally reached the center of the Temple. At that moment, he saw five statues of angels standing on his right side and holding different types of weapons in their hands. Each of them stood calmly and looked more majestic. He even saw five strange rings in each of their hands and got curious. After giving the statues a wary look, he shifted his gaze toward the left side and noticed two human statues standing there arrogantly while looking at those angels with disgust and malice.
'Who are these peoples?' Abium got puzzled and soon turned his eyes towards the innermost sanctuary of the Time Temple. A thick metal door locked the sanctum sanctorum, and multiple runic letters and weird scripts were drawn on it. Hiding his nervousness, Abium walked near the thick metal door and looked at all those strange scripts with a gloomy face.
He silently closed his eyes while taking a deep breath and stood there like a statue for a few seconds.
After some time, he opened his eyes and frowned.
'My seer's intuition didn't show any response, which means there is no danger inside. But something feels off.' He clenched his fist tighter, raised both hands, and pushed the metal door with full force.
But that door didn't budge an inch and stood there like a mountain.
Upon seeing this, Abium became dumbfounded.
Before he could utter a word, some mystic power came out from the mysterious fountain through his soul link and entered the door.
For the first time, Abium became alarmed!
'No good! The mysterious fountain is acting on its own!'
He soon noticed that the metal door was shining brightly at that moment and furrowed his brows.
The metal door emitted dazzling white light for two more seconds and began to crumble into powders.
Meanwhile, Abium stood there with a shocked face and soon shifted his eyes toward the statue at the center.
It was a crystal statue of a human.
The statue looked like a 40-year-old man with long wavy hair and appeared to be around the same height as Abium. He also saw a pentagon-shaped necklace hanging around his neck and confirmed that this was the statue of Time God Udnir.
Abium also saw a mysterious pattern drawn on the floor and became more curious.
'Azolla, do you see any trap inside this room?' He asked.
'No, lad. It looks more like a floor decoration. But I sense a dense amount of divine power coming from the statue.'
'Oh? So, this statue is the reason for the time divine power in the atmosphere, huh?'
Nodding, Abium took a step forward and walked into the sanctum sanctorum.
But a second later, the floor began to shine brightly and released mysterious waves in all directions.
'F*ck! It's a trap.' A grim expression appeared on his face as he noticed that the surroundings had started to change. The next instant, Abium found himself surrounded by darkness.
But he didn't lose his calm and thought of facing reality.
Before he could think further, an intense pressure that was enough to crush a mountain suddenly descended on his soul form.
'How did you manage to link your soul into the Core of Itera, Mortal? Open your soul to me.' A majestic voice filled with dominance entered his soul. Abium's complexion grew deadly pale as he heard those words and grew more anxious inside.
'Udnir?! Is that voice talking about-? No, I shouldn't think about it. But why is that voice asking me instead of talking by force?' Doubt appeared in his mind.
'Wait! Something is not right.' Abium furrowed his brows and noticed a strange small golden light in the darkness.
'What's that?' Hiding his fear, Abium walked ahead in his soul form. Although that mystical pressure still assaulted his soul, his soul wasn't affected much due to the strange link between his soul and the 'place' he didn't want to think about.
Abium also frequently used his spiritual power to block anything from entering his mind and tried his best to move forward.
'Mortal, you are seeking death! Give up the link to the Core of Itera; I will spare your life.' Once again, Abium heard that strange voice and grew worried inside. He also noticed a fit of deep anger was hidden in that tone, which caused his soul form to tremble.
Abium gritted his teeth and spoke.
"Udnir, you know I'm no match against you. But instead of using your arrogant tongue to crush my will, why don't you take that thing by force? Do you take me as a fool?"
Abium's angry words echoed inside the dark world.
"Hahaha, interesting! Mortal, let me know your name. You earned my respect." That same majestic voice boomed inside the darkness.
Hearing Udnir's words, Abium's lips twitched. He then coldly snorted inside and responded with a sarcastic tone.
"O Revered Lord of the Time, why don't you use your divine power and check it for yourself?"
A silence appeared in that darkness. Meanwhile, Abium hastened his footsteps towards the golden light.
"Mortal, if you give me that link to Core of Itera, I will help you become a legendary mage." After a long silence, that mysterious voice spoke again. But this time, Abium didn't even answer and noticed that the golden light was a palace built of gold.
Without minding that voice's tempting words, he quickly arrived in front of the golden palace and opened the gate. The next instant, he found himself standing in front of a throne hall and got startled.
"You have guts, mortal. You give me no choice then." Once that voice finished its words, a foggy humanoid figure rose from the golden throne and directly moved into his soul form.