Standing, as far as one could say something like that about a cloud of energy containing my ego, before the inter-planar gate, I hesitated.

It's been so long since the last semblance of my old memories made an appearance in my consciousness. While it always remained as the ultimate goal, to return to Eve's arms, after millennials that I spent living for millions upon millions of times in this universe of mine, this comfortable memory was nothing more than that.

A memory.

Maybe it was caused by my sentience growing beyond any limits normally shackling humans. Maybe I reached the foretold point when I would become so great that the matters important to mortals would no longer obstruct my enlightenment?

Once this thought appeared in my mind, my consciousness suddenly shook. What? Eve being an obstruction?

All at once, a wave of deepest terror flashed through my mind. How could I ever think about something as dark as that? Even if I lost the touch with my ultimate objective, it still was something I had to fight with all my might for!

"Because if you don't return by the time I reach my limit… Rather than doing yourself harm, you could doom the entire reality where Eve, her sister and literally everyone else is. At this point, I would like you to remember that you still have yet to fulfil your promise!"

With Bonger's words ringing in my metaphorical ears, I felt a sudden tug at my soul. Then another. With my mass of energy that made up the true body of my nearly omniscient being nearing the strange anomaly within this universe, I realised something else.

It wasn't some kind of external force tugging at my soul. It was my very own self driving me towards this fulfilment of my dreams. Even if it would be only momentary. As I neared the blackhole-like entity, this drive of mine only accelerated my descend down its centre. And then, as if all those thousands upon thousands of years in the other universe were just a bad dream, I returned.

From the looks of things, directly to the moment when I initially left this place. Watching how everyone's faces were turning agape after relatively recent display of my power, I noticed that something was strange. While it could be my own perception of this glorious moment that slower everything around me down…

No, there was no way for such a thing to happen. The world around me was crawling at a barely noticeable pace. If not for the slight vibration of the air, I wouldn't be able to tell whether I was in the middle of a still picture or an actual world I used to inhabit.

With my mind exploding from the onslaught of thoughts, I attempted to look around, hoping to catch the sight of my prize. But my head once again was subjected to the laws of physic instead of towering above them. It was also then when I noticed a certain peculiarity.

While the time was going incredibly slowly, it was going. And while it was at nearly the same pace, it was accelerating.

Moving my chin by a millimetre to the side took me about a week, but the next one took only a single day. Five millimetres further, the same incrementation only required an hour. Bit by bit, the unbearably slow passage of time was returning to its normal flow.

And then…

And then I finally saw her. Clearly aware that something insane was going on given how connected we were, Eve's eyes continued to bulge as she watched my desperate yet slow movements. But for her, what seemed like an eternity for me, would most likely look like an insanely urgent and brutal way of turning my head around.

"Eeeeeee..."

The first tone escaping from my mouth funnily stretched in the air, as if it was played by some instrument that wrestled itself free from its musician's hands.

"vvvvveeee"

The faster the time started to flow, the greater the acceleration of the change was. I managed to take a step forward. Then another one. Right now, time seemed to be only diluted in ten to one ratio. Crawling my way forward, I ignored everything around me, racing to the end-point, right within Eve's embrace.

The flow of time nearly doubles, making my perception only five times as quick as that of a normal person.

"EVE!"

Screaming from the bottom of my lungs, I managed to make a few more steps, when the time finally returned to its natural flow. Falling right into my wife's arms, I felt as if my entire psyche would crumble apart under the gentle touch of her skin.

"B-bart?"

With her voice trembling, I now knew for sure that she knew that something really bad was going on. But for now, I just couldn't bear with the thought of sullying this glorious moment of reunion with needless worries.

Pulling her body even tighter towards me, I hid my face between her neck and shoulder. Emotions were not thoughts. Even though Eve was aware that something was going on, she had no right to know what that actually was. Yet, despite all of that, instead of pushing me to explain the situation to her, she simply accepted my decision to finally take a rest in the safety of her warmth.

For the first time in millions of years, I managed to relax. For the first time since those ancient memories of mine were born, I managed to find comfort and peace.

And the world brutally reminded me that I had a place in this world no longer.

"Brt?" "R u ky?"

Raising my head to look at Eve's face, I nearly broke her neck by smashing my forehead right into her chin. And then I realised. Just like the time continued to accelerate from the very start, this process didn't stop when it reached what I considered to be its normal flow. After all, what was normal was only a matter of perspective!

"Bro, your time is running out. You need to hurry…"

Not sensing any real urgency in Bonger's voice yet, I forced my body to remain completely motionless while raising my eyes towards Eve's face. Along with the acceleration of time-flow, one more thing was changing.

The power that I seemingly left behind in my own universe was calling for me. Or rather, it was rushing through the hole opened by Bonger, forcefully filling my entire being with the purest form of energy.

Thinking about it, according to everything I knew so far, this could be the cause behind my broken perception of time. It wasn't as if the world was accelerating the pace of its events. As more and more energy continued to fill me in, it was my own perception of time that continued to degrade.

And then, I noticed something else.

If I appeared here when the time-flow was almost completely stopped, then what would be the infinity that I would need to reach in order to be kicked out of this world? And if the time-flow would ever reach that kind of insane speed, wouldn't that mean that in just a single instant, everyone I knew and treasured would reach the limit of their timespan?

With the current time-flow already reaching the point of tripling its normal pace, I focused my thoughts once again on Eve's face.

"I'm sorry."

Uttering those words in the fastest manner possible for me, I concentrated on my energy for a moment, before pouring as much of it as I could straight into Eve's system. With our dual cultivation thingy still turning our souls to be basically the same of one kind, she wouldn't be able to face any problems with assimilating it. For Eve, it would felt like her long lost power finally managed to return to her veins.

With my energy-draining, for a moment I managed to slow down the acceleration of the time. Looking at Eve's still face, I felt tears gathering in my eyes.

"I love you."

This time, I was too weak. I couldn't speed those words to make things easier for Eve. Speaking them at a speed perfectly suitable to my perception, I felt one of my tears trickling down my face.

And just when those words left my mouth, I used a spare amount of magic to create a powerful internal explosion.

It would be impossible to kill me here. The worst that could happen would be a single part of my greater being synchronising back to the core. But as the powerful wave of the purest possible form of magic forced my soul back into Bonger's tunnel, I cast my eyes on Eve's world for the last time.

This way of reuniting with Eve was faulty. If I were to stay there longer, all I could do would be watching my wife wither away all the way to the point where her bones would turn into dust and mix with the soil of the great continent.

And I wasn't ready for something like that.

This short trip to the world I used to live in was enough to bring back my memories. It was enough to bring back my emotions. It was enough to bring back my motivation.

I had to find a way to return to Eve's embrace. That was the only thing that I could care about.

And one way or another, I would accomplish that. No matter the cost, no matter the sacrifices.

Even if that would be the very last thing I would do in my life.