Deep in the hollow, pitch-black void, chains wound around one another. Countless fine patterns flickered across them and went dark again, like some ancient sigh.
There was no space in this void, and no time. The chains were the only solid things in it, winding together and extending all the way to its center.
There, the chains intertwined at a single point. At that point floated an Old Man with a peaceful expression and closed eyes.
Green Magic Formations coiled around the Old Man, forming slender chains that extended from his body to the solid chains beyond.
Beneath that intricate green glow, a faint white light flickered softly.
The white light flowed through the Old Man's body like blood through veins, finally gathering in the pocket watch at his chest.
Then, at one moment, the chains in the void trembled. The Old Man at their center trembled with them, then abruptly opened his eyes.
Countless green lights flared across the void almost at once. The slender chains surged violently, as though shaken by the force of a storm.
A vast, distant gaze crossed countless stretches of space and time, passed through the silent void, and arrived before the Old Man in an instant. The green motes shaking around him immediately rushed into his body. Hum.
A tremulous hum seemed to sound deep within the soul. Then came a rapid, delicate ticking, like the workings of a clock. The white pocket watch hanging from the Old Man's neck burst into brilliant light. It enveloped his body, held back the green glow, and tangled with the interweaving green motes.
At that moment, while the two lights struggled against each other, the Old Man at the center of the chains shuddered.
Slender chains extended from his back. They wound tightly together like tentacles,