"At last, after quelling the elemental riots on the Riven Continent, he returned to his mage tower, and that diary had turned to its final page."
He Xi's voice echoed through the empty palace, clear and calm.
"On the final page, there was only one line: At this moment, go to the Time Hermit Society. Use the Hourglass of Time to 'mix' your magic power and turn it into a diary. Then pick up a pen and write down the experiences of your life. Finally, send it back to the desperate you from twenty years ago, living in that dilapidated attic."
"Arthur did it. But the instant he set down his pen, he realized that the sole purpose of his magnificent, turbulent journey through life had been to create the diary that guided the beginning of it all."
"He was both author and reader; both giver and receiver. He gained the entire world, yet never truly chose a single step for himself."
The story was over.
A long silence fell over the palace. Only the faint glow emitted by countless threads above the dome flowed quietly on.
After a long while, that ethereal voice rang out again, carrying unprecedented shock.
"...An eternal closed loop..."
"A story with neither beginning nor end..."
The lights in the Weaver's eight compound eyes flickered uncertainly. Clearly, it was digesting a story structure it had never before "tasted."
He Xi was not surprised by its reaction.
After all, this was a story created around a "time paradox."
In this world, perhaps powerful beings existed who could wield the power of time, but how one went back was not important. What mattered was that no one would use that concept to weave such a fateful story.
And He Xi had merely retold a short science-fiction story