"Is this what you look like now?"
In that murky void, his gray-white eyes reflected a calm, numb face.
The River of Time lay between them.
One was within it.
The other was outside.
It was like gazing at a reflection in the water.
"This is why I can deal with you, because you're just like him. Neither of you can let go of the obsessions in your hearts. You're trapped in this web of fate, bringing yourselves to a halt again and again."
That voice spoke quietly to him.
Lynn stood hunched, his long hair covering his eyes. His gray-white eyes watched the figure revealed within the River of Time, and he murmured to himself, his expression dazed.
"Zuo Zuo..."
"You can keep searching, fixating on what you've lost, but I must remind you."
The figure spoke softly.
"When you're beyond saving, even the right path becomes failure."
The figure appeared for only an instant, like a bubble in the water, or an illusion reflected in the River of Time, then vanished before him.
In that moment, only Lynn stood there, raising his head blankly. In the entire world, he was utterly alone.
And for a long time.
He remained sunk in that stupor, endlessly searching the void outside time for the figure he had lost, desperately pursuing, desperately seeking.
Until, at some point, he saw the River of Time that belonged to him begin to dim.
Only then did a faint flicker finally stir within his dazed eyes.
It was like an immense excision.
The winding river.
Was crumbling bit by bit.
Just like the tombstones he had once seen in that other River of Time, covered in their names.
It was as though an invisible hand controlled everything, as though some extrapolation spanning the past would be