Chapter twenty two: Flow of time
The white room stood unchanging in the vast starry sky. In the silence, caelum's body formed itself together in the white room again, it was like being drawn into existence by a pencil.
'This process isn't exactly painful, but it is not that pleasant either...' those were the first thoughts that came into his mind.
The silence inside the white room was weird in every sense possible.
Caelum didn't waste time and headed straight for the long bronze in the center of the white space, he pulled the chair and took his seat. His hand reached for a plain black notebook sitting on the smooth surface of the bronze table.
A soft click followed as he tapped a pen open, leaning forward slightly.
flipping open the book, a thoughtful hum escaped him as he stared at the page, "Mmm." After sharpening his thoughts he began writing.
One by one, the names of the animals he had decided on filled the page—wolves, hawks, lions, gorillas and a few reptiles, even a couple of insects.
Who knew how they'd interact with the ecosystem, and that was part of the plan, to Observe and decide on what creatures he wanted the world to house.
"I'll just toss the normal ones in first," he said to himself, still writing. " Observe how these natural creatures behave in a blank ecosystem, then… once the balance settles, I'll begin work on the unnatural ones."
After filling half a page, he leaned back and stretched, making his arms crack.
He closed the notebook and stood up, tossing the pen back into the table. Reaching for the quill, he held it loosely between his fingers, ready to dive back into the world below.
But just as he was about to will himself into the world below, he stopped mid-step.
"Ah. Almost forgot."
Sighing, Caelum facepalmed lightly and turned toward the world stabilizer. It was a strange and abstract structure, a oval shaped creation floating in the far end of the white room. It pulsed faintly with a quiet rhythm, almost like a sleeping heart.
'If i jumped into that world without redefining the laws to exclude myself again… it'll be no different than living in the real world.'
Caelum knew without redefining the laws to act otherwise, he would be just as vulnerable down there as anyone else.
He wasn't eager to be slowed down by gravity, biology, or time.
"Hell even starving would be possible if i stayed too long without food—nah, at least not here."
He didn't bother to walkover to the stabilizer, instead he pointed the quill at the stabilizer and made a simple gesture.
The floating core humming like it was alive, it was a imaginary concept given shape with the help of the quill. But it was no different from a old computer in the way it worked, function over everything else.
With one clean stroke through the air.
A wave of translucent energy rippled outward, washing over the entire room. A new law embedded itself into the core of the world, one that exempted him from its natural limitations.
"Yeah," Caelum said, watching the stabilizer's glow return to its usual rhythm. "Good enough."
The stabilizer accepted the new directive without argument.
"Now, it should Exclude me from all system laws," he muttered, confirming it. "Im not about to get mauled by a squirrel."
In the next second, his figure dissolved into streaks of light as caelum willed himself into the ever expanding world below.
A world that was still growing and shaping itself, as the world stabilizer expanded its reach, the world also expanded across the painting space.
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"This is… kind of fun?"
Caelum hovered a few inches above the ground, with arms slightly spread out as the breeze teased his shirt. A bright grin tugged at his lips.
There were no weights on his body, no gravity or friction at all, it was just him floating through a world that no longer bound him with rules.
The stabilizer's laws were working exactly as he had hoped, everything applied to the world—except him.
TAP.
He willed himself down gently. His boots touched the soil with a light sound.
"I haven't checked in a while but, i wonder how much the world's expanded," he muttered, eyes scanning the horizon.
"The world expands naturally now, as long as i feed willpower into the stabilizer, which means..that i don't really have to micromanage it anymore." His feet started moving, slow and steady.
"But now im a bit curious." Caelum looked around as he walked, taking in all the scenery.
"Though, first things first… let's see how they're doing." he quickned his pace after deciding on his destination.
The land was quiet and peaceful, nothing like the chaos and noise of the real world wilderness. Trees whispered with a gentle breeze, and far in the distance, soft hills rose beneath a pale sky that never felt too far away.
Soon enough, he saw what he was looking for.
Dozens of Butterflies, flitting through the air with their paper-thin blue wings. They drifted from flower to flower like brushstrokes dancing in the wind.
Caelum's first priority was to check on the creatures he added to the world when he visited last time.
After enjoy the sight for a few seconds, he continued his walk. Eventually, he arrived at the pond where he had added ducks. A few swam lazily across the water, while others waddled along the grassy edge.
He crouched down watching them, with his elbows resting on the knees.
"Hmm… nothing really changed," caelum said, a little disappointed.
Everything looked almost the same as before. It were the same lazy ducks over the same clear water.
"But considering the flow of time is like Earth's… I shouldn't have expected much," he said, scratching the side of his head. "Still... Feels kinda boring."
PAH.
He snapped his fingers, standing up straight with a little thoughtful expression on his face.
"I'll speed up the time flow." Just like that, the thought planted itself in his head.
As he turned and walked away from the pond, his boots brushing softly against the grass, he kept mulling over the idea.
"Well, since the world stabilizer manages all the laws, tweaking the flow of time to be faster shouldn't be that hard," he reasoned aloud. "It's just… how fast do I want it to go?"
He soon stepped into an open stretch of field, the grass waist-high and rippling like waves in the wind. He stopped in the middle of it, letting the quiet soak in.
"How many years do I want to pass here… for every day up there?"
The possibilities for experiments were endless, if the flow time were to be different between both the outside and the painting world.
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"Isn't this even bigger than a damn football field? I can't even see the edges from here."
Caelum stood at the edge of a massive field, his eyes squinting into the far distance where the grass swayed gently, stretching so far across the horizon it practically vanished into the haze.
"Yeah… this'll do." With a slight flick of his wrist and a smooth stroke of the quill, a herd of cows shimmered into existence almost instantly. With a confused face they cows looked around, probably thinking who they were.
A second stroke quickly followed, and a flock of sheep filled in the spaces between, bleating quietly as they began to graze.
Afterall, no matter how confused the creatures were, since Caelum defined then to be a copy of the real animals, their instinct will make them act like they were.
"If I crank the time forward enough, they'll probably multiply on their own."
That was caelum's goal anyway. To let them be the first batch of creatures inside his world, and accelerate the time flow so they can develop on their own.
He turned, heading back toward the forest where the trees stood tall and thick.
Inside the moderately thick forest, there was a swift motion of the quill, and sharp-eyed and deadly hawks soared into the sky.
Caelum then drew a group of cubs into existence, 'they'd get more time to adapt if they start from their younger versions.' Caelum planned with a serious look, like a evil being plotting from behind the scenes.
The little cubs playfully stumbled around their territory, unaware of the future that was planned for them, or what they'd grow into.
Caelum didn't stop there and kept moving, Near a long river he made a few more strokes—and reptiles of various shaped slithered into the world.
some wide and some small—Lizards, turtles, and a few more aggressive species with sharp little eyes. He watched one of them crawl into the water with a predatory smile.
"With enough time, they'll figure out how to Populate, adapt… maybe even evolve!" He tilted his head back, gaze rising to the painted sky above.
"Now then."
The world flickered, and in the next moment, Caelum stood back in the white room.
His body reformed cleanly as the usual silence of the white room stood the same in every corner.
Caelum's eyes locked onto the world stabilizer, and he crossed the room in a few quick steps.
The rule for time already existed within the stabilizer. That meant he didn't need the quill again.
"This would probably drain more than usual but.." he muttered and pressed his hand to the stabilizer, closed his eyes, and began to pour willpower into it.
"Ugh!?" Immediately, caelum felt a unknown resistance, one that he had never felt before.
'This....altering the laws of time doesn't seem to be some minor tweak?'
'This feels like changing the tide of a river with my bare hands. And the deeper i pour willpower, the more it's resistance is pushing.' But despite all that, slowly.. the flow of time began to change.
Faster, faster, faster and faster.
"It's still not enough?" he gritted out through clenched teeth.
He kept going, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. The stabilizer hummed a bit louder, its abstract surface glowing with flickers of luminary light.
"Come on…bastard" And then—
SHOOS!
A translucent wave pulsed outward from the stabilizer, rippling through the white room and into the painted world below.
breathing hard, Caelum staggered back.
"Damn," he muttered, wiping his forehead. "Maybe because i didn't use the quill? this thing really eats at me when i try modifying an already existing the rule…."
Caelum wasn't exaggerating, It drained more than what the stabilizer usually did. Because he was stacking a change on top of an already stretched out system.
Without the quill, it was akin to pushing the law, that was already spread out through the world below with his pure willpower.
Nevertheless it still worked.
Caelum could already feel time down there had jumped. What would be a single day in earth's time, would now equal to years for the creatures below.
"Should be enough for now," he mumbled with a dry voice.
But his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"I didn't lock it in permanently anyway. Over time… it'll slowly ease back to Earth's flow of time."
That was intentional. He only wanted to observe, and could always adjust if needed.
"Flexibility over permanence is always the best." With a long sigh, Caelum turned away from the stabilizer and made his way toward the long bronze table across the room. His legs felt heavy, his head a little foggy.
"Ugh. I still have to decide on the humans as well." Grabbing the chair, he took his seat.
"Maybe, i should just skip the process of observing gorillas and move on to the human part?" Caelum was a bit hesitant but, he had to do it anyway.
As caelum was rethinking his plans, the time in the world below moved at a astronomical rate, days and months already passed by and the animals down there already formed their animalia.
A natural food chain was established.