Whispers of Metal: The Forge of the One Mage

"Let me see if I've understood your plan correctly," I said, massaging my forehead. Adrian, now fully transformed into a humanoid silver flame, observed me. His silhouette barely retained any distinguishable features, except for his right arm, now a dark flame that resembled a fragment torn from empty space more than anything else.

"First, I must travel to the point where that Nora disappeared, bring her back with me, while you 'trick' reality to prevent both of us from being erased from existence or from the timeline," I repeated, summarizing the first step of the plan. As I spoke, I tapped the ground with the tip of my shoe, an involuntary reflex from the stress that was beginning to eat away at me. Meanwhile, Adrian, unperturbed in his new form of existence as he called it, took another sip of tea.

"Then, you will bring that Nora and me back here," I continued, extending my arms around the surroundings, indicating the place Adrian had simplistically described as a "Reality Marble" – a place capable of separating, combining, and overwriting reality. Its mere existence was as absurd as it was impossible, yet here we were, having this conversation.

That was the only thing I had managed to grasp from his explanation of this impossible place. Everything else had been lost amidst technical and obtuse phrases like "a place that is real and at the same time only the imagination of its creator," "metaphysical and imaginary simulation of the universe," or "cosmic dream." The last phrase set off many alarms in my mind without me really knowing why.

"After that, you will have a conversation with the Nora left alone while also having a conversation with the Nora we will rescue," I said, almost confusing myself with this part of the plan. It's confusing when they refer to you, but at the same time not to "you."

"While you calm both versions of myself, I will travel to the first point in time travel. Will you also go?" I wasn't really sure how he could be in three different places and different times, but I wasn't the magic expert here, so I went along with the plan.

"When I'm with the first Nora, we will also bring her with us, only to travel before the first time travel," I sighed, still confused about how all of this made sense in his head.

"Adrian, have you considered that traveling to a point where there's already a time traveler could break the timeline or prevent our future, correction, our current present?" I raised the doubt that arose when remembering how that other version of me had disappeared.

He, with the ease of a teacher, began to speak. "In most cases of time travel, you would be right, but in this case, it's not like that," he took a moment to choose his words and continued.

"Normally, traveling to the past would change things and immediately erase you from existence, since just existing in the past causes subtle changes in the environment; for example, atoms in the air move. However, here we are, talking, and you weren't erased the moment you traveled back in time," he said as two small illusory versions of us were erased in thick smoke.

"But I saw how I disappeared," I countered.

Adrian didn't respond with words as expected; he gave a sad look before simply snapping his fingers, the infinite field of flowers we were in changed, twisting upon itself until what surrounded us was now an ancient theater.

As if in a previously prepared show, the curtain slowly opened with the faint sound of creaking wood accompanied by the incessant ticking of the clock, revealing everything he had told me: how I started to travel, when that version of myself appeared, everything seemed to dance among shadows of possibilities and in the end, only one showed.

That Nora's hourglass turned into shards, slowly she realized and her desperate look was recorded as a painting.

I couldn't look away from what I saw until the curtain closed abruptly as if I no longer knew how to continue said work, the lights slowly went out until there was only darkness.

As if it were an illusion, the fields of flowers returned, the starry sky of this place illuminated everything and the flowers sang a melody to the wind.

A beautiful but sad song, I thought as I clenched my fists with determination. It was time to act.

I looked at Adrian, who for the first time in a long time offered me a sincere smile. Without saying words, I returned the smile.

"That's the attitude I like," he said as he raised his tea cup as if it were a glass of wine and the flowers changed their hypnotic melody to war drums reinforcing my determination.

"Thank you, now it's time to resolve all this."

I reached my hand towards the sky, and the hourglass gleamed with a supernatural glow, like the birth of a star destined to devour everything in its path. Light flooded my vision, and memories rose like shadows ready to consume my determination. But then I felt it: his hand holding mine. In that moment, fear faded, and all my doubts fell, grain by grain, like the sand in the hourglass.