The Academy's Time Looper

Although Athen should have been panicking as he had completely lost control over his body and become paralyzed, there was one good thing.

He wasn't falling.

His height wasn't increasing or decreasing.

He wasn't getting any closer to the horde of spiritual figures below, and his hands were staying near the diamond.

*CRACK*

Breaking the silence of this world once again, the sound of glass cracking echoed throughout the forest.

However...the sound was far too loud.

It had to be close by.

Confused, Athen attempted to swivel his head to find the nearby cause of the noise, but his head simply stayed still, disobeying his brain's commands.

Although he could move the pupils in his eyes to look from his right to center to the left, his head wouldn't move around.

Exasperated, Athen closed his eyes with a sigh, attempting to make sense of the whole situation.

Reopening his eyes, Athen slowly moved his pupils up, attempting to get a glance at the sky above.

What if he had already survived the punishment?

Was it already daytime!?

It was still dark outside...but maybe, just maybe, the clock had just ticked past 11:59 PM and began the new day at 12:00 AM!

However, when Athen's pupils reached the top of his eyes, and the sky came into view...an internal scream echoed throughout his body.

If he could move, his entire body would have been trembling with fear, his eyes wide open, and his mouth letting out an ear-curdling screech.

He had found the cause of the cracking noise...

The pitch-black sky, partially lit up by the countless stars and half-crescent moon, was... split in half.

There was a crack in the sky.

A huge zig-zag line ran through the sky, separating the right and left parts of the sky to cut it in half.

The line even ran through a star...and separated it.

Half of the star was on the left, with the other half on the left...however, they weren't aligned in the slightest.

The half of the star on the left portion of the sky was elevated and farther apart from the right part.

Peering into the sky further, Athen...looked past the crack.

And, behind the crack, lay what seemed to be... a void of pitch-darkness.

If it weren't for the stars that lit up the right and left portions of the sky, Athen wouldn't have even been able to discern the fact that there was a crack.

Devoid of any light or stars, the area in the middle of the sky and behind the crack was colored a much darker shade of black.

It was like a sandwich...if Athen could describe it.

A horrifying one.

The buns were the navy-blue top and right portions of the sky, and the area in the middle, behind the crack, was pitch-black.

Unable to comprehend how the sky could have been cracked, Athen's pupils began to tremble and desperately shake in his eyes.

Then, Athen noticed something as he continued staring at the crack in shock.

Was it just him...or was the crack getting closer and closer to him with every passing second...?

As if responding to his question, the crack suddenly widened and came closer, at least from Athen's point of view.

The previously small crack in the sky... was now massive.

It used to cover around 10% of his vision, while the right and left portions of the sky covered the other 90%.

But now...the crack was 40% of his vision and growing...

He couldn't even look away...everywhere he moved his pupils, the crack was still there.

At that moment, his body suddenly moved.

But Athen hadn't told his brain to move his body.

It began flying... upwards.

Ignoring the laws of gravity, Athen's body suddenly flew upwards and above the tree...and diamond.

His body...it was being sucked into the crack in the sky.

The pitch-black crack was now 90...no 92...no 99% of Athen's vision.

With his body still completely frozen, Athen flew upwards into the crack in the sky, like a basketball going into the net of a hoop.

However, unlike a basketball that could barely fit into a hoop, the crack was at least 1000 times bigger than Athen.

In other words, it was impossible to miss in this basketball game of Athen and the sky's crack.

Giving up, Athen simply gazed into the void of pitch-darkness as his body fully entered the crack.

And just as his body entered the crack, it closed behind him, like a door slamming shut behind you after you entered a store.

Of course, Athen did not see the crack close as he couldn't move his body...but he could tell.

Pitch-darkness.

Everywhere.

If the crack was still open, there would still be some light from the stars shining on the outside, but this void around Athen was pitch-black.

As he moved his pupils downwards, he couldn't even see his own hand.

His entire body was shrouded in pitch-darkness, completely invisible, with his ocean-blue pupils seeming to simply float in the air.

Athen couldn't even tell if he was closing his eyes or not.

Whether he had them open or closed, his vision remained pitch-black.

It was...unsettling if Athen could describe it.

As his thoughts began to slow and Athen slowly gave up, one question emerged from his mind.

Do I...even exist?

It felt as if...Athen was just a part of a whole.

Not an individual with their own thoughts or feelings.

Like a spec of sand on a beach.

He was one...with the pitch-black darkness.

He was nowhere...but everywhere at the same time.

Everywhere the pitch-darkness went, he was there.

He couldn't see anything to confirm it, but his body was telling him that it was true.

It was as if...he had merged with darkness itself.

He was no longer Athen...just a small particle of darkness in this void that seemed to stretch for infinity.