Meridian

## **Basic Information**

**Full Name:** Meridian

**Nickname:** Tilvet

**Birthday:** June 21st 7000BDI

**Species:** Human

**Purity:** 92%

**Gender:** Male he/him

**Height:** 6’ 2”

**Sexuality:** Asexual

**Languages Spoken:** All

## **Personality**

**Likes:** Knowledge, books, writing, molasses, Sinvain

**Dislikes:** Being touched, ignorance, complacency

**Fears/Phobias:** Wraiths

An aloof, blank, and seemingly careless person. Meridian has lived hundreds of thousands of years. Mortal issues have become meaningless to him. Time is arbitrary. Death means nothing, as he just wakes back up at 7:00. He’s never in a rush for anything, unless it’s something of dire importance. Even then, though, Meridian lives every day in a loop. He knows that if he messes up or does something wrong he’ll be able to live the day over again with no consequence. There’s no need for him to stress over anything because there’s always second chances.

Meridian lives for knowledge. He’s dedicated his life to the pursuit of it. Every day is lived in a loop. He’ll live the same day over and over and over again until there’s quite literally nothing left to learn on that particular day. Then, and only then, will he allow himself to live the next one. He’s constantly taking notes on anything and everything. He makes mortals take notes on themselves; mainly as a means of helping them remember who he is when it’s finally their turn to do an interview. Meridian knows everything about everyone because they’ve all told him themselves. If there’s something he doesn’t know, he’ll dedicate years worth of loops just to figure it out and become an expert.

Despite his usually calm demeanor, Meridian has his quirks just like everyone else. He absolutely cannot stand anyone touching him for any reason. The only physical contact he has with anyone is either when he’s getting himself killed to reset the day, or when he’s patting someone on the head. Other than that he does everything within his power to prevent someone from touching him. He’s also fairly self conscious about his physical appearance. After thousands upon thousands of years of “Ahh! You look like a demon!” or other similar remarks it’s hard not to let that get to you.

## **Abilities**

**Strengths:** Magic

**Weaknesses:** Aloof

**Weapons/Tools:** Twin scythes

Meridian is the source of Purple Magic; the Magic that controls time and space. He can use these powers to bend reality to his will. That being said, with great power comes great responsibility. The timeline is a very fickle thing, and if his Magic is abused he could risk destroying reality itself permanently. Because of this, he largely limits his Magic to potions and relics. Magic tied to an object or something with a pre-set spell embedded into it is far safer than messing with the fabric of reality directly.

His favourite potion is the one that loops time. When he drinks it, time will reset to a specific point every 24 hours. This allows him to re-live every day as many times as he wants. Nothing can stop the effects of this potion other than its counterpart that restores time to normal. No amount of death or world ending events can prevent it from working. Meridian has essentially made himself immortal because of this. If he dies, he’ll simply wake up right at 7:00 as if nothing happened.

Another far more minor element of his power is the ability to grant wishes, so to speak. Because he can warp reality as he pleases, anyone who happens to get ahold of his Magic can do the same. This manifests itself as a wish. Unlike the other three gods Meridian has full control of his power, so no one else is able to use it unless he wants them to. If someone uses his Magic to make a wish, he’s the one to decide whether it works or not and the stipulations behind it. That being said, because he’s fully in control his Magic is far rarer than the other variants, It can only be found in three very isolated parts of [[ Mirror Domain]].

## **Health**

**Addictions:** None

**Mental Illnesses:** None

**Physical Illnesses:** None

**Disabilities:** None

**Allergies:** None

## **Backstory**

Meridian was born during the Dawn of Mortal civilization. Before the demon infestation, before the purity scale. Before Magic itself had become commonplace. People back then didn’t know about Magic or relics or Gods, mainly because nothing of the like existed in any meaningful way. Sure, there was trace amounts of Magic in everyday objects. Life itself wouldn’t have gotten started without it, but there wasn’t anywhere near enough for people to become wizards or cast spells. Back then, Magic was unknown to Mortals. An invisible part of life, doing things on it’s own terms.

Life back then was difficult. Mortal civilization only really existed around the Sea of Misa, and even then it was still in its infancy. Without the aid of Demon Summoning Mortals were confined to areas with drinkable water. Venturing away from these areas was uncommon, as many of the people who left never returned. That alone warded people away from the idea of exploration. Instead, they focused more on keeping the people in their small communities alive.

Because of all this Meridian’s early life wasn’t anything of much interest. The group he lived in was only about 50 or so people, many of whom weren’t around for much of the day. Most of the adults in the community would either be tending to farms or hunting for food. The rest stayed in the area to take care of the children. Schooling wasn’t the norm, and most people didn’t care about knowledge other than how to keep themselves alive. Knowing when to plant plants, what’s safe to eat, where dangerous animals lived. Things like that.

Meridian had always been the curious type. The world was a wondrous place, and no one seemed to know anything about it. Sure, people knew when you were supposed to plant certain plants, but nobody knew why planting them at those times made them grow. They also knew that some plants could heal small cuts or soothe bruises, but not why or how they were able to do this. He wanted to know more about them, but at the same time there was no time to. Time had to be spent surviving. It didn’t matter why these plants could heal people, all that mattered was making sure they were watered so the village didn’t run out.

One year, when Meridian was about 14, disaster struck the village. In the peak of the dry season something caught fire in the fields, causing them all to burn down. Not only that but the fires didn’t stop. No matter how many times they were put out, no matter how much water was poured on them, nothing could put a stop to these seemingly spontaneous fires. It was bizarre, and no one knew why this was happening. Immediately the village began to seek out answers, Meridian included. Although unlike the other’s in the community, Meridian took a bit of a different route.

Everyone else was too focused on why the fires were starting, but not on how they were started. Meridian decided to take a more observant route. Watching the fields closely, waiting for the next fire to start, and then after it did searching for what had changed in the area. While he couldn’t find the source of the fires, he did find a common theme with them all. Something that prompted him to investigate further.

At the epicenter of each of the fires was what appeared to be an animal nest of sorts. It was hard to tell for sure, as everything around it had been scorched beyond recognition, but the very center point of the fires always looked the same. No matter what field it was in or what time of day it began. There was something in common with all of these fires, and he was determined to figure it out. The first step, obviously, was to figure out what kind of animal was making these nests. Knowing what it was would help everyone figure out how to stop it from nesting there, and as a result put an end to the fires. After several weeks of watching and waiting he finally got his first glimpse at this elusive creature.

Whenever a fire started, a beam of fire would shoot up from the ground and into the sky. Everything in the surrounding area of this beam would ignite, and the fire would spread from there. But when he looked closer into this beam Meridian could see what appeared to be a bird at the front of it, with the fair trailing behind. At first he thought he was crazy, but these birds would show up every time without fail. He wanted to share this knowledge with the rest of the community, so after figuring this out he began walking back into town to let everyone know.

As he was walking, Meridian couldn’t help but shake the feeling that he was being watched. The smoke from the fire was blowing in his direction, and looking into it he could swear he saw what looked like a wispy humanoid silhouette. This silhouette followed him as he walked, always staying in his field of view but always keeping itself out of reach. The creature seemed to be aggressive, letting out horrid gasps and screeches as it got closer. Meridian began to walk faster, but the creature was easily able to keep up with him. Then, right before he was back in the safety of the village, the creature gave him a hard shove which knocked him to the ground. After this, Meridian scrambled to his feet and ran home as fast as he could.

Meridian ran back home and hid inside. Still, the creature managed to find him. It didn’t follow him inside, but it did linger outside of the building for about an hour. He wasn’t sure what to do or how to fend it off. He didn’t even know what it wanted. All he knew was that it was somehow tied to the smoke created by the fires. Was this thing the source of the fire, or was it the birds? Meridian had intended on telling everyone about what he’d seen, but now he was doubting himself. He didn’t want to tell anyone anything until he was absolutely sure he’d gotten his facts straight. No point in telling anyone about the bird if it wasn’t even tied to the fire.

The next day rolled around, and the fire from the day prior had since been put out. The village was becoming more and more diligent with these things. They didn’t have too much more to lose, and if the crops all burnt everyone would starve. Not only had the fire been put out, but the creature that’d followed Meridian home had seemingly disappeared. He wasn’t sure where it’d gone, but he was determined to find out. So, he grabbed a few simple weapons and headed back out into the fields to search for both it and the bird he’d seen. Either one of these creatures could have answers. It was just a matter of tracking them down.

Finding the bird proved to be much easier than finding the other creature, whatever it was. Once he knew what to look for Meridian could preemptively search the fields for nests. These nests weren’t hard to find at all. It only took a couple of days of looking around. Finding the nests pretty much answered the question as to where the fires were coming from. Many of them had singed plants around them. A few appeared to have caught fire, but were put out before any substantial damage happened. Not only that, but the nests themselves were warm or hot to the touch. He’d yet to see one of these birds up close, but it was only a matter of time.

Weeks went by, and the creature of smoke had long since disappeared. Meridian had stopped thinking about it by now, as his hunt for these elusive birds took up the majority of his free time. Eventually he spotted one up close. It was a magnificent bird, with bright orange feathers that faded into a deep purple near the tips. The bird was very large as well, roughly two feet tall standing up.

The bird had yet to notice Meridian. Now was his chance to strike. If he could kill the creature and bring it back to the village they’d know what to be on the lookout for. Then they’d be able to stop these fires once and for all. Slowly he began to inch closer to the bird, getting his knife ready as he drew near. Soon he was right behind it, ready to attack. He took his knife and drove it right into the birds back. Or at least, he tried to. At the last second, right before he was able to strike, the bird whipped around and erupted into a ball of flames.

Immediately the area around the two of them caught fire, and Meridian’s skin began to burn. It only lasted for a moment, though. Right as the bird reared its head back in preparation to shoot a ball of flames at him he found himself sitting somewhere else; skin only slightly singed by the fire. It was extremely disorientating, and it took Meridian a few moments to fully grasp where he was.

Moments before he was in the field, about to be torched to death by this massive bird, but now he was sitting on the floor of his room. Everything seemed to be in its proper place. Just how he’d left it. But now he was back, and he couldn’t figure out why. That’s when he heard a familiar screech. Looking behind him Meridian could see a familiar being. The creature of smoke was right there, floating idly behind him.

He just stared at it. No one had ever seen anything like it before. It looked like a human skeleton encased in a body of thick black fog. The creature’s middle mass glowed bright purple. It was almost hypnotic. The creature gave off a strange energy that Meridian couldn’t quite understand, and that energy seemed to originate from the glow. Or did the glow come from the energy? It was hard to say.

But now he was at an impasse. Before the skeletal creature had attacked him, but now it was simply floating in front of him. Nothing about it’s body language seemed aggressive, despite it’s unnatural and unnerving appearance. So, Meridian rose back to his feet and took a few steps closer, just trying to figure out what was going on. Right as he took his first step the creature vanished into thin air. One moment it was there in front of him, and the next it ceased to exist. It was all extremely confusing, and Meridian wasn’t sure what to make of it all.

This wasn’t the last strange thing to happen to Meridian either. As time went on and his hunt for the fire bird continued more and more seemingly impossible things began to happen to him; all of which originated from the skeletal creature that continued to follow him around. Whenever he got too close to the bird or it tried to attack him, the skeleton would grab him and teleport the both of them somewhere else.

That being said, this creature was far from a guardian angel. When Meridian attempted to tell the village about the bird the creature would attack. Always in a subtle way, as to not make its presence known to anyone else. This wasn’t the only time it attacked him either. Sometimes, if Meridian got too close to the bird or too close to a select few plants it’d attack too. He wanted to know what was setting it off and why, so Meridian began to investigate further.

In addition to the fire bird, the creature would attack him whenever he got close to snakes, jewelry, turtles, the water’s edge, certain nearby caves and caverns, and even other birds. Knowing what made it attack was one thing, but knowing why was a whole other ballpark. There had to be something in common with all of these items, but what it was eluded Meridian for the longest time. It couldn’t be the fact that they were all animals, because water wasn’t an animal at all. Neither were caves.

The creature’s attacks were relentless, but eventually Meridian noticed something. No matter how hard it fought there was always a common theme. It never actively tried to kill him. Sure, it’d rough him up quite a bit, but it’s attacks never disabled him for long. If anything, it was just a fight to grab him so it could teleport him away from these objects. But he wasn’t 100% sure about this. He had to test the limits of this creature's “morals”, if you could even call them that. So, his quest for knowledge continued on, this time taking great care to pay attention to the creature’s behaviour and making sure he didn’t get himself killed over this. If it did kill him, this would all be for naught.

Things continued on as normal for several months, and during this time Meridian hadn’t made much progress in his hunt for knowledge. That being said, the village had made considerable progress. Someone else had learned about the fire birds, and since then the village had figured out ways to keep them at bay. Series of ditches were dug around the crops in a grid-like fashion, separating each section of them by a small stream of water. The birds didn’t like the water, and the few that were still determined to stick around weren’t able to set the place ablaze because the streams would stop the fire in its tracks. Instead of the entire field burning to the ground, only a small square of land would. The burnt plots were then hunted on until all of the birds on them were exterminated.

Of course, the dead birds weren’t the end of it. Upon death, the birds would erupt into a ball of flames until their body was nothing but ash. If the ash was left untouched, a new bird would spawn from within it. Once people learned that the ashes would spawn a new bird they began to dump them into the streams.  The skeleton wouldn’t let Meridian near this ashes, but he was allowed near the streams. That gave Meridian an idea; an idea that’d kickstart his ascension into Godhood.

Knowing he could get as close to the streams as he wanted, Meridian grabbed a few jars and made his way over to the fields shortly after another one of these birds was killed. The water was still murky with the ash, so Meridian quickly scooped as much of it up as he could before returning home and setting the jars out to dry. There was no sign of his stalker anywhere, so Meridian was confident that he’d gotten away with it. After pouring the water out onto a few shallow dishes it only took a couple of days for it to dry out. Then he was left with the little remaining ash inside of the water.

Surprisingly, this ash seemed to radiate the same kind of energy the creature had been, albeit to a much lesser extent. It glowed ever so slightly purple when he rubbed it between his fingers, which only raised more questions. If this ash had the same energy as the creature, did the other things it was keeping him away from as well? It also raised the question of what this energy actually did. The skeleton was seemingly able to fly through the air, teleport, and move objects without even touching them. Whenever it did so, more of this strange energy was released. There had to be a connection somewhere, it was just a matter of finding it.

Meridian continued these studies for years, well into his late twenties. Over the course of this time he managed to figure out exactly what the items the skeleton was trying to keep him away from were, and ways to get his hands on them. As it turned out, it wasn’t the water or the cave the Skeleton was protecting. It was the creatures inside of them. All of this culminated into an odd mix of various objects and animal parts; all of which had trace amounts of strange energy inside of them. Some of them felt a bit different than others, but they all had it regardless.

But what to do with all of this? He’d found the common theme with all of these items, that being their strange energies, but what now? There wasn’t any real practical use for any of these. Sure, the ash would glow a bit when rubbed, but that was hardly useful. It wasn’t strong enough to produce a meaningful amount of light. If anything, it was mildly entertaining. There had to be some way to amplify this energy. It was just a matter of figuring out how to do it.

That’s when the thought of mixing them occurred to him. The idea came to him as he was preparing dinner one night. You can always eat a single ingredient on its own, but when mixed with others it became so much more. If he mixed all of these items together their energies might combine with one another and become stronger. It’d mean risking losing everything he’d collected, but now that he knew what to look for he could always just find more of it. So, Meridian collected the array of items he had and began looking for some way to mix them all together.

That’s when the skeleton came back. It’d come and gone over the years, only showing up when Meridian got too open about his fetch quest, but it hadn’t pestered him like this since it’d first appeared back when he was fourteen. But now it was back on his tail, trying to steal ingredients or dissuade Meridian from continuing with this concoction. But, just like before, the fact this creature was so desperately trying to prevent him from doing this meant it at least worked. What it did he didn’t know, but the skeleton wouldn’t be after him like this if the effects were mundane.

By this time Meridian had gotten a pretty good idea as to how this creature worked. It’d attack if it could, but if it couldn’t it’d teleport. So, the first step was to make sure these components were on his person at all times. That led into its other quirk, and that was the fact it seemed extremely vulnerable to attacks. The creature would do everything within its power to avoid getting hit, and wherever it did it’d immediately teleport away. It’d only disappear for a couple of seconds, but that was all Meridian needed. Stab the skeleton with a dagger, mix a couple ingredients together. Stab again. Mix again. Rinse and repeat.

Eventually he’d gotten everything mixed. The concoxion bubbled wildly, and for a brief moment it got extremely hot. There was a brief flash of purple light, and soon all that was left was a thick, black, viscous liquid. It didn’t have the same kind of energy as everything else. It was bizarre. After all of this, was this mundane black sludge really the only result? It had to be, given the fact the skeleton was still trying to take it away. A piece of the puzzle was still missing. He just needed to figure out what it was. Of course, now was not the time. The skeleton once again shoved him to the ground, causing the concoction to spill everywhere. He’d lost this time, but now that he knew he was on the right track he was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of all this.

Attempt after attempt all ended in failure. He rubbed the skudge on his skin. Nothing happened. Drinking it didn’t do anything either. This led him to the conclusion that either he hadn’t mixed it properly, or that there were still a few ingredients missing. The latter seemed to be true, as he’d soon find out. Before he was only using the turtle’s shell, but during one attempt he wasn’t able to kill the turtle before adding it to the mix. If he took the time to do so, the skeleton would have once again poured the mixture out. Adding the living turtle gave the mixture a different effect. It no longer bubbled when mixed, but it still got hot. It also seemed to give off a faint amount of energy, just like all the individual ingredients had. He was getting close.

Then, it happened. June 20th, 7000BDI. In the midst of another scrape with the skeleton he managed to slash it right across the chest with his knife. This attack cut deeper than the ones before, and the skeleton disappeared for far longer than it normally did. Not only that, but there was a small dribble of purple goo coating the blade of his knife. It had massive amounts of energy coming off of it, and on a whim he decided to add this to his mixture. Something with this much power couldn’t hurt, right?

Underwhelmingly, the mixture didn’t have any sort of violent or noticable reaction. But it was the lack of violent reaction that caught Meridian’s attention. It didn’t get hot, it didn’t bubble, it didn’t burn or explode or fizzle. The mixture just combined into a smooth black sludge that exuded massive amounts of energy. He was sure he’d done something right, but now what?

The skeleton had stopped pestering him. It’d seemingly vanished permanently. Perhaps he’d killed it? Even if he did, he had no idea how this mixture was supposed to work. If the skeleton was dead, he wouldn’t be able to collect any more of its “blood” so he had to tread lightly. There was only a finite amount of this stuff left. Meridian decided to head back home and brainstorm. If his adversary was no longer bothering him there was no hurry. He could sit down and spend some time working things out.

The next day eventually rolled around. June 21st, 7000BDI. Meridian had attempted several different things, but nothing he did had any real effect. Again he tried rubbing it on his skin. He also tried sniffing it and rubbing it into a small cut, neither of which worked. The only thing he could think to try was drinking it, but that seemed pretty final. If it didn’t work, all of the years of torment and hard work would be for nothing. Still, there was nothing left to try that wasn’t drastic, so Meridian reluctantly drank the remainder of the mixture.

It tasted horrible, although that was to be expected. Half of the things in this mix weren’t supposed to be eaten in the first place, like the amber gemstones and the bird’s ashes. Meridian gagged at the taste, but he managed to keep it all down. But then, nothing. Nothing happened after drinking this stuff. He waited a couple of hours, thinking that maybe it’d take time for the effects to kick in, but nothing happened. It was disheartening to say the least. After all of this, he was left with nothing at all. The rest of the day came and went. Meridian had spent the majority of it wallowing in his own self defeat. There was no point in going outside. It’s not like he had anything left to do anyway. Of course, things didn’t end here. No, this was just the beginning.

Meridian was woken up the next day by something shoving him out of bed and onto the ground. When he opened his eyes to see what it was, he saw an all too familiar skull face staring back at him. The second they made eye contact it grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and gave him a violent shake, all the while screeching unintelligibly. It was obviously angry, and Meridian had a feeling he knew why.

Again it shoved him to the ground, but this time it just stared at Meridian. It didn’t seem like it knew what to do next. He could see the wheels turning in it’s brain as it desperately tried to figure out… Something. After several moments of thinking, the creature gave a defeated sigh before disappearing yet again. Meridian was left sitting on the floor, left to ponder what had just happened.

Of course, the creature being angered like this made him believe that his concoction had worked, he just didn’t know what it’d done yet. So, now that he was free from the creature’s temper tantrum, Meridian rose to his feet and began exploring the town, trying to figure out what exactly this mixture had done to him. His first stops were the places he’d gathered these ingredients from, just to see if anything had changed or if perhaps the energied from these items would have any sort of effect when back in their original spot. This didn’t seem to do anything, though. Still, he was sure something had happened. He just needed to figure out what.

A few days went by, and nothing of any interest seemed to come to light. Meridian was beginning to lose hope. Maybe nothing had happened. It didn’t seem likely, given the skeleton’s reaction, but it was always a possibility. He didn’t want to, but the thought of giving up kept coming to mind. For all he knew all the mixture did was ward off that creature. It hadn’t shown up since the first morning, so it wasn’t that far fetched of an idea.

That’s when something odd happened. Up until now Meridian had always returned home to go back to bed. But this day, about 5 days after all of this started, he ventured a bit too far away from the village in search of answers. He decided to explore the cave that the young dragon-like creature inhabited; the same one the skeleton had tried to keep him away from. It was a lot deeper and more expensive than Meridian had expected, and eventually he got lost inside of it. Eventually it started getting late, and Meridian began to get tired. He figured that he’d just find his way out tomorrow.

When he woke up, though, Meridian found himself back at home, right where he’d woken up the days prior. It was alarming to say the least, but at least now he knew for sure that this potion did something. There was no one with him on his journey, and he knew for a fact he hadn’t told anyone where he was going. Why would he? Meridian became a recluse the day he saw he fire bird for the first time. Social interaction had never been his thing. It was bizarre.

It didn’t end there, either. As time went on Meridian began to notice strange patterns with how the days played out. No matter where he went to bed he’d wake up back in his house. Any cut or scrape or change to his body would disappear upon sunrise. People stuck to the same unchanging routines and, when questioned about it, had no idea what Meridian was talking about. At a certain point Meridian realised that he was living the same day over and over again.

It was the only explanation he could come up with. The only explanation as to why the people of the village would repeat the same course of action over and over and over again. Of course, this had to be tested, so for the next few days Meridian did nothing but watch the community from his window. This removed all doubts as to what was going on. Some things just couldn’t be repeated intentionally. No one tripped on the same rock at the same time every single day without fail.

So, he knew that the day was repeating. Now what? He always came to this same road block. Getting information and then not knowing what to do next. Could he just sit and wait this out? Would this repeating day eventually end? Or was he stuck this way forever?

Figuring out how to end things could wait, though. Because the day kept resetting, nothing he did mattered in the end. He could get away with anything. No matter what horrible thing he did one day, the next it’d be erased from history as if it never happened. Of course, his mind didn’t immediately turn to this. It would eventually, but right now he wanted to test the waters. See what the day had to offer. There was a lot of things he’d never tried before, and now seemed like the perfect time to do so.

A few weeks went by, all of which were spent doing pretty much whatever Meridian could think to do to keep himself entertained. Still, it got old after awhile. None of his achievements really meant anything. Any friends he’d make one day would forget about him by the next. Anything he made would cease to exist when he woke up. It was briefly entertaining, trying new things like this, but in the end none of it really mattered. What was the point in learning all of this stuff if it was just going to be forgotten the next morning.

Weeks continued on. Around month three of living the same day over and over and over again Meridian wanted a way out. Any way out. He’d tried making the potion again, but on the few days he managed to get everything he needed he was left without that skeleton’s blood to activate it, causing the mixture to fail. It seemed as if there was no way out of this. Well, no way out of it alive.

91 days into this seemingly endless loop and Meridian had given up. If it was just him that was affected by this he may have stuck with it longer, but he was hindering the entire world. Time had stopped moving forwards because of him, and that was too much of a burden to bear. Meridian didn’t want to be responsible for the paradoxical “end of the world”, so he decided to put an end to it once and for all.

So, Meridian took his knife and drove it right into his chest. He couldn’t see any other way out. If he died, this curse would be broken. Right? He could feel his life draining away as blood began to pour out of the wound. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt like he thought it would. At first it didn’t feel like anything other than pressure. Then an excruciating and indescribable pain once his brain registered what was happening. Then, it all faded. His vision blurred, and he eventually lost consciousness.

Meridian woke up abruptly the next morning, heart pounding and adrenaline rushing. He was still alive. A wound like that would have killed anyone, yet he was right back in his bed. He’d become trapped in this inescapable hell. Not even death could free him from this now. He couldn’t believe this. He wouldn’t believe this. There had to be a way out, he just had to find it.

Time continued to move forwards. Well, in a sense. As these time loops continued on, Meridian slowly began to learn more and more. More about the loops, more about himself, and most importantly, more about what would later be known as Magic.

The longer Meridian was trapped in this loop, the more Magic built up in his system. Purple Magic isn’t bound by the same laws as Mortals are. Instead of resetting each morning like everything else, the Magic lingered inside of Meridian. At a certain point it’d built itself up enough to where he was able to use it. Of course, being able to use it doesn’t help if you don’t know how, but Meridian quite literally had all the time in the world to learn how.

There was one glaring issue with all of this. Meridian could spend all the time in the world talking to people, getting ideas, learning new information. But he was just one person. A person’s memory is often faulty, and Meridian was no exception. He needed some way to document his endeavours, but everything reset with the day. Writing something down would only help if it’d stay written down, which it didn’t.

So, Meridian turned to the community for help. He only had a day to catch them up on things and give them context behind his newfound powers, but two heads were better than one. His field of vision had narrowed over the years. Getting a new perspective on all of this would be refreshing. Who knows, maybe some of these ideas would actually lead to something. Years went by. Years of study. Years of anger. Depression. At a certain point he’d slipped back into madness; a madness that’d continue to come and go for years to come. But, after an indeterminable amount of time, Meridian had made his first breakthrough.

He knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be able to free himself unless he found some way to take things through these loops with him. Specifically some sort of journal to document everything with. As time went on Meridian had picked up on some of the Magical properties of the things around him, and with the help of the people around him he’d found a way to use these to his advantage. He ended up creating a pouch of sorts. One lined with his Magic, making the bag’s contents immune to the resetting of the day. Well, immune as long as they stayed inside of the bag when the day ticked over to 7:00.

Now he could document things, but first he had to go back and note down everything he’d learned prior. Everything. Over an unknown span of years that all seemed to blur together into what could only be described as an eternity. That being said, how long it would take didn’t matter. By this point Meridian was certain he wasn’t aging anymore. If anything, taking the time to write down everything he’d learned would just give his Magic more time to build itself up.

More years ticked by, and over these years Meridian made a number of things. For one thing, he needed a better notebook. The one he had quickly ran out of space, and carrying around hundreds of thousands of them would get tiring. So he created a notebook that’d infinitely create new pages. An endless notebook, perfect for an eternity of note taking.

After years of honing his skills, documenting his findings, and getting to know the people around him Meridian got an idea. The skeleton he’d met all those years ago. The one made of smoke. It’s blood was a brilliant purple. The same purple as his Magic. Perhaps it wasn’t the blood of this creature that was the ingredient for making that potion, maybe it was this strange Magic. So, once again he set off to make the potion. The same potion that’d kickstarted this time loop.

With everything gathered in one place, Meridian channeled a small amount of his Magic into the mixture, and just as before it all blended together in a smooth black liquid. At least, it did at first, but soon after it turned crystal clear, just like water. It was odd, but it had been over a hundred years by this point. It’d basically been an entire lifetime since this loop had started, his memory could very well be at fault here. Without a second thought Meridian drank the potion.

The taste was just as he’d remembered it. Horrible. But the after effects of all this were new. Meridian immediately felt sick. More sick than he’d ever felt in his entire life. But it didn’t end there. He doubled over in pain as a wave of nausea hit him. The world seemed to be spinning. His vision began to blur as purple flashes of light began to overtake it. Soon all he could see was an endless abyss of purple light. That is, until something slapped him on the back as hard as it possibly could, causing him to throw up the potion’s contents.

Of course, this didn’t prevent him from dying once again. Meridian woke up back in bed, just as he did every morning, although this time the skeleton was there to greet him. It looked extremely annoyed, but not angry as it did before. Before Meridian could ask it anything, though, it grabbed him by the face and gave a disappointed look. Another sign, and the creature vanished from view once more.

Right off the bat Meridian noticed something weird. The vision in his right eye was still blurry from yesterday,  but usually when he got hurt like that all of the injuries he'd sustained would be gone by the next day. Not this, though. It was difficult to adjust to, especially given the fact his vision had been perfectly fine all this time.

For the first time in a long time something was different about the day. He wasn't sure if it was due to the potion or some other factor, but whenever he talked to someone in town they'd mention something about his face. What happened to your face? Did you get into a fight? Are you ok? It was alarming to say the least. For all these years the day had remained the exact same, but suddenly there was a shift in the balance of things. He didn't know what to do. It was obviously still the same day, other than the comments about his face. What had happened to his face?

Meridian made his way to the nearby ocean and took a look at his reflection. There definitely was something different about him. Covering the right side of his face, right over his eye, was a black bubbly rough patch of skin. His eyes had both turned from brown to purple, and the white part of his right eye had turned a jaundicey yellow. It looked horrible, especially considering he'd become quite accustomed to his looks over the years.

This spot would not go away. In fact, the spot, also known as Blight, would only get bigger as time went on. Abusing Purple Magic like this can have dire consequences. If it weren't for that slap on the back after drinking that potion Meridian would have died permanently: turning into one of those skeleton creatures which he later named Wraiths. The wraith that'd been stalking him for all this time was looking out for him, in a way. Just not the way Meridian would have liked. It undoubtedly knew things, but it was unwilling to share any of this information with him.

There were only two times in Meridian’s life where his Blight grew substantially. The first time, after drinking the potion to start the time loop while already in a loop. The second time, however, was much more detrimental. It had to do with one of his later attempts to leave this inescapable day.

Several hundred years had gone by, and by this time Meridian had made leaps and bounds when it came to Magic. He found a way to teleport a short distance, giving himself access to far more of the world. Now instead of being confined to the village he could get pretty much anywhere on his side of the Sea of Misa. He'd also upgraded his bag, made a few more infinite notebooks to help organize his thoughts, and even finding a way to make his bag have an infinite amount of storage.

It was the teleportation that led to him worsening his Blight. Meridian figured that if he were able to teleport anywhere in space, the places he could see, who's to say he couldn't teleport anywhere in time either? This day looped infinitely, but time had to still be flowing. Maybe if he could just get past the threshold he'd be able to free himself once and for all.

So, Meridian began testing the limits of his Magic. Seeing how it affected the flow of time and how to manipulate it. He knew it could manipulate time, as it was this Magic that trapped him in this loop, but he just didn't know how. Still, just like before, he had all of eternity to figure this out. All the time in the world to learn and grow and figure all of this out. Why not test his limits? Push them further than anyone ever thought possible? This Magic was his own, after all. His to do as he pleased.

Trial after trial, test after test. All of which brought extremely interesting information to light. Sure, every now and then the black Blight on his face would get marginally bigger, but it was hardly noticeable. Nothing to be concerned about. Whenever he did something to aggravate this Blight he'd take a note of it and stop doing it. Speeding up time makes it worse? OK. Stop speeding up time. It seemed simple enough. Eventually, taking everything he'd learned about speeding up, slowing down, and even stopping time all together, Meridian began pairing these spells with his teleportation as a means of traveling through time.

But where to go to? It was kind of a daunting thought. So long as he was in the loop he was sure nothing could kill him, not permanently,  but outside of it he didn't know. There was no reason to put himself at risk needlessly, so Meridian decided to start small. Start with an hour. Then a few hours. He was still in the confines of the same day, but it seemed to work. After making absolutely sure this spell worked and that there were no side effects he decided to finally free himself from the 21st once and for all. Using his Magic, Meridian shot himself forwards in time about a day and a half, a good ways into the 22nd.

As he traveled through to the 22nd Meridian could feel his skin starting to burn. Starting at his face, but quickly it spread down his neck, onto his chest, and down his right arm and leg. By the time the spell had completed itself the pain was so overwhelming he collapsed on the ground. He could see the Blight beginning to overtake his arm as it spread across his body, but there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t know why this was happening. His Blight was a vague guide to what he could and couldn’t do. Had he done the spell wrong? Or was there something else at play here?

Again his vision began to blur as he laid on the ground, paralyzed by pain. All he could do was watch as the Blight continued to envelop him. Right before he blacked out he saw a flash of purple light. Something grabbed him by the arm, and suddenly the entire world began to shift. It looked like a tunnel of events all happening at once. When they got to the end he was thrown to the ground. He could feel the pain beginning to subside, but the damage had already been done.

Meridian woke up the next morning, right back in bed like he had every other day. Floating above him was the Wraith. In the past it had looked annoyed or angry at him for breaking whatever “rules” it had, but this time it didn’t. This time it just looked defeated. It stared at Meridian for a few moments, looking him over sadly. Meridian took a look at himself as well, and what he saw wasn’t pretty. His entire right side had been overtaken by Blight. His skin was black and warped. It looked monstrous.

He knew he’d done something wrong. Not only that, but this was probably one of the worst things he’d done thus far. While he wouldn’t learn this until much later, messing with the set timeline has dire consequences. Going into the past causes reality to ripple and break trying to catch up with whatever changes you make. Going forward has a similar effect. It tries to warp reality, picking up any missing pieces caused by someone abruptly ceasing to exist for whatever timespan they traveled to. It tries to shift events in the timeline to make up for their absence, and reality is shattered as a result. The Wraith had brought him back to the 21st in an attempt to mitigate the damage.

Time travel was out of the question, but it had taught Meridian something. This curse of his wasn’t preventing time from flowing. The 22nd did exist. Theoretically he could get there, he just hadn’t figured it out yet. The only issue with this was, Meridian didn’t know how much he didn’t know. Even after all these years. Thousands of them. He still had more to learn, and now he was determined to close that gap as much as possible.

So, Meridian began yet another quest for knowledge. The only problem was traveling. Teleportation was great, but it took a considerable amount of Magic; Magic that could be better used for other things. Over the years Meridian had learned to be efficient. 24 hours really isn’t that much time, and in his situation every second counted.

Meridian tried several different methods of traveling fast, but all of them were largely unsuccessful. The ones that didn’t straight up kill him were either far too difficult to set up or took too much time to use. It was also difficult to get these items to persist through the loops with him, although this was eventually figured out. Not only that, but none of these methods were mobile. Once one of these points were set, they were stuck where they were. Meridian didn’t want them to be permanent like that. There was always room for optimization.

That’s when Meridian learned how to make Magic circles. Magic had to move in order to be active, and a circle gave it an infinite loop to run around and power itself. These Magic circles could be used as a means of teleporting from point A to point B easily, but unless he tied them to an object they’d be immobile. But what to bind them to? Different materials made Magic react differently. He didn’t want to use anything that’d change the effects of his Magic. If anything, the material used should further amplify its effects.

After much trial and error Meridian had finally found something that worked. A round glass surface, coated in a thin layer of silver and other similar metals. This Relic would later be known as a Mirror. The reflective qualities of this item were completely unintentional. Meridian had never intended on using these to look at his own reflection. If anything, he wanted to avoid looking at himself as much as possible. He looked like a monster. But that wasn’t what was important. What was important was the fact that these Mirrors worked. Not only that, but they were able to persist through the loops just like Meridian was able to.

But an odd effect happened after he made more than a single pair. With just a pair of Mirrors he was instantly taken from point A to point B. But when there were more than one, there was a bit of a “buffer zone”. A vast, open, empty plane that showed windows into the other Mirrors. It was small at first, only being as large as it needed to be for someone to stand inside of it and pick a path, but it soon grew larger. With every new Mirror he made this “ Mirror Plane ” grew larger. Expanding to fit the new portals and their ever shifting positions.

With this system setup Meridian eventually had a way to travel anywhere in the entire world in a matter of minutes. Sure, it was still time lost. There were some places that took more time to get to than others, but this system of travel was still in its infancy. There was still room for improvement. Meridian had Mirrors set up strategically around the world, allowing him easy access to anywhere he could possibly want. With new places came new information. New information that could eventually lead to his escape from this loop.

More time passed. Meridian’s focus had shifted from freeing himself from this loop to learning everything he could about the world he lived in. Sure, he still wanted to get out of this loop. He figured that at a certain point there’d be quite literally nothing else to learn, at least not on his own, so eventually time would have to move forwards. But what’s the rush? Why not learn everything possible about this day, the 21st, and then move on to the next? That brought on more ideas. He knew how to make this “time loop” potion. It was one of the first things he’d ever learned. Who’s to say that once this day was over he couldn’t just start it up again the next? A lot can happen in a day, Meridian was well aware of this fact.

Eventually a bit of knowledge sprung up that would snowball into Meridian’s escape from the 21st. He knew that certain material components had different effects on Magic, but he didn’t know just how precise some of these effects could be. Sometimes something as minute as using a flight feather instead of a tailfeather of a bird could have a massive effect on a spell. He had a list of ingredients that could cause time to loop. Who’s to say that different variations of these same ingredients couldn’t break the loop? It seemed so simple, but sometimes things just work out like that. Simple things are often overlooked. This could work.

Meridian was pretty confident he’d documented everything. He’d learned everything there was to know about everyone. He knew the ins and outs of all available technology and how to improve it. Thousands upon thousands of years of information which all came to a standstill because of time’s inability to tick forwards past the 21st. All that was really left to do now was perfect this potion and finally break this loop. With a bit more trial and error and a few more loops he’d finally done it. Meridian had found a blend of ingredients that would put an end to this journey.

Then, something unexpected happened. Upon drinking the potion, Meridian began to glow bright purple. There was a blinding flash of light that radiated out of him, causing the ground to shake briefly. Meridian could feel something sprouting out of his back. It didn’t hurt, but it was a bit alarming. When the light finally faded he was able to get a better look at himself. On his back was a set of large, black, feathery wings, and hanging above his head was a twin set of glowing purple rings of Magic. Halos of Magic.

The loop had been broken, but the 21st was not over yet. Meridian had waited until the start of his next loop to drink this potion. Because of this, the set timeline resumed at 7:00 on the 21st. This 21st would be the last, and whatever Meridian did on this day would become permanent.

This entire scenario was extremely overwhelming. Just the knowledge that things would happen tomorrow that he wouldn’t know about made him panic. There was comfort brought on by knowing everything about the day. Nothing could surprise him. Nothing could hurt him. He was invincible. But now he wasn’t. If he died now the day wouldn’t just reset. Time would continue on, and he would remain dead. The thought of that was paralyzing. Not only that, but he didn’t want to accidentally do anything with his newfound power that’d bring any harm to the world. He could easily end reality as people knew it with a snap of his fingers!

So, Meridian did nothing. He spent the entire day in his house, away from the outside world. While he was here he mixed another potion with the intention of starting another loop tomorrow. At this point he couldn’t exist outside of one. 24 hours was such a short amount of time. He couldn’t imagine going back to the way he used to live; letting the days slip by uninterrupted, one after another. This was his new way of life, whether he’d intended it or not. Time continued on for Meridian. He set up another loop the next day. And then the next. And then every other day for the rest of his existence. Every day brought on new knowledge, challenges, interests. Some days brought on less information than others, but every day had something new about it.

In the beginning Meridian used the single set day to help the world. He shared his knowledge with whoever’d benefit from it the most. People who would take this knowledge and build off of it; using it to improve the world as they knew it. People began using his Mirrors to travel from place to place, and this travel allowed people to learn and discover things they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Different races were able to interact and exchange knowledge. Technology began to improve at a rapid rate. People’s lives began to get more complex and soon society itself had begun to form into what we know it as today. It was great, but nothing came without its downsides.

When Magic is used, the remaining parts of it are expelled from the body as Remnant. Normally Remnant is complete waste, but Meridian’s was different. Because his Magic was so pure, the remnant he left behind could be considered a new Magic in and of itself. When he used his Magic to alter reality, anything related to time was expelled as a result. The opposite was also true. Doing anything related to time left the reality part behind. This waste allowed Mortals access to Magic they’d never had before, and this Magic was too powerful for them to handle.

Any problems brought on by this sudden spike of Magic was a direct result of Meridian’s escapades. People who didn’t know how to use Magic properly often wound up dead because of it. The abuse of Purple Magic began turning other people into Wraiths, and wherever this happened the Wraith that’d been tormenting him from the beginning would get upset with him. The other two variants, Red and Blue Magic, also caused their own fair share of deaths as well, on top of all the other damage they did to time and space.

Meridian knew all of this was his fault, so after a couple years in the set timeline he decided to find a way to fix it. He didn’t want to just take Magic away from mortals, though. Doing that would stop the flow of progress, and by this time the world had already adopted a lot of things that relied on Magic to work. Instead, Meridian began looking for a way to regulate the amounts of Magic in the world. Restricting access to it would prevent anyone from gaining enough of it to cause chaos like this, but it’d still allow them to use and study it. It was the perfect solution.

So, Meridian created a pair of Relics that would allow him to store all of this excess Magic. A pair of large gemstones, both of which were linked to him. Whenever he used a spell these gemstones would absorb the majority of the remnant created and store it within them. He then hid these Relics in a cave far out in the desert; off in a place that had yet to be colonized by mortals. With this new system in place a new balance was struck with the world.

Of course, this was only the first of many issues Meridian would encounter. At a certain point people began to understand just how far above them he was, and they wanted his power for themselves. Not only that, but a lot of the things he knew could be considered “forbidden knowledge”. Things that were interesting to learn about, but could cause catastrophe if they were ever to become real. The more involved he got with the lives of mortals, the more dangerous things got. He needed to seal all of this knowledge away. Somewhere where Mortals wouldn’t be able to get a hold of it.

On top of that, his meddling with the set timeline almost always came back to bite him in some way. The world was a wonderful place full of interesting things to learn, but Meridian was not someone who was meant to be a part of it. Staying in contact with mortals, at least in the set timeline, would eventually cause his downfall. So, after only a few years of Godhood, Meridian disappeared. From here on out, he’d only exist as a ghost. An observer. Someone who could sit back and watch the world progress, only stepping in to prevent it all from coming to an end.

Meridian flew off deep into the desert. Off into an uninhabitable part of Mirror Domain, at least to mortals. This is the place he’d begin constructing his new home. A massive building where he could store his knowledge. A place to remain hidden from the eyes of mortals, but still keep an eye on the world and continue his studies. This building was a massive temple, lined with Mirrors as a means of making travel simple. Plus, the reflective nature of Mirrors aided in hiding the temple. Out in the flat open desert, the Mirrors lining the outer walls of the temple made it almost invisible unless you got close.

Of course, because his temple was made of Mirrors, anyone with access to them was able to get there. He had to find some way to dissuade people from using them. He could easily take them away, but that would leave him without a means of travel. So, he started patrolling the Mirror Plane . Whenever anyone entered it, he’d boot them out of it. After a while, he took to exterminating anyone who entered as a way of scaring people out of using them. It seemed to work, as rumors quickly began to spread about people “disappearing” without warning while traveling. People began to use them less and less, and eventually the practice was banned all together for being too dangerous.

Years went by. Decades. Centuries, even. Every single day for Mortals was hundreds of thousands of years for Meridian. His library of knowledge was ever expanding. He’d built an entire section dedicated to documenting people’s lives. Everyone had their own book, and Meridian would spend loop upon loop bringing individuals into his home and having them document their day from their own perspective. Knowledge most people wouldn’t even deem important he had entire projects dedicated to. Things continued to move forward seemingly without end. At least, until around 4500BDI.

Mortal society had continued to grow and expand, and eventually people settled the area around his gems. The Relics that contained all of the excess Magic he’d produced over the years. These settlements resulted in these Relics being discovered. Of course, whenever they were found Meridian would know about it. He made a habit of checking on these gems regularly, and whenever someone stumbled across them he’d make sure to prevent it when the set timeline rolled around. But doing this started to become tedious. At a certain point Meridian would just exterminate anyone that stumbled across these stones. Wherever he left them alive it’d just attract more people to the area, and the problem would just get worse.

He’d learned throughout his loops that whenever a Mortal touched one of these stones they’d absorb all the Magic within them. As a result, their body would change and they’d more or less become a God just like him, just of a lesser type of Magic. He could have easily found another way to seal these rocks away permanently, but Meridian found himself unable to do so. The thought of having others like him around was alluring. Yes, he was well acquainted with everyone in Mirror Domain, but none of these relationships were permanent. People got old. People died. People forgot who he was the second the day ticked over to 7:00 and the loop reset. Having someone like himself could open up new avenues. Just think of what three Gods could accomplish with their powers combined? So, Meridian left the rocks where they were, waiting for the day the right people would come along and ascend.

Of course, there’s no single “right” person for this gift. In Meridian’s eyes, there wasn’t really a “wrong” person for it either. The concept of right and wrong or good and bad had long since been forgotten. Meridian’s morals could turn on a dime. One day he could be a saint, and the next he could exterminate life on Mirror Domain just to see what would happen. So, after a few years of protecting this rock and keeping people at bay, he decided to just let life take its course. Whatever happened happened, and he could pick up the pieces from there.

The people that found these rocks would eventually end up being DC and Oasis; a pair of Kodin that stumbled across these rocks largely on accident. Their ascension was definitely a turning point in the world, but it didn’t pan out the way Meridian had expected it to. He allowed them to ascend in hopes of having associates like him, but he was a couple million years ahead of these two. They had God-like power, yes, but they didn’t have the experience he had. Perhaps one day he’d make his existence known to them, but for now he decided it would be best to remain hidden.

Mortals were one thing, but the power of a God was a force to be reckoned with. DC made this very clear, as he almost immediately used his powers to conquer the people around him. Meridian may have a lot of Magic, but his body was just as frail as any mortal. If these other Gods knew of his existence, they may decide to turn on him. Kill him and take his power for themselves. He couldn’t allow this to happen.

As the years went on Meridian would subtly guide these lesser Gods in their efforts. Given their newfound powers had profound changes on the way of the world, he had to make sure neither of them did anything that’d cause the end of the world. He used his Magic to influence Oasis’ foresight, allowing her to put an end to the Abrupt Demise that followed her ascension. He also used his power to dissuade DC from getting overzealous with his reign.

Of course, DC posed a unique challenge. Unlike he and Oasis, DC made his presence known to mortals. He was hellbent on taking over the world, and he’d do whatever was necessary to accomplish this. That included, on more than one occasion, using Mirrors to travel to the Mirror Temple and compromise Meridian’s work. Keeping him away was much more difficult. DC’s power could easily kill him, but luckily whenever that happened it was during a loop. On the occasion DC did find the Mirror Temple, Meridian would simply kiss up to him and then wipe his memory the second he let his guard down.

But this took time away from his studies. He was only one person, God or not. He couldn’t be in two places at once, making it possible (yet unlikely) for things to slip under his radar. If there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that he didn’t know everything. One day someone would find the Mirror Temple, and word of its existence would get out. He needed some sort of insurance. Something or someone to watch the temple in his absence and alert him if anyone happened to slip under his radar. The chances of something like this happening were slim, but given enough time it was guaranteed to happen. Might as well prepare for something before it becomes an issue.

Meridian had several assistants over the years, all of whom he plucked from the timeline and saved from death. If they were just going to die anyway, no one would be suspicious of their sudden disappearance. His first assistant was a Feline Kodin named Barx, who he took in after an attack by Lykan on his town. Of course, seeing as Barx was the first, there were still a lot of unforeseen issues that would eventually spring up.

One of those issues was Barx’s eventual betrayal. The concept of right and wrong had largely been forgotten by Meridian over the years. Things Mortals view as “good” and “bad” have become white noise to him. People get killed every day, and he’s seen it billions of times, so he’s gotten to a point where things like that don’t phase him. Because of this, he never bothered to look for a “good” aligned assistant, just for someone who’d do the job to his standards; that job being to guard the Mirror Temple and alert him to any intruders.

Barx did his job just fine, but eventually he began to resent Meridian. While he was out exploring the world and accomplishing great feats with his Magic, Barx was stuck in the desert guarding the temple. Meridian did his best to keep him happy, mainly by using his Magic to allow Barx to do basically whatever he wanted so long as he could still do his job, but Barx wanted Meridian’s powers for himself. He never posed any real threat to Meridian’s safety, as any attempt against him was seen hundreds of times while he was in his loops, but it began to wear him down as time went on. At a certain point Barx stopped doing his job, at which point Meridian had lost all patience for him.

But someone like that couldn’t just be let go. He’d already used his Magic to extend Barx’s life span well past a standard mortal. He was too far removed from society to return without raising some suspicion. On top of that, if he ever were to die he’d retain all of these memories in the Afterlife, which would in turn alert Oasis to his existence. So, Meridian used his Magic to alter past events; making it so that Barx died all those years ago in the attack, when he was supposed to. Memories were altered to support this, and once all was said and done it was as if they’d never met. As much as Meridian didn’t like abusing his Magic this way, he was left with no other choice.

Of course, this was far from the last issue to arise from his assistants. The next one he hired on, another Feline Kodin named Dawn, worked for him for several years, until she eventually stole one of Meridian’s Relics and as a result went insane. She too had to be erased from the timeline. But Dawn and Barx were far from his biggest failures. What they did was nothing compared to his next assistant.

After Dawn, Meridian hired on a Satyr named Maywell. She was different from the Kodin he’d employed in the past. While Barx and Dawn had both taken a vague interest in his work, Maywell had a passion for it. The inner workings of Purple Magic were fascinating to her, and she wanted to aid Meridian in his studies. He wasn’t against this, but at the same time Maywell had a job she was hired to do. She had to guard the temple in his absence. As a bit of a compromise, Meridian allowed her free access to his library. There were still quite a few things she was forbidden from looking at, but for the most part she was allowed to study whatever she wanted so long as she didn’t shirk her work.

Maywell and Meridian were extremely similar, and while that seemed to be a good thing at first, it’d eventually come back to bite him in the end. As time went on, Maywell became increasingly interested in going through the time loops with him. She never showed any signs of malice, unlike Bark, and she seemed to have enough of an understanding of Magic to avoid meddling with his Relics, unlike Dawn. Maywell seemed to genuinely want to help, and going through the loops seemed like the best way to do this in her mind. So, Meridian allowed it. With the caveat that if anything were to go wrong she would be booted out early, having her memory wiped as a result.

Things went fine at first. Great, actually. This was the first time Meridian had brought anyone through his loops with him, and Maywell seemed to get a grasp of things fairly quickly. She understood that nothing either of them did during this time would matter in the set timeline. She was able to look past some of the more questionable things Meridian did during this loop, knowing that it was all for the sake of his research. Naturally, as this loop went on Maywell had more and more questions. She got to know Meridian better than anyone had in the past.

That’s what brought her to the subject of time travel. Meridian was convinced that it was outside the realm of possibility, seeing as it had almost killed him when he’d done it in the past. If it weren’t for the help of that Wraith he wouldn’t even be here. Maywell was not convinced, though. She was convinced that it could be done, Meridian just hadn’t done it right. Her studies began to shift into that territory, and given the fact she was in a loop with Meridian it was significantly easier to hide this fact from him. She wasn’t confined to a set schedule, unlike everyone outside of the loop, so he couldn’t map out what she was up to at any given time. She was a variable, and Meridian wasn’t used to variables.

Maywell decided she was going to go back in time to prevent Dawn from messing with that Relic. Meridian had gone forwards in time when he time traveled, which had in turn blighted him. But going back in time couldn’t be that bad, right? Bear minimum it was worth testing. If it ended up killing her, the loop would just bring her back, right?

Funny thing is, Purple Magic has a way to prevent reality from collapsing in on itself. Going back in time, Maywell was unsuccessful in her attempt to prevent Dawn from stealing the Relic. In fact, she seemed to be the cause of it all. Her plan was to sneak into the temple, hide the Relic somewhere else, and then leave, but she was caught. When Dawn caught her, she attempted to steal the Relic back, which ended up triggering it and causing it to become bound to her as a result. Dawn had never intended on stealing it. She was just trying to do her job. It was almost as if this was destined to happen from the beginning. The past couldn’t be changed.

Seeing as her attempt was a failure, she decided to return to the present day. But something strange began to happen on her way back. Meridian wasn’t sure where Maywell had gone, but when she returned covered head to toe in Blight he knew something was up. Eventually she explained everything she had done. Meridian didn’t like what he’d heard. Maywell should have known better. She was dedicated to the study of Purple Magic, yet she’d gone against one of the very few rules it had. She was too much of a liability. If Maywell had attempted this once, who’s to say she wouldn’t again? It was time to cut ties. But before he was able to erase her from existence permanently, the loop ticked over to the next “day”. When it did, Maywell’s Blight began to overtake her body, and in no time at all she’d succumbed to it and turned into a Wraith.

The wraith Maywell would continue to pester him for years to come, becoming more and more violent towards him as time went on. She still did her job, much to Meridian’s dismay, but she also prevented him from taking on a replacement. She, along with many of the other Wraiths (including the original) would only become more of a hindrance from here on out. It was almost as if they were conspiring against him. Like the original, they’d band together to prevent him from doing certain things that could cause the end of the world. Just how the first had prevented him from pursuing time travel.

Eventually the wraith problem became too much. The Mirror Temple was a relatively small place. It only had two floors and a select few rooms. It had to be kept small in order to keep it hidden, but it’s size was quickly becoming an issue. When it was just Meridian and the single wraith that’d only occasionally make its presence known it was fine, but now there was almost an army of them. The temple was infested with them, and no matter what Meridian did he just wasn’t able to get rid of them. Kill one once and it’d be back the next day. Attacking them did nothing.

This many Wraiths in such a small place made it hard to get any work done. They’d become too much of a hindrance, and Meridian was sick of it. So, he decided to move his base of operations somewhere else. Somewhere with more space. Enough space to make the wraith problem more manageable. He knew for a fact they’d continue to pester him. They were more or less guides to the inner workings of Purple Magic, so managing them was the best he could do.

After devoting a loop to exploring every nook and cranny of Mirror Domain, Meridian eventually found a suitable place to set up shop. A small, largely uninhabited island off the coast of Bane which would eventually be known as Eon Isle. It was closer to civilization, yes, but that would prove to be more of a benefit of anything. Meridian wouldn’t have to rely on Mirrors as heavily as before. If anything, he’d keep Mirrors on the island to a minimum to prevent anyone from traveling there using them. Meridian constructed a large cavern in the island, filled to the brim with buildings to store his ever expanding library of research, as well as all of the belongings he’d collected over the years. This place slowly but surely turned into a massive citadel.

Of course, because this island was in close proximity to Mortal society, Meridian needed yet another assistant to help protect the place. Learning from his past mistakes, his vetting process was a lot more strict. The Wraiths also aided this endeavour, warding him away from unfit individuals. Eventually he ended up taking on another Feline Kodin named Haco. Surprisingly, this new vetting process seemed to work beautifully. Meridian never had any issues with Haco, and when he eventually got sick of his immortality they were able to end their agreement admirably. Of course, this didn’t happen right away. Haco stuck around for several hundred years, well into ADI years.

Time continued on and, now with the added annoyance of the ever present Wraiths, Meridian continued with his research as usual. Things were going as expected. The days would loop without issue and, other than a few minor changes to the set timeline, Meridian was able to keep himself largely invisible to the outside world. That is, until what would eventually be known as the Great Infestation.

At the start of the present day, in what’s considered to be year 0, Demons began catching wind on how Mortals were summoning them. As a result of this, they began summoning others of their kind at an alarming rate until they began taking over Mirror Domain. It was pandemonium, and throughout his continued loops Meridian had been searching for some way to put an end to this. Like other catastrophes in the past, like the Abrupt Demise, Meridian knew that allowing this to continue without influence would spell the end of the world. But at the same time, he was still determined to be an observer. Anything he did to help put an end to this had to be a near invisible influence, otherwise he risked compromising himself.

Day after day and loop after loop Meridian tried and failed to find a way to end this. He made countless spells and Relics to combat the infestation, but none of them would work as a permanent solution. They either risked exposing his existence or were far too powerful to be wielded by mortals. Still, he did his part in keeping the infestation at bay. Every now and then he’d take to personally slaughtering any particularly dangerous demons; one’s that he knew Mortals wouldn’t be able to deal with on their own, but this still wasn’t enough. There had to be some way to combat this.

As the year continued, Meridian could tell that there was no real way to put a stop to all of this without exposing himself to the world. There’s only so much someone can do unnoticed. So, he decided to use a front. Someone who’d be fine carrying out this work on his behalf, while still keeping his existence a secret to the majority of the world. This front is the person who’d end up becoming the Great Dragon Halcyon.

Meridian knew that a standard humanoid wouldn’t be strong enough to withstand the attacks of demons, even with the aid of his Magic. A dragon, though, could get away with using significantly less Magic while still being able to protect itself. Meridian crafted a Relic that’d allow this dragon to channel his Magic without keeping it in his Mana pool as a bit of a safety measure. It’d also allow him to use as much as he needed to without running out. Once this Relic was created, he spent a lot of time training and preparing Halcyon for all of this, making absolutely sure he was up for the task and that he’d keep Meridian’s existence a secret. Once all was said and done, Halcyon was set off into the world.

His plan worked as intended, and Halcyon would wind up stopping the Great Infestation and make his mark on the history of Mirror Domain as a God-like being who appeared only to aid Mortals in preventing the end of the world. Once the infestation had been taken care of, he went into hiding. Laying in wait for another demon related issue to spring up so he could stop it in its tracks.

Eventually, as previously mentioned, Haco began to grow tired of his immortality. Something like that really isn’t for everyone, and Haco saw no real reason to stick around any longer. In his mind, if he forced himself to continue on with this work he’d eventually grow sloppy, and the citadel would be put at risk because of it. Meridian agreed with this, and with a heavy heart he bid Haco one last goodbye before wiping his memory permanently and putting his soul to rest.

Of course, now that he was left without an assistant, he needed to find a new one. The vetting process that’d lead him to hiring Haco seemed to work just fine, so using the same methods he found his next and present day assistant. A human girl named Sylvana. Sylvana was hired on around the year 567ADI, and thus far she’s yet to cause any real issues with Meridian’s work. She definitely has her quirks, but so does everyone. If anything, she’s a nice change of pace.

Since the infestation the only real thing of interest that’s happened was the ascension of Sandra and the subsequent capture of DC. Meridian was well aware that large quantities of Magic could cause someone to ascend, as seen with Oasis and DC in the past, but he’d never expected that the two God’s lesser Magic would be able to ascend someone as well.

The quarrel between his compatriots was definitely concerning, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. In the end he didn’t have to involve himself with it at all, as the favourable outcome ended up playing out all on its own. Oasis was the victor in the end, and DC’s antics were put to a stop for the time being.

Meridian had always taken an interest in Sandra. The two have quite a lot in common. After all, green Magic at its core was just a vastly weakened version of purple. Plus, her ascension had happened as a result of an event outside of his control, unlike DC and Oasis who he’d allowed to ascend. She was an anomaly, and Meridian was interested in what would happen next with all of this.

That being said, only time will tell. Present day, things have more or less gone back to normal. Meridian continues his loops; living every day a million times over. Learning all there is to know and keeping an eye out for any world threatening issues that may or may not spring up. While things have been relatively quiet over the past hundred years, something big’s bound to happen eventually. It’s only a matter of time. For now, though, Meridian will continue on with his routine, remaining invisible to the outside world.

## **Relationships**

**Sylvana Tickkit:** Meridian’s current assistant and guardian of the Citadel. Meridian has found her to be trustworthy over the years, although sometimes he’s left to wonder if her mental state will hold up for the foreseeable future. She has a lot stronger of a personality that his past assistants, and she takes no issue with chewing him out for doing something stupid or irresponsible. A change of pace, definitely. He just wishes Sylvana’s hobbies didn’t include so many spiders. He already has a wraith infestation on the island. He doesn’t need a spider problem as well. Still, he’ll put up with her spider breeding program as long as she does her job.

**Oasis:** While he views Oasis as a close friend, despite the one sided nature of their relationship, Meridian doesn’t interact with her often. His Magic makes it impossible for him to show up in any of Oasis’ visions of the future, and this seems to cause her a lot of distress. Whenever he wants to interact with her during his loops he has to take great care in how he approaches her, otherwise she’ll freak out. On the rare occasion they do get together, they usually get along. Oasis is a pleasant person to be around, and her glimpses into the future have been a huge help in Meridian’s research.

**DC:** DC’s evil leaning morals have caused issues in the past, but generally speaking Meridian takes no issue with them. His reckless nature has proved to be entertaining at worst, and helpful at best. He can be annoying at times, but a lot of DC’s ideas have merit, and on more than one occasion he’s been the key to cracking the code on casting more difficult spells or creating more elaborate Relics. Plus, Meridian finds sucking up to DC amusing. He’s always amazed at how drastically DC’s personality can change just by making minor changes to how he introduces himself.

**Sandra:** Meridian has always liked Sandra the best out of the Gods. The two have very similar ideals, although how they go about things is drastically different. Plus, Sandra has a certain air of mystery surrounding her. She’s one of the few people who’ve managed to keep anything hidden from him for any amount of time, which is a feat in and of itself. On the occasion the two do interact, they always get along with little issue. That is, of course, after the initial skepticism Sandra always shows upon being approached. Once she sees he’s not a threat, though, there aren’t any issues.