The Arrow of Time

The Answer

"Magolor. What is the meaning of this?" Galacta Knight felt the grip on his lance tightening.

Magolor winked. "Come closer and I'll tell you."

"I will do no such thing."

It was as if something snapped in Magolor's head. "Oh, sorry." He looked up. "Hey, chief? I have no idea why, but it didn't work."

"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮." Came the reply from the ceiling. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚."

"Oh, did I do that?" He put on a mischievous grin. "Oops!"

"𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙡. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩."

Magolor was immediately grabbed by six heavy-duty metal clasps. "Nrngh! Mmf!" Those seemed to be the only noises he could make.

"Are you all right?" Galacta Knight shouted louder than he himself was expecting to. At that moment, a drill descended from the ceiling.

"𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝘾𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙧𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜." The clamps on Magolor's body loosened slightly. " 𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙢, 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙤."

Magolor lifted his hands out of the clasps. "The last unfortunate soul who allowed me to give 'last words' severely regretted it. And so will you." In a flash, he vanished.

"𝙒𝙝- 𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚! 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙! 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧, 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢- 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚! 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚, 𝙨𝙤 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨."

Galacta Knight stared at the ceiling where the unidentifiable voice was emanating from. What exactly do they think I am? "Of course." He felt a hand on his arm, and turned around to see Magolor, who promptly vanished again. "I will check the hallway. But before I do, who are you?"

"𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚."

Deeming further questioning unnecessary, Galacta Knight turned and left. He noticed a sheet of paper tucked into his wing. He pulled it out and read it. "They think you're still on their side. Go with it for now until the time comes to beat them. I recommend examining that weird red wall. -Magolor"

He followed the letter and went to the room with the wall. He slowly raised a hand to touch the wall, and was surprised when it seemed to do nothing. He pressed the button on the back wall. The floor gave way beneath him, but he caught himself on the way down without getting fried. He had extremely high tolerance for heat, but lava tended to make it impossible to breathe, so he looked around the sides of the pit for as long as he could. He then flew out of the pit.