A gift or a curse? Only time will tell.

"What is immortality? For an average being, immortality is nothing but a fantasy. You live, you die and then you do not know what happens afterwards. Do you reincarnate? Do you fade away into the darkness? Do you meet the creator? What happens? Does a mortal even have the time to think about something like that?

But what if something suddenly changed, you had a possibility or even the ability to be immortal. Would you take it? Would it be worth it? Not knowing what will happen once you make that decision to become immortal? Will it be a curse or a blessing? Eternal life always sounds nice, yet people always forget there is nothing free in this world. Especially in exchange for something like immortality."

In an unknown time and location:

"Hmmm... I see... so he has chosen to interfere... Hehe... I can't wait to see their faces when they realise, that he has interfered!" laughed an old cheerful voice.

Location: The Pure Heavens Prison

Time: Year 11 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

"Where... where am I?" asked Steven in confusion as he slowly woke up.

All Steven could see was clouds, golden clouds. So bright and majestic, that they looked like they were made from the finest gems and gold in the world. These clouds seemed to go on forever as if there was not any end to them.

"Is... is this Heaven? Am I... am I dead?" quivered Steven with a frightening expression as he quickly looked at his body to see if he still even had a body.

"Hehe... you're not dead boy, far from it!"

"And no this isn't heaven... not even close!" said a menacing voice from somewhere in the majestic clouds.

"So ... if I'm not dead and I'm not in heaven... Why am I here and who are you?" blurted Steven while he was trying to find out where the voice was coming from.

"You have quite a mouth on you, eh!" chuckled the voice.

"You do not need to know where you are, and who I am. All you need to know for now, is that you and I my boy are going to do great things!" laughed the voice creepily.

"Uh... no thanks!" rejected Steven with a face of disgust.

"..."

When the voice heard this, there was only silence. Following that the majestic clouds started to shake tremendously, and a darkness started to spread between the clouds.

"So be it... it seems you are not ready yet, but time waits for no one... so I will give you this "gift"!" announced the voice.

"With time you will understand boy, without me you will just be nothing but a pawn to them… You..." just as the cloud was going into a deep monologue, Steven impatiently interrupted him.

"Uh... can I not like get your gift... because Rogen already did some weird stuff, causing me a bunch of problems! I don't want another mess on my hands," divulged Steven while furrowing his brows.

"You really are making me angry boy! Do not even try to compare my power to some other being! You mere mortal!" raged the voice.

"Uh... since I'm a mortal and I'm going to die after a few decades, why should I care?" answered Steven while smirking.

"Good... exceptionally good! Since you said that! I will make sure my "gift" changes your mind! You will regret everything! Ah ha!" replied the voice while laughing menacingly.

"Uh... can I go now?" asked Steven once more.

"..."

"You... you!" just as the voice wanted to continue, something changed in the clouds. They started to sparkle and enlarge without stopping.

"Wait... no! Not now! No! Damn you! You damn..." as the voice was screaming in frustration, his voice all of a sudden was cut off. Leaving Steven to stand on his own, in the middle of nowhere between the majestic clouds.

"Uh... what now..." wondered Steven while looking at his surroundings once more. I guess I should try and find an exit," thought Steven as he tried walking on the clouds.

After Steven started walking, he thought about everything that had happened recently. As he was reflecting over all the horrific experiences, he wondered why was he so calm, so brazen. Normally he wasn't at all like this, he was more restrained.

Yet after his conversation with Rogen, everything started to change. Steven couldn't understand why he hadn't changed like everyone else, and why his personality and his mind were changing. If he was being honest, he couldn't understand anything. He was confused, scared and impatient.

The world had changed, yet he... hadn't. He was from a different time, a different era so to say. Nothing was the same as before. As Steven was thinking about this, he wondered as well how much time had passed.

He hoped it wasn't like before, where ten years went by. He really hoped that wasn't the case. Suddenly though, Steven couldn't move his body anymore. It was as if time had stopped. Then as if to answer this frozen state of his, something strange happened.

A collection of rusty, dirty, small and old words appeared in front of Steven. These silently floated in front of him and even though they looked like they were about to fall apart, these words had a certain glow to them.

It felt as if even they said, that it didn't matter in what state they were now, they were not to be underestimated. As Steven read the words, he could only make out a few of them, while the rest were faded for some reason.

"A curse or a gift... the path is broken! A new destiny unfolds... controlled by none, except the person himself! Immortality of a mortal! The universe trembles... nothing will ever be the same..." As Steven read and said these words aloud. He couldn't comprehend what they meant, but before he could think about it any longer, he started losing consciousness. He then fell asleep.

Location: Underground Mining Area 50-G

Time: Year 11 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

"Agh... Cough!!!" As Steven slowly opened his eyes, he coughed out some blood. He felt extremely weak as if his body had lost all its energy.

"Steven!" shouted everyone together as they saw Steven slowly waking up.

"Man, you scared me..." sighed Xiang with a smile.

"Cough... How long was I out?" questioned Steven.

"Not long, a few minutes. Why?" asked Xiang with an intrigued expression.

"Uh... I'll tell you later... for now I have to sleep..." gasped Steven as he passed out from exhaustion.

"Really..." spluttered Xiang with a smile as he shook his head.

Following this, no one noticed that Stevens body was slightly shining as if a transformation was happening.