He was holding the key to every single Paragon's path in this world.
For some time now, Tyrion and his peers had lived under a silent rule. The world looked at the Paragons as apex predators, rulers who commanded the very laws of reality. But the truth was far more pathetic. They were prisoners in gilded cages. Every time a Paragon acted, every time they exerted their will to rewrite a law or expand a vast amount of mana, they incurred a subtle, inescapable penalty, a mana debt.
And that debt had a master, who will after some time would come to collect.
Every surge of power, every high-tier spell cast, only served to strengthen a soul-binding connection to the new God of stagnation. To avoid falling completely under the Time Child's sway, the Paragons of Nana were forced to cower in their secluded estates, rationing their power like starving men, terrified to act or make any grand moves that would pull the child's gaze to them.
But the Mage Tower changed everything.
