The moment the relic pulsed in Caius's hands, the world trembled. A deep, resonant hum filled the chamber, vibrating through the very stone beneath their feet. The dark figures, once shifting and flickering in the dim light, were now solid—tangible forces of destruction bound to the relic's awakening.
Selene, standing just behind Caius, felt the change before she fully understood it. The weight of time itself pressed down on them, thick and suffocating, as if reality was resisting their very presence. Her grip on her blades tightened. "Caius, what's happening?"
Caius didn't answer immediately. His entire body was locked in a silent struggle against the power coursing through him. The relic—this source of unfathomable energy—was not just an artifact of time. It was something far worse. Something alive.
The shadows around them hissed, retreating and advancing in waves as though testing their limits. The largest of them, the one who had spoken before, took a step forward. The moment its foot touched the ground, the stone beneath it cracked like brittle glass. "You cannot contain what was never meant to be bound," it intoned, its voice a blend of a thousand echoes. "You have only hastened the inevitable."
Aldric shifted uneasily. "I hate when they talk in riddles." His sword was steady in his hands, but even he knew steel alone wouldn't win this battle.
Elias, standing to the side, had already begun working through calculations in his mind. He was a strategist first, a fighter second. "They're bound to the relic," he murmured, mostly to himself. "It's a tether… a seal. If Caius removes it entirely, it could either free them or destroy them."
Selene shot him a sharp look. "And if we leave it where it is?"
Elias hesitated. "Then time will keep unraveling."
The shadows did not wait for them to decide.
With an eerie, soundless lurch, they surged forward.
Caius barely had time to react before the relic's power burst from him in a wave of raw energy. The shockwave sent the creatures skidding back, distorting their forms like smoke in the wind, but it didn't destroy them. If anything, it only seemed to enrage them.
The largest shadow extended its hand, and the entire chamber shuddered. The walls, ancient and scarred from centuries of history, split apart. A jagged rift formed in the air itself, stretching open like a wound in reality. Beyond it, Caius saw something that made his breath catch—not darkness, but light.
A vast, endless expanse shimmered beyond the rift, filled with constellations that shifted and realigned with each passing second. It was neither past nor future. It was something outside of time itself.
And the shadows were reaching for it.
"They're trying to cross!" Elias shouted, realization dawning on him. "They weren't trapped here—they were sealed away from whatever is on the other side!"
Selene reacted first. Without hesitation, she lunged. Her blades, normally silent in the air, sang as they met the shadow's form. The creature recoiled, a hollow screech echoing through the chamber. But the damage was fleeting—the wound she inflicted closed instantly, as if time had rewound itself to undo the strike.
"It's no use!" she spat, flipping back to Caius's side. "They're not bound by the same rules we are."
Caius knew she was right. The relic, the rift, the entities—everything about this moment was beyond mortal control. But there was one thing he could still do.
He turned his gaze to the rift. If the creatures wanted to cross, then so could he.
"Caius, whatever you're thinking—don't," Aldric growled, recognizing the look in his eyes.
But it was already too late.
With a deep breath, Caius stepped forward. The Chronomancer's Heart pulsed against his chest as he reached toward the rift. The instant his fingers brushed its edge, his mind was torn away from the present.
A sudden rush of visions flooded his senses.
He saw Selene, years from now, standing in the ruins of a battle she never wanted to fight.
He saw Elias, staring into the remnants of a future he couldn't change.
He saw Aldric, alone, a soldier without a war.
And then he saw himself.
Not as a warrior. Not as a king. Not even as a guardian of time.
He saw himself standing at the end of all things.
The moment shattered, and Caius was hurled back into the present. His knees buckled, but Selene caught him before he hit the ground. "What the hell was that?" she demanded, shaking him.
Caius looked up at her, his eyes unfocused, still seeing the remnants of the vision. "I saw… the end," he whispered.
The largest shadow let out a low, resonant laugh. "Now you understand," it murmured. "Now you see why we must return."
Caius clenched his jaw. No. Whatever they were, whatever the rift led to, they could not be allowed to pass.
Gathering every ounce of strength left in him, he turned to the relic and did the only thing that made sense.
He threw it into the rift.
The moment it passed through, the rift began to collapse. The dark figures let out an unearthly shriek as reality folded in on itself, dragging them toward the vanishing void. They clawed at the air, at the stone, at time itself, but there was no escape.
One by one, they were consumed.
The last thing Caius saw was the largest figure smiling. Not in anger, not in hatred, but in something close to satisfaction.
Then the rift sealed.
And the world fell silent.
Caius collapsed to the ground, exhausted beyond words. The relic was gone. The threat was ended.
Or so he thought.
Because as he lay there, staring up at the ceiling, he felt something was wrong.
The air was still. Too still.
Then Elias cursed. "Where's the Chronomancer's Heart?"
Caius's blood ran cold. He reached for it—but his fingers met only empty space.
It was gone.
And in that moment, he realized… so was time.