The sky above Elarion split apart.
Aelion stood directly before the fracture, seven magic circles spinning behind him.
Moonlight filled the entire sky.
Yet the fracture did not shrink.
Instead...
it grew wider.
Aelion frowned.
"Impossible."
He raised his right hand.
LUNAR DOMINION.
Thousands of shards of light appeared in the air, then pierced the fracture like spears.
BOOM!
The sky trembled.
The fracture shrank for a moment.
But only for a few seconds.
Then...
KRAAAK!
The fracture opened again.
Even wider than before.
Aelion fell silent.
In the two hundred years of his life, he had never encountered magic capable of resisting his power like this.
Whatever lay beyond the fracture wasn't merely fighting his magic.
It was...
consuming it.
Aelion stared at his palm.
The remnants of his magical energy were fading away little by little.
"This isn't an ordinary time distortion."
A voice came from behind him.
"Aelion!"
He turned.
Lyra was flying toward the sky with wind magic.
Aelion immediately grew angry.
"What are you doing here?"
Lyra landed beside him.
"Helping you."
"I told you to stay down below."
"I didn't hear you."
"You're stubborn."
Lyra smiled.
"You just realized that?"
Aelion sighed.
"You could die."
"So could you."
Aelion had no retort.
Lyra then looked at the fracture.
"What is that, exactly?"
"I don't know yet."
"Have you ever seen anything like it?"
"No."
"So we're facing something even you don't understand."
Aelion nodded.
Lyra looked at him.
"Good."
Aelion frowned.
"Good?"
"If you already knew everything, life would be boring."
Aelion let out a quiet laugh.
But his smile quickly vanished.
Because the fracture began moving again.
From beyond the fracture...
a black light fell.
Not just one.
Hundreds.
The lights slammed into various places across Lunaris.
BOOM!
A distant mountain split apart.
BOOM!
The river changed course.
BOOM!
Part of the city suddenly grew old in a matter of seconds.
Buildings that had just been standing...
turned into ruins.
People screamed.
Aelion saw it all.
"Time."
Lyra looked at him.
"What?"
"The fracture isn't destroying things."
Aelion pointed toward the city.
"It's accelerating their time."
He looked at the mountain.
"That mountain experienced thousands of years in a few seconds."
Lyra froze.
"Then..."
"Yes."
Aelion stared at the fracture.
"If this phenomenon spreads..."
He stopped.
"All of Elarion could age to death."
Aelion raised both hands.
"Lyra."
"Yes?"
"I need you."
Lyra looked at him.
"Your orders."
"Use Lunar Wind to clear the eastern region."
"How far?"
"Ten kilometers."
Lyra was startled.
"Ten?"
"Don't let anyone remain there."
"Understood."
Lyra took off at once.
Aelion then sent a telepathic message to all the kingdom's mages.
"All third-class mages and above, form a defensive formation around the palace."
The replies came almost simultaneously.
"Understood."
Aelion closed his eyes.
Then he drew a breath.
The moonlight in the sky began to move.
Thousands of kilometers away...
the moon seemed to answer his call.
Lunar Dominion.
A gigantic circle appeared above Lunaris.
The entire city was covered in silver light.
The fracture began to tremble.
Aelion opened his eyes.
"Begone."
He thrust his hands forward.
BOOOOOOM!
The fracture began to shrink.
One meter.
Two meters.
Five meters.
Ten meters.
Aelion kept pushing.
Blood began to trickle from his nose.
But he didn't stop.
"Just a little more..."
Only a few meters remained of the fracture.
Then...
a black hand emerged.
Aelion was startled.
The hand immediately seized his magic circle.
KRAK!
The circle cracked.
Aelion was thrown backward.
BOOM!
His body slammed into a palace tower.
"AELION!"
Lyra screamed.
She flew toward him.
Aelion struggled to his feet.
"Don't come any closer!"
The black hand emerged farther.
Then came an arm.
A shoulder.
A head.
A creature slowly emerged from the fracture.
Its body was tall.
It had no face.
No skin.
Only a body made of fragments of time.
In some parts of its body...
Aelion saw the past.
In others...
the future.
The creature looked at him despite having no eyes.
Then it spoke:
"You..."
The voice sounded like thousands of people speaking at once.
"...are the key."
Aelion gripped his sword.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
The creature raised a hand.
"You will."
Then it vanished.
Aelion immediately sensed something.
"Lyra!"
"What?"
"Don't move."
Too late.
A black circle appeared beneath Lyra's feet.
Aelion moved at once.
FLASH.
He appeared in front of her.
BOOM!
The attack struck Aelion.
His body was thrown backward.
Lyra fell.
"Aelion!"
She caught him before his body hit the ground.
Aelion opened his eyes.
"Lyra..."
"You're hurt."
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
"Just a little."
Lyra looked at the wound in his chest.
Her face went pale.
"Why do you always do this?"
Aelion fell silent.
"Do what?"
"Protect me."
Aelion smiled.
"Because I can."
"That's not an answer."
Aelion looked at her.
For a moment...
he nearly told her everything.
But he held himself back.
"Take me back to the palace."
Lyra nodded.
They returned to Moon Palace.
The kingdom's mages had already gathered.
The King of Lunaris stood in the main hall.
"Aelion."
"Your Majesty."
"What happened?"
Aelion placed his hand over the table.
A map of Elarion appeared.
Small fractures could be seen in various places.
Not just Lunaris.
There were some in the north.
The south.
The east.
Even in the middle of the sea.
The king stared at it.
"How many?"
Aelion answered:
"Forty-seven."
The room fell silent.
"And the number is still growing."
One of the senior mages asked:
"Can they be closed?"
Aelion didn't answer.
The king looked at him.
"Aelion."
Aelion finally said:
"Not yet."
"Not yet?"
"We don't understand their source."
"Then find it."
Aelion nodded.
"Give me three days."
The king shook his head.
"You have one."
Aelion stared at him.
"Why?"
The king pointed toward the window.
Aelion looked outside.
The moon had already changed.
Part of its surface...
had turned black.
That night...
Aelion did not sleep.
He was in the royal library.
Thousands of books lay open around him.
Ancient magic.
History.
Theories of time.
Rituals.
Legends.
He read them all.
But there was no answer.
Until he found an old book.
Its cover had no title.
Aelion opened it.
The first page was blank.
The second page was blank.
The third page...
contained a single sentence.
"If time begins devouring history, don't search for the future."
Aelion frowned.
He turned the page.
"Search for something that should never have existed."
Aelion fell silent.
Then...
a page that had previously been blank began filling with writing.
CHRONOS RIFT.
Aelion froze.
He read quickly.
> Chronos Rift is not a fracture in time.
> It is a wound in reality.
> It appears when something erased from history tries to return.
Aelion stared at the final sentence.
"Erased..."
He read farther.
But every page that followed...
was blank.
Aelion closed the book.
"Who wrote this?"
There was no answer.
Then...
a voice spoke.
"Because you've finally found it."
Aelion turned.
There was no one there.
"Who are you?"
A shadow appeared between the bookshelves.
An old man.
Black robes.
Golden eyes.
Aelion immediately raised his hand.
"Stop."
The man smiled.
"I didn't come to fight."
"Who are you?"
"My name isn't important."
"Then why are you here?"
The old man looked at the book in Aelion's hand.
"Because you've opened something that should have remained closed."
Aelion frowned.
"Explain."
The man stepped closer.
"Chronos Rift appeared because someone..."
He paused.
"...erased himself from time."
Aelion fell silent.
"Who?"
The old man looked at him.
"You."
Aelion didn't move.
"What?"
The old man repeated:
"This fracture appeared because of you."
Aelion gave a short laugh.
"Nonsense."
"You will understand."
"If I caused it, why don't I remember?"
The old man smiled.
"Because it hasn't happened yet."
Aelion frowned.
The man continued:
"You will destroy yourself to save the world."
Aelion glared at him.
"I won't do that."
"You will."
"Why?"
"Because there's someone you want to protect."
Aelion fell silent.
The old man smiled.
"Her name is Lyra."
Aelion immediately drew his sword.
"Don't say her name."
The man laughed.
"So that's how it is."
Aelion pointed his sword at the man's throat.
"Who are you?"
The man didn't answer.
He only said:
"Tomorrow..."
His shadow began to fade.
"...you will find a tower in Evershade Forest."
Aelion lowered his sword slightly.
"What tower?"
"A tower that doesn't exist in history."
The man smiled.
"That's where it all begins."
Then he vanished.
Aelion stood alone.
But before the shadow disappeared completely...
one final voice rang out.
"And Aelion..."
Aelion stared blankly.
"Don't say what you want to say to Lyra."
The next morning...
Aelion stood at the palace gates.
He carried a sword.
A small bag.
And a teleportation crystal.
Lyra was already waiting for him.
"You're leaving again?"
Aelion nodded.
"There's something in Evershade."
"I'm coming with you."
Aelion wanted to refuse.
But then he remembered the mysterious man's words.
Don't say what you want to say to Lyra.
He looked at Lyra.
"All right."
Lyra smiled.
"Finally."
They walked together.
No one realized...
that someone was watching them from a distance.
The same old man.
He stood atop a tower.
Then he opened his palm.
An hourglass appeared.
The sand inside it...
was moving upward.
The man whispered:
"The first act begins."
Evershade Forest was two days' travel from Lunaris.
But when Aelion and Lyra arrived...
they found something impossible.
There was no forest.
No road.
No river.
Only an empty plain.
Lyra looked at the map.
"This is supposed to be Evershade."
Aelion nodded.
"That's right."
"Where's the forest?"
Aelion knelt.
He touched the ground.
It was cold.
But not ordinarily cold.
He sensed the traces of time.
"This place..."
Aelion stood.
"...hasn't been born yet."
Lyra frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Aelion pointed at the ground.
"According to history, Evershade won't appear for another hundred years."
Lyra stared at him.
"Then where are we now?"
Aelion answered:
"In the future."
Lyra froze.
"But we just left Lunaris."
"Yes."
"How far did we jump?"
Aelion looked at the sky.
Then...
the sound of a bell rang out.
DONG.
The ground trembled.
The first tree appeared.
Then a second.
A third.
In a matter of seconds...
a massive forest grew before them.
Not grew.
Appeared.
As though history were being forcibly fast-forwarded.
In the middle of the forest...
a black tower slowly emerged from the ground.
Aelion stared at it.
The tower was exactly as the old man had described.
Lyra gripped his arm.
"Aelion."
"Yes?"
"I feel like..."
She stared at the tower.
"...we've been here before."
Aelion looked at her.
"Impossible."
Lyra shook her head.
"I know."
But her eyes were beginning to glisten with tears.
"I just..."
She touched her chest.
"...feel like I've lost something."
Aelion fell silent.
Then he saw an inscription on the tower door.
It consisted of a single sentence.
THE ONE WHO WAS NEVER THERE.
Aelion read it slowly.
"The one who was never there..."
The tower door opened by itself.
Inside...
were thousands of paintings.
They all depicted a white-haired man.
Aelion.
Together with Lyra.
In different places.
In different eras.
In different lives.
Lyra stared at one of the paintings.
In it...
Aelion was holding her hand.
But the Lyra in the painting was crying.
"What is this..."
Aelion stepped closer.
Written beneath the painting were the words:
DAY 1 — THEY MET.
The next painting:
DAY 1,204 — HE WANTED TO SPEAK.
The next:
DAY 3,876 — HE STILL DID NOT SPEAK.
The next:
DAY 7,201 — THE WORLD BEGAN TO BREAK.
And the final painting...
Aelion stood alone.
Lyra was far behind him.
She didn't recognize him.
Beneath it was a single sentence:
DAY 7,202 — HE WAS NEVER THERE.
Aelion froze.
Lyra looked at him.
"Aelion..."
"Yes?"
"Who is that man?"
Aelion didn't answer.
Because for the first time...
he saw something far more terrifying than the destruction of the world.
He saw...
the end of his own life.
And behind them...
the tower door closed.
CLICK.
A voice came from the top floor.
"Welcome, Aelion Vaelaris."
Then the voice whispered:
"We've been waiting for you for a thousand years."
To be continued.