I took it in my hand, almost without thinking. The chain slid gently around my wrist, and the Chronogem fell into the hollow of my palm, still swaying, light, alive.
I stared at it for a moment. The dial glowed faintly, the violet filaments undulating beneath the surface like veins of slumbering light. The hands, two fine talons, pointed exactly to the bottom of the circle.
6 Hours of Dawn.
A faint smile stretched my lips. I estimated it was noon... I looked at the light, the heat on the walls, and began to understand.
So 6 to 18… those are the Hours of Dawn. And from 18 to 6… it's the Twilight Period.
The system was logical. Brutal. Celestial.
And if the Lord had summoned me at the first hour of Twilight…
— Then it will be at exactly 6 p.m. Not a minute before.
I now had a guide. A watch that didn't just tell the time. But the time to die, or the time to change one's destiny. A watch that knew when history had to shift.
