Date: 2742-08-22
Time: 05:14 AM – 06:50 PM
Location: Ren's Apartment → ArcNet Offices → Eldoria district Backstreet Alley
Ren leaned back in his kitchen chair, sipping lukewarm coffee while trying not to spiral into another philosophical black hole.
Across the table, Lirael leaned on one arm, studying him.
He finally said, "Alright. So… who are you really? Besides the whole 'wounded time-traveling elf resistance leader' thing?"
Lirael raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that enough?"
"No. See, I'm carrying a dimensional nuke in my chest and babysitting a demonic GPS in my eyeball — I feel like a little more transparency is warranted."
She smirked faintly. "Lirael. Second-tier scout of the Thir Vale Watch. Trained in dimensional field reconnaissance. I defected from my world's military after they tried to use the Core fragments as weapons."
Ren stared.
"Okay," he said. "That's… kind of badass."
She also makes better coffee than you. Just saying.
Ren ignored the Optics. "So, what's your plan now?"
"Help you survive," she said simply. "And keep the Core pieces out of the hands of those who'd break reality with them."
"Wow," Ren muttered, "for someone who crash-landed into my apartment like a bleeding anime waifu, you're turning out to be the more stable one here."
She shrugged. "I've had more practice."
Time: 08:45 AM
Location: ArcNet Corporation, Eldoria – 16th Floor
Ren stepped into the office like a man returning from war. Only difference was, the war was multiversal and nobody else knew they were losing.
"REN!"
Maya sprinted across the breakroom and smacked him with a file folder.
"You said you were sick and then GHOSTED us for TWO DAYS!"
"I was," he said. "Then I got better. Then I… uh… fell back into existential dread."
Tell her about the murderous feather-freaks and the glowing time-boner you developed. That'll calm her down.
Ren sighed.
Before he could fake a better excuse, his boss appeared — Mr. Gendo, wearing a tie that looked strangled by stress.
"ISHIDA."
"Sir."
"Why weren't you in yesterday?"
"Sick, sir."
"You don't email. You don't message. I had to reschedule three calls. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY CLIENTS PANIC WHEN YOU'RE NOT ONLINE?!"
"Um—"
Tell him you were temporarily phased into an alternative space-time bubble and witnessed the collapse of causal linearity. That always works in corporate.
"...Internet went out."
Gendo glared, then grunted. "Don't make it a habit."
"Yes sir."
The office environment was... nice.
The smell of overbrewed coffee, the click of keys, the slight existential vacuum of beige cubicles.
For once, Ren relaxed.
And then—
BURN.
Not from the coffee.
From his chest.
He froze mid-email. A sharp throb pulsed behind his sternum — and suddenly, time bent again.
∆ Divergence Field Triggered
AETHERIUM CORE PROTOCOL | OBSERVE MODE
THREADS: VISIBLE
DIVERGENCE WINDOW OPEN
Everyone around him froze.
Except this time, it wasn't full stop — they were echoes, flickering at different speeds. Colleagues mid-laugh. Maya refilling her mug six times in six variations. Gendo both yelling and sneezing in alternate frames.
Even the wall clock fractured — its hands spinning, reversing, splitting.
Ren stood in the center, mouth open.
The Core hummed in his chest. The air glowed faintly gold.
[CODE: CHOOSE]
[THREAD: 9] [FORK: 2A]
[SUGGESTION: ALTER]
[SCALE: MICRO]
[IMPACT: UNKNOWN]
"What… is this?" Ren whispered.
The voice replied — the one he now recognized as the Core's internal protocol.
[DIVERGENCE ENABLED]
CHRONOTEMPORAL THREADS ADJUSTABLE.
SCALE: CONTROLLED.
PERMISSION: GRANTED.
PURPOSE: POSSIBILITY.
POWER: LIMITED.
CHOICE: YOURS.]
Use the stopwatch. One change. One shift. Small… but real.
Ren looked around.
His hand hovered over the "0:0000" thread-clock.
He didn't press it.
He just breathed.
And time snapped back to normal.
Gendo was still yelling.
Maya was sipping her 3rd coffee.
The clock ticked like nothing had happened.
Yo. What the fuck was that?
I blacked out for 0.003 seconds and came back to find you staring at a fax machine like it called you Daddy.
Ren muttered, "I think… I can change shit now. The Core showed me... options. Possibilities."
You mean like, actual future meddling? Holy shit. Did we just unlock a new DLC?!
Ren nodded. "But it said the changes are micro. Small adjustments. Threads."
Yeah, that's how time works, Einstein. You pull the wrong one, and suddenly dinosaurs get Wi-Fi and start day-trading.
Time: 07:01 PM
Location: Backstreet Alley, Eldoria Market Sector
On his walk home, something strange caught Ren's eye.
A flickering neon sign in an alley he'd never seen before. "THE TIMELESS BINDERY" written in old-world script.
Curiosity buzzed in his veins. He stepped closer.
The door creaked open.
And inside... the smell of incense and old books. An old woman behind the counter who didn't blink — just stared at him with eyes like hourglasses.
The walls were lined with timelines.
Glass jars full of moments.
...Yeah, so this is definitely not a stationery store. Just saying.
Ren swallowed.
"Okay," he whispered. "Now this… is new."