The tower became a gateway.
Elias stepped into a world out of time. A garden where flowers bloomed backward. A marketplace frozen mid-laughter. A forest where the moon never left the sky.
Each place held a lost second—tiny golden lights fluttering like fireflies, pieces of time his grandfather had hidden to keep them safe. With each one Elias found, the world shimmered a little clearer, and the ticking of the tower grew stronger in his ears.
In the final place—a room of mirrors reflecting every version of himself—he found his grandfather. Older, tired, but smiling.
"You did it," his grandfather whispered, "what I couldn't. You listened."
Elias handed him the last second, and the mirrors dissolved into light.