Time was bleeding.
Elias felt it the moment they stepped through the sanctuary's hidden entrance—a nauseating shift in reality that made his bones ache and his vision blur. The mark on his hand pulsed erratically, each beat syncing with distortions that rippled through the air like heat waves.
"Something's wrong," he whispered, though Marcus was already drawing his weapons. The hunter's instincts had kicked in the second they'd entered the underground chamber.
The sanctuary had been their refuge for three days since escaping the Veiled Society. Hidden beneath Veridian's oldest cemetery, it was supposed to be warded against supernatural intrusion. Ancient symbols covered every surface, protective glyphs that had kept them safe while Elias tried to decipher the tome's increasingly frantic whispers.
Now those same symbols were flickering.
"The wards are failing," Marcus said, checking the chamber's exits. "But that's impossible. These protections have held for over two centuries."
Elias pressed his marked hand against the nearest wall. The stone felt wrong—too warm, too soft, as if reality itself was becoming malleable. Through his enhanced senses, he could see the temporal fractures spreading like cracks in glass, each fissure revealing glimpses of other times, other possibilities.
In one fracture, he saw the sanctuary as it had been decades ago, occupied by a different group of refugees fleeing something that made shadows scream. In another, he glimpsed a future where the chamber was filled with twisted metal and dying light, the aftermath of some cosmic catastrophe.
And in the largest crack, he saw himself.
But it wasn't quite him. This other Elias wore robes of deep purple, his mark had spread across his entire arm, and his eyes held the cold wisdom of someone who had embraced the abyss. This other Elias was speaking to figures in silver masks, negotiating, planning, smiling with cruel satisfaction.
"The Convergence accelerates," the other Elias said, his voice carrying across the temporal divide. "Soon there will be no distinction between what was, what is, and what could be. The Society chose wisely in approaching me."
Elias jerked his hand back from the wall, but the visions continued. The tome's whispers had become a roar, showing him dozens of alternate timelines—versions of himself who had made different choices, followed different paths, become different people entirely.
In one, he was a monster, using the mark's power to drain the life from anyone who opposed him.
In another, he was dead, killed in the Grand Veridian Library before ever touching the cursed tome.
In yet another, he was a hero, having found some way to master the cosmic forces without losing his humanity.
But in every timeline, the Convergence was coming.
"Elias!" Marcus's voice cut through the temporal chaos. "We need to move. Now."
The hunter was right. The sanctuary's protective barriers weren't just failing—they were being actively dismantled. Through the fractures in time, Elias could see the Veiled Society's ritual in progress, their members standing in a perfect circle around some kind of temporal anchor. They weren't trying to breach the sanctuary through space; they were attacking it through time itself.
"They're unraveling our past," Elias realized with growing horror. "If they succeed, we'll never have found this place. We'll be back where they can reach us."
"Can you stop them?"
Elias looked at his mark, feeling the power coiled within it like a sleeping dragon. The tome's whispers urged him forward, promising that he could fight fire with fire, use temporal manipulation to counter their attack. All he had to do was let the mark's influence spread a little further, accept a little more of the cosmic horror that came with true understanding.
All he had to do was become a little more like that other version of himself.
"Maybe," he said. "But the cost..."
The sanctuary shuddered as another timeline collapsed. Through the temporal fractures, Elias saw the Veiled Society's leader raise their hands, reality bending around their fingers like clay. The ritual was reaching its climax.
"There's no choice," Marcus said grimly. "Better a controlled monster than whatever they'll turn you into."
Elias closed his eyes and let the mark's power flow through him.
The sensation was indescribable. His consciousness exploded outward, touching every possible version of himself across the infinite branches of time. He felt the weight of countless decisions, the pain of endless failures, the bitter taste of victories that came at too high a price.
But he also felt something else—a connecting thread that ran through every timeline, every possibility. Love. Hope. The desperate desire to protect the innocent, to preserve something beautiful in a universe that seemed determined to crush all beauty underfoot.
That was the constant. That was who he really was, beneath all the cosmic horror and temporal manipulation.
Elias opened his eyes, and time obeyed him.
The fractures in the sanctuary walls began to heal, reality reasserting itself under his will. The Veiled Society's ritual faltered as their temporal anchor was suddenly cut off from its target. Through the mark's power, Elias reached across the dimensional divide and shattered their protective circle with a thought.
He felt their shock, their rage, their sudden fear as they realized what he'd become.
But the victory came with a price. The mark had spread, crawling up his arm like living ink, and with it came new whispers—not from the tome, but from something far older and more terrible. Something that had been waiting for him to open himself to temporal manipulation.
Something that was pleased with his progress.
"Well done, young Archivist," a voice like grinding stone spoke directly into his mind. "You begin to understand your true nature. But this is only the beginning. The Convergence requires a catalyst, and you... you have such potential."
Elias tried to shut out the voice, but it was already inside him, woven into the very fabric of his enhanced perception. Whatever he'd just contacted was older than the Veiled Society, more powerful than the tome, more dangerous than any cosmic horror he'd yet encountered.
And it was interested in him.
"Who are you?" he whispered.
"I am the space between seconds. The pause between heartbeats. The silence between thoughts." The voice grew stronger, more present. "I am the Void Chronicler, and I have been waiting so very long for someone with your talents."
The sanctuary stabilized, its wards restored, but Elias knew they were no longer safe. Nothing was safe anymore. He'd won this battle by making a bargain with something that made the Veiled Society look like amateur cultists.
"The Society offered you servitude," the Void Chronicler continued. "I offer partnership. Together, we can guide the Convergence, shape it to our will. We can become the authors of reality itself."
"And if I refuse?"
The voice laughed, a sound like the death of stars. "Then you will face the Convergence as its victim rather than its master. The choice is yours, Elias Thorne. But choose quickly—the timeline shifts accelerate, and soon even I will not be able to protect you from what's coming."
The presence faded, leaving Elias alone with Marcus and the terrible weight of his decision. The hunter was watching him with growing concern, clearly sensing that something fundamental had changed.
"What did you do?" Marcus asked.
"I saved us," Elias replied, but the words felt hollow. "And I think I doomed us all."
The mark pulsed with new power, showing him visions of the immediate future. The Veiled Society would regroup, their attacks becoming more desperate and direct. The mist over Veridian would thicken, reality becoming increasingly unstable. And somewhere in the city, others were awakening to the cosmic truth—some to fight it, others to embrace it.
The Convergence was only five days away now.
Five days to choose between becoming a monster or watching the world burn.
Five days to decide whether partnership with an entity that predated civilization was better than annihilation.
Five days to discover if there was a third option—one that didn't require him to sacrifice either his humanity or his world.
The tome whispered new secrets, and for the first time since this nightmare began, Elias truly understood why some knowledge was meant to stay buried.
Because sometimes, learning the truth was the first step toward becoming the very thing you'd sworn to fight.