In a half-collapsed building, hidden beneath the rubble of an old shopping center, León watched over Jason from the future, still weak but conscious. He had lit a small fire with charred wood, trying to keep some warmth in this freezing hell.
Jason, slumped against a cracked wall, was breathing heavily. His eyes glowed with a strange light, as if cosmic energy pulsed inside him.
— "Are you feeling any better?" León asked, worried.
Jason slowly nodded.
— "I've… recovered a bit of energy. Not enough to reverse time… but I can freeze it for a few moments."
He raised his hand, and suddenly, a heavy silence fell over the world.
The ashes stopped falling. The flames froze in the air. A stone suspended in mid-air hung just in front of them. Time had just been frozen.
— "Did you do that?" León whispered, in awe.
Jason straightened up, wincing in pain.
— "Yes… but I can't hold it for long. My body… is still too weak. To rewind time, I need full energy. Otherwise, I'll disintegrate."
León stared at him, shocked.
— "And if you die, the world…?"
Jason closed his eyes, then spoke in a darker tone:
— "The world will remain trapped in this nightmare. And the monsters… they will win."
Time slowly resumed. The sounds came back: distant explosions, children crying, gunfire. The city around them was nothing more than a field of ruins.
In the alleys, the army was fiercely fighting the creatures that had emerged from the depths of the earth. Wounded soldiers shielded civilians as the twisted, ravenous monsters advanced without mercy. Families were being torn apart before their very eyes.
A mother screamed, reaching for her child who had vanished in the chaos. The ground was covered in blood and ash.
Jason tried to stand again, but stumbled. León caught him instantly.
— "Rest. You're not ready to fight yet."
Jason looked up at the red sky, the moon still soaked in crimson.
— "I don't have much time left."
León clenched his fists.
— "Then we need to find what can restore your energy. Somewhere… there must be a source."
Jason looked at him for a moment, then nodded.
— "There is an ancient room… a place where it all began. If we go there, I might be able to… bring time back to its origin point."
León nodded.
— "Are we far from... that place you mentioned?" León asked, scanning the shifting shadows around them.
— "It lies beneath the city... ancient, forgotten even by those who built this age. It was called the Sanctuary of Time."
Silence fell again, broken only by distant sounds. Screams. Gunfire. A monster roared in a nearby street, followed by the sound of a collapse.
Suddenly, a wounded soldier appeared before them, staggering, his clothes torn, his face covered in blood.
— "Run! They're coming through the sewers... They... they're surrounding us!"
He collapsed to his knees, exhausted.
León knelt to help him, but Jason placed a hand on his shoulder.
— "Leave him… We can't save them all."
León's gaze hardened.
— "Then I'll save the ones I can."
He hoisted the soldier onto his free shoulder while still supporting Jason with the other.
Their path led them to a collapsed old metro station. The rails were covered in black roots and claw marks. Jason slowly raised his hand, pointing to an arch engraved into the wall, almost invisible beneath moss and dust.
— "Here. The gateway to the Sanctuary."
León laid the soldier down against the wall and approached the arch. He touched a rune carved into the stone. Immediately, the ground trembled, and a slab slid open, revealing a stone staircase descending into darkness.
— "Shall we go in?" he asked Jason.
Jason nodded weakly.
— "Once inside... nothing will ever be the same."
They descended into the bowels of the earth, leaving behind a world collapsing upon itself.
The Sanctuary of Time was waiting.
Silence reigned in the Sanctuary — but it wasn't ordinary silence. It was alive. Every stone seemed to breathe, every torch lit without fire cast an eerie blue light.
The walls were covered in ancient frescoes depicting celestial battles: winged beings fighting horrors from the depths, time portals opening and collapsing, and at the center… a figure cloaked in gold and shadow.
Jason, pale-faced, whispered:
— "No human has stepped into this place for centuries..."
León, alert and tense, stepped forward, gripping his weapon tightly. The wounded soldier he had carried was slowly regaining consciousness, eyes wide with confusion at the strange place.
Suddenly, a deep voice echoed through the walls — yet no mouth had spoken.
— "Children of chaos… you enter the domain of the Primordial Deity. What do you seek in the bowels of time?"
A golden light opened at the far end of the hall. A massive figure descended slowly from the ceiling, as if floating from another dimension — a being wrapped in pure energy, its face veiled, yet its presence silenced the soul.
Around it, six winged soldiers appeared, armor etched with ancient runes, their radiant wings unfolded in the shadows. They were not human. Their eyes had no pupils or irises — only the glow of a forgotten world.
Jason dropped to his knees.
— "It's her… The Mother of the Chronosphere, the one who watches over the timeline."
León stood tall, fascinated but cautious.
— "We do not come as enemies. The world is dying… and he…" (he gestured toward Jason) "...came from the future to fix it."
One of the winged soldiers stepped forward, an energy spear in hand, pointing it at León.
— "Many have tried to manipulate time. All of them died."
But the deity raised a hand, and the soldier immediately stepped back.
— "Silence, Val'Kire. This human speaks with faith."
She fully descended, her feet not even touching the ground. Her voice became softer, almost maternal.
— "Jason of the future… you still bear the mark of the forbidden. You took energy that was never yours. And you, León… your heart is not pure, but it is sincere. I will listen."
Jason spoke up, struggling:
— "I did not steal… I took what I had to, to stop the Cataclysm. But I no longer have the strength… I want to fix what I broke. Give me what I need… or help him do it."
The deity stared at Jason for a long moment, then turned toward León.
— "Time can only be rewritten by someone unbound by it. Jason, you are tied to the future. But León, you… you can become a Guardian of the Present."
The wounded soldier behind them tried to stand up, confused:
— "What… what does that mean?"
The deity reached out toward León. A burning symbol appeared in the air, an inverted hourglass pulsing with the rhythm of his heart.
— "Accept this seal… and you will become more than a man. But in return, you will carry the pain of those you lose."
León closed his eyes for a moment. He still heard the cries of children, the weeping of families, the screams of monsters in the streets. Then he opened his eyes, resolved.
— "I accept."
The symbol entered his chest. León screamed. The ground shook. Light vanished for a moment. When it returned, León was on his knees, a glowing mark on his chest, his eyes lit with a new inner flame.
Jason whispered:
— "You are ready."