The sun stretched lazily across the horizon, scattering threads of gold over the clear morning sky. It was the kind of day that begged for laughter, for light-hearted chatter, for being anywhere but indoors.
"The sky's beautiful today." Elara murmured, her voice half-lost in the crowd of weekend goers. She tilted her head back, squinting into the brightness, and for a moment her lips curved into a small smile. It wasn't often she admitted such things out loud.
Her father, walking beside her with hands tucked in his pockets, chuckled. "Beautiful and bright… maybe a perfect day for an outing, huh?" His tone was teasing, but warm.
Elara shifted her bag higher on her shoulder, pretending to pout. "It's just a sky, Dad. Don't make it sound like I'm being poetic or something."
"Hey, I'm not the one staring at it like it's the love of your life.." he replied, and the two shared a laugh that melted into the noise of the bustling mall entrance.
The automatic glass doors slid open, welcoming them with a whoosh of chilled air. Inside, the chatter of families, the squeak of children's sneakers against tile, and the faint notes of a piano cover played over the speakers blended into a hum that made the place feel alive.
Her father walked at an easy pace, as though he had nowhere specific to be, though Elara knew him well enough to notice the way his eyes flickered toward the directory board. He was looking for something.
"So." he said casually as they passed a small kiosk selling smoothies, "How's senior high treating you? You've been… quieter than usual lately."
Elara hesitated. Questions about school always carried weight, even when asked lightly. "It's okay?.." she said at last, smoothing her skirt with one hand. "Classes are fine. My friends are… fine too. Nothing special."
"Fine?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "That's three 'fines' in a row. You know that usually means 'not fine,' right?"
She groaned softly. "Dad…"
But he smiled at her, that same knowing smile that always made her feel simultaneously seen and embarrassed. "Alright, alright. I won't push. Just don't forget you can tell me things. Even if it's small."
Her chest tightened at the gentleness in his voice, though she masked it with a shrug. "Yeah, I know."
They walked in companionable silence for a few moments, weaving through weekend shoppers. Eventually, they slowed before a section of the mall lined with glass cases and gleaming displays. Inside, rows of watches sat under bright lights, their polished metal bands catching every glimmer.
Elara blinked. "You're… buying a watch?"
Her dad's hand hovered over the glass, eyes scanning the neat rows of ticking timepieces. "Just looking. My old one's been with me for years. Might be time for a change."
Something in his voice carried an edge she couldn't place.. something soft, almost hesitant.
He pointed to one inside, and after a brief exchange with the shop attendant, the watch was carefully boxed and handed over. Her dad opened it right there, slipping the new piece onto his wrist. It gleamed, pristine and flawless.
Then he turned to her, holding out his other hand. Nestled in his palm was his old watch, the one she'd seen countless times, the one with the faint crack across its glass face.
"Elara." he said, voice quieter now, steady but carrying a gravity that made her straighten. "It's time for you to learn the importance of time."
She blinked at him, confused. "Dad?"
He met her gaze, his smile tinged with something she couldn't decipher. "..Since I've bought a new one, you can keep this. It may have a little crack, but it still reads time. It's not perfect, but… it's lived through a lot with me. Now, I want you to carry it."
For a moment, she didn't know what to say. Her cheeks warmed, and she glanced away shyly. "I-I don't really wear watches…"
"That's fine." he said, gently closing her fingers over it. "Just keep it. Maybe someday, it'll mean more than you realize."
Her lips quirked in a reluctant smile, and she slipped the old wristwatch into her bag. "Alright. I'll take care of it."
They continued walking, the crowd sweeping around them like a steady river. Her father glanced at her, then spoke again, almost as if to himself.
"well.. time is always important after all!."
Elara turned to him, curious, but he didn't elaborate. He only smiled, eyes glimmering in the light of the mall.
After the watch shop, Elara and her father wandered through the mall's expanse of polished floors and glittering displays. The crowd swelled around them, teenagers clutching bubble tea, parents shepherding toddlers, couples laughing with arms entwined. The ordinary rhythm of weekend life.
Her father stopped now and then, peering into shop windows, pretending to debate whether he needed another pair of leather shoes or a new shirt for work. Elara knew it was an act; he always lingered, then chuckled and moved on without buying anything.
"Window shopping is free therapy!" he joked, and Elara rolled her eyes.
They eventually paused at a small café tucked into a corner, where the rich scent of roasted coffee beans spilled into the air. Elara ordered an iced caramel latte while her dad settled for black coffee. They sat at a table by the glass wall, watching people move past on the other side.
For a while, the silence between them was easy. Elara swirled the ice in her drink, watching caramel ribbons twist and fade.
Her father leaned back, sipping his coffee with exaggerated satisfaction. "This?" he said with mock grandeur, "is what weekends are made for."
She chuckled. "You say that every weekend."
"Because it's true every weekend!"
Elara smiled into her cup. She didn't admit it out loud, but she liked moments like this. Her dad wasn't a man of extravagant gifts or surprises, but he always made time, dinners together, long walks, silly jokes. Even now, when she was almost grown, he still tried to keep these small traditions alive.
She wondered if that's why he gave her the old watch. Something about him today felt… heavier. Like he was holding words he wasn't ready to say.
Her eyes wandered to the glass wall beside them. For a split second, she thought she saw a faint line shimmer across the sky outside, like a hairline crack spreading in glass. She blinked hard, and it was gone.
"Something wrong?" her dad asked.
"Nothing.." she replied quickly. "Just zoned out."
He studied her for a moment but let it go.
When they finished their drinks, they strolled further. At a bookstore, Elara lingered longer, her eyes drawn to displays of novels stacked neatly on tables. She picked up a fantasy novel, flipping through the first pages, but her father teased, "Another book? You'll build a library before you graduate."
She hugged it against her chest defensively. "Books don't complain."
He smirked. "Neither do dads."
"Dads nag." she retorted, but her voice was playful.
Eventually, she set the book down, deciding she'd save her allowance. As they left, her father glanced at the watch on his wrist, the new one, shining in the overhead lights. He tapped it absently, his lips pressing together as though in thought.
"Dad?"
He blinked, then smiled. "Nothing. Just… keeping track."
Elara tilted her head, but before she could ask, her father steered her toward the food court.
They settled on ramen. Their bowls steamed, fragrant with soy broth and garlic, and Elara's chopsticks clicked clumsily as she tried to lift noodles without splashing broth everywhere.
"You eat like it's a battle?" her dad said, laughing when she dropped half her noodles back into the bowl.
"Not my fault they're slippery!" she mumbled, cheeks puffed with noodles.
His laughter was warm, filling the air around them, and for a while, it felt like the world was as simple as broth and steam and shared smiles.
After they finished eating, they walked again, this time slower. Elara's stomach was full, and her steps dragged just a little. Her father seemed thoughtful, hands tucked into his pockets.
They passed by a stall selling trinkets and charms. little glass pendants, handmade bracelets, keychains with dangling stars. Elara paused, reaching out to run her fingers over a charm shaped like a crescent moon.
Her father noticed. "Do you want it?"
She shook her head. "It's fine. I don't really need it."
But he picked it up anyway, paid the vendor, and pressed it into her palm. "Then consider it a memory. Of today."
She stared at it, at the way the little glass crescent caught the light, and felt her throat tighten unexpectedly. "…Thanks."
His smile was soft, almost sad, though she couldn't understand why.
————— . . .
By the time they circled back toward the main atrium, hours had slipped by. The mall lights glowed a little warmer now, the crowd thinning as afternoon approached. Elara checked her phone, barely past one o'clock.
Her dad stopped, looking up toward the glass ceiling of the atrium. Sunlight filtered through, painting the floor in pale patterns. He inhaled deeply, as if memorizing the moment, then looked at Elara.
"You know." he said, "days like this don't last forever."
She tilted her head. "That's dramatic."
"Maybe." he admitted, smiling faintly. "But it's true. That's why time…" He glanced at her wrist, where she'd tucked the old watch into her bag. "…time is always important."
"ughh.. stop staying cringey stuff!" Elara complained, earning a laugh from her dad.
When they finally stepped out of the mall's glass doors, the first thing Elara noticed wasn't the warmth of the afternoon sun, but the color of the sky.
It was red.
Red?..
Not the gentle streaks of sunset, not the orange-pink that usually painted the horizon. It was only one o'clock. Yet above them stretched a haze of crimson, bleeding across the clouds in unnatural shades.
Her father frowned and pulled out his phone. The screen glowed: 1:07 PM.
"That's strange?.." he muttered. "It shouldn't be like this."
Elara shaded her eyes, squinting upward. "I don't know.. it shouldn't be this dark when it's only past noon."
But even as she said it, she didn't believe it. The red wasn't.. something normal. It wasn't natural. It was too even, too complete, swallowing the blue as if someone had poured ink across a canvas.
Around them, others noticed too. People slowed, tilting their heads upward. Some gasped. Some raised their phones, recording. A chorus of murmurs filled the mall's open plaza.
And then—
Crack.
Elara froze.
The sound was faint at first, like a branch snapping in the distance. Then another. Crack… crack… Louder this time, echoing from above.
Her heart skipped. Slowly, against her better judgment, she looked back.
The sky was splitting.
Thin white fissures spread across the heavens like fractures in glass. The red deepened behind them, glowing as if a great fire burned just beyond the cracks.
"What… what is that?" someone whispered.
A teenager near them laughed nervously, phone held high. "Yo, this is wild!"
Her father exhaled sharply, shaking his head. "Kids these days…"
Elara tugged at his sleeve. "Dad, we should go.. I'm really tired."
But then it happened.
His dad was about to answer but.. he choked and blood poured out of his mouth. His eyes completely white.
Elara flinched. "Dad?.."
Her father swayed on his feet, his mouth moving with the rhythm of the crowd. His voice was no longer his own, it was deep, guttural, and ancient, like something that had borrowed his body just to sing.
"Lo, thy hour hath come… let the heavens sunder… let the frail bow beneath the weight of glory."
Elara's chest tightened. She tugged at his sleeve, her voice breaking.
"Dad! Stop it! Please, what's happening to you?!"
He did not answer. He did not even look at her.
Around them, dozens- no, hundreds of others had joined in the chant. Outside of the mall.. Shoppers, vendors, children, old men. Some bled from their eyes, their ears, their mouths, but they did not falter. Their voices only grew louder, shaking the very bones of the mall.
"Thy flesh shall be offered… thy blood shall be spilt… and from thy ruin shall the world be remade!"
Elara clapped her hands over her ears, tears stinging her eyes, but still the words forced themselves inside. The sound was in her mind now, vibrating against her skull.
The chanting surged toward its climax.
"O Mighty Glory! Come forth!"
One voice.
"O Mighty Glory! Come forth!"
Dozens.
"O Mighty Glory! Come forth!"
Hundreds.
The ground trembled beneath Elara's feet. Dust drifted down from the rafters as the ceiling groaned. She stumbled, trying to pull her father away, but he was rooted to the spot, his body trembling, his lips moving still.
"O Mighty Glory! Come forth!"
Four.
The air grew heavy, pressing down on her chest. Breathing became harder, shallower. The wristwatch on her arm ticked sharply, louder than it should have, as if time itself was gasping for breath.
"O Mighty Glory! Come forth!"
Five.
The cracks above widened. A jagged piece of the sky peeled away, revealing not blue, not clouds, but a writhing void. Shapes moved there, crawling, shifting, like shadows given form.
"O Mighty Glory! Come forth!"
Six.
Elara screamed, but her voice was lost. She shook her father harder, her hands slippery with the blood that seeped from his ears. His eyes rolled upward, pupils swallowed by white.
And then—
The seventh cry split the air.
"O MIGHTY GLORY! COME FORTH!"
The sky shattered.
With a sound like a million bells breaking at once, the heavens fell apart. Light poured through the cracks, a brilliance too sharp to look at, yet behind it seethed a darkness so vast it made Elara's stomach twist.
The ceiling of the mall burst open in a rain of dust and debris, exposing the yawning rupture above. Through it, things began to fall.
Not something normal..
Monsters.
Their bodies writhed as if stitched from shadow and bone, their limbs too long, their faces stretched and wrong. Their screams were not their own but echoed voices of the chant, still repeating faintly even as they descended.
"Dad!" Elara sobbed, clutching him desperately as one of the smaller beasts crashed into the plaza fountain, shattering it in a spray of stone and water. Shoppers scattered, shrieking. Others still chanted, even as claws tore into them.
Her father didn't move. Didn't fight. Didn't even blink. He just whispered, lips stained red:
"Glory… Glory is here…"
The mall was no longer a place of weekend laughter and idle shopping. It had become a cage.
The first of the beasts lunged from the ruptured sky, its limbs bending the wrong way as it clawed through the upper floors. Screams erupted, people scattered, but escape was impossible, too many bodies, too many shadows raining down.
Elara's heart pounded so hard it hurt. She dragged her father by the arm, but he stumbled and collapsed onto his knees, his head tilted toward the sky. His lips kept moving, his voice raw, bleeding into the chant like he belonged to them.
"No! Stop!.. Dad, please!" Elara sobbed, shaking him. "We have to run! Please, we have to go!"
But his eyes were unfocused, rolling back, his blood dripping onto the cracked tiles.
Around them, people clawed at each other in panic, some desperately trying to flee, others too lost in the chant to move. Children wailed, phones clattered to the floor, and in the chaos, more beasts crashed into the plaza, each one larger, darker, more grotesque than the last.
The chant still thundered, broken voices calling in unison:
"Thy gates are broken! Thy time is nigh! Let this frail world be undone!"
Elara clutched her father tighter. He was shivering now, every word torn out of his throat like it wasn't his own. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder, trying to drown out the sound, trying to make him hers again.
"Dad, wake up! Please, I'm begging you!"
A shadow swept over her.
Her body froze. Slowly, trembling, she turned her head.
Behind her stood a monster. Not like the others.. bigger. Towering. Its body was shrouded in blackened smoke, its claws glistening like molten glass. The air around it warped, and with each step, the tiles beneath its feet cracked and burned.
Elara's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't scream. She couldn't even move.
The monster loomed closer, its head tilting in a sickening, unnatural motion, and then..
A wet, tearing sound.
Elara blinked, confused. Her face was splattered with warmth. She turned, slow, too slow, and saw it-
Her father's head, pierced clean through by the beast's claw.
Her stomach dropped into nothing.
"D…Dad?"
The word was small, broken. She reached for him, her hands trembling, her vision swimming. His body sagged, his blood spilling down her arms. His eyes fluttered, and for the briefest moment, clarity flickered there, her dad's real eyes, not the glazed ones of the chanting puppet.
"El…ara?.." he rasped, blood bubbling at his lips.
Her knees gave way. She clung to him desperately, shaking, shaking, her sobs spilling out raw and jagged.
"No! No, no, no!.. you can't! You can't leave me like this! Dad, I-I didn't even… I never told you- I was just embarrassed! I didn't want you to treat me like a little kid but.. but I…" Her words dissolved into choked cries. "You're all I have! Please, please, I don't care anymore, just stay! Just stay with me!!"
The mall around them dissolved into carnage—screams, breaking glass, collapsing walls- but Elara didn't hear it. Her whole world had shrunk to her father's fading breaths and the blood soaking her hands.
The monster still loomed above them, silent, waiting.
Her father's fingers twitched weakly, brushing against her wrist where the cracked old watch clung. His lips parted, barely audible.
"…R-Run…"
Elara's chest cracked open with grief. She screamed until her throat tore, clutching him tighter, shaking as if she could rattle life back into his body. Her tears mixed with his blood, her vision burning red.
Then—
The monster's claw pierced through her leg.
Her scream ripped through the chaos. She collapsed forward, trembling, pain flooding her nerves like fire. She reached down instinctively, but the beast struck again, its claw spearing through her arm, through the wristwatch.
A sharp crack echoed. Not from bone.
From the watch.
Elara's vision blurred as blood poured freely from her wounds. Her heart thundered, her breaths shallow, ragged. She looked down at the ruined watch, her thoughts spiraling, slipping into darkness.
And then, somehow… she laughed. A broken, gasping sound.
Her gaze lifted toward the fractured sky, her lips trembling.
What a beautiful sight.
"The sky… looks beautiful…"
Her voice cracked, her body trembling. Her tears spilled as her chest tightened, her vision dimming. The last thing she felt was the monster's claw piercing straight through her chest.
But before the darkness swallowed her, the watch on her wrist glowed.
The crack sealed.
The blood.. her blood, flowing across the tiles shivered, then rose, pulled backward, stitching itself into her wounds. Her body convulsed as if rejecting death itself.
The monster reeled back, its claw withdrawing in confusion.
Elara's body slumped onto the ground, still and unmoving, but not cold.
The watch ticked once. Loud. Clear.
Time was not finished with her yet.
As it says, time is always important after all.