The silence between Eron and the Time Warden lasted a while after those terrible words. The warning kept echoing in his mind. You cannot go back. Over and over. Each time it sank deeper.
The truth hit him hard. His world was gone. His job, his girlfriend Sarah, his small apartment with the leaky faucet he kept meaning to fix. The weekend hikes that cleared his head. All of it had vanished without warning, no chance to say goodbye, no last look at anything he cared about. Rage flared in his chest, hot and sharp. He wanted to scream, wanted to smash his fists into the glowing walls until his knuckles bled and the pain drowned out everything else.
But the Warden just stood there. Silent. Unmoving. Like part of the cave itself.
Eron's anger drained away, leaving only weakness behind. His breathing turned rough and uneven. Legs shook under his weight. He pressed a hand against the wall to steady himself. His chest tightened until every breath hurt. Hands curled into fists at his sides. His mind clung to memories, Sarah's smile when he came home late from work, the smell of morning coffee in their tiny kitchen, the quiet hikes on familiar trails that always felt safe. For a moment, he saw it all so clearly he forgot where he was.
His throat went dry. Vision blurred at the edges. A single tear slid down his cheek before he could stop it. The cave went quiet again. Even the glow on the walls had faded. Only the sound of his breathing remained.
Then the Warden spoke, breaking the silence. "Come. There is one gate left."
Eron flinched. Turned his head slowly. The Warden's lantern glowed softly in the dim light, steady and calm. He hesitated, looked back over his shoulder, but there was no path anymore. No faint light marking an exit. Just the long stretch of darkness behind him. Took a step back, then stopped. Hands trembling at his sides. Felt trapped. Hopeless.
What choice do I have?
He moved forward, slow and uncertain. Didn't follow out of trust, followed because there was nowhere else to go. Each step echoed behind the Warden, heavy and deliberate, too loud in his ears. Like footsteps dragging him further from the life he once knew.
The tunnel around them started changing. At first, he didn't notice. But after a few steps, the rough stone beneath his boots felt different. Smoother. Less uneven. Looking down, he saw the surface had changed, polished, almost like marble now. The walls too, no longer jagged and natural but smooth and carved with purpose. The glowing moss faded one patch at a time. The walls themselves gave off a faint light instead, pale and steady.
The air warmed. Pressure in his chest eased. For the first time since entering the cave, he could breathe freely again. He slowed, eyes widening as he looked around. The change surprised him. Left wall stayed smooth and pale, but the right began shifting. Stone turned to brick, uneven and old, each one glowing faintly. As they walked, the shapes kept changing, stone became brick, then stone again, like the tunnel couldn't decide what it wanted to be.
"What in the world is this," he whispered.
The Warden's voice broke through his thoughts, deep and cold, echoing off the walls. "The Time Tunnel is breaking. My duty ends here. But you, you still breathe, still bound to the river of time. The final gate leads to another realm, a place where the rules of your world no longer apply." Every word sank into Eron's mind, heavy and hard to process. "You can live there, not as a hero, not as a chosen one, but as someone who crossed the line."
The Warden slowed. Tunnel widened ahead. Air felt different, lighter, warmer. Eron's steps slowed too. Then they emerged into a wide chamber.
Ceiling arched high above them, shaped like a dome. At its center hung a massive clock with golden hands moving in slow, deliberate turns. Marble walls and floor reflected a pale glow that filled the space. A quiet hum hung in the air, constant and almost soothing.
Five doors stood evenly spaced along the chamber walls, each marked with a different symbol, sun, moon, flame, crystal, storm. Four were closed, dark and silent. Only one stood open, pouring out faint white light that rippled like mist. It moved and breathed like something alive.
In the middle of the room stood a round marble table. On it rested an hourglass with sand that glowed faintly and flowed upward instead of down.
Eron stopped and stared. The sight pulled him in. Slow, glowing sand moved like liquid light, alive and almost breathing. Each grain floating upward left a faint trail. Patterns shifted and changed, never the same twice. His pulse slowed. Breathing matched the rhythm of the sand. The longer he watched, the heavier his limbs felt, like his body was draining with every passing second.
"Don't look." The Warden's voice cut through the air, calm but sharp. "Staring at the flow will only hasten your own. Time here feeds on attention. The longer you watch, the faster you fade."
Eron flinched and tore his gaze away. Chest felt tight, like the air had suddenly grown heavy. He swallowed hard, trying to steady his breath.
The Warden's gaze lingered on him, unblinking behind the golden mask. "You nearly let the Hourglass claim you. Even a few more seconds, and your time would have burned away. You would have aged, withered, turned to dust where you stand."
Eron's hand trembled as he gripped his pack strap. Kept his eyes on the floor now, avoiding the hourglass completely.
The Warden turned toward the marble table. Glow from his lantern mixed with the hourglass light. The open door at the far end pulsed brighter in response, its light spreading across the floor in soft waves. "This chamber marks the crossing point. Beyond that door lies the final gate, the path to another world."
Eron tried to listen, but the Warden's words blurred together. His mind clung to a single truth. There's no going back.
Drew a shaky breath. Voice came out dry and low. "What kind of place is it?"
The Warden didn't answer right away. Faint ticking from the great clock above filled the silence, slow and steady and endless. Finally, he spoke. "A realm of old wars and sorcery. It is not kind. It is not cruel. It simply exists, beyond the reach of your world."
The lantern brightened. Open door answered in kind, its glow spreading outward. Edges sharpened until it became a frame of pure light, flickering with a steady rhythm like a heartbeat. "Beyond this gate, your name means nothing. Your rules hold no weight there. But your choices will still be your own."
Stepped back and lifted the lantern high. Gate shimmered in response. Marble floor trembled softly beneath Eron's boots. Air itself seemed to hold its breath. "Go now. Before this gate seals and leaves you behind."
Eron stopped at the edge. Glowing surface spread before him like a pool of light, reflecting his shape. But the reflection was wrong, blurred, twisted, unfamiliar. A stranger stared back from the light. His hands trembled.
This isn't real. It can't be.
Chest tightened. Knees locked in place. Every instinct screamed at him to turn back. But turn back to what? An empty tunnel? A cave that'd already erased his exit? The pull of fear and disbelief rooted him where he stood.
If I step through, there's no turning back.
But there was nothing behind him either. Just darkness and stone. Glow spilled across his face, sharp and unrelenting. Heat pressed against his skin. Hum of the gate deepened, vibrating in his chest. Vision blurred from the brightness. For a second, he felt the world pulling at him, a faint tug in his stomach, a hum in his bones, like gravity bending in every direction at once.
Shut his eyes. One breath. Then another.
If this is all that's left, I have to move forward.
He stepped through.
Light exploded around him, warm and blinding, swallowing him whole. Body felt weightless for a second, like falling and floating at the same time. Stomach lurched. Ears popped. Heat pressed against his skin from every direction. Then his boots hit solid ground.
Stumbled and blinked, lifting his arm to block the brightness. Real sunlight. After the long darkness of the cave, the light hurt his eyes but touched his skin with actual warmth, not the cold, empty glow of the moss or hourglass.
Behind him, the Warden's voice carried one last time. "This is farewell, human. Try to fit into this world. Accept it. Live while you can."
Eron spun around, but the Warden was already fading. Shape blurred into shadow. Lantern flickered one last time, steady until the very end. Then the gate collapsed inward. Circle of light shrank, folded in on itself, and disappeared. In its place lay only earth and tangled roots, as if no gate had ever been there.
Eron stood alone. Relief, fear, grief. They tangled inside him. Heart pounded hard, caught somewhere between all three. Hands shook at his sides. Couldn't name a single feeling clearly. Minutes passed before he lowered his arm.
Then he saw it.
The world stretched before him, vast and bright and alien. Air smelled sharp and sweet, like rain mixed with something he didn't recognize. Birds with jeweled wings crossed the sky above, their feathers catching the light and scattering faint trails of colored mist behind them. The mist glimmered as it drifted down.
Two suns hung in the sky, one large and golden, the other smaller and pale blue. Both cast overlapping shadows on the ground. From somewhere deep in the forest came a low sound, long and distant, like a horn calling through the trees.
Turning slowly, his breath caught halfway in his throat. Grass beneath his boots shimmered faintly with each step. Flowers swayed nearby, their petals pulsing with soft light. Insects with clear wings drifted past, catching the sunlight like moving shards of glass. The entire forest moved with a calm, steady rhythm that Earth never had.
He stood silent, trying to take it all in. Chest tightened. He was no longer in his world.
For the first time since the nightmare began, a new thought came quietly. Maybe this isn't the end of my story. Maybe this is the start of something new.
Adjusted the straps of his backpack. Glass bottle inside shifted slightly, still glowing faintly. Took a breath, then another. The twin suns hung above him, bright and alien and endless.
Eron took his first steps into the new world.