Inside the Clock Tower, the familiar maze of rooms stretched endlessly… yet one stood out.
A sealed chamber, its door marked with the emblem of the Research Center—an elegant white bird clutching a rolled parchment, encircled by stars glowing against a midnight sky.
Lucian's father pressed a sequence of digits on the electronic lock. With a faint click, the door opened, and the two descended a spiral staircase, step by step, until the narrow passage gave way to something far greater.
Lucian froze, his breath stolen.
Beneath the tower stretched a hidden world—a vast underground city, humming with machinery and alive with scientists moving through gleaming corridors.
His father's voice was calm, almost detached:
"This is Laboratory CT-333… though some prefer to call it the Scientific City."
(CT—Clock Tower. The secret beneath the clock's face.)
Lucian trailed after him, his eyes darting from corner to corner—the endless halls, the sealed doors, the sterile lights. It was so immense, he thought a person could vanish in here forever.
Then, without warning, his father stopped before a wall etched with faded inscriptions—records of history carved into steel.
"This place was founded for one purpose—pushing the limits of science, piercing the boundaries of time itself. I never understood why Mirwan's council demanded it… but—"
"Father!" Lucian cut him off, his voice trembling.
"Do you know a girl named Lisa?"
His father's reply was ice-cold.
"Do you mean… subject L-33?"
Lucian's blood ran cold. He staggered back a step.
"W-what do you mean by experiment L-33?"
His father turned away, refusing his gaze.
"I'm sorry. That knowledge isn't for your age… nor is it meant to be spoken aloud. It is strictly classified."
He resumed walking, voice steady as if nothing had changed.
"Nineteen years ago, the project began under the leadership of Professor Fornasus Saher. The dream was to create a scientific city dedicated to testing speed, gravity, and beyond. But after Fornasus's death, the work shifted—"
But Lucian wasn't listening anymore.
His eyes had caught something.
On the far wall, barely illuminated, a corroded metal plate read:
SECTION L-33 – DO NOT APPROACH
Lucian's chest tightened. His instincts screamed.
Without thinking, he slipped away from his father, hugging the shadows, weaving past the dim surveillance lights like a phantom.
He reached a fogged window, pressed his palms against the cold glass, and peered inside.
And there she was.
Lisa.
Lying motionless on a medical bed. Wires threaded into her frail arms and chest, her small frame swallowed by a web of machines. A pale blue light washed over her face, making her look less like a girl and more like a sleeping princess trapped in a cursed coffin of time.
Lucian's heart hammered. His breath came ragged.
"Lisa… what have they done to you?"
Lara's laughter rang through the chamber, sharp and manic, echoing like broken glass.
"At last… the Zero-M solution is complete!"
She flipped open the pocket watch, slipping a magnifying lens into place. Her hands worked feverishly, almost trembling with excitement.
Lucian's eyes darted to the chalkboard nearby. Written in bold, glaring numbers:
[Success Rate: 12.8%]
[Margin of Error: 87.2%]
But what made his blood freeze was Lisa.
Despite the blinding light flooding the room, she squinted, straining past the haze—her eyes caught those very words.
Fear jolted through her like lightning.
She tore the wires from her arms with trembling hands, pain shooting through her body.
"I don't want to die… I don't want to die…" The words spilled from her lips like a broken prayer as she stumbled toward the door.
And then—she saw him.
Lucian.
Her eyes widened, trembling.
"What are you doing here?"
Before he could answer, a furious voice split the air:
"You two! Stop right there!!"
A researcher. His shadow loomed like a predator.
Lucian grabbed Lisa's hand—but she staggered, legs refusing to obey.
The wires had left a curse of paralysis behind.
Her eyes brimmed with terror.
"M-my legs… I can't move…"
There was no time to think.
Lucian bent down, sliding one arm beneath her back, the other under her frail knees.
He lifted her—his small frame shaking violently under the weight, but his resolve unshakable.
He ran.
The corridor stretched before them like a living nightmare.
Warning lights bathed the walls in red, alarms wailed, and the researcher's footsteps thundered behind like a raging beast.
Lucian's breaths came in ragged clouds, the icy lab air cutting his lungs.
His heart pounded like a war drum, urging him onward.
Lisa clung to his neck, tears spilling hot against his shoulder.
Her whisper was broken, desperate:
"Leave me… You can't carry us both…"
But Lucian only clenched his jaw, shaking his head. His voice was steel.
"Never."
Behind them, the lab roared awake—sirens howled, metal groaned, the very air pulsed with urgency.
In Lisa's pale face, he saw everything he had fought for, every reason he had crossed the boundary of time.
"I won't let you die again!" he swore, his voice burning inside his chest.
Ahead—the exit shimmered, a fragile star in a sea of darkness.
But the steel doors began sliding shut, grinding down like the jaws of some monstrous machine.
He pushed harder, legs screaming, vision blurring.
And at the final heartbeat—Lucian hurled himself through the narrowing gap.
The metal teeth snapped shut behind him with a deafening clang.
They tumbled to the cold ground outside the chamber.
Lisa struggled to push herself up with trembling arms, her face streaked with tears.
She crawled closer, her sobs falling like molten glass onto Lucian's cheeks.
The boy lay beneath her, chest heaving, his own eyes burning with grief too heavy for someone his age.
Lucian's chest heaved, every breath burning in his lungs.
The steel doors groaned open again.
He tried to stand, but his legs gave out.
Beside him, Lisa collapsed as well—her frail body surrendering, face buried against his chest in hopeless resignation.
The scientist closed in, hand outstretched to seize them—
THUD!
He dropped to the floor, struck down with brutal force.
Behind him stood Lucian's father, his voice steady, resolute:
"I came to save you."
Relief surged through Lucian—but it lasted only a second.
Because he felt it… a cold presence at the back of his head.
Lara.
Her shadow loomed above them, a pistol leveled at his father.
Her whisper cut the air like a blade:
"To break death… you must first break time."
Her tone shifted, sharper, more deranged:
"And when you steal my models—then I must break you."
Lucian, fury blazing in his chest, shouted:
"What meaning is there in experiments this cursed—on your own daughter?!"
BANG!
A bullet tore into the wall inches from his head.
Lara hissed through clenched teeth:
"Quiet… don't open your mouth."
But Lucian refused to stay silent.
"You're stealing your child's soul!"
Her reply was ice:
"This isn't the first time someone's died in my hands. Lisa has survived four time-break trials. She won't die."
Lucian's father's voice cracked with restrained rage:
"That's nothing but luck. No experiment succeeds forever. I hate this work…" he glared at her, voice low and bitter, "…because I live in a madhouse, built by this city."
Her eyes flared.
"Who do you call insane, fool?!"
Before she could fire again—
CRASH!
Uncle Rafed lunged in, knocking her arm aside. The bullet screamed into the ceiling.
"Brother—take the kids! Get them out before it's too late!"
Lucian swayed, vision swimming, his body breaking from exhaustion.
Lisa, half-conscious, lifted her eyes toward her mother for one last time, whispering through tears:
"I love you, Mama… despite everything…"
Rafed struggled, deflecting her strikes. She fought like a trained killer, every blow sharp, controlled.
But then—she froze.
Her expression shifted, first wide-eyed, then twisting into laughter.
Manic, chilling laughter.
"Hahaha… it seems I forgot something in Section L-33."
Rafed's blood ran cold.
"What do you mean…?"
BOOOOM!
The ground convulsed, flames roared upward as the wooden beams beneath them ignited.
Lara's voice rang out, wild, unhinged:
"I left the demolition timer running—twenty-three minutes if anyone escaped my grasp! I'll erase this tower… and my legacy with it!"
She tore free, sprinting into the depths of CT-333, vanishing like a phantom running toward her own death.
Rafed staggered back, whispering to himself through clenched teeth:
"Damn it all… I have to get out before this whole tower buries me alive."
Outside, Lucian's father stared up at the inferno as flames devoured the Clock Tower, its upper levels crumbling like brittle bones.
Through the chaos, he caught sight of his brother emerging, coughing, battered but alive.
"Are you all right?" his father asked calmly.
Rafed nodded, though anger burned in his voice:
"She blew the tower apart… and ran back inside the lab. I couldn't stop her. I still can't believe a director could be that insane."
***
After the flames were finally subdued and the chaos ended, Lucian's father and Uncle Rafed sat among the smoldering ruins of the Clock Tower.
Smoke curled around them, carrying the scent of a past burned away.
Lucian's father stared down at his soot-stained hands.
"All these years… we hid behind these walls. But the truth was always stronger than us."
Rafed shook his head with quiet sorrow.
"Lara wasn't always a monster… she once dreamed of making the world better. But madness devoured her heart."
His brother laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Now we have a chance to build something new… starting with those two children."
The next morning, Lucian awoke to warm sunlight spilling through his window.
For a moment, he wondered if everything had been just a dream—until he heard a familiar laugh drifting from the kitchen.
Lisa's laugh.
He hurried downstairs, only to find her sitting at the breakfast table, wearing a simple blue dress, giggling like any ordinary girl.
She looked up and teased him:
"Finally awake! I was about to eat all the pancakes myself!"
His father entered carrying a plate of fruit, a smile tugging at his lips.
"My new daughter… isn't she wonderful?"
Then he glanced at Lucian with a deep, knowing look:
"I told her everything—about the tower, about Lara… about how she's part of our family now. Because I took her in."
Lucian's eyes met Lisa's.
A laugh broke from his chest, but his heart whispered:
"At last… she won't die. I did it… I saved her."
He ran forward, hugging her tight, tears breaking free.
"I'm so glad you're safe!"
But his father's dry voice cut in unexpectedly:
"I should remind you… she's technically your half-sister."
Lucian froze, stumbling back as the whole room burst into laughter.
Lisa laughed too—genuine, joyful.
Yet it wasn't easy for her.
Some nights, she would wake screaming: "Mom! Don't leave me!"
And every time, Lucian would rush into her room, hold her trembling hand, and whisper:
"You're safe now… I'm here."
He would sit beside her until sleep claimed her again, before quietly returning to his own room.
Two years later, Lucian and Lisa stood together in the Forest of Shaded Light.
The field of white flowers swayed gently in the spring breeze, cleansed by time and fire alike.
Lisa lifted her eyes to the sky.
"I miss you, Mom… Despite everything, I know you loved me in your own way."
Lucian touched her shoulder softly.
"Love doesn't die… even when the hands that carry it falter."
He clasped her hand, and they ran together through the sea of flowers—her long hair streaming behind her, their laughter echoing with the song of the birds.
"I'll stay by your side, always—forever!" Lucian shouted.
Lisa answered not with words, but with a silent look of gratitude… a look that said: "You're the reason my life goes on."
When they finally returned home, Lisa's eyes drifted to a wall clock.
Its hands pointed to 03:34.
A smile touched her lips—for reasons she couldn't explain.
But in her heart… lived memories she didn't need to remember.