THE BLACK THORN CODEX
Episode 50 — Fractures in Time
As they flew over Marseille, the sea seemed to boil slightly, a sign that the border between Selerion and Earth was no longer completely sealed. The Codex vibrated, projecting warning runes:
> "The balance is fragile. Past and present intertwine. The heroes have returned... but the real challenge begins now."
The two heroes looked at each other, aware that their journey through time was not over. Each victory had left its mark, each power used had created cracks. And Selerion, though temporarily defeated, was already preparing his revenge in their time.
November 17, 2023 — 4:10 PM
Marseille seemed identical to what it had been before they left, but every detail betrayed a subtle alteration. The streets were slightly distorted, shadows behaved strangely, and the townspeople sometimes acted like imperfect copies of their true selves. The heroes sensed that Selerion had left a temporal imprint on the city.
"Every movement in the city is influenced…" Leander murmured, watching a passerby disappear and reappear in a heartbeat.
"This isn't just our time anymore. It's a zone where time bends and tears," Clarisse replied.
The Codex reacted to the anomalies, projecting floating runes around them. The symbols changed every second, revealing active temporal fractures, points where the past and future collided.
An echo of the past rippled through the main street: an explosion, the crash of battle, and dark figures emerging from a breach. Leander and Clarisse understood immediately: Selerion's sorcerers had begun to infiltrate the present.
"We must stop them before they consolidate their powers here," said Clarisse.
"But we don't yet know all their capabilities..." added Léandre.
The first sorcerers appeared: masters of teleportation and fire, capable of making building facades explode like paper.
Clarisse used lightning + ice + appear/disappear, neutralizing their attacks before they hit the ground.
Léandre combined volcano + electrocution, creating force fields that trapped the attackers.
Borax, still fused, allowed them to anticipate enemy movements and retaliate simultaneously on several fronts.
Each battle was a choreography, a ballet where fire, ice, lightning, and teleportation mingled in a deadly spectacle.
As they progressed, a major anomaly appeared: an unstable fracture above the old port, projecting images of Marseille in 1945, Selerion, and visions of the abyssal cavern. More powerful sorcerers, having absorbed the energy of the past, emerged, threatening to engulf the heroes.
"Every fracture is a trap," warned Borax.
"We must stabilize these points and understand how Selerion infiltrates here," said Clarisse.
After several confrontations, they discovered that the sorcerers could use the temporal fragments as portals to appear and disappear instantly, but the Codex reacted by translating their patterns and suggesting precise counterattacks.
Leander used a combination of mental and elemental powers, manipulating water and fire to create temporal mirrors that deceived the sorcerers.
Clarisse amplified her attacks with explosions and lightning, disrupting the very structure of the unstable portals.
For the first time, they were able to partially stabilize a fracture, closing a breach that threatened to suck in an entire neighborhood. The runes of the Codex glowed intensely, as if to congratulate them, but Selerion's invisible guardian still watched, preparing for his next test.
"This is only the beginning..." Clarisse murmured.
"We must learn to read time, or Selerion will never leave us in peace," Leander replied.
As they prepared to advance toward the next fracture, a new supernatural energy manifested in the sky: a signal from Selerion, announcing that their return to the present was not complete and that new, more powerful enemies were already on the way.
The heroes exchanged a glance, aware that the battle to protect Marseille in this era had truly begun.