The cave was silent except for the faint crackle of the fire and the rhythmic dripping of water from stalactites above. Ron sat cross-legged on a rough mat, his body still aching, his Chronox dimly pulsing at his wrist. Across from him, Azel — the old man who called himself the Keeper of Forgotten Hours — regarded him with eyes that seemed to hold centuries.
Ron finally broke the silence.
"Why did you save me? Who are you really?"
Azel's lips curled into a faint smile. "Not save, boy. Merely delayed what fate already wants to claim. As for who I am — once, I was a scholar of the Chronoverse, perhaps the last one who still remembers its design. And Ron... you are the one who will reshape the fate of Chronoverse ! "
Ron frowned. "Chronoverse? All this talk of zones and timelines… I don't understand. Sara, Seraphin, the Null Walkers — it's all been happening too fast."
The old man leaned closer, placing a hand near the flames. "Then let me slow time for you. Listen well."
---
The History of the Chronoverse
Azel drew a circle into the dust of the cave floor, then another overlapping it, and then a third, forming a chain of three interlinked rings.
"The Chronoverse," Azel began, "is the weave of existence itself. Each of us does not simply live in one timeline, Ron. There are three interconnected verses of every reality: Past, Present, and Future. Think of them as three threads woven into a braid. For reality to hold, all three must align."
Ron stared at the rings. "So… if I do something in the Present, it also… echoes in the other two?"
Azel nodded. "Yes. But here lies the danger — change one, and the braid frays. To rewrite destiny completely, you must alter it across all three verses. Fail to do so, and the Chronoverse rejects the change, snapping reality back into ruin."
He tapped the outer rings with his finger. "The Null Walkers knew this. Ten years from your timeline, they rose from the ashes of a forgotten war. They stumbled upon the Chrono Zones — bridges between verses. Instead of respecting the flow, they did what men of greed always do: they conquered. One by one, zones fell into their grasp. And then, they learned a terrible truth."
---
Future Ron
Azel's gaze hardened. "In one parallel zone, far from your own, you, Ron, grew into something more. You decoded a creation of mine — the Heart Code — and used it to shatter the Null Walkers' dominion. You brought the Chronoverse back into balance."
Ron's breath caught. "…Me? I did that? I can barely survive school fights, let alone destroy an empire!"
"You did," Azel said firmly. "But when the Null Walkers discovered it, they rewrote history. They erased the Future Ron who was their undoing. They murdered your past self as well. Now, only the Ron of the Present Verse remains — you. If you fall, there will be no braid left to bind this reality. The Chronoverse will collapse, and all zones will belong to them."
Ron clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. "So… I'm the last one?"
"Yes," Azel whispered. "The last anchor of your existence."
---
The Truth About Sara
Ron swallowed hard, his chest heavy. "But… Sara. She—she died because of me."
Azel's expression softened. "Not because of you. Because of love."
Ron looked up sharply.
"Sara," Azel continued, "was not an ordinary girl. She carried a rare gift — the Vision Veil. The ability to glimpse slivers of futures yet to come. When the Null Walkers' strike was meant for your heart, she foresaw it. And in a single act of sacrifice, she switched herself across parallel strands. She took the blow you were destined to receive. That is why you still breathe."
Ron's eyes burned. His voice cracked. "She knew? She knew and still—still smiled, still laughed, still looked after me—"
"She believed in you," Azel said gently. "Because she saw something even I did not. She saw that if you unlock the Heart Code, there is a path — one where she lives again."
Ron's head snapped up, hope crashing into his grief like a storm. "I can… bring her back?"
"If you master the Code," Azel replied, his tone both solemn and firm. "But know this: the Null Walkers will stop at nothing to prevent it. For the Heart Code is not just a weapon. It is the pulse of time itself."
---
The Heart Code
Azel stood, his robes brushing the stone floor as he moved to the back of the cave. From a hidden alcove, he drew a small crystal sphere. Within it, gears and fragments of light turned endlessly, patterns appearing and vanishing as though alive.
He set it before Ron.
"The Heart Code is my creation. A living algorithm forged from the Greenwich Clock, able to rewrite the flow of time itself. It is a device that bridges the three verses of the Chronoverse. But it cannot be wielded by force. It must be decoded by an Algorithm Key — and the only mind capable of that, as countless verses have proven… is yours."
The Chronox on Ron's wrist pulsed, responding to the sphere. His skin prickled with energy.
"Why me?" he whispered.
Azel's eyes gleamed. "Because you are the anomaly. Across all possible zones, your heart is what resists deletion. The Heart Code recognizes this anomaly and binds to you. You alone can awaken its full sequence."
---
Ron's Resolve
Ron stared at the sphere, his reflection warped in its shifting light. All his doubts clawed at him — his weakness, his failures, Sara's death. And yet, beneath it all, a fire sparked.
He remembered his promise. The day will come when I save you, Sara.
He lifted his gaze to Azel. His voice was low, but steady. "Then teach me. Train me. If decoding this Heart Code can save her — if it can stop the Null Walkers — I'll do it. I don't care how broken I am. I'll learn."
Azel studied him for a long, silent moment. Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Very well. From this night forward, you are my disciple. You will learn to harness the Chronox, to read the pulses of time, to bend moments into weapons. But beware — power without clarity is poison. If you let grief consume you, the Heart Code will reject you. Do you still accept?"
Ron clenched his steel arm and met his gaze with burning eyes. "Yes."
The fire flared higher, shadows dancing along the cave walls as if time itself had shifted.
And so, beneath the ruins of Prime Rift, the last Ron of the Present Verse began his training under the Keeper of Forgotten Hours.
To be continued…
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