Chapter 1: The Clock That Ran Backward
In a quiet town where nothing extraordinary ever happened, there lived a boy named Arin. He wasn't special. He wasn't the smartest, the strongest, or the bravest. He was simply invisible.
But on the night of his seventeenth birthday, something impossible happened.
At exactly 11:59 PM, the clock in his room ticked backward.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The air grew cold. The shadows on his walls stretched like fingers. And suddenly, time rewound — but only inside his room.
His shattered mirror reassembled itself.
The water he spilled rose back into the glass.
Even the tear that had fallen from his eye lifted back into it.
And then he heard a whisper:
"You have been chosen to collect what the world has lost."
Before he could scream, the clock stopped at 11:58 PM.
Everything returned to normal.
Except Arin wasn't the same anymore.