The streets of the City of Tomorrow split apart.
Silver fractures raced across the marble like lightning.
The three Time Hunters advanced without haste.
Each step distorted the air around them.
Their white masks reflected no emotion.
Only endless silence.
The leader raised a hand.
> "Return the Memory Prism."
Elias stood his ground.
"No."
> "It does not belong to this era."
"It belongs to hope."
The Time Hunter lowered its head.
> "Hope is unpredictable."
> "History requires certainty."
Zayden stepped beside Elias.
"History belongs to the people living it."
The Hunter turned toward him.
> "Incorrect."
> "History belongs to survival."
The silver key in Zayden's hand pulsed.
Brighter.
Warmer.
Almost as if it disagreed.
---
Without warning...
The nearest Hunter vanished.
A heartbeat later...
It appeared directly behind Zayden.
Aria reacted instantly.
She pulled him aside.
A blade of frozen light cut through the space where he had been standing.
The marble street silently disappeared.
Not shattered.
Erased.
Captain Lyra leaped forward.
Her crystal spear flashed like a bolt of blue lightning.
The spear struck the Hunter's shoulder.
For the first time...
The Hunter staggered.
"It can be harmed!" Lyra shouted.
The remaining Hunters turned toward her.
Three silver circles appeared beneath their feet.
Time slowed.
Lyra's movements became heavy.
Her spear froze halfway through its next strike.
She gritted her teeth.
"I... can't move..."
The Keeper lifted his hand.
Silver light erupted around Lyra, breaking the temporal field.
She stumbled backward, breathing hard.
"They manipulate time itself," he warned.
"Don't fight them alone."
---
Elias looked at Zayden.
"They're not trying to kill us."
"They're trying to erase the future we came from."
Zayden frowned.
"Why?"
"Because the future created by free choice cannot be predicted."
The Null King stepped forward.
A black wave of Null energy swept toward the Hunters.
Instead of erasing them...
The energy passed straight through.
The Hunters remained untouched.
The Null King narrowed his eyes.
"They exist outside my authority."
Aster spoke quietly.
"They aren't born from the Layers."
"They're guardians of time itself."
---
The City trembled again.
A distant tower dissolved into glittering light.
Thirty minutes remained.
The leader of the Hunters spoke once more.
> "This city must vanish."
> "The letter must never be delivered."
> "The Memory Prism must never exist."
Zayden clenched the crystal tighter.
"No."
The Hunter tilted its head.
> "Then history will choose another path."
The three Hunters raised their hands together.
The sky above the city cracked open.
A colossal hourglass descended from the white horizon.
Golden sand flowed upward instead of down.
Aster's expression changed.
"The Hourglass of Ages..."
Elysia whispered,
"I thought it was only a legend."
"It was."
Aster answered.
"Until today."
Every grain of sand that reached the top caused another building to fade away.
The City of Tomorrow was being erased.
Not by force.
By time correcting itself.
---
Elias turned urgently to Zayden.
"There's only one way to save the Memory Prism."
"What?"
"You have to trust me."
Without waiting for an answer, Elias removed his silver compass.
He placed it beside Zayden's glowing key.
The two relics floated into the air.
Silver threads burst from both, weaving together into a radiant circle.
The Hunters stopped moving.
For the first time...
They seemed uncertain.
The leader whispered,
> "Impossible..."
> "The Twin Relics have reunited."
The circle of light expanded across the city.
Every fading building became solid again.
The hourglass above the sky cracked.
A single grain of golden sand drifted down.
It landed in Zayden's palm.
The moment it touched his skin...
He heard a distant voice.
Not Elias.
Not Aster.
Not the Keeper.
His own.
Older.
Calmer.
Stronger.
> "When the time comes... trust the girl beneath the silver tree."
The voice faded.
The grain of sand became a tiny golden star.
Before Zayden could ask what it meant...
The entire City of Tomorrow shook violently.
The white horizon shattered like glass.
Something immense was forcing its way into the city from beyond time.
The Time Hunters looked up.
For the first time...
Fear spread through their ranks.
The leader whispered a single name.
> "The Chronophage..."
The sky tore open.
A colossal shadow emerged.
It wasn't hunting worlds.
It hunted time itself.
---