Rain tapped against Aria's studio window.
She sat on the floor, the brass watch heavy in her lap.
Wind it when your tears fall.
The golden-eyed boy's words echoed.
She touched her cheek. Wet.
She hadn't even noticed crying.
Her fingers shook as she found the tiny winding key.
One turn.
The watch stayed silent.
Another turn.
Nothing.
Please she whispered into the empty room.
Then
Click.
A sound like a dying heartbeat.
The watch stayed still. No ticking.
But the airport changed
Cold breath brushed her ear.
Aria…
A man's voice. Tired. Broken. Familiar.
She froze. Elias?
Silence.
Then
Run.
---
THE BLEEDING MURAL
The studio wall pulsed.
Her unfinished mural the golden door holding back dark waves
Glowed.
Thick, liquid GOLD oozed from the painted doorframe.
It dripped down the wall.
Pooled on the floorboards.
*Real.* Warm. Humming with power.
Aria scrambled back.
The gold crept toward her bare feet.
The watch in her hand turned ice-cold.
Elias's voice hissed again, frantic:
They're coming! Don't let them see it
---
THE SHADOW IN THE RAIN
Aria grabbed rags. Buckets.
She scrubbed frantically at the dripping gold.
It wouldn't wipe away.
Outside her window:
A tall figure stood in the downpour.
No umbrella. No coat.
Just a man in a dark suit, face hidden in shadow.
Watching her window.
His outline flickered
One second: a Victorian top hat.
Next: a futuristic chrome visor.
Then: a soldier's muddy helmet.
The watch vibrated violently.
Elias's voice cracked like static:
"KEEPERS!"
---
THE OFFER
The doorbell rang.
Ding-dong.
Cheerful. Normal. Terrifying.
Aria peered through the peephole.
The suited man stood there. Rain slid off him like he was made of glass.
His eyes glowed galaxy-blue.
"Miss Thorne," his voice slipped under the door. Smooth. Empty. "We must speak. About the disturbance."
Aria clutched the watch. "Go away!"
A sigh. Almost… sad. "He warned you. Elias always was stubborn."
A pause. "Open the door. Or we erase this building. And everyone inside."
---
THE TRUTH IN A TEACUP
He sat at her kitchen table.
Polite.
Impossible.
A Keeper of Time.
He placed a teacup before her. It filled itself with steaming liquid.
"Drink. It calms the nerves."
Aria didn't touch it. "Where's Elias?"
The Keeper's galaxy-eyes darkened. Gone. Sacrificed. He rewrote Time itself to save you." He nodded at the watch. "That is his tomb. And yours, if you're foolish."
Aria's voice trembled. "Why warn me?"
"Because," the Keeper said softly, "Elias was… beloved. Even by us. We owe him this." He leaned forward. "Destroy the watch. Smash it. Burn it. Let his sacrifice be complete. Live your life. Forget."
He vanished.
The teacup sat full and steaming.
On the table, he'd left one thing:
A hammer.
THE CHOICE AT MIDNIGHT
Aria stood before her mural.
The golden door still bled light onto the floor.
She held the watch in one hand.
The hammer in the other.
Elias's whisper brushed her mind, weak but clear:
I'm so tired, Aria. Let me go.
Tears fell on the silent brass.
Wind it when your tears fall.
She raised the hammer
and brought it down HARD.
NOT ON THE WATCH.
ON THE MURAL.
Plaster exploded. Golden light
ERUPTED, blinding her.
The wall split open
revealing not wood and pipes but a gaslit London street at midnight.
The watch screamed in her hand a sound of pure, shattered joy.
Elias's voice roared, alive and fierce:
THROUGH THE DOOR! NOW!
Aria didn't hesitate.
She leaped into the golden rain.
Into 1895.
Into the chase.
Behind her, in the empty studio, the hammer lay abandoned.
The watch glowed like a tiny star.
(END OF CHAPTER 2)