The city of Eridonia held its breath.
People crossed the streets as usual, but every time the hands of the clock tower struck together, a strange echo slipped into the wind—like a sound that didn't belong to this moment in time.
No one ever noticed it.
No one… except Ren Andalusia.
Ren wasn't a hero. He wasn't wealthy or famous.
He was just a seventeen-year-old with an odd daily habit:
Every morning, immediately after waking up, he would open his notebook and write down the exact position of the hands on his old pocket watch.
It was a strange routine.
But he believed that if he didn't record it…
he might wake up in a completely different era without even realizing it.
Before his death, Ren's grandfather once said to him:
> "If one day you hear the sound between seconds,
do not fear. That sound is the entrance to the first layer of time."
Back then, Ren thought it was nothing more than a fairy tale—
Until today.
The school bell rang.
His classmates filled the hallway with noise and laughter.
And then—
Tick—
Something slipped into Ren's ears—a metallic tone buried inside the normal stream of time.
It didn't belong here. He knew it instantly.
The world around him began to slow down.
Like a film whose frames were being pulled apart by invisible hands.
All sound vanished.
Ren's pocket watch started to move backwards.
Tick…tock…tick…tock…
But instead of being afraid…
he felt like time was finally starting to move in the right direction.
A gigantic gate appeared before him, rising from nowhere.
Seven enormous gears floated around it.
Some looked ancient—rusted and medieval.
Some looked futuristic—built from clean metal and strange glowing circuits.
At the center of the gate, golden letters shone:
> "LAYER 1 – Era of RETROGRACE"
A voice entered his mind—not human, but something far deeper.
Something that belonged to time itself.
> "Time is not a line.
It is a series of layers, like strata of ancient rock stacked upon one another.
Each layer is a different world, with its own air, its own sound, its own emotions.
Each layer hides powers and secrets that do not exist in the present era.
You… are chosen to enter the First Time Layer."
Ren stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched the ground, the tiled hallway transformed into cobblestone.
The air filled with the smell of oil and coal.
Steam leaked from metal pipes nearby.
But in the sky—glitching digital screens floated, flickering like broken LEDs.
This was not the past.
It was another layer of the world—a different epoch of time.
A man stood on top of a stone bridge.
Silver eyes.
A gear-shaped sword in his hand.
"That pocket watch…" he said, voice low and sharp.
"So the bloodline of the Eight-Breaker has returned to the Time Layers…"
Ren stepped back. "Who are you!? What is this place!?"
The stranger raised his sword.
All seven gears above rotated wildly, roaring like a storm.
> "This is the First Time Layer — RETROGRACE.
Every layer tests those who enter it.
If you lack the Art of Time,
then TIME itself will crush your existence as if you never lived."
Steam burst upward.
Ren instinctively raised his hand.
The pocket watch released a flash of golden light—beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
In the air before him, glowing words appeared:
"Art of Time — Form I : Thread of Fate"
Ren's eyes lit up.
A grin slowly drew across his lips.
> "…All right then…
Let's see whether this First Layer will break me—
or whether I'll carve my name into its history.