The ruins of the throne still smoked. Shattered gears lay like corpses, their faint glow fading into nothing.
No ticking. No booming voice. Just silence.
Aelric leaned against the broken wall, his breath ragged. His pipe lay on the ground beside him, bent and cracked.
Every muscle screamed. His arm—blackened and crawling with corruption—throbbed like a furnace eating his flesh.
Elara sat beside him, her hands trembling as they tried to wipe blood from his face.
"You… you're insane," she whispered, voice shaking. "You fought a god… and actually won. But look at you… your arm—"
Aelric forced a faint smirk.
"Still attached. That counts as a victory."
She glared at him through her tears. "Don't joke about this! You're… you're falling apart, Aelric. I saw your eyes. For a moment, you weren't even you…"
His smile faltered. The shadows that whispered during the fight… he remembered them. Too well.
Hallucinations. Or… something worse?
---
The System's voice broke the silence.
> [Status Update]
Corruption: 52%
Stability: Compromised
Mental Interference: Increasing
> [Authority Gained: Chrono Rewrite (Fragment)]
Description: Allows alteration of a single second. Price: Exponential corruption growth.
Elara stiffened, eyes darting as the cold voice echoed. She whispered:
"…It's in your head again."
Aelric closed his eyes, letting the words sink in.
"One second… one rewrite…"
He chuckled bitterly.
"Gods really love irony. The power to change fate… but using it just pushes me faster to losing myself."
Elara grabbed his hand tightly, her voice almost breaking.
"Then don't use it! I'd rather die than watch you become… something else."
Her grip was warm, desperate.
For a moment, the corruption's whispers faded.
---
Aelric looked at her wrist. The timer glowed faintly:
[29 Days : 5 Hours : 00 Minutes]
Frozen. Not moving forward. Not moving back.
But it was wrong. A frozen clock wasn't life. It was a pause, a borrowed second waiting to collapse.
He traced the glowing numbers with his eyes, jaw tightening.
I bought time. Not freedom. She's still dying… and now I'm racing the corruption too.
---
Elara broke the silence.
"…Why you?"
Aelric blinked. "What do you mean?"
She stared into the ruined sky, her voice trembling.
"Why is it you who's chosen? Why do you have this… this timer that defies everything? Why not me? Why not anyone else?"
Aelric was quiet for a long moment. His mind searched for an answer, but there wasn't one.
Finally, he whispered:
"…Because I was already broken."
Elara turned, eyes wide.
He continued, voice low.
"The System… it hunts people who fit. People who obey. I never did. I saw patterns, I found loopholes. I didn't move with the world—I moved against it. Maybe that's why the timer chose me."
His lips curled bitterly.
"Because a glitch can break rules… even if it breaks itself in the process."
---
The air grew colder.
Suddenly, the ruins shifted—gears on the ground reassembling into faint shapes. Not gods, not monsters… but shadows.
Aelric stiffened, Elara clutching his arm.
The System's voice returned, but this time it wasn't neutral. It was… amused.
> [Observation Log: Subject 'Aelric' has surpassed expectations.]
[Defiance against first God acknowledged.]
[New Directive: Escalate Trials.]
Aelric's eyes narrowed.
"…Escalate?"
The shadows thickened, swirling into a massive clock sigil in the air. At its center, text burned:
> [Next Trial: The Hollow City]
Survivors: ???
Objective: Endure 7 Nights.
---
Elara gasped. "Seven nights? What does that mean?"
Aelric studied the sigil, his mind already racing.
"A city… hollow. Survivors unknown. Objective isn't to win. Just endure."
His thoughts sharpened. Which means… there's something there you can't defeat. Not directly.
The corruption throbbed in his veins, but his eyes glinted.
"Fine. Then I'll endure. I'll outlast whatever monster you throw at me."
The System's voice almost sounded like laughter.
> [Warning: Each Trial will accelerate both corruption and her timer.]
[Do you still choose to proceed?]
Aelric bared his teeth.
"You already know the answer."
---
The sigil burned brighter, then dissolved, leaving only silence.
Elara stared at him, tears welling in her eyes again.
"Aelric… you're killing yourself."
He looked back at her, then touched her cheek gently with his uncorrupted hand.
"If it means you live… then every second is worth it."
She shook her head violently, clinging to him.
"No… no it's not. I don't want to lose you. Not like this. Not for me."
His chest tightened. The pain in her voice hurt more than the corruption.
But he still whispered, steady, unyielding:
"Then we'll find another way. Together. But until then… I'll keep moving forward. Even if I have to break myself piece by piece."
---
They sat there for a long while, in the ruins of eternity, clinging to each other.
Finally, Aelric stood, unsteady but resolute. He picked up his cracked pipe, testing its weight.
"Seven nights in a hollow city," he muttered. "Whatever's waiting there… I'll find its pattern. And I'll break it."
Elara stood beside him, slipping her hand into his. Her timer glowed faintly, frozen between life and death.
And together, they stepped forward—toward the next Trial.