The city wasn't a city anymore.
It was a skeleton of gold and black, ribs of light arching into the sky, veins of corruption weaving through them. The streets twisted, folding inward like the pages of a burning book.
Above it all, the god's silhouette loomed—unfinished, but vast. Tendrils stretched from its chest into every corner of the ruins, pulsing with a rhythm too steady, too alive.
The hymn no longer whispered.
It commanded.
Offer. Submit. Endure no more.
---
[04 Hours : 57 Minutes Remaining]
Elara staggered through the rubble, clutching her chest. Her body was failing—weak legs, trembling hands, every heartbeat like a drum announcing her end.
She tripped on a broken stone, nearly falling.
Aelric caught her, his corrupted arm wrapping around her waist. His grin was jagged, but it was there, even as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
"You're fine," he muttered. "On your feet."
Her voice cracked. "I can't—Aelric, I can't—"
"You can." He lifted her, half-dragging her forward. "Because we're not done yet."
She looked at him then—really looked. His entire right side was a battlefield. The veins had consumed his arm fully, splitting the skin in lines of black flame. His neck was nearly gone to it, his eye clouded and flickering like static.
And yet—his grin never faltered.
---
They reached the old square. Once, it must have been a gathering place—statues, fountains, carved benches. Now, only shattered stone and rivers of light remained.
In the center, something new had risen:
A massive clock face, broken and hanging in the air, its hands spinning violently backward. Each spin sent shockwaves through the ground.
Elara froze. "The… Clocktower?"
Aelric's grin sharpened. "Phase two, huh? Figures."
The system flickered before them:
> [Pendulum Mechanism Initiated.]
Time itself destabilizing. Remaining hours may accelerate or collapse.]
Elara's timer blazed on her wrist, digits flickering wildly. [04:57] became [04:52] then [04:59]—jumping, shuddering, like the numbers no longer knew how to behave.
Her breath caught. "It's stealing time from me—"
Aelric snarled, stepping forward. "Then we steal it back."
---
The broken clock face split apart. From the fragments stepped guardians—shapes of pure static, their limbs long and sharp, their heads like cracked hourglasses leaking sand made of light.
One raised its weapon—a spear shaped like a second hand—and pointed it at Aelric.
The hymn thundered:
Balance must be restored. Time must be consumed.
Dozens more appeared, surrounding the square.
Elara whispered, horrified: "We can't fight them all."
Aelric spat blood, then grinned wider. "Who said anything about fighting fair?"
---
The guardians rushed in.
Aelric met them head-on, his corrupted arm lashing like a storm. Each swing left trails of black flame, shattering their glass bodies into shards of sand. But for every one he broke, another appeared, crawling out of the broken air.
The clock face above spun faster, warping time. Elara's timer lurched forward, leaping entire minutes.
[04:45 Remaining]
She screamed. "It's eating my hours!"
Aelric's grin twisted, savage. "Then buy me seconds, Elara!"
---
Shaking, she lifted her lantern. Its light was faint now, almost gone, but when she held it high, the guardians flinched—just slightly.
She forced her legs to move, stepping between them, swinging the lantern like a weapon. Each flare of weak light slowed the guardians enough for Aelric to strike them down.
Her chest burned, her vision blurred, but she kept moving.
"I won't… let it take… what little I have left!"
---
Minutes bled like water.
[04:31 Remaining]
[04:17 Remaining]
Every strike cost Aelric pieces of himself. His corrupted arm no longer looked like flesh at all—it was a writhing mass of tendrils, smoking and snapping, barely contained.
Static bled into his voice when he shouted. "Elara—stay with me!"
She could barely breathe. Her timer pulsed violently, digits shaking. "I'm still here… I'm still—"
Her knees buckled. She collapsed, the lantern falling from her hand.
---
The guardians surged toward her instantly, spears raised.
Aelric roared. Something in him broke open. His corrupted arm exploded outward, tendrils spearing through half the square, wrapping around guardians and crushing them into shards.
The light screamed. The hymn warped into static.
But so did he.
> [Corruption Surge +12%]
Current: 94%
Smoke poured from his mouth and eyes. His grin was wide, unhinged, blood and black flame dripping from his teeth.
Still—he staggered toward her, crouched down, and shoved the lantern back into her hands.
"Stay awake," he growled, voice half static, half man. "If you sleep, I'll drag you through hell myself."
Her tears blurred everything. "Aelric, you—"
He pressed his forehead against hers for just a second, his grin trembling. "Don't waste time worrying about me. We don't have any left."
---
Above them, the clock face shattered.
The pieces fell upward into the sky, becoming another rib in the god's rising body. The hymn shook the world, each word like a blade through their minds.
Time devours. Time binds. Four hours remain.
The square collapsed.
---
[04 Hours : 01 Minute Remaining]
Elara screamed as the ground gave way beneath them. Aelric grabbed her, his corrupted tendrils latching onto falling rubble, lowering them into the abyss below.
They landed hard in darkness. Not stone, not light—just a hollow pit where the city's heart used to be.
The hymn echoed louder here, filling every breath, every thought.
Elara curled against Aelric, sobbing. "It's too much—it's too much—"
He pulled her close, his grin jagged and defiant even through the smoke pouring from his face.
"Then we spit in its eye one last time."
The darkness shook. The god was coming.
And the hours bled away.