Raven walked along the dirt path leading away from the Smith household, the gentle morning breeze brushing against Aeron's borrowed skin. Every sound felt wrong to him birds singing instead of monsters shrieking, leaves rustling instead of gunfire, distant laughter instead of screams. This world was too peaceful. Too clean.
He kept Aeron's expression calm, but inside, his instincts screamed.
A world without danger?
Impossible.
He made his way toward the shrine the place Aeron had collapsed. Raven needed answers, and he needed them fast. If Aeron was trapped in his future body, the boy wouldn't last ten minutes alone.
The shrine was quiet, wrapped in vines and moss, forgotten by time.
But Raven felt something else a pulse, soft but unmistakable.
He stepped inside.
Instantly the air changed. A cold pressure settled around him, the faint hum of magic vibrating against his skin. The remnants of a magical surge stained the stone floor cracks from a recent explosion of energy. And in the center, faint drops of dried blood.
Aeron's blood.
Raven crouched down, touching the cracked ground.
A sudden jolt shot up his arm.
A vision.
Not his.
— Aeron reaching for something glowing beneath the stone.
— A ring pulsing violently.
— Light swallowing the entire shrine.
— A scream.
— Then darkness.
Raven's eyes snapped open.
"A ring…?"
As if responding to his voice, the faint humming inside the shrine intensified.
He reached into Aeron's pocket — now his pocket and pulled out the object he'd felt earlier.
The Eternity Ring.
It glowed faintly, warm against his skin. Runes curled along its cracked surface, shifting like living symbols.
Raven frowned.
"This… shouldn't be here."
The ring looked ancient — older than the shrine itself. And yet, Raven knew this wasn't the only one.
Because in the future… he wore one too.
The exact same ring.
A perfect duplicate of this artifact was permanently attached to Raven's now Aeron's finger in the future. He had never known what it was, only that it wouldn't come off and pulsed whenever danger approached.
A shiver ran through him.
Two identical rings. One in the past, one in the future. Both reacting to the body swap.
This wasn't coincidence.
This was the link.
Suddenly Aeron's voice crackled weakly through Raven's mind.
R-Raven… can you hear me…?
Raven stiffened.
"Aeron?"
I-I'm here… wherever 'here' is… your world… it's— it's burning—
A thunderous explosion echoed faintly through the connection, making Aeron flinch mentally.
Raven… why is the sky black…? And… why… why is there a ring on my hand?
Raven's eyes sharpened.
"So you saw it."
Aeron's breathing was erratic.
It was on my — your — hand when I woke up. A gold ring with glowing marks. Just like—
"Just like the one I'm holding," Raven finished.
Silence.
Aeron's fear softened into realization.
The ring… is this what linked us?
"It's more than that." Raven stood slowly. "It exists in both eras. Two rings, one connection. It reacted when you touched it."
Then we're connected through it… across time.
"Yes." Raven tightened his grip around the artifact. "This ring is the bridge. Without it, we'd lose the link completely."
Aeron inhaled shakily.
Raven… this world… monsters, fire, weapons I don't understand please don't leave me alone.
Raven exhaled through his nose.
"Listen carefully. I'll guide you. But don't use the gun yet; you'll shoot your own foot."
Gun…?
"Never mind. Focus on staying hidden until I tell you otherwise."
Before Aeron could reply—
A new voice whispered faintly through the link.
Not Aeron.
Not Raven.
"Guard the ring… for the cycle must continue…"
The connection trembled violently, then dropped into silence.
Raven's blood ran cold.
Someone or something else was connected to the rings.
He pocketed the artifact just as shadows stirred at the shrine's entrance. Raven turned sharply, grabbing a fallen branch like a weapon.
Three cloaked figures stepped out from behind the trees, their faces covered with black masks. The symbol on their robes made Raven's stomach tighten.
A symbol he knew too well.
The symbol of the future's most merciless enemy.
The Order of the Everbound.
But they weren't supposed to exist in this era.
The leader stepped forward.
"Return the ring," the masked voice commanded.
Raven stepped back, eyes narrowing.
"No."
The ring pulsed in his pocket, the future's ring pulsed on Aeron's finger, and the air around them thickened as the past and future strained to stay connected.
Raven stood his ground.
"If you want the ring…" he said coldly, gripping the branch like a blade,
"…you'll have to kill me."
The war between eras had already begun.