Cael didn't sleep.
Not really.
He lay on the thin mattress in the corner of his room, staring at the ceiling while the numbers above his wrist ticked down in steady silence.
03:13:04:01
The glitch hadn't happened again.
But he knew what he saw.
Negative time.
Impossible.
Time didn't go below zero.
Zero meant reclaim.
Zero meant erasure.
Zero meant the world correcting itself.
So what did -00:00:01 mean?
A sharp pain shot through his chest.
He sucked in a breath.
For a moment—
The room shifted.
The flickering lantern froze mid-sway.
Dust hung in the air like suspended stars.
And the sound of dripping water from the ceiling…
Stopped.
Completely.
Cael sat upright.
His heart pounded.
The world was still.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
He moved his hand.
It worked.
But the air felt thick.
Heavy.
Like walking through invisible water.
Then—
A whisper.
Not from outside.
From inside his head.
Soft.
Familiar.
Tired.
"You shouldn't be here yet."
Cael froze.
"Who—?"
The room snapped back.
The lantern resumed swaying.
The dripping continued.
Time flowed again.
He was breathing hard now.
Alone.
But not alone.
Morning came with sirens.
Imperial.
Sharp.
Cold.
The kind that didn't warn.
The kind that hunted.
Cael stepped outside with the others.
Above the Lower District, black airships hovered like silent predators.
Their golden insignia gleamed through the fog.
Timekeepers.
Collectors.
Erasure squads.
Someone near him whispered:
"They're searching."
"For what?"
The answer came quickly.
"Borrowers."
A chill spread through the crowd.
Borrowers weren't arrested.
They weren't judged.
They weren't imprisoned.
They were removed.
From time itself.
"Attention."
A voice echoed from the sky.
Augmented.
Emotionless.
"An anomaly has been detected."
People began backing away instinctively.
"As per Imperial law, all civilians will submit to a temporal scan."
Cael's stomach dropped.
Temporal scans didn't detect stolen time.
They detected disturbances.
Instability.
Future interference.
His fingers tightened.
Don't react.
Don't move.
Don't think.
The first scan beam descended.
A pale column of light swept across the street.
One by one—
Green.
Green.
Green.
Safe.
Normal.
Harmless.
Then it reached Cael.
The light touched him.
And his wrist burned.
The numbers trembled.
Flickered.
For a split second—
They tried to go negative again.
The scanner screamed.
Not a warning tone.
An alarm.
Sharp.
Violent.
Unmistakable.
"Anomaly located."
People scattered instantly.
The beam locked onto him.
Cael's breath caught.
Run.
He didn't think.
He moved.
The moment he stepped forward—
The world stuttered again.
Not fully stopped this time.
But enough.
The soldiers above hesitated mid-motion.
Dust slowed.
Sound stretched.
And in that fractured second—
Cael saw something impossible.
Ahead of him—
Standing in the alley—
Was himself.
Older.
Scarred.
Eyes hollow.
Wearing the same expression…
As someone who had already died.
Future Cael looked at him.
And whispered:
"Run now… or we never exist."
Then—
Time snapped back.
"Target confirmed!"
Energy bolts fired.
Cael ran.
And behind him—
The Empire began hunting time itself.