In the outer Verge, messages didn't arrive like normal.
They drifted.
Sometimes through fractured comm lines, sometimes etched into quantum echoes. But this one… this one came in the form of a frozen moment.
It happened during a negotiation.
Kai was talking with a relic-hunter about salvaged antimatter cells when time stuttered—just for a breath. Everything slowed, like the universe hiccupped, and a voice whispered directly into his mind:
"Merchant Kai Thorne. The Clocks have turned. We summon you."
Then the world resumed.
The relic-hunter continued as if nothing had happened. But Kai stood frozen, gaze sharp, heart hammering.
The Guild of Frozen Clocks.
Yena saw his face. "You heard it, didn't you?"
He nodded. "Yeah. And they know my name."
What Are the Clocks?
Yena pulled up an encrypted file she'd stored for years.
"The Guild of Frozen Clocks," she read, "is a pan-temporal collective of hyper-advanced traders—operating not just in space, but in time."
"They're myths," Kai said.
"Not to Chain historians," she replied. "The Clocks deal in trades that shouldn't exist. They sell potential futures. They buy failed timelines. They loan items from universes that haven't happened yet."
Kai was silent. This was beyond anything he'd imagined.
"Their invites are rare," Yena added. "One in a trillion. And only sent to those they deem 'Chrono-Capable'—people whose decisions can reshape timelines."
The Invitation: A Trade Beyond Time
The second message came two hours later.
A pulse beacon blinked once on Kai's interface.
It unfurled like a flower, revealing a dimensional anchor—a single-use time tether coded in a language so old Echo had to spend five minutes just interpreting it.
"Use the anchor. Come as you are. Bring nothing but truth."
Yena stepped back. "If you go, I can't follow. The Clocks operate in places where normal consciousness can't travel."
Kai clenched his jaw. "If they're offering trades… I need to know what they're selling."
Inside the Clock Core
The moment Kai activated the tether, the universe folded.
There was no tunnel, no rush of wind. Just... stillness.
He stood in a hall that defied logic—a spiraling structure made of rotating gears, suspended stars, and echoes of ticking that resonated through his bones. Every surface shifted subtly, showing different versions of himself—older, younger, victorious, broken.
Time didn't pass here.
It hovered.
At the center stood a woman with no face, cloaked in silver robes, hands holding a golden hourglass filled with stardust and shadow.
"You are the trader known as Kai Thorne," she said. "Confirmed."
Kai swallowed. "What do you want?"
"We offer you a key," she replied. "A Chrono-Trade Seal. It allows you to barter across timelines, not just space. You will be able to find what you need... even before you need it."
Kai's eyes widened. "What's the price?"
She turned the hourglass once. "A future of your choosing."
"What do you mean?"
"One future. Yours. You must give it up. We will hold it. You may never walk it. It may become impossible."
Kai stood silent.
A future.
Would he lose the path where he became rich? Or powerful? Or finally at peace?
But he also knew: in the trade world, leverage was everything.
And this key… it was power no other merchant had.
He clenched his fist.
"Take it. Take my future—the one where I die forgotten and alone."
The faceless woman tilted her head. "Accepted."
She pressed a gear-shaped sigil into his palm.
"Chrono-Trade Seal: Activated. Access unlocked."
The Return
When he snapped back into reality, only five minutes had passed.
But Kai felt... changed.
Not older. Not wiser.
Sharper.
In his inventory, a new interface tab blinked:
[Time-Loop Trades Available]Scan: 4 Potential Echo-Paths IdentifiedTemporal Budget: 1 Seal Remaining
Kai grinned.
He was no longer just a trader of the present.
He was becoming something more.
Current Status:
Kai Thorne has been contacted by the mythical Guild of Frozen Clocks—a collective of pan-temporal traders who operate outside the linear flow of time. In exchange for surrendering one possible future, he's received the Chrono-Trade Seal, granting him limited access to trades across alternate timelines.
His Mirage Market continues to grow, and whispers of his expanding network reach beyond normal trade routes.
He is now seen as a High-Risk Trader of Potential, flagged by both the Chain and rogue markets.
He now stands at:Cosmic Units: 2,143.6 C.U.Earth Credits: 1,004.7Trade Skill Tier: Rank 4 (Chrono-Capable Ascendant Trader)Territory Owned: 1 (Zeta-12 / Mirage Market)Passive Income Stream: +38 C.U. per dayTemporal Trade Access: 1 Seal ActivePotential Futures Locked: 1
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