The room had no walls.
Not really.
From the outside, it looked like a spare bedroom in Luna's house—small, windowless, furnished with a bed, a desk, and a single potted moonwillow that never wilted. But step inside, close the door, and the air changed. Thicker. Slower. Like honey poured over sound.
This was the Chrono Chamber—a pocket of folded time, gifted by the last living Timekeeper, an old woman named Elira who'd vanished the morning after the truce began. All she left behind was a brass hourglass filled with silver sand… and a note: "Use it wisely. Time forgives no one."
Now, on Day 2 of Luna's rest, Kai placed the hourglass on the desk.
"You sure about this?" he asked, voice low.
Luna sat cross-legged on the floor, hugging her knees. She looked smaller than five. "I have to be ready by the moon peak."
"That's twenty-eight days away," Victoria said from the doorway. "You don't need a century."
