The forest swallowed them quickly.
Branches slapped against their arms. Roots shoved up from the dirt like they were trying to trip them. The titan's roars shook the ground behind them, each one deeper and angrier than the last.
Eran stumbled twice but kept running. Aadhiyan didn't let go of his hand even once, pulling him along whenever the ground shifted under their feet.
The deeper they went, the stranger the forest became.
Light bent in odd directions.
Leaves shifted colors every few seconds.
Some trees flickered like candle flames, as if part of them existed in another moment entirely.
And behind them, the titan crashed through trees like a moving mountain.
Eran managed to gasp between breaths, "Why—won't—it—stop—chasing—us?!"
Aadhiyan didn't slow down. "Because the ruin marked me."
"You mean it stamped a big target on your forehead?"
"Yes."
"Fantastic. I love this job."
Another roar cracked the forest open behind them.
Aadhiyan sensed it before he heard it.
A presence.
Not a beast.
Not the titan.
Something older.
Something watching.
"Eran," Aadhiyan said quietly. "Don't stop running."
"Wasn't planning to!"
A shadow moved sideways across the trees, gliding from trunk to trunk without touching the ground. The leaves shivered but didn't fall.
Eran's voice shook. "Aadhiyan… what is that?"
Aadhiyan didn't answer.
He didn't know.
But the system did.
[Chronos Echo detected]
[Classification: Unknown]
[Threat level: Severe]
The shadow drifted closer.
Eran's grip tightened painfully. "Please tell me that's not another Aadhiyan."
"It's not."
"Okay," Eran exhaled, relieved. "Then maybe it's—"
"Worse."
Eran groaned. "Why do you hate me?"
Aadhiyan didn't hate him.
But the forest did.
The echo glided in front of them, materializing like smoke thickening into form. It had a humanoid shape, but its body was made of shifting mist filled with faint gears, clocks, and symbols turning inside it. Its face was blank except for two glowing lines where eyes should be.
Eran froze. "Okay. Nope. I'm done. We're dead. Goodbye."
The echo didn't move.
It didn't attack.
It simply waited.
Aadhiyan took a shaky breath.
"…It's guarding something."
The system confirmed it.
[Echo is anchored to a temporal boundary]
[A passage exists beyond this entity]
A passage.
A way out.
Eran whispered, "So if we walk past it, we live?"
"Probably."
"And if we don't?"
"We die."
"Great. Amazing. Love this forest."
The titan roared again.
Closer.
Closer.
The echo's head tilted sharply, sensing the titan as well. The gears inside it spun faster. Its eyes flared brighter.
It wasn't going to let the titan pass.
Or them.
Aadhiyan swallowed.
"We need to go through."
Eran stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "That thing is made of floating clocks!"
"And it's blocking the only safe path."
"Safe? SAFE?! It looks like death wearing a fancy outfit!"
The titan crashed through a line of trees, its massive silhouette looming behind them.
Aadhiyan stepped forward.
The echo made a low, vibrating sound—something between electricity and a sigh. It didn't attack. It waited, glowing faintly.
Aadhiyan spoke softly, "I… don't want to fight."
The echo didn't react.
He lifted his hand, palm open.
The mark on his wrist glowed.
The echo's eyes flickered.
For the first time, it moved—one step forward, silent as a shifting breeze.
Eran screeched, "Aadhiyan, don't you dare—"
Aadhiyan took a breath, stepped into the echo's shadow—
—and everything went dark.
---
There was no forest.
No titan.
No Eran.
No sound.
Only whispering light.
Soft tendrils of luminescent mist curled around Aadhiyan, forming shapes — not quite memories, not quite visions. More like possibilities. Futures that hadn't happened yet. Futures that might never happen.
He saw himself standing atop a colossal sundial larger than a city, wearing armor woven from seconds and minutes. He saw himself holding the Quantum Grimoire. He saw himself kneeling before a throne of broken timelines.
He saw himself dying.
Over and over.
As a child.
As an adult.
As a man whose face he barely recognized.
Every version of him ended the same way:
Alone.
The echo's voice filled the void.
"Paradox-born."
Aadhiyan steadied himself. "What do you want from me?"
"You are unshaped."
"Unshaped?"
"The timelines that created you are broken."
Aadhiyan clenched his hands. "Why am I here? Why was I made?"
The echo didn't answer.
It stretched a hand out, pressing a misty palm to Aadhiyan's chest.
Aadhiyan stiffened.
Pain shot through him—sharp, cold, endless.
Like time itself was carving into him.
The echo whispered:
"Remember."
Aadhiyan gasped and dropped to his knees.
Images surged through him—
Cities collapsing into sand.
A throne shattering.
A book glowing with unbearable light.
A vast shadow swallowing Aadhikal's towers.
And a small boy—him—pulled through a collapsing rift by a desperate hand.
A voice screamed:
"Go! You're the last one left!"
The vision snapped.
Aadhiyan opened his eyes.
The echo stood in front of him again, still silent.
But it wasn't attacking.
It was waiting.
Eran's voice came from behind, terrified. "Aadhiyan! Are you—are you alive?!"
Aadhiyan blinked.
He was back in the forest.
The titan's stomping shook the earth behind them.
Eran was clutching his arm like a terrified cat.
The echo stepped aside.
A path glowed behind it — a line of faint, floating runes weaving into the forest, pointing east.
Aadhiyan exhaled shakily.
"It's… letting us through."
Eran blinked. "What? Why?"
Aadhiyan didn't know.
But the system did.
[Chronos Echo recognizes your Authority Fragment]
[Passage granted]
Eran didn't wait for further explanation. "Let's go before the big stone idiot turns us into jam!"
Aadhiyan almost smiled.
Almost.
They ran down the glowing path.
The echo didn't follow.
The titan didn't chase them into the marked trail — it slammed its fist into the forest's edge, unable to enter.
Eran shouted behind him, "Ha! Loser!"
Aadhiyan shook his head. "Don't taunt the time-monster."
"Too late!"
The path carried them deeper, the glowing runes dimming one by one until they reached a narrow valley.
The moment they stepped inside, the air changed again.
Cool.
Still.
Almost sacred.
A cliff wall loomed ahead, covered in overgrown vines. At its center stood a tall archway carved from ancient stone.
A doorway.
One that pulsed faintly as if sensing his presence.
Aadhiyan stepped forward.
The archway lit up.
Symbols circled around it.
A single word etched itself across the stone in glowing Aadhikal script.
A word he didn't know how he understood—
"Sanctuary."
Eran breathed out a shaky laugh. "Finally. Something that doesn't want to kill us."
Aadhiyan touched the stone.
The archway rumbled.
Slowly, quietly, the doorway opened.
A soft, blue light spilled out, illuminating a descending staircase carved deep into the earth.
Aadhiyan felt something warm inside his chest — not panic, not fear, but something he hadn't felt in a long time.
Recognition.
This place remembered him.
It shouldn't have.
But it did.
The system chimed softly.
[You have discovered: Paradox Refuge]
[Purpose: Stabilization of fragmented timelines]
[Recommended action: Enter]
Eran peered into the glowing passage. "So… we're going inside the creepy glowing tunnel?"
"Yes."
"Will it kill us?"
"Hopefully not."
"Comforting."
Aadhiyan took a step inside.
Eran followed.
The door closed behind them.
Sealing the world out.
Sealing them in.
Inside the sanctuary, a gentle voice whispered through the corridor.
Not threatening.
Not mechanical.
Warm.
Almost human.
"Welcome, Aadhiyan."
Aadhiyan froze.
Eran's eyes went wide. "H-How does this place know your name?!"
Aadhiyan shivered.
The sanctuary whispered again.
"I remember the one who created you."
Eran grabbed his arm. "Aadhiyan… who created you?"
Aadhiyan looked down the glowing corridor.
Somewhere ahead lay the truth.
A truth he wasn't ready for.
A truth he couldn't escape.
He whispered:
"I guess we're going to find out."
And the sanctuary lights brightened, inviting them deeper into the heart of Aadhikal's greatest secret.
---