Caius sat in silence, his mind still racing from the dream—the vision—that had gripped him. His heartbeat had slowed, but the cold sweat on his skin remained.
That wasn't just a dream. The Veil is real.
And it had reached for him.
What disturbed him more was that for the first time in his life, when he had reached for time, it had almost been torn away from him instead.
That had never happened before.
His hands curled into fists.
I can't tell them yet.
Not until he understood it himself. The last thing they needed was doubt right before a war.
Caius forced himself to stand, shaking off the remnants of the vision. The underground hideout was quiet, the rebels still asleep in their makeshift bunks. Two weeks. That was all the time they had before Evernight fell.
And time… time no longer felt like something he could count on.
By the time the others were awake, Caius had already pushed the dream aside and joined the war meeting.
Elias stood at the head of the long wooden table, parchment maps and battle plans spread before him. Garran was sharpening a dagger, while Selene casually leaned against the wall, flipping a coin between her fingers.
"The Hollow King's forces move in two weeks," Elias said, voice firm. "But we've confirmed something new—he's already begun reinforcing the inner city."
Caius frowned. "Meaning?"
Elias tapped a section of the map. "Meaning if we wait for them to march on us first, we'll have nowhere to run when we counterattack."
Selene scoffed. "So we hit them first. Didn't we already decide that?"
Garran nodded. "We cut off their supply lines, weaken their foothold in the outer districts. Keep them guessing."
Elias sighed. "That was before we got the last message from our informant."
He slid a parchment across the table.
Caius picked it up and read the words aloud:
"The Hollow King does not march for war. He marches to end time itself."
A heavy silence filled the room.
Selene was the first to speak. "What the hell does that mean?"
Caius kept his expression neutral, but something inside him twisted.
He thought of the vision. The Veil reaching for him.
He thought of his powers failing.
Elias watched him carefully. "Caius?"
Caius hesitated. Should he tell them? Tell them that something else was watching? That something beyond the Hollow King might already have its claws around time itself?
No.
Not yet.
Instead, he exhaled and set the paper down. "It doesn't change our course. The Hollow King is still coming, and we still need to move first."
Selene smirked. "Now you're talking."
Elias didn't look convinced, but he nodded. "Then it's settled."
They would strike before the Hollow King could.
Caius hoped that would be enough.
Later that day, Caius and Selene were tasked with scouting the northern district. The streets of Evernight were quieter than usual, but it wasn't the kind of peace that felt safe.
It was waiting.
Selene walked ahead, hands on her daggers, eyes scanning the rooftops. "You're tense."
Caius followed beside her, his hood pulled low. "You should be too."
She smirked. "Oh, I am. But you look like you've seen a ghost."
He almost laughed. If only it were that simple.
They turned into an alleyway, avoiding a Hollow Legion patrol. The moment they stepped into the shadows, however—
The air changed.
Caius stopped mid-step. The alley suddenly felt longer than it had before, the walls stretching unnaturally. The light dimmed, as if the sky itself had grown farther away.
Selene noticed it too. "Okay. That's not normal."
Caius's breath hitched. He recognized this feeling.
This was the same as the dream.
The whisper came next.
Faint. Just on the edge of hearing.
"You walk where you should not."
Selene's hand went to her blade. "Who's there?"
No answer.
Caius took a careful step forward. "Show yourself."
The shadows ahead shifted.
A figure stood at the end of the alley, shrouded in darkness. Their robes were black as night, their hood drawn low.
Just like in the vision.
Selene tensed. "You see that too, right?"
Caius nodded slowly. "Yeah."
Then the figure moved.
Not walked. Moved.
Like time itself folded around them.
Caius's pulse quickened. This wasn't the Hollow King's soldiers. This was something else.
The figure stopped, and when they spoke, it was that same many-layered voice from the dream.
"The Timeborn stands at the edge of fate."
Caius forced himself to stay calm. "Who are you?"
The figure tilted their head. "We are the ones who keep balance."
Selene's grip on her dagger tightened. "Not doing a great job."
The figure ignored her. Their hidden gaze remained locked on Caius.
"Your power is not yours alone. It is borrowed. It is watched."
Caius frowned. "Watched by who?"
The air grew heavier.
"The Veil."
Selene cursed under her breath. "Fantastic."
Caius swallowed. "Why are you here?"
The figure took another impossible step forward, though their feet never touched the ground.
"To warn you."
Caius's fingers twitched at his side. "About what?"
The answer was simple.
"Your death."
Then—
The alley collapsed.
The walls, the ground, the sky—everything bent inward like reality itself was cracking apart.
Selene shouted. Caius reached for time—
And for a brief second, he felt it again.
The Veil pulling against him.
He fought it. Pushed through it.
And then—
They were back.
The alley was normal again. The figure was gone.
Selene was panting beside him, eyes wide. "Okay. That was—" She waved vaguely at the empty space where the figure had stood. "—new."
Caius didn't answer right away. His breathing was still unsteady, his mind still racing.
That had felt too real.
Too close.
Selene looked at him carefully. "So. You wanna tell me what the hell that was?"
Caius hesitated.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
By nightfall, Caius sat in the hideout with Elias, Selene, and Garran. He told them everything.
About the dream.
About the Veil.
About how his power wasn't just failing—it was being stolen.
Selene was the first to break the silence when he finished. "So, to summarize: some shadow-thing wants to erase time, and we're all screwed?"
Caius exhaled. "Pretty much."
Elias was more serious. "This changes things."
Garran scowled. "Does it? We were already going to war. Now we just have another damned nightmare to deal with."
Elias looked at Caius. "If your power is being weakened, what happens when the battle comes?"
Caius didn't have an answer.
Because he didn't know.
Selene leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "Then we don't wait. We don't give them time to take more from you." Her eyes gleamed dangerously. "We start this war now."
Caius stared into the firelight.
The Hollow King was coming.
The Veil was watching.
And his power?
He might not have it for much longer.
But one thing was certain—
They couldn't wait anymore.
The war for Evernight began now.