The world cracked.
Caius felt the moment time buckled, the weight of the Chronomancer's Heart surging through his veins like fire. His vision swam as the vault around them wavered, shifting between moments past and present. He saw flickers of figures—hooded men chanting, soldiers storming the chamber, a kingdom in its prime, and its inevitable fall—all overlapping in a kaleidoscope of shifting reality.
Then, everything snapped back into place.
He staggered, gripping the Heart tightly, his breaths coming fast and shallow. The others weren't unaffected either. Elias clutched his head, his face pale, while Selene steadied herself against a fallen pedestal, eyes darting around warily.
"What… was that?" Selene demanded.
Elias exhaled sharply. "A time distortion. The Heart is more powerful than we imagined."
Caius clenched his jaw. "Then we need to leave. Now."
But the vault had other plans.
The very walls trembled, cracks forming as if the structure itself was rejecting them. The runes that once lay dormant along the chamber's edges flared to life, shifting erratically between different languages and time periods. A deep, guttural hum echoed from the stone, reverberating through their bones.
Then the screaming started again.
From the shadows of the vault, new figures emerged—specters of the past, flickering in and out of reality. These were not the mindless guardians they had just fought. These were echoes of those who had once guarded the Heart. Some bore regal armor of an era long lost, while others were cloaked figures wreathed in magical energy, their hollow gazes locked onto Caius and the artifact in his grasp.
Selene cursed. "They don't look happy to see us."
Elias swallowed hard. "That's because we just shattered their sacred protections. And now they want retribution."
The first specter lunged.
Caius barely dodged, ducking under the blade of a long-dead knight. The weapon passed through the air, leaving a jagged tear in its wake as though it had sliced time itself. The next came at Selene, swinging a scythe of shimmering energy. She parried, but the impact sent her skidding backward.
"They're fast!" she shouted.
"They're not real!" Elias countered, dodging a burst of energy hurled at him. "They're phantoms bound to the vault. If we sever their tether—"
"They go away," Caius finished. He could feel it now, the invisible threads binding the specters to the chamber. But something was different. Unlike the guardians before, these phantoms weren't just bound to the relics—they were bound to him now.
Because he held the Heart.
The realization sent a shiver down his spine. The artifact wasn't just a source of power. It was a beacon, tethering the past to the present, dragging lost fragments of time into their reality.
And if he didn't control it soon, it would consume them all.
"Elias! Help me sever the connections!" he shouted.
The mage nodded, immediately drawing a sigil in the air. Golden chains of light erupted from his fingertips, seeking the invisible ties between Caius and the specters. The moment they touched, the phantoms shrieked, their forms flickering.
But the Heart resisted.
A pulse of raw energy erupted from the artifact, knocking Elias back and slamming Caius to his knees. His vision blurred as the world around him fractured again. He saw glimpses of other places—other times. A battlefield covered in bodies, a city in flames, a throne room where a cloaked figure sat motionless.
A voice whispered in his mind.
You are not yet ready.
Caius gasped, forcing himself to focus. "I don't have time for riddles!"
Selene cut down another phantom, her blade slicing through the ephemeral figure with difficulty. "Whatever you're doing, do it faster!"
Elias groaned, pushing himself up. "If the Heart doesn't want to let go, then we force it."
He planted his hands on the ground, pouring every ounce of magic he had into a counter-surge. The sigils blazed with renewed strength, wrapping around Caius and the Heart itself. The phantoms let out a collective wail, their forms distorting violently.
Caius gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the artifact. He could feel the threads of time shifting, unraveling at the edges. If he didn't contain it, the entire vault would collapse into a singularity.
He reached deep within himself, to the strange power that had always lurked beneath his skin—the power of time itself. With a sheer force of will, he commanded it to obey.
The effect was instant.
The phantoms shattered like glass, their forms dispersing into the ether. The vault stabilized, the trembling walls ceasing their protests. The oppressive weight of distorted time lifted, leaving an eerie stillness in its wake.
Elias collapsed, panting. Selene wiped sweat from her brow, glancing warily at Caius.
"You good?"
Caius took a shuddering breath. "Yeah. I think I—" He cut himself off, looking at the Heart in his hands. The glow had dimmed slightly, as though it had acknowledged his control.
Elias studied him carefully. "You did it."
Selene sheathed her blades. "Then let's get out of here before this thing decides to throw another tantrum."
Caius nodded. He didn't need to be told twice. Whatever the Heart was, whatever it had shown him—it wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
As they ascended the spiraling staircase back to the surface, one thought lingered in his mind.
He had just touched the edges of time itself.
And something had noticed.
Outside the vault, the air was thick with an eerie stillness. The sky, once an endless abyss of twilight, now crackled with distortions. Shadows wavered, trees flickered between states of growth and decay, and the ruins around them seemed caught between different ages.
Selene turned to Caius. "You see that?"
Elias muttered, "Whatever we did in there… it's bleeding into the world."
Caius looked at the Heart, feeling the weight of its power. The fractures in time were spreading. The battle ahead would not just be against their enemies, but against time itself.