The road to the Tower of Eternum did not exist.
Not in the way roads should.
Instead of a defined path, the land before them rippled like a mirage, constantly shifting between landscapes that should have never touched. At one moment, they walked on cracked marble roads, remnants of a forgotten empire. In the next, they trudged through wild grasslands, the whispers of an ancient battlefield still lingering in the air.
Every step felt like they were traversing not just distance, but time itself.
Selene exhaled sharply, wiping sweat from her brow. "This is ridiculous."
Elias stumbled over a broken pillar that had not been there a second ago. "Tell me about it. I'm getting motion sickness just by walking."
Caius didn't reply. He was too focused on what lay ahead.
Through the distortions, beyond the shifting horizon, the Tower of Eternum loomed.
A structure unlike any they had seen before. It was impossibly tall, its peak lost beyond the veil of the fractured sky. Unlike the ruins they had passed, the tower remained untouched by time's decay. Its surface shimmered, shifting between polished stone and something far less tangible—something that felt like the fabric of reality itself.
Aldric, who had remained silent for most of the journey, finally spoke. "This place should not exist."
Caius tightened his grip on the Chronomancer's Heart. "And yet, it does."
The Heart pulsed in response.
As if calling to the tower.
As if it had been here before.
When they finally stood at the foot of the Tower, a great stone archway greeted them. Its surface was etched with glyphs that shimmered between languages—some familiar, some lost to time. The air around it vibrated, thick with unseen power.
Elias hesitated. "Uh… any idea how we're supposed to get in?"
As if in answer, the Chronomancer's Heart grew warm in Caius' hand.
He felt something tugging at the edges of his thoughts—a memory that was not his own.
"The Tower recognizes the touch of the Timeseeker."
Before he could second-guess himself, he stepped forward and placed his free hand against the archway.
A deep resonance echoed through the air.
The glyphs ignited in a golden glow, shifting and rearranging until they formed words he could finally understand.
"Enter, Bearer of the Heart. But know this: Time is not yours to command freely. Every step forward is a step further from what you were."
Caius swallowed hard.
That same warning, again and again.
But there was no turning back now.
The stone doorway shuddered, then split open, revealing the impossible vastness within.
The moment they stepped inside, the laws of the world ceased to make sense.
The Tower's interior defied logic.
They stood within an enormous spiral staircase that wound upward into infinity, its steps woven from threads of light and shadow. The walls pulsed as if alive, shifting between past, present, and futures yet to be. Portraits of long-forgotten rulers watched them with knowing eyes, only to fade into dust seconds later.
Selene touched one of the walls. "This place is alive."
Elias took a cautious step forward. "No… it's aware."
Caius inhaled slowly. The Tower was not just a structure. It was a construct of time itself—a convergence of everything that had ever been and everything that would ever be.
And it was watching them.
A whisper drifted from the heights above. A voice, layered with countless echoes.
"Climb, Timeseeker. Your fate awaits."
The Tower had acknowledged him.
It had acknowledged them all.
And so, they began their ascent—step by step into the unknown.