The silence stretched between them like an abyss, a chasm of possibilities teetering on the edge of eternity. Caius stared at his future self, the embodiment of what he could become, and felt the weight of the decision pressing down on him. To accept his fate as the guardian of time, to seize control over its chaotic ebb and flow, or to defy destiny and forge a different path?
Selene's grip tightened on her blades, her stance unwavering as she positioned herself between the two versions of Caius. "You don't have to listen to him," she murmured. "We came here to fix the wound in time, not to repeat the cycle."
The older Caius's expression remained impassive. "Do you really think this can be undone? That time can be restored without consequence?" His eyes flickered with something deep—knowledge, pain, regret. "I once thought as you do. And I tried. But in every attempt, the world crumbled further. Every time I tried to let go, I lost everything."
Caius swallowed hard. The truth lay in those words. The storm was proof of a past tampered with, of choices made and unmade, but was it true that no matter what, disaster would strike? His heart pounded as he considered his next move.
Elias stepped forward. "You say you've seen every future. Then tell me, do any of them end with peace?"
A flicker of hesitation crossed the older Caius's face, a moment's vulnerability. "…No."
The admission settled over them like a shroud. For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Aldric broke the silence, stepping to Caius's side. "Then we make a future that does."
The older Caius exhaled slowly. "You don't understand. Time is not your ally. The moment you resist its will, it resists you. If you fight me, you fight against the inevitable."
Caius lifted the Chronomancer's Heart in his palm, feeling the pulse of energy within it. "Then I'll fight against inevitability itself."
The older Caius sighed. "So be it."
With a wave of his hand, the throne room shattered.
Reality itself twisted as the golden glow of the torches flickered out, replaced by a violent storm of shifting moments. The past, present, and future all collided in an explosion of energy. Ghostly figures from different timelines flickered in and out of existence—soldiers mid-battle, nobles mid-conversation, fragments of a world that no longer existed. The very air crackled with time's unraveling strands.
The older Caius attacked first.
A wave of sheer force erupted from his outstretched palm, bending the space around them. Caius barely had time to react before the energy struck him, sending him hurtling through time.
For an instant, he was ten years in the past, standing in the gardens of the palace as a boy, watching the sunset with his father. Then, he was flung forward, into a battlefield littered with corpses—his own soldiers, dead in a war he had yet to fight.
Selene's voice yanked him back to the present. "CAIUS!"
He barely regained his footing in time to deflect a second strike, raising the Chronomancer's Heart as a shield. The artifact pulsed, absorbing the energy and redirecting it outward. The backlash sent shockwaves through the chamber, warping time in unpredictable ways.
Aldric lunged forward, swinging his blade. The older Caius didn't dodge. Instead, he froze time itself around Aldric, suspending the general in mid-air, his strike halted in an instant. With a flick of his fingers, he reversed the moment, sending Aldric flying backward as if he had never moved at all.
Elias, his mind sharp even amidst the chaos, grasped what was happening. "He's bending time against us! We can't fight him by normal means."
Selene cursed under her breath. "Then we'll just have to break his control."
Caius knew she was right. He had spent his entire journey trying to understand time, trying to wield it. But his future self had already mastered it. If he fought as he always had, he would lose.
Unless…
He closed his eyes. What if he didn't fight at all?
Instead of resisting, Caius let go.
The moment he did, he felt time shift—not against him, but with him. The Chronomancer's Heart pulsed in his grip, syncing with the flow rather than trying to control it. He let himself move with the currents, slipping between seconds instead of trying to dominate them.
When he opened his eyes, he was everywhere at once.
His future self saw it too late.
Caius struck—not with brute force, but by unraveling the moment itself. He reached into the fractures of time, pulling at the strands that bound his future self to this fate. The storm around them howled in defiance, but Caius refused to let go.
The older Caius gasped, stumbling. His form flickered, his dominance over time weakening.
Selene lunged, her blades striking true. The moment they met his armor, the illusion of absolute control shattered.
The storm collapsed inward, reality snapping back into place. The golden glow of the throne room flickered once more, stabilizing.
The older Caius fell to one knee, his breathing ragged. He looked up at his younger self, eyes filled with something that almost resembled relief.
"You… actually did it," he murmured. He chuckled, shaking his head. "So there was a way after all."
Caius knelt before him. "It's not too late. We can still fix this. Together."
The older Caius hesitated. Then, slowly, he smiled.
The throne room around them began to dissolve.
When Caius opened his eyes, he was standing back in the ruins of the palace. The storm had vanished. The sky was clear for the first time in what felt like centuries.
Selene was at his side, her hand gripping his shoulder. Elias, Aldric, and the remaining warriors stood nearby, watching in quiet awe.
"It's… over?" Elias asked cautiously.
Caius took a deep breath. The Chronomancer's Heart, once an overwhelming force, now lay quiet in his palm.
He turned to Selene. She met his gaze, a quiet question in her eyes.
For the first time, he smiled. "Yes," he said. "It's over."
But deep in his heart, he knew this was only the beginning of the future they had fought for.