James's heart thumped hard as the tear grew wide, jagged, unnatural, a cut in time itself. The golden glow of the clock shuddered violently, now unstable. A deep, resonant hum filled the air, vibrating through his bones.
Margaret retreated a step, her grip tight on her weapon. "What the hell is that?"
James swallowed. "Something that shouldn't be here."
The rift pulsed.
And from out of its depths began to emerge shadows.
Not men. Not beasts. Something worse.
Shadows with no shape, their bodies rolling like mist, their outlines wavering between being and nothingness. They rippled like ripples, as if they were bleeding in and out of reality, their existence bending the air around them.
One of them tilted its head toward James.
No eyes. No mouth. Yet he felt its eyes latch onto him.
A breath whispered through his mind, cold and ageless:
You were not meant to change the flow.
James stumbled backward, his breath catching. The voice wasn't just speaking—it was inside his head, resonating through every fiber of his being.
Margaret saw his reaction and raised her gun. "James, talk to me. What are we dealing with?"
James forced himself to speak. "I don't know. But I think—" He hesitated, a chill crawling down his spine. "I think they're from… outside time."
Margaret's jaw clenched. "And that means?"
James stared at the shifting figures. "They don't belong to any timeline. They're something else entirely."
The largest of the figures took a step forward, its form distorting like a glitch in reality. As it moved, the very fabric of space around it warped, like it was tearing through the rules of existence just by standing there.
The whisper came again, stronger this time.
You have broken the loop.
James balled his fists. "I corrected the timeline."
The figure cocked its head. Corrected?
A cold, sharp laugh filled the air-not a sound, but a presence. A feeling.
James's skin crawled.
The figure raised its arm, and the space around them twisted violently. The walls of the room blurred, warping like melted glass. The ground tilted, reality itself bending to the will of these beings.
Margaret staggered, her boots scraping against the shifting floor. "James, I don't think they're here for small talk!"
James barely had time to react before the figure lunged.
It didn't move like a person—it glitched, shifting in and out of position, bypassing the normal flow of movement entirely. One second, it was ten feet away—the next, it was inches from James's face.
Instinct kicked in.
James dove aside just in time as a wave of distorted energy slammed into the ground where he'd been standing. The force ripped through the air, sending sparks and fragments of the floor spiraling into nothingness.
Not breaking. Not shattering.
Erasing.
James's stomach twisted. These things didn't destroy reality. They erased it.
Margaret fired.
Her bullets struck the figures—but instead of piercing them, the projectiles vanished, swallowed by the distortion around their bodies.
"Shit," she hissed. "They're not physical."
James scrambled to his feet. "We need to get out of here—now!"
The lead figure took another step forward, its voice like a whisper across the void.
Time must remain unbroken. You are an anomaly.
James's mind raced. Why now? If these things had existed outside of time all along, why hadn't they shown up before? Why hadn't they stopped ChronoDyne?
Unless…
Unless they didn't care about human interference.
Unless what James had done—the way he had rewritten the rules of the clock—was something that even they couldn't ignore.
The thought sent ice through his veins.
Margaret grabbed his arm. "James! MOVE!"
The shadows lunged.
James turned and ran.
The Hallways of ChronoDyne
The entire facility was collapsing.
Alarms blared. Lights flickered. Scientists and guards were scrambling in every direction, unaware of the far greater threat emerging from the rift.
James and Margaret sprinted down the corridor, dodging debris as the structure groaned and began to tear apart.
"We need an exit!" Margaret shouted.
James scanned their surroundings, his mind working fast. The stairwell was gone—swallowed by the rift. The elevators were shattered, their cables dangling like severed veins.
That left only one option.
"The emergency tunnels!" James pointed ahead. "There's an underground escape route built for high-clearance executives!"
Margaret didn't hesitate. "Lead the way!"
Behind them, the shadows pursued.
They didn't run. They didn't float.
They simply moved, existing in one space and then the next without crossing the distance between. Every time James glanced back, they were closer.
Too fast.
James skidded around a corner—and nearly collided with a security blockade.
Three armed guards stood firm, weapons raised. "Halt! Identify yourself!"
Margaret didn't slow down. She fired two quick shots into the air, forcing them to duck.
James seized the moment, charging forward and slamming his shoulder into the lead guard. The man stumbled, and Margaret was already past them, grabbing James's wrist and yanking him toward a heavy steel door.
She slammed her fist against the emergency override panel.
The door hissed open.
They rushed inside—
And then the entire hallway behind them collapsed.
James barely had time to register what was happening before a wave of darkness crashed against the walls, the rift's corruption swallowing everything in its path.
The guards didn't even have time to scream.
They simply vanished.
Erased.
Margaret hit the emergency lockdown switch.
The steel doors sealed shut, cutting them off from the rift.
Silence.
James panted, his hands on his knees. His entire body trembled.
Margaret pressed her back against the door, breathing hard. "What the hell were those things?"
James stared at the locked entrance. The metal surface hummed with energy, as if the presence beyond it was still searching.
He swallowed hard.
"They weren't just anomalies," he said. "They were… something else."
Margaret frowned. "Explain."
James looked at her, his voice quiet but firm.
"They were enforcers."
Margaret's eyes narrowed. "Enforcers of what?"
James exhaled.
"The natural order."
Margaret stiffened. "You're saying these things police time?"
James nodded. "And we just broke the one rule they won't tolerate."
Margaret's hand gripped her gun tightly. "Which is?"
James felt his stomach roil as he spoke the terrible truth.
"We altered time in a way it was impossible for us to."
Long silence spanned between the two of them.
Then Margaret grumbled softly, "Well… shit."
James clenched his fists together. The fight for time had just begun, however.
It entered a whole new phase now.
And this time, the enemy wasn't ChronoDyne.
It was something far, far worse.