Max lay on his bed, staring at the watch he held in his hand. It gleamed faintly under the soft glow of his bedside lamp, its intricate details coming alive in the dim light. From a distance, the watch looked ordinary—sleek, with a metallic finish and a dark face. But up close, the uniqueness of its craftsmanship became evident.
The buttons on the side were carved with tiny, almost alien-like symbols, unlike anything he'd seen before. The glass covering the face of the watch had a faint, shifting hue, as though it was alive, reflecting colors that didn't seem to exist in the room. Max turned it over in his hand, inspecting the back, which was smooth yet etched with the same strange symbols.
"This doesn't look like something someone would just lose," Max muttered to himself. "And I've never seen anyone—student or teacher—wearing something like this."
He thought back to the moment they found it in the art room. It was lying there, almost deliberately placed in plain sight, as though it was meant to be found. But by whom? And why? A strange feeling bubbled in his chest—part curiosity, part unease.
His thoughts drifted to Lena's fleeting reaction when she saw the watch earlier that day. The excitement in her eyes, though brief, had been unmistakable. It was as if she recognized it, or at least knew something about it. But why hadn't she said anything? Was it possible she knew more than she let on?
Max sighed, running his fingers through his hair. The more he thought about the watch, the more questions swirled in his mind. He pressed one of the buttons on the side experimentally, half expecting it to do something. But nothing happened—the watch remained still, its face blank except for the faint glow of its intricate design.
Frustrated, Max tossed the watch onto his bedside table and lay back, staring at the ceiling. He tried to brush off the nagging feeling that there was more to this object than met the eye. "It's just a weird, fancy watch," he told himself, though even as he said it, he didn't fully believe it.
Just as he was about to turn off his lamp and call it a night, a faint, mechanical hum filled the room. Max froze, his heart pounding. Slowly, he turned his head toward the source of the sound. The watch on the table was glowing now, its face alight with a soft, pulsating blue. The symbols on its buttons and casing seemed to shift and rearrange themselves as though coming to life.
"What the...?" Max whispered, sitting up and leaning closer. He hesitated before reaching for the watch, his fingers hovering just above its surface.
Before he could touch it, the light grew brighter, and a sharp beam of blue shot out from the face of the watch, projecting what looked like a swirling, three-dimensional map into the air. Max's jaw dropped as the map hovered before him, shifting and changing, displaying what appeared to be a network of timelines and pathways.
"This... this isn't normal," he murmured, his voice barely audible over the hum of the watch.
The map flickered, and a series of strange coordinates or symbols appeared, glowing faintly. Max didn't understand what he was looking at, but the sight of it sent a shiver down his spine. Whatever this watch was, it wasn't just a piece of jewelry—it was something far beyond his understanding.
And he had a feeling that discovering its secrets would change everything.