Chapter 1: Fractured Time
Lian Korr stood in the quiet room, his fingers grazing the surface of the Echo Stone before him. The stone was smooth, cool to the touch, with swirling patterns that seemed to shimmer and pulse in a rhythm that was almost... alive. It wasn't the first time he'd seen an Echo; it was his job to catalogue them, after all. But this one—this one felt different.
It had been five years since the incident that had erased everything he'd known. Five years since the world had become nothing more than a blurred memory, a collection of fractured fragments, each one a puzzle piece he could never quite put together. Yet the Echo in front of him felt... familiar.
Lian took a deep breath, trying to push aside the strange unease gnawing at him. He'd felt this unease before, buried deep inside, but couldn't recall when or why. He was here to catalog the Echo, not to unravel his own tangled past.
"Another failure," Lian muttered to himself, his voice low, a bitter taste in his mouth. He'd spent years in this unremarkable job—documenting Echoes that never seemed to make sense, cataloging history that no one cared to preserve. It wasn't the life he had once envisioned, but it was the life he had now.
With a small sigh, he opened the thin leather journal he kept with him at all times, the pages filled with scribbled notes on various Echoes, mostly forgotten remnants of long-dead events. There was no reason to think today would be any different.
But as his pen hovered above the page, ready to start documenting, a sudden flash of light surged from the stone. The patterns twisted and writhed, bending the air around them, distorting reality in ways that felt... wrong. Lian's heart raced, and his mind screamed for him to step back. This was not normal.
Before he could react, the room around him vanished in an instant, replaced by an overwhelming rush of images—blurred, chaotic, fractured. It was as if time itself had twisted, breaking free from its constraints. In one heartbeat, he saw flashes of ancient cities crumbling to dust, heard the roar of something powerful—something dangerous. A shadow loomed, and within it, a figure.
The figure's face was obscured by swirling darkness, but the moment he saw those eyes—bright, sharp, and filled with hatred—Lian felt something snap deep inside him. That face, he knew it. He had seen it before, though he couldn't remember where.
The vision faded as quickly as it had come, and Lian staggered back, his breath coming in short, panicked bursts. His journal had slipped from his hands and lay open on the floor, its pages now empty, as though the words had been erased by the same force that had distorted the room.
"What... was that?" Lian whispered, his pulse pounding in his ears.
He stumbled to the table, hands trembling as he gripped the edge for support. His eyes darted to the Echo Stone. It was back to its usual quiet self, the strange patterns now still and unmoving.
That didn't make sense. The Echoes never worked like this. They were supposed to be relics, remnants of past moments, tied to the past but never living in the present. But this—this was no ordinary Echo. And it wasn't just a glimpse of the past—it was something more, something connected to him.
A voice echoed through his mind, distant but clear, as if from far off: "Lian… you must remember…"
He froze, his eyes wide. The voice sounded like his own, yet he had never spoken those words before.
The door to his small archive room burst open with a loud crash. Lian turned, his hand instinctively reaching for the hidden dagger at his waist, his mind still reeling from the strange event. A figure stepped into the doorway, silhouetted against the dim light of the hall.
"Lian," a harsh voice growled. "Get up. We've got trouble."
Lian's gaze locked onto the man, his hand still hovering over the dagger. The man in front of him wore the uniform of the Chrono Guard, the elite faction tasked with protecting the sanctity of time.
"What is it, Kael?" Lian asked, his voice steady despite the chaos swirling in his head.
Kael's sharp eyes scanned the room, taking in the disarray. "You're not going to believe this," he said, stepping closer. "The city's been attacked. We've got rogue Chronomancers on the move. They're after something... something you were never supposed to find."
Lian's mind spun. Rogue Chronomancers? Attacks on the city? The weight of those words settled heavily on his shoulders.
"I need you to come with me," Kael continued, his tone urgent. "It's bad, Lian. Real bad."
Lian's gaze returned to the Echo Stone, his mind still tangled in the visions it had shown him. He didn't know what was happening or what it meant, but one thing was certain—whatever he had uncovered today, whatever Echo had awoken, was about to change everything.
"Let's go," Lian said, his voice low but resolute. He didn't have all the answers, but he knew one thing: the past was coming for him, whether he was ready
The city had always been a quiet place—predictable, controlled. But that morning, it was anything but. Buildings collapsed in places they shouldn't, and the air crackled with unnatural energy. The rogue Chronomancers were out there, wreaking havoc on the flow of time itself.
Kael and Lian moved quickly, Kael's long strides carrying him ahead. Lian struggled to keep up, his mind still spinning from the vision, still trying to process what had just happened in the archive room. What had the Echo shown him? And why was his past so... fragmented?
"We don't have much time," Kael's voice cut through the chaos. "The Chronomancers are tampering with the Heart of Time. If they succeed, they'll unravel everything. The fabric of reality will collapse."
Lian felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, an unnatural pulse that seemed to ripple through the air. His instincts kicked in. He had been trained for this, but this was different. These rogue Chronomancers were playing with forces even the highest-ranking members of the Chrono Guard feared.
They reached the central plaza, where an eerie silence had taken hold. People ran in all directions, but there was no order. No system. Just chaos. The Chronomancers had disrupted the time-storms that held the city's architecture intact. The very laws of physics were breaking down around them.
"We need to find the source," Kael snapped, pulling Lian toward a set of marble steps that led into a deep chamber beneath the city.
As they descended, Lian couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him. He couldn't explain it, but the weight of the Echo he had touched earlier lingered, like a shadow moving just out of his sight.
Kael led him into a darkened chamber. In the center, a massive crystalline structure pulsed with raw energy. Lian could feel it even from here—a pressure against his chest, as if time itself was distorting in this space.
"There it is," Kael said, pointing to the crystal. "The Heart of Time."
Lian's heart skipped a beat. The Heart of Time was said to be a mythical artifact, capable of controlling time itself. If the rogue Chronomancers had found it... everything was at risk.
A voice echoed from the shadows. "Too late."
Lian's head snapped up, and in the darkness stood a figure, cloaked in shadows, his face hidden beneath a hood. The voice was familiar, but Lian couldn't place it.
"I've been waiting for you, Lian Korr," the figure said. "Or should I say... Chronomancer?"
--
The figure stepped forward, his cloak swirling around him like a dark storm. Lian's breath hitched in his throat. The moment he saw the man's eyes—bright, sharp, filled with a cold certainty—he felt his mind go blank.
"Who... who are you?" Lian demanded, his voice trembling despite himself.
The figure tilted his head slightly, his gaze piercing Lian. "You don't remember me, do you? You were once one of us. But no matter. I'll remind you, Lian. I'll remind you of everything."
Before Lian could respond, the figure raised his hand. The room around them seemed to warp, the edges of reality twisting as if time itself was being bent. Lian's knees buckled, and he found himself kneeling, overwhelmed by a rush of memories that were not his own.
In flashes, he saw himself—powerful, confident, his robes rippling with an aura that could control time. But something was wrong. In every vision, there was a dark figure, watching from the shadows, waiting for something... or someone.
And then, just as quickly as it had come, the visions stopped.
Lian gasped for breath, his chest heaving. The memories were gone, slipping through his fingers like smoke. But something remained, something that he couldn't deny.
"You... you're one of the rogue Chronomancers," Lian said, his voice hoarse.
The figure smiled, a dark, knowing smile. "No, Lian. I'm your past. I'm your future. And you're going to help me unravel the world."
---
Lian's heart pounded in his chest as the figure's words echoed in his mind. Help him unravel the world? Was this man truly who he said he was? Was Lian part of this twisted faction of rogue Chronomancers?
"You still don't remember, do you?" the figure said, taking a step closer. "All this time, all these years, you've forgotten your true power. You've buried it deep, hidden it away. But now… now it's time to awaken."
Before Lian could react, the figure's hand shot forward, and a bolt of pure energy struck him in the chest. He gasped, his vision blurring as his body was filled with searing pain.
"Time is your weapon, Lian," the figure whispered. "And soon, you will learn how to wield it. To shape it. To control it. All you need is to remember."
Lian's mind reeled, struggling to keep his composure. The pain was unbearable, but it was more than just physical. It felt like his very existence was being torn apart, as if something deep within him was being unlocked.
Then, just as suddenly, the pain stopped. Lian collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. The world around him seemed to settle, but something had changed. Something was different.
He could feel it—the power surging through him, awakening in the depths of his soul. The past, the Echoes, his forgotten abilities—they were all coming back.
And with them, the terrifying truth: Lian Korr was no ordinary man. He was a Chronomancer.
And his journey had only just begun.
---
Lian stood in the heart of the ruined city, his mind still reeling from the events in the chamber. The rogue Chronomancer's words burned in his mind, but now was not the time to think. The Heart of Time had to be stopped.
"I won't let you do this," Lian said, his voice steady despite the storm of emotions inside him.
The rogue Chronomancer smirked. "You can't stop us, Lian. We've already started the unraveling. There's nothing you can do."
Lian's eyes narrowed as the world around him began to shift. His hands moved instinctively, and the air seemed to bend in response. Time rippled.
"You're wrong," Lian said quietly, a sense of control settling over him. "I've only just begun."