Chapter 4 : Shards of Truth
The battlefield was a graveyard of frozen moments—soldiers locked mid-swing, spells lingering in the air like dying embers. Each step Lian took felt heavier as fragments of his past continued to resurface.
At the center of the battlefield, they found the fragment of the Heart of Time. It floated above a jagged pedestal, radiating an aura of raw power. As Lian reached out to touch it, Verrin grabbed his wrist.
"Once you touch it, there's no going back," Verrin warned.
"I need to know," Lian replied, his voice firm.
The instant his fingers brushed the fragment, another vision engulfed him. He saw himself standing before the fully intact Heart of Time, surrounded by allies. The Heart was fractured, its energy spiraling out of control. He heard his own voice, desperate and resolute: "It's the only way to stop them. Forgive me."
In the vision, Lian struck the Heart, shattering it into countless shards. The resulting explosion tore through the battlefield, freezing everything in time.
When he returned to the present, Lian fell to his knees, gasping for breath. "I broke it," he whispered. "I caused all of this."
Verrin knelt beside him. "You did what you had to do to save us. The Heart in the Keepers' hands would have been far worse."
Lian clutched the fragment, its energy thrumming in his palm. He could feel the power calling to him, tempting him to wield it. But with that power came a terrible weight.
Before he could process what he'd learned, Verrin tensed. "We've been followed."
Emerging from the frozen battlefield was Kael, his blade drawn and his expression hard.
---
Kael's gaze flicked between Lian and Verrin, his jaw tight with anger. "So it's true," he said. "You've been working with the rogues all along."
"It's not what you think," Lian began, but Kael cut him off.
"Don't lie to me!" Kael shouted. "You've been hiding the truth from the start. Do you have any idea what's happening back in the city? The Guard is falling apart, and it's all because of you!"
Verrin stepped between them, his voice calm but firm. "This isn't his fault. The Keepers have been manipulating all of us. Lian's only trying to set things right."
Kael scoffed. "You expect me to believe that? The Keepers are the reason we have order. Without them, the timeline would collapse."
"And with them, it'll be rewritten to suit their agenda," Verrin shot back.
The tension reached its breaking point. Kael lunged at Verrin, their blades clashing in a flurry of sparks. Lian hesitated, torn between his loyalty to Kael and the truths Verrin had revealed.
"Stop it!" Lian shouted, his voice echoing across the battlefield.
Time seemed to slow as his powers flared uncontrollably, freezing both Kael and Verrin in place. He stood between them, his chest heaving. "We're all being used. Fighting each other isn't going to solve anything."
Reluctantly, Kael lowered his weapon. "Then prove it," he said. "Prove that the Keepers are lying."
---
The fragile truce between Lian, Verrin, and Kael didn't last long. As they made their way out of the battlefield, a Keeper appeared before them, flanked by a squad of enforcers.
"You've meddled enough," the Keeper said coldly, their voice echoing with power. "Hand over the fragment, or face the consequences."
Lian stepped forward, the fragment glowing faintly in his hand. "Why did you erase my memories?" he demanded. "What are you hiding?"
The Keeper's expression didn't waver. "You were a threat to balance. Your actions endangered the timeline. We did what was necessary to protect reality."
"You're lying," Verrin snarled. "You didn't erase his memories to protect reality—you did it to protect your control."
The Keeper's patience snapped. With a flick of their hand, the enforcers attacked. The ensuing battle was chaos—magic crackling, blades clashing, and the fabric of time itself warping under the strain.
Lian fought with a newfound intensity, his powers flowing more freely as he tapped into the fragment's energy. But the Keeper was relentless, their mastery of time overwhelming.
When it seemed like all hope was lost, Lian made a desperate decision. He channeled the fragment's power, creating a temporal rift that engulfed the battlefield. The rift pulled the Keeper and their enforcers into its swirling depths, leaving only silence in its wake.
---
The group emerged from the battle shaken but alive. Kael glared at Verrin, his distrust evident. "This doesn't change anything," he said. "You're still a rogue, and I still don't trust you."
"Fine by me," Verrin replied coolly. "I didn't ask for your trust."
Lian stepped between them, his voice steady. "We don't have time for this. The Keepers won't stop coming, and we still don't have all the fragments."
Reluctantly, Kael nodded. "But if Verrin tries anything—anything—I'll kill him myself."
Their uneasy alliance held as they continued their journey. Lian couldn't shake the weight of the fragment in his pocket. It was a reminder of what he'd done, and of the power he now had to reclaim.
But with each step, the question loomed larger: Could he trust himself to wield it?
---
Their next destination was an ancient city lost to history, its ruins hidden within a tangled web of time anomalies. The city was alive with flickering echoes of the past—ghostly figures moving through streets that no longer existed.
As they navigated the ruins, Verrin explained the city's significance. "This was once a stronghold for the rebellion. The final battle against the Keepers was fought here."
Lian felt a strange familiarity as they approached the city's heart. In the center of the ruins was another fragment of the Heart, its glow pulsing in sync with the one he already carried.
But the closer they got, the more unstable the anomalies became. Past and present collided violently, creating dangerous paradoxes. Lian's powers flared uncontrollably, and he realized the fragments were reacting to each other.
As they reached the fragment, they were confronted by another Keeper—this one more powerful than the last. The battle that followed tested Lian's limits, forcing him to push his powers further than ever before.
When the dust settled, Lian held the second fragment in his hand. But the victory was bittersweet—each fragment he claimed brought him closer to the truth, but also closer to the burden of his past.
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