Cassian took a long sip of his Long Raged Bitter Back Beer, savoring the sharp, smoky burn as it hit the back of his throat. Across from him, Jace looked anything but relaxed.
The man's fingers tapped a nervous rhythm against the wooden table, his gaze flicking toward the entrance of the dimly lit restaurant every few seconds. The low neon glow above them reflected off his cybernetic eye, making it flicker like a glitching interface.
"You need to leave. Now."
Cassian raised an eyebrow and set his bottle down with deliberate slowness. "Funny, I just got here. Thought we were catching up. You know, reminiscing about old times, talking about our tragic pasts, maybe even a tearful hug—"
"Cassian," Jace cut in, his voice sharp. "I'm not joking. You're standing in a dead timeline. One that was erased for a reason."
"Erased?" Rory, who had been lazily stirring her drink with a straw, finally perked up. "You mean, like… someone deleted this whole place?"
Jace nodded. "And they don't take kindly to people trespassing in their graveyards."
Cassian leaned back, arms crossed. "You're gonna have to be a bit more specific. Who's 'they'? I already have one Syndicate breathing down my neck; I'd rather not add another cult of time fanatics to my schedule."
Jace exhaled sharply. "They call themselves the Eternum Sovereigns. They own this timeline. In fact, they own several. And the way they keep control? Liranium."
The name sent a chill down Cassian's spine. Rory, however, just looked confused.
"Okay, I know a lot of dangerous substances. Chrono-Toxins, Quantum Rifts, that one thing that turns people inside out for fun—what the hell is Liranium?"
Jace leaned in, lowering his voice. "It's a manufactured element. Extremely unstable, extremely toxic. One grain of it can erase an entire building from existence. Not explode it. Not burn it. Erase it. Like it was never there to begin with."
Rory whistled. "Well, that's just overkill."
Jace ignored her. "The Sovereigns use it to conquer timelines. They show up, wipe out anyone who resists, and force the survivors to follow their rule. If someone so much as breathes the wrong way, they disappear. Permanently."
Cassian rubbed his jaw, processing this new nightmare. "And you're telling me we're in their backyard right now?"
Jace gave him a grim nod. "And anyone new who enters this timeline is marked for execution."
Silence settled over the table. The restaurant around them was still bustling—patrons drinking, laughing, completely unaware that their entire world belonged to people who could erase them at will.
Then Rory clapped her hands together. "Well! That was fun! Cassian, ready to go?"
Cassian sighed and finished his beer in one go. "Yeah, yeah. Let's—"
The restaurant doors slammed open.
Five figures stepped in, clad in sleek black armor with glowing silver visors. Their movements were synchronized, mechanical—too precise to be normal. The Eternum Sovereigns' enforcers.
Cassian and Rory barely shared a glance before they moved.
—
Cassian flipped the table in one fluid motion, sending drinks and plates crashing to the floor. The enforcers barely had time to react before Rory yanked a small device from her belt, slammed it onto the ground, and detonated a pulse of static energy.
The restaurant glitched.
For a split second, everything—tables, chairs, even people—flickered out of sync, like a corrupted video file skipping frames.
Cassian grabbed Rory's arm and yanked her toward the back exit. Jace was already moving, shoving through stunned patrons.
"That won't hold them for long!" Rory shouted as she nearly tripped over a fallen chair.
"Doesn't need to!" Cassian shot back, kicking open the back door. "We just need a head start!"
They bolted into the narrow alleyway behind the restaurant, boots pounding against damp pavement. The neon signs above buzzed erratically, their light casting fractured shadows.
Jace sprinted ahead, leading them down a twisting path of alleys and abandoned storefronts. Behind them, the enforcers recovered fast.
A voice crackled over a city-wide intercom.
"Attention: Unregistered entities detected. All civilians remain indoors. Any sighting of anomalies must be reported immediately."
Rory groaned. "Oh great, now the whole damn city is hunting us."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Cassian muttered.
They rounded a corner, only to be met with a checkpoint. A group of seven armored guards stood at the street's entrance, weapons already raised.
Jace skidded to a stop. "Damn it."
Cassian grabbed Rory's wrist. "We go up."
"What?"
Cassian didn't explain. He just ran at the nearest wall, using a rusty dumpster as a boost. His boots slammed against the metal, pushing him higher as he grabbed onto a fire escape ladder and pulled himself up.
Rory swore but followed, her smaller frame moving with surprising agility. Jace took a second longer but managed to pull himself up as well.
Gunfire erupted from below, the metal railings sparking as bullets ricocheted off them.
Rory yelped. "I hate when people shoot at me!"
Cassian grinned, adrenaline coursing through his veins. "You get used to it!"
They sprinted across the rooftops, leaping gaps that were far too wide for comfort. Below, the enforcers were already recalibrating, using grappling hooks to scale the buildings after them.
Jace muttered a curse. "They don't give up, do they?"
"Yeah, well, neither do we," Cassian shot back.
After what felt like an eternity of running, they finally ducked into an abandoned warehouse, slamming the doors shut behind them.
Cassian leaned against a rusted support beam, catching his breath. "Alright… So that sucked."
Rory flopped onto an overturned crate. "Yeah, let's not do that again."
Jace was already accessing a small holo-terminal from his wrist. His face paled.
"Uh… Cassian? We have a problem."
Cassian groaned. "Buddy, I just outran a death squad. What could possibly—"
Jace turned the screen toward them.
A new bounty alert was flashing in bright red letters.
TARGET: CASSIAN VEY
BOUNTY: 500,000 CREDITS (DEAD ONLY)
NEW TARGET: AURORA 'RORY' QUINN
BOUNTY: 250,000 CREDITS (DEAD OR ALIVE)
Cassian's stomach sank. "Well. That's not good."
Rory blinked. "Wait—why am I worth less than you?"
Jace stared at her. "That's what you're focusing on?"
Cassian sighed and pushed off the beam. "So, now I have two bounties on my head, Rory's officially a wanted criminal, and we're stuck in a timeline run by people who can erase us from existence."
Rory crossed her arms. "You know, when I joined this whole 'running for our lives' gig, I expected a little more profit."
Cassian smirked. "Yeah? Well, congratulations. You're finally worth something."
She punched him in the shoulder.
Jace groaned. "Focus, you two. We need a way out of here—fast."
Cassian's smirk faded. He glanced out the cracked window, watching the glowing bounty alerts flicker across the skyline.
Every mercenary, bounty hunter, and low-life in this timeline would be after them now.
"Yeah," he muttered. "We need to move."
And fast.