BOOM.
Kai stumbled through the smoke and broken glass, clutching the scorched sleeve of his uniform. The echoes of the explosion still rang in his ears.
The world had frozen… just for a second. Everything still felt unreal.
But now time ticked again — painfully loud.
He ran. Away from the wrecked school gate. Away from the crater. Away from the whispers in his mind that said:
> You did this.
But he hadn't. Had he?
Kai ducked behind a vending machine. His hands trembled. The watch on his wrist — one he didn't remember ever owning — ticked backwards for a heartbeat, then forward again.
"What the hell…" he whispered.
The face of the watch glowed briefly. Numbers spun.
A sharp sting flared on his inner wrist.
He yanked up his sleeve.
A black hourglass-shaped mark was burning into his skin.
Before he could scream, a shadow passed.
Someone stood on the other side of the street.
A girl — maybe his age, maybe older — silver eyes shining under a hood. She was just… watching him. Not shocked. Not scared. Calm.
"Kai Ashen," she said softly.
He froze.
"You used time," she added. "Now it will start taking things from you."
He stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she pointed across the street.
A girl Kai had seen earlier — in the chaos — was walking with her friends.
She looked familiar.
Too familiar.
He tried to wave to her. Tried to shout.
She looked his way.
And then… her face went blank. Like he was a stranger.
> You lost something.
"Who… is she?"
"Your memory of her," the silver-eyed girl said. "Gone. That's the cost of using time."
"The more you use it… the more you'll lose."
Suddenly, the air cracked — like glass shattering.
A soundless thunder shook the sky.
And from behind the trees, something walked out.
A figure wrapped in gray — wearing a black cloak with a shifting hourglass symbol on the back.
Time around him froze.
Leaves in midair. Cars paused. Birds motionless.
Only Kai could move.
The silver-eyed girl turned to him one last time.
"Run. He's a Time Hunter."
Chapter End