Chapter 5: Shifting Sands

Chapter 5: Shifting Sands

The air swirled, thick with tension. Agent Lucian Graves loomed sentinel, his dark suit mere shades from the lab's shadows. Eyes darted, sharp and unyielding, between Eli and Samara.

"Temporal Enforcement Division?" Samara said, her tone full of incredulity. "That's just a myth. A scare tactic to keep people from experimenting with time."

Graves smiled wryly. "You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you? Makes it easier to justify breaking every rule we've spent centuries enforcing."

Eli took another step forward, his clenched jaw aching. "We didn't break any rules. We fixed something-something that never should've happened."

Graves' face darkened. "You fixed something? Is that what you think? Tell me, Dr. Renner, what do you think happens when you drop a stone into a still pond?

The ripples," Samara muttered, her surety now faltering.

Graves nodded, his tone barely above a whisper, yet full of authority. "Precisely. And your 'fix' is a boulder. The ripples haven't even touched the shore, and the timeline's already destabilizing."

Eli crossed his arms. "How do you know that? We just got back. The changes haven't had time to settle.

Graves pulled a sleek device from his pocket, a small, hand-held console pulsed with blue light. He held it up, and there seemed to be some sort of holographic projection in the air.

"This," Graves said, gesturing to the projection, "is your timeline."

The image showed a twisting thread of light, steady and whole. As Graves leaned in closer, however, cracks began to materialize-small, jagged lines splitting off from the main thread.

"Those fractures," Graves went on, "are parallel universes trying to overwrite the main timeline. The more unstable it gets, the more likely it is to collapse entirely."

Samara shook her head. "No. That doesn't make sense. We ran every simulation. The changes we made were minimal-targeted."

Targeted?" Graves echoed, his tone dripping with contempt. "You changed a nexus point. One of the touchier moments in your own timeline. You might have done better simply setting the timeline on fire."

Eli's patience snapped. "We saved a life! Anna didn't deserve to die. If that's the price of keeping the timeline intact, then maybe your rules are the problem.

Graves' eyes narrowed. "Do you think you're the first person to justify tampering with time by calling it 'saving lives'? Every tyrant that's tried to rewrite history said the same thing." 

Samara stepped between them, her voice cold. "Enough. You're here to lecture us, fine. But what do you actually want?"

Graves watched her a moment longer before lowering the device. "What I want is irrelevant. What matters is the timeline. And right now, it's hanging by a thread."

Eli and Samara exchanged a look, unease settling in the pit of their stomachs.

Shifts in Reality

Graves' warning hung over them as they monitored the lab's systems. The stabilizers were running hot, and the timeline scanner showed erratic fluctuations.

"This isn't normal," Samara said, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "The timeline shouldn't be this unstable. It's like."

"Like it's fighting back," Graves finished, standing over her shoulder.

Eli frowned. "What does that mean?

Graves leaned against the console, his face grim. "Time sorts itself out. When you alter the past, what you're doing isn't changing one event-it's creating a void, a tug that pulls everything else out of place."

Samara's screen flickered to life in front of her, and her eyes went wide. "Oh no."

"What is it?" Eli asked tightly.

Samara turned the screen toward him. It was a news broadcast, from today, or at least from what should have been today.

Headline read: Mass Blackout Affects Major Cities Worldwide.

Eli read through the report. His heart dropped. "That doesn't make any sense. A blackout? How does that have anything to do with Anna?

Grave's face sobered. "The ripple effect: the small changes overflow into larger ones. Something in your timeline changed course to this particular moment."

Samara's hands shook as she typed. "If this keeps spiraling, the whole timeline may get out of control."

Eli clenched his fists. "We have to fix this. If we're the cause, then we can stop it.

Graves gave a harsh bark of a laugh. "You think it's that easy? You go in and change something, you make new variables. More ripples. The only way to balance is to take back that first variable."

Eli went still. "Take it back?"

Graves nodded. "Put the timeline back the way it was. Let Anna die."

Each word landed like a physical punch. Eli turned his back, not meeting Graves' eyes.

"No," Samara said doggedly. "There has to be another way. We just need to isolate the critical point where the instability started and correct it without undoing everything."

Graves shook his head. "You're clutching at straws. The longer you wait, the worse this gets.

Eli turned back to him, his eyes blazing with defiance. "You want me to let Anna die again? After everything we've done to save her? No. There has to be another way."

Graves sighed, his tone softening. "I understand your pain. But this isn't about one life—it's about billions. The longer the timeline remains unstable, the more lives are at risk."

Samara slammed her hand onto the console. "We're not giving up. If there's even a chance we can fix this without undoing the change, we'll find it."

Graves stared at her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Very well. But know this: if you fail, I won't hesitate to do what needs to be done."