Sparkz27

In Neo-Pandora, 2247 time is a fragile commodity. The invention of the Temporal Engine granted humanity glimpses into the past and future—but at a catastrophic cost. Reality itself has begun to unravel, splintering into fractured timelines that bleed into the present. Amidst the neon-lit chaos of this dystopian metropolis, Detective Elias Voss, a disgraced chrono-physicist turned private investigator, survives by solving cases tied to temporal anomalies. Haunted by a failed experiment that scarred him with the ability to see time’s fractures, Elias walks the razor’s edge between the past’s ghosts and the future’s shadows.  

When Dr. Lila Kane, a desperate Temporal Institute scientist, begs for his help, Elias is thrust into a conspiracy that threatens to erase Neo-Pandora from existence. A rogue experiment has unleashed a time rift fueled by the Fractured Hourglass, a mythical artifact rumored to hold dominion over time itself. As Elias and Lila race to stop the rift, they uncover a chilling truth: the Hourglass is merely a fragment of the Chrono Core, an ancient power capable of rewriting history—or erasing it entirely.  

But the Core’s secrets are guarded by shadowy forces. From the neon-drenched underworld to the Institute’s ivory towers, Elias confronts rogue time travelers, paradox-born monsters, and his own fractured memories. Every step closer to the Chrono Core warps reality further, forcing Elias to question what—or who—is truly real. As the rift consumes the city, he must decide whether to repair time… or shatter it to save humanity

Will Elias Voss outrun the ghosts of his past, or will time itself become his greatest enemy?  

The Chrono Detective is a high-stakes journey through a collapsing world where every second counts—and every choice could doom reality itself. 

The Chrono Detective

Zara stood in a sunlit laboratory that smelled of ozone and iron, her boots sinking into carpet that hadn't existed in decades. Elias Voss's face stared back from a hologram, frozen mid-laugh.

"This isn't a fracture," she whispered. "It's a snapshot."

"Worse," Jax said, his phasing arm glitching as he touched the wall. "It's a trap."*

The door slammed shut behind them. The memory rewound—Elias's laugh reversing into a gasp, sunlight retreating into shadows. A figure stepped from the dark, their features obscured by a shifting veil of static.

"Welcome to the Gallery," the figure said, their voice a harmonic of Elias, Lila, and someone else. "I've been waiting to meet the Thief of Seconds."

Zara's implant burned. "Who the hell are you?"

Kael's younger sister, presumed dead in the Fracture Wars. Her body was a mosaic of stolen time—one arm from a future timeline, eyes from a past, her voice spliced from a hundred variants of herself. She wore the Core's sigil on her throat: a spiral etched in black light.

"You're supposed to be ash," Jax growled.

"Ash is just another kind of code," Nyx said, gesturing to the frozen memory. "The Core preserved me. Taught me to curate."

The Gallery shifted—scenes from Zara's life played on loop: her first hack, her mother's death, the implant's searing installation.

"Why?" Nyx smiled. "You sell memories. I collect them. We're the same."

"Aren't we?" Nyx flicked her wrist, and the Gallery fractured.

Nyx's "curations" came alive—echoes of Zara's clients, armed with weapons from erased timelines. Jax phased through a bullet, his prosthetic sparking. "She's herding us!"

Zara dodged a blade, her implant syncing to the Gallery's frequency. There—a weak point in the static. She lunged, hacking the code with her neural link.

Nyx hissed, her form unraveling. "You'll regret that."

"Already do," Zara spat, dragging Jax toward the exit.

Lila Kane stood in the ruins of Lazarus District, the compass screaming in her hand. The fracture Zara had opened was spreading, birthing new anomalies: a streetlamp that aged backward, a child speaking in reverse.

"Elias, if you're out there…" She pressed the compass to her chest. "I need you."

"Hello, Lila," said the man who wasn't Elias.

Back in the Gallery, Nyx cornered Zara and Jax. "The Core wants the Thief alive. The mercenary… not so much."

"Try it," Jax said, phasing his arm. "I'll take your future with me."

"You don't have a future," Nyx sneered. "But I'll enjoy erasing you anyway."

The attack came from all timelines at once.

Zara did the only thing she could—she hacked her own implant.

Zara's neural link exploded with stolen time, flooding the Gallery with a thousand fractured memories. Nyx recoiled, her stolen body unraveling.

"Run!" Zara yelled, blood dripping from her nose.

They fled into a new fracture—a door marked VEYRA LABS, 2239.

Behind them, Nyx laughed. "You can't outrun the Curator."

Chapter 12: The Thief of Seconds