The Predator of Time

A deep hum resonated through the walls of the ship, vibrating through Idris' bones. The air itself felt heavier, charged with something unnatural.

"The Echo found us," Nyla muttered, eyes locked on the shifting void outside.

Idris swallowed hard. It wasn't just outside the ship anymore. It was everywhere. The skyline twisted, bending in impossible directions, buildings elongating like stretched reflections in a shattered mirror.

The Echo was consuming reality itself.

"How do we outrun something that exists in every direction at once?" Elise demanded.

"We don't," Rook said, gripping the controls. "We slip through time before it fully locks onto us."

Before anyone could question him, he slammed a switch.

A low whine filled the ship. The engines roared, and a blue glow engulfed the cabin as the walls flickered.

And then—

Time shifted.

The ship lurched forward, but the world outside didn't move the way it should have.

Instead of speeding through the city, the buildings around them reversed. Lights dimmed, then reignited in a sequence that played backward. Traffic in the streets below unraveled, vehicles un-driving themselves. The clouds above unformed, reshaping into patterns that had existed seconds ago.

They were moving against the current of time itself.

Idris' head pounded. The sensation was disorienting—like his mind couldn't decide which moment it belonged to.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started—

The movement stopped.

The ship steadied. The hum of the engines returned to normal. The air inside the cabin settled.

And outside…

The city was still.

Not just quiet. Not just abandoned.

Frozen.

Nyla exhaled. "Where the hell are we?"

"Not where," Rook corrected. "When."

Idris' gaze swept the frozen skyline. Cars on the street had stopped mid-motion. Neon signs flickered, caught in a loop of light and shadow. A flock of birds hovered in the air, wings unmoving.

It was like stepping into a paused recording of reality itself.

"We're in a temporal void," Rook explained, adjusting the controls. "A space outside of time. The only place where the Echo can't track us—at least, not immediately."

Elise frowned. "And how long do we have before it does find us?"

Rook was silent.

Which meant he didn't know.

Idris clenched his fists. "Enough running. You clearly know more about this thing than we do. So talk. What is the Echo? Where does it come from?"

Rook hesitated, as if weighing how much to reveal. Then, he turned to face them fully.

"The Echo isn't just hunting you, Vale. It's hunting anyone who breaks time."

Elise scoffed. "You're saying this thing is some kind of cosmic security system?"

"No," Rook said. "It's worse than that."

The ship's lights flickered as he continued.

"The Echo isn't fixing time. It's feeding on it."

A cold chill ran down Idris' spine.

Rook's voice dropped lower. "Every time a paradox occurs—someone existing where they shouldn't, an event changing when it shouldn't—the Echo doesn't just erase the mistake. It absorbs it."

Elise folded her arms. "You're saying it eats time?"

"Not just time. People."

The room fell silent.

Rook tapped a few buttons on the console, bringing up a distorted image on the screen. It was security footage—grainy, flickering, but the shapes were clear enough.

A man stood in the center of the frame, walking down an alley. Then, the air behind him rippled.

Something stretched out of the distortion—something shifting, amorphous.

The next second, the man turned, eyes widening—

And then, he was gone.

Not killed. Not vaporized.

Just… erased.

Like he had never existed at all.

Elise turned away from the screen, jaw clenched.

Rook shut off the footage. "This is what we're up against."

Idris exhaled, trying to steady his thoughts. The Echo wasn't just some force correcting time. It was consuming every anomaly, every misplaced second, every trace of existence that didn't belong.

And if what Rook said was true—

It was coming for him.

"How do we stop it?" Nyla asked.

Rook's expression darkened. "You don't."

Idris refused to accept that. "There has to be a way."

Rook sighed, rubbing his temples. "The only way to stop an Echo is to remove the anomaly before it gets devoured. That means either correcting the paradox yourself… or eliminating the source."

"Which means what, exactly?" Elise asked, suspicion in her voice.

Rook hesitated. Then, finally—

"It means you, Idris."

A heavy silence settled over them.

Rook turned to face him directly. "If you're truly an anomaly… then there are only two options."

Idris swallowed. He already knew what was coming.

"Either you find out why you exist outside of time—why the Echo is hunting you."

Rook's gaze was cold.

"Or you disappear before it can erase you."

Elise's hands curled into fists. "That's not happening."

"She's right," Nyla added. "There has to be another way."

Rook studied them for a long moment. Then, he sighed. "There might be."

Idris' heartbeat quickened. "What is it?"

Rook turned back to the controls. A new set of coordinates appeared on the screen—ones that pulsed faintly, almost as if they were waiting.

"There's a place," Rook said slowly. "A place outside of time's reach. If we get there, we might find answers."

"Where?" Idris pressed.

Rook exhaled.

"A station. A remnant of the first time travelers. A place where the Echo has no control."

The screen zoomed in, revealing the name of the location.

ECHO-01.

And just as the realization settled in—

The ship's lights flickered again.

Then—

A whisper.

A low, distorted sound.

Idris Vale…

His blood ran cold.

Because the voice wasn't Rook's.

Wasn't Elise's.

Wasn't Nyla's.

It was his own.