The First Shrine

Chapter 17

The mist clung to them like a second skin, damp and cold, as they descended the cliffside. The Chrono Shard's glow cut through the haze, revealing jagged steps carved into the rock—an ancient path worn smooth by time.

*"How far down does this go?"* Jin Yue muttered, her fingers brushing the cliff wall for balance.

Kian didn't answer. The Shard hummed in his grip, its pulse syncing with Lian's faint whispers in his mind. *"It's close. I can feel it."*

Master Liangu lagged behind, his breath labored. "The First Shrine was built to *hide*, not to be found. Whatever guards it… they won't welcome us."

The words hung in the air as the mist thickened. Then—

A sound.

Not stone, not wind. A low, resonant *chime*, as if the valley itself were breathing.

The Guardians

The steps ended abruptly at a ledge. Below, the mist parted to reveal a sprawling ruin: moss-crusted pillars, shattered statues of long-forgotten gods, and at its center, a circular dais etched with spiraling runes.

The First Shrine.

But between them and the dais stood figures—twelve stone sentinels, their features eroded but their postures rigid, swords plunged tip-first into the ground.

"Statues?" Jin Yue frowned.

*"No,"* Kian said. The Shard flared, and for a heartbeat, the sentinels flickered—translucent, *humanoid*, their eyes glowing faintly blue.

*Time-walkers,* Lian whispered. *Guardians bound to the Shrine.*

As if hearing him, the nearest sentinel turned its head. Stone cracked and crumbled, revealing a face of living shadow beneath.

*"Turn back,"* it intoned, its voice echoing across the valley. *"The forge of time is not for mortal hands."*

Kian stepped forward. "We're not here to take anything. We need answers."

The sentinel's gaze locked onto the Shard. *"You carry a fragment of the First Flame. Surrender it, or be unmade."*

Jin Yue drew her sword. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."

The Trial of Echoes

The sentinels moved faster than stone should allow. Their blades passed through solid rock, striking like phantoms. Jin Yue's sword clashed against one, the impact reverberating up her arms.

*"They're not fully here!"* she shouted. *"They exist… between moments!"*

Kian dodged a sweeping strike, the Shard's light flaring. *Lian—can you feel their rhythm?*

*Yes!* The boy's awareness surged forward, sharp and bright. *They're anchored to the shrine's heartbeat. Disrupt it!*

Kian lunged for the dais. A sentinel materialized in his path, but he swung the Shard like a talisman. Light exploded, and the guardian shattered into dust.

*"The runes!"* Master Liangu cried, hobbling toward the dais. *"They're a locking mechanism. The Shard is the key!"*

Kian slammed the Shard into the dais's central groove.

The world *shifted*.

The Forge of Time

Reality peeled away. They stood in a vast, starless expanse, the ground beneath them a mosaic of fractured timelines. Above, suspended in midair, burned a massive orb of liquid gold—the First Flame.

Lian materialized beside Kian, solid but trembling, his form tethered by a thread of light to the Shard. *"It's… beautiful."*

*"And unstable,"* Master Liangu said, staring at the Flame. *"This is where the original Chrono Shards were forged. Where time was first split into fragments."*

Jin Yue edged closer. "So how does this help us?"

*"It doesn't."*

The voice came from behind them.

The Fractured emerged from the shadows, his mask now cracked, revealing a sliver of a face beneath—pale and gaunt, with eyes that mirrored Kian's own molten gold.

*"You,"* Kian snarled.

*"Me,"* the Fractured said. *"Did you think your little merger would go unanswered? The Flame demands balance. You stole a soul from time. Now it claims its due."*

He raised a hand, and the First Flame roared.

The Choice

Lian screamed as the thread binding him to Kian began to unravel.

*"Stop!"* Kian grabbed for the boy, but his hands passed through him. Lian's form flickered, dissolving toward the Flame.

*"A soul for a soul,"* the Fractured hissed. *"Yours or his. Choose."*

Jin Yue lunged at the Fractured, but he flickered out of reach. *"Don't listen to him, Kian!"*

Master Liangu stared at the Flame, his voice hollow with realization. "The First Shrine isn't a place of answers. It's a *trap*. The Flame consumes those who seek to alter time."

Kian's mind raced. The Shard trembled in his hand, its light dimming as Lian's essence drained away.

*"Kian…"* Lian's voice was a fading echo. *"It's okay. Let me go."*

*No.*

Memories flashed—not his own. Lian's laughter in a sunlit field. A mother's lullaby the boy had never known. The ache of existing half-real.

Kian's fists clenched. *"Take me instead."*

The Fractured tilted his head. *"You would die for him?"*

*"No,"* Kian said. *"I'd *live* for him."*

He threw the Chrono Shard into the First Flame.

The Unbinding

The explosion of light tore through the void.

When it cleared, Kian lay on the dais, the real world swimming back into focus. The Shard was gone.

So was Lian.

*"No…"* Kian rasped, clutching his chest. The hollow where the boy's presence had been yawned wider than the loss of his mother's memory.

Jin Yue knelt beside him. "Kian—look."

A soft glow emanated from his palm. There, etched into his skin, was a new mark: a golden spiral, faintly pulsing.

*"Kian?"*

The voice was Lian's, but it came from *everywhere*—the wind, the stones, the blood in his veins.

Master Liangu inhaled sharply. "The Shard… it didn't just bind you. It fused you. You're not two souls. You're *one* now."

The Fractured's laughter echoed across the shrine. *"Clever boy. You didn't save him. You *became* him."*

Kian stared at his hand, the spiral brightening. *"Lian? Where are you?"*

*"Here,"* the voice whispered. *"But not just here. Everywhere. Nowhere. The Shard… it's part of the Flame again. And we're part of the Shard."*

The Fractured's Gambit

The ground trembled. The sentinels crumbled, their forms disintegrating as the First Shrine began to collapse.

*"The timeline is reweaving itself!"* Master Liangu shouted. *"Go! Now!"*

They ran, the Fractured's laughter chasing them.

*"You've only delayed the inevitable!"* he called. *"The Flame will claim its due. And when it does, I'll be waiting!"*

At the cliff's edge, Kian paused, staring at the spiral on his palm.

Jin Yue gripped his arm. "What did you do back there?"

He met her gaze, his eyes no longer glowing but depthless, ancient.

*"I think… I killed us both."*

The Fading

By nightfall, the mark had spread.

Tendrils of gold spiraled up Kian's arm, his skin translucent where they passed. He could feel it—the unraveling. The price of cheating time.

*"You're fading,"* Jin Yue said quietly as they camped in a hollow.

*"We're fading,"* Kian corrected. Somewhere, in the spaces between heartbeats, Lian's presence lingered—a ghostly warmth.

Master Liangu studied the mark. "The fusion is unstable. Without the Shard to anchor you…"

*"How long?"* Kian asked.

The old master hesitated. "Days. Perhaps hours."

Jin Yue slammed her fist into the ground. "There has to be another way!"

Kian stared into the fire. "There is."

He looked at the Fractured's mask, discarded during their flight. A plan crystallized—reckless, desperate, *possible*.

*"We find him,"* Kian said. *"The Fractured. He's a relic of the original Shard-bearers. If anyone knows how to survive this…"*

*"He'll kill you on sight,"* Jin Yue said.

Kian's fingers closed over the mask. *"Or he'll finally tell me why I look like him."*

The Hunted

They moved at dawn.

The mark reached Kian's shoulder now, his left arm spectral and shimmering. Lian's voice had grown distant, fragmented.

"Kian… I'm tired."

*"Stay with me,"* he murmured. *"Just a little longer."*

But as they entered the barren wastes beyond the valley, the Fractured found them first.

He stood atop a dune, silhouetted against the rising sun, his cracked mask glinting.

*"Come to finish the job, Kian-of-Two-Souls?"*

Kian raised his fading arm. *"Come to ask for a favor."*

The Fractured tilted his head. *"Oh?"*

*"Help us survive. And I'll give you what you want."*

*"And what,"* the Fractured said, stepping closer, *"do you think I want?"*

Kian met his gaze.

"A body that isn't crumbling."

The Fractured went very still.

Then, slowly, he removed his mask.