Chapter 3: The awakening hour !?

Kai's ears rang with an unnatural hum, like the inside of a broken machine. His lungs stung with every breath, the thick metallic air of the Abyss scraping down his throat. The world hadn't stopped shaking since the Trial Countdown ended. Cracks still pulsed along the obsidian floor beneath them, glowing faintly like veins under skin.

"Where the hell are we now?" growled Lex, pushing himself up from the fractured ground. His arm was bleeding, but his eyes burned with adrenaline.

Kai scanned the area. The twisted trees that once loomed in the last layer were gone. Now they stood in a wide black expanse, fog drifting low, curling around their legs. The sky was darker than before, tinged deep violet, almost bruised. In the far distance stood jagged, floating islands connected by threads of light. Huge monolithic ruins jutted from the earth like ancient teeth.

"This isn't the same layer," said Ayla, her voice trembling. "This is Level One... the real beginning."

They all turned to her.

"That countdown—it wasn't for survival," she continued. "It was the gate opening."

Suddenly, a loud, wet crack echoed behind them. Kai turned just in time to see one of the newcomers—Eli—being yanked into the mist by something enormous and fast. There was no scream. Just silence.

Lex cursed under his breath. "We need to move. Now."

But Kai didn't move. Something was tugging at his spine—a strange pressure building behind his eyes. His pulse throbbed unnaturally. The edges of his vision distorted like heatwaves. His breath slowed. Time itself seemed to ripple.

"Kai?" Ayla stepped closer. "You okay?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but his body convulsed. A jolt of searing energy shot down his arms, forcing him to his knees. Visions flashed across his mind: warping clocks, broken cities, screaming shadows.

And a voice. Not human.

Time rejected you once. Let's see what you do with it now.

His skin glowed faint blue, his veins lighting up in a fractal pattern. The world slowed to a crawl. The fog hung still. Lex froze mid-step. Even Ayla's hair stopped mid-fall as gravity seemed to pause.

Kai stood, shocked. Everything moved like molasses—except him. He touched the ground, and the cracks pulsed in response. Somewhere in his chest, something clicked.

A prompt appeared in the air before him:

> CHRONO TRAIT UNLOCKED: FRACTAL PHASE

Ability: Temporarily step outside of active time. Perceive moments in fragmented layers. Duration: 4 seconds.

When time snapped back, he gasped.

"What... the hell was that?" Lex asked, wide-eyed.

"I—I think I phased out," Kai muttered. "Time stopped."

Ayla's face turned pale. "You awakened. That was your Trait."

But there was no time to celebrate.

The fog in front of them tore open like a curtain, revealing a grotesque creature slithering forward on too many legs. It had no eyes, only a writhing mouth of teeth and distorted, shifting faces across its body. The leftover threads of time clung to it like smoke.

"It's a Warden," Ayla whispered. "They guard the paths between levels."

Kai's heart pounded. The others backed up, but the beast lunged with impossible speed. Lex dove aside. Ayla tripped, barely dodging the strike.

Kai's instincts kicked in. He activated Fractal Phase again. Time shattered around him like glass.

In the frozen moment, he saw every possible move the Warden could make. Its trajectory. Its weakness—an exposed seam of flesh behind the left shoulder. His body moved with precision he didn't know he possessed.

He ran, each step slicing through stillness.

He reappeared behind the creature and drove Lex's fallen metal pipe straight into the seam.

Time snapped forward.

The Warden howled, black blood spraying across the cracked ground. It thrashed, turned—but another blast of mist surged in. More shrieks followed from the fog.

Ayla screamed, grabbing Kai's arm. "There's more coming—we have to run!"

They sprinted toward the nearest floating platform, the threads of light acting as bridges. The ground behind them caved in. One of the platforms began crumbling.

Kai turned mid-run. "Lex, jump—NOW!"

Lex leaped, grabbing Kai's extended hand as the platform collapsed behind them. For a moment, they hung over nothingness, only Kai's grip and gravity's mercy holding them.

With a grunt, Kai pulled him up.

They reached the next layer's edge—a shimmering gate of fractured glass, pulsing with Chrono energy.

Ayla stepped forward. "The next trial's behind that. But now we know—we're not just surviving. We're being watched."

"By who?" Kai asked.

She met his eyes. "The ones who built the Abyss."

Behind them, the Warden's howls echoed once more—wounded, but not dead.

Kai turned back toward the edge. His hand clenched without realizing. He'd unlocked something inside himself—but it didn't feel like a gift.

It felt like a curse.

The gate trembled.

And the next nightmare waited.

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