The wind howled as Jonah walked toward the heart of Glimmertide, Evelyne and Thorne at his side. The town was shrouded in an eerie stillness, the air thick with a sense of finality. Time was breaking, and they all knew it. But for the first time in days, Jonah didn't feel powerless.
The Archive had been defeated, the stolen second returned, but the damage it had caused was far from healed. There was still the rip in time, the thread that stretched taut between the past and future, threatening to snap.
Jonah wasn't sure if he could fix it, but he had made a choice. He would try.
"I don't know what will happen when I do this," Jonah said quietly, glancing at Thorne.
Thorne's face was unreadable, but his voice held a note of quiet resolve. "You're the one who understands time now, Jonah. You've seen it for what it is: fragile, yet powerful. If anyone can restore what's been broken, it's you."
Jonah swallowed hard. "I'm not sure I even understand it anymore. But I have to try."
Evelyne reached out and touched his arm, grounding him. "We'll be with you. Whatever happens."
Jonah nodded, though doubt still gnawed at him. He couldn't ignore the hollow feeling in his chest—the sense that, no matter what he did, time would always be there, slipping away just out of reach.
They arrived at the center of Glimmertide, where the shattered remnants of the Archive's tower still loomed. It had once been a structure of infinite complexity, a monument to the control the Archive had over time. Now, it was a crumbling ruin, a monument to failure.
But Jonah didn't need the Archive anymore. He didn't need anyone's power. He had his own.
Standing in the shadow of the broken tower, Jonah closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He reached into himself, into the very core of his being where the second—the stolen second—still pulsed faintly. The moment he had held onto, the moment that had never truly belonged to him, was now part of him, embedded in the fabric of his soul.
He could feel it, a delicate thread woven through time, through the countless moments that had brought him here.
He wasn't just a part of time anymore. He was time.
With a steady hand, Jonah reached out and touched the air in front of him. The world around him seemed to ripple, the edges of reality bending and twisting. It was like trying to stitch together a wound that time itself had inflicted.
Jonah concentrated, focusing on the moment—the choice he had made to exist, to fight for the right to remain in this world. He could feel the pull of the past, the future, but he wasn't being dragged. This time, he was in control.
For a long moment, nothing happened. The wind blew, the earth seemed to stand still, and Jonah's heart raced in his chest. But then, something shifted. A quiet hum echoed in his bones.
The rip in time began to heal.
---
Evelyne watched as Jonah stood, his hands trembling slightly. She could see the effort in his posture, the strain in his face. The light around him flickered, as if the world itself was caught between moments.
"Jonah, is it working?" she asked, voice tight with worry.
Jonah's eyes remained closed, but he spoke softly. "It's starting to heal."
Thorne, who had been silent up until now, stepped forward. "How much time do you have left?"
Jonah opened his eyes, his gaze unfocused. "I'm not sure. But it's happening. The thread is mending itself. The rift... it's closing."
The ground beneath them trembled slightly as the world adjusted to Jonah's efforts. Time, that once endless river, now flowed in a new direction, its ripples smoothing out like the calm after a storm.
But it wasn't perfect.
Jonah could feel it. He wasn't whole anymore. He was still a part of something larger—a crack, a scar in the fabric of time. The Archive might have been defeated, but there was a price for everything.
As the rift closed, Jonah felt the weight of his choice. It wasn't enough to just fix time. He had become part of the fabric itself, and that meant he could never truly leave it.
---
The wind died down, and the light in the sky shifted. The world was quiet now, quieter than Jonah had ever felt it.
Evelyne reached out and touched his arm again, but this time, there was no fear in her touch. Only understanding. "Jonah… what happens now?"
Jonah let out a slow breath. "I'm not sure. But I'm still here. That's what matters."
Thorne watched Jonah closely, his expression softening for the first time. "You've done it. You've changed the course of time. You've fixed the fracture."
Jonah nodded slowly, feeling the weight of what he had done. "But I've also become a part of it. A flicker in the dark."
Evelyne smiled faintly, her eyes filled with warmth. "Then you'll never be forgotten. Not by me."
Jonah looked at her, and for the first time in a long while, he felt truly present. His place in time might be uncertain, but for now, he had found his moment.
And that was enough.
---
Next up: Chapter Twenty – "The End and The Beginning."
Jonah reflects on the aftermath of his choices. Time has been repaired, but the world he knew is forever changed.