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Darkness… A heavy silence fills the air… then suddenly, an explosion shakes the horizon.
A small child runs through the rubble, eyes wide with terror, as the sky rains red shards of light. A flaming meteor pierces the clouds, followed by the screams of men falling one by one. In the heart of the chaos, a masked man stares at the boy and whispers:
"Time will return… and the curse will be broken through you."
Adam wakes up in a panic, breathing heavily, his hand trembling.
The same dream—for the seventh time this week.
**
Adam, a seventeen-year-old boy, lives in a remote village called "Marna," where no one believes in miracles or legends. The people here farm in silence. No talk of the past, no desire for the future.
But Adam was different.
Since he was a child, he always felt something was wrong. A voice inside him whispered:
"You're not from here… or maybe, not from this time."
That morning, he decided to go to the ancient ruins east of the village—a forbidden place, full of frightening tales. Yet something was pulling him there.
**
He reached the crumbled gate, hesitated, then stepped inside. The air was strangely cold. Suddenly, a small blue light shimmered from beneath the rocks.
He approached… reached out… and touched the glowing stone.
In an instant, everything froze.
The air thickened. Colors disappeared. He felt his body being pulled, as if time itself was swallowing him.
And then… he vanished.
**
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a strange forest. The trees were taller than anything he'd ever seen, and the sky was a color he couldn't name.
He whispered to himself:
"Where am I?"
Then the realization hit:
"When am I?"
**
The air was filled with a strange scent—a blend of burning wood and unfamiliar plants. Adam stood in awe, eyes scanning the vast forest where leaves seemed to whisper secrets.
He took a deep breath… then felt something on his chest.
Looking down, he saw the blue stone still glowing—but now it had a mysterious symbol carved into it… as if time itself had marked him.
**
Adam walked aimlessly until he spotted smoke rising through the trees. He crept closer and found a group of people in black robes, standing around a blazing fire, chanting in a language he didn't understand.
At the center of the circle… a girl was tied to a tree. She seemed to be punished—or offered as a sacrifice.
Adam stepped back. A twig snapped beneath his foot.
All heads turned toward him instantly.
They must have shouted something like "Get him!"—because at that moment, they all rushed toward him.
"Catch him!"
one of them screamed. Adam tried to run, but one grabbed his arm. Before he could fall, the blue stone on his chest erupted with a powerful flash, throwing everyone back.
The ground shook.
Even the girl looked at him in shock, her eyes widening:
"You… are the chosen one?!"
**
He woke up in an old hut, his head throbbing. Night had fallen, and the girl sat beside him, gently wiping his forehead.
"My name is Liana. I was about to be sacrificed when you appeared. Who are you?"
Adam looked around, then at her, and whispered:
"I don't know yet… but I think I'm starting to understand."
Then he fell asleep again.
**
The next morning, Adam woke to the sound of strange birds singing from above the hut made of twisted logs. Golden light filtered through the wooden cracks, warming his face. But his heart was still heavy with questions.
He sat up slowly, his chest aching—where the stone had been. But it was gone.
He looked around and saw Liana sitting by the door, reading from an ancient scroll.
"Where's the stone?" he asked with a hoarse voice.
She pointed to a wooden table, where the blue stone glowed faintly. A new symbol had appeared on it—one that wasn't there the day before.
Adam approached slowly… tried to read it… but it was in a strange language. Yet something inside him understood the meaning, as if the stone translated it directly into his mind:
> "The first gate has opened.
If you travel backward, the price of knowledge is forgetting."
His body trembled.
**
Liana looked at him with concern:
"You're not from here, are you? Your eyes carry time… and this place does not know you."
Adam nodded silently.
Then whispered:
"I saw this place in my dreams… and I saw myself… dying here."
**
They tried to escape from the hut—and succeeded.
They walked through the forest until they reached a massive broken statue, half-buried in the ground, with an ancient script carved in Liana's native language.
She looked at it and said:
"This statue is from our people's legend… it represents the Guardian of Time, who will return one day to link the past with the present and protect the future from collapse."
Adam looked at her slowly:
"And what happens if the Guardian fails
She replied:
"All ages collapse… and time begins to devour itself."
**
Adam grasped the stone. A pulse rose in his heart. Then he heard the voice again:
"Prepare yourself, Adam… the second gate approaches."
---
That night, Adam couldn't sleep.
The blue stone sat beside him, pulsing like a living heart. With each beat, strange words echoed in his ears, as if a voice from another era was trying to reach him.
**
In a moment of silence, the stone's light vanished—then returned with a blinding intensity. A blue beam filled the room, freezing everything. Time stopped.
Everything froze—even Liana's breath, suspended midair.
Then… a man appeared wearing a long coat, his face hidden behind a silver mask, his voice deep:
"Finally, we meet… you who split time in two."
Adam stepped back, ready to speak, but the man raised his hand:
"No time for surprise. I have only one minute before this time rift closes."
**
He stepped closer, removed his mask… revealing a strange, yet terrifyingly familiar face.
He looked like Adam… but older, with weariness in his eyes.
Adam whispered in shock:
"You… are me?"
The man nodded:
"A version of you… from a future that hasn't happened yet."
"Why did you come?" Adam asked, sweat dripping from his forehead.
"To warn you," the man replied heavily. "You've chosen to travel through time… but every gate you open closes something within you."
"What do you mean?"
"Each jump will take a part of your memory, your emotions… your truth. You'll forget who you love, who you are, and why you began. You'll become… a machine of time."
**
The light began to fade. Time resumed. The man spoke quickly:
"You'll soon reach the Hidden City—where the answers begin. Remember:
Time does not forgive… it only records."
Then he disappeared.
**
Liana moved again, as if nothing had happened.
But Adam was no longer the same. In his eyes now… was the glint of a man who had seen his future.
---
After a long journey through the ages, where Adam faced forgotten kingdoms and witches of time—and learned that each era had a price—he finally arrived at the Hidden City: the heart of time, where the truth that changed everything lay waiting.
Deep within the city, he found the Mirror of Time—an ancient device that reflects "the moment that altered all realities."
He stood before it… and saw himself as a child, torn from his mother's arms and cast into the River of Time by a masked man.
His blood froze.
That man… was him. From a distant future. He had thought he was saving the world… but he had caused its ruin.
**
Liana's voice broke his thoughts. She stepped beside him and said:
"What happened cannot be changed… but you can end the cycle."
He looked at her, then at the mirror.
**
The moment of decision:
He could use the blue stone to return time to the beginning—and erase everything—
Or he could keep the past, and live in a broken world full of temporal rifts.
**
Adam smiled, and whispered:
"I've learned that the greatest gift from time… is forgetting.
But sometimes, we must remember—so we don't repeat the mistakes."
**
He shattered the blue stone.
Everything collapsed.
Then… silence.
**
A small child wakes up in the village of "Marna," remembering nothing.
Only a strange dream sometimes visits him:
A hidden city, a beautiful girl, and a man with his face… smiling from across time.
**
And in the ancient forest…
A tiny blue shard sparkles… waiting to be touched again.
The End.