The palace gardens were unusually quiet. The wind brushed gently against the bamboo leaves, sending soft rustles across the stillness. In the center pavilion, Priyanshu Yadav sat with a steaming cup of tea in hand. His gaze was calm—but alert.
Opposite him sat his mother, Queen Raniya.
But she wasn't just a queen.
She was a time traveler from another world—a cultivator who had walked through epochs of chaos and silence.
She sipped her tea and said softly, "You're changing."
"I should be," Priyanshu replied with a faint smile. "I'm no longer the weakling this world mistook me for."
She set her cup down. "You're hiding your light well. Not even your father suspects the aura swirling within you."
Priyanshu raised an eyebrow. "What about you? What are you hiding from me, Mother?"
She met his gaze calmly. "Time doesn't just travel forward. When I came to this world, it wasn't because I fled. I came to protect something that hadn't yet been born."
He froze.
"You."
The word hung between them like thunder in a still sky.
"You mean…"
"I've seen countless futures," she said, her voice distant. "In nearly all of them, you either died young… or became the villain that the heavens themselves feared."
Priyanshu chuckled. "So what am I now?"
She tilted her head. "You've stepped off fate's path. I can't see your end anymore."
[System Notification: ??? Fragment Detected. Temporal Energy Signature Identified.][Skill Unlocked: Timeless Perception (Passive)][Allows partial resistance to time-based attacks and limited vision into short-term futures.]
His eyes sparkled.
"So that's why you're here. The child of paradox… inheriting both destiny and destruction."
She smiled sadly. "There are entities—beyond this universe—that will come for you. The only way to survive is to rise above them… or hide below their notice."
"I prefer the former," Priyanshu said, sipping his tea. "But hiding has its uses."
She sighed. "Do not let vengeance consume you."
"I won't," he said. "I'll use it. And when the time is right—I'll consume everything else."
Above them, the sky darkened. Clouds gathered unnaturally fast, crackling with black lightning.
Far across the Everbloom Continent, an ancient tomb began to stir. Something sealed… something that once bowed to Priyanshu in a forgotten age… was waking again.