The sun blazed overhead, the Thousand Sunny now sailing through a wide, shimmering river that cut into an endless desert. The new constellation hung low in the western sky, its faint golden light mirrored in the rolling dunes.
Aboard the Sunny
Nami shielded her eyes from the glare.
"We're at least two days upriver before the sea ends. After that, it's all sand."
Robin scanned the latest Poneglyph rubbings.
"The next city isn't buried under sand. It moves through it."
Lyra's tone was uneasy.
"That means we'll only find it when it wants to be found."
Arrival at the Edge
By dusk, the Sunny reached the river's end — a vast basin where the water simply sank into the sand. Waiting for them was a small caravan of robed travelers with eyes the color of amber glass.
Their leader bowed to Arkan.
"We are Keepers of the Hourglass. You seek the city of Calvessan. Few enter it. None stay unchanged."
The March Through the Dunes
The crew followed the caravan into the desert. By the second day, the heat was oppressive, and reality itself began to bend — shadows moved against the light, and the sound of the wind sometimes carried voices.
Orren frowned.
"These aren't hallucinations. The desert is… folding time."
First Sign of Calvessan
At sunset, the sky split with a ribbon of gold stretching from horizon to horizon.From beneath the dunes, a massive gate of sandstone rose, its carvings shifting subtly with every blink.
The caravan leader spoke:
"The city is awake. You have until the moon rises before it slips away again."
Inside the City
Calvessan's streets were lined with hourglasses taller than ships, each turning slowly on its own. Sand flowed upward in some, downward in others. People moved at different speeds — a child chasing a ball in slow motion, an old man walking so fast he blurred.
At the heart of the plaza stood a figure draped in robes of gold and white, her face hidden behind a mask shaped like a sundial. In her hands, she held an hourglass with black sand.
The Flameborne of Time
She spoke without moving her head:
"Flamebearer… you walk in borrowed moments. Every step you take steals from another's time."
Arkan met her gaze through the mask.
"And you guard this city by controlling its flow."
"I guard the song by ensuring it is sung only when the hour comes. Are you here to hasten it… or to delay it?"
Before he could answer, the plaza shuddered. One of the giant hourglasses cracked, spilling golden sand into the streets.
Final Scene
From the rift in the hourglass emerged a cloaked figure — a Herald — whose very presence caused the city's people to speed up or slow down uncontrollably.The masked Flameborne's grip tightened on her hourglass.
"You brought them here. Now, we see what you truly are."