Cael didn't remember deciding to run.
His body moved before his mind caught up — instinct ripping control away from thought.
Boots slammed against cracked stone as the Lower District exploded into chaos behind him.
People screamed.
Doors slammed shut.
Shutters dropped like falling blades.
No one helped.
No one ever helped when the Empire chose a target.
And this time—
The target was him.
"Stop immediately."
The voice came from above.
Calm.
Measured.
Unconcerned.
Like someone discussing the weather.
Cael didn't look back.
He didn't need to.
The air itself changed when Imperial enforcers locked onto prey.
He could feel it—
Like the world narrowing.
Like time itself holding its breath.
The alley ahead twisted into shadow.
Good.
Familiar.
The Lower District was a maze built from desperation.
He knew its veins better than anyone.
Left.
Jump.
Duck under hanging wires.
Slide past rusted pipes.
A bolt of pale light scorched the wall beside him.
Too close.
"They're using precision shots," someone whispered from a doorway before slamming it shut again.
That meant they wanted him alive.
For now.
His wrist burned.
The numbers flickered.
03:13:01:22
Still stable.
Still real.
Still his.
But beneath the glow—
Something pulled.
Like gravity from somewhere unseen.
Another shot.
Closer.
The stone exploded beside his shoulder.
Pain lanced down his arm.
He stumbled.
And in that moment—
The world slowed.
Not stopped.
Not frozen.
But stretched.
The sound of the explosion became a long, deep roar instead of a sharp crack.
Dust drifted instead of scattering.
The bolt itself moved like a lazy comet through thick air.
Cael stared.
His breath came out slow.
Heavy.
Wrong.
The whisper returned.
Closer this time.
Inside his skull.
Behind his thoughts.
"You know what to do."
"I don't," he muttered.
"You already did."
Images flashed.
Future him.
Scarred.
Tired.
Dead-eyed.
Running through streets that no longer existed.
Another bolt approached his chest.
Too slow to be real.
Too fast to dodge.
Unless—
Cael reached inward.
Not physically.
Not consciously.
But instinctively.
Toward the pull.
Toward the place where the numbers had glitched.
Where the impossible had appeared.
For the first time in his life—
He asked.
Not begged.
Not traded.
Not stole.
Asked.
Give me a second.
Pain answered.
Not sharp.
Not sudden.
But deep.
Like something tearing loose from the roots of his existence.
His vision shattered into fragments.
And then—
The world stopped.
No wind.
No sound.
No movement.
The bolt hung inches from his chest.
Dust froze in midair.
Even his own breath refused to move.
Cael stood in absolute silence.
And knew—
He had done something unforgivable.
Above his wrist—
The numbers screamed.
Not visibly.
But he felt it.
Like his bones rejecting the truth.
They flickered.
Struggled.
Then changed.
03:13:01:22
became
03:13:01:21
One second gone.
Not spent.
Not used.
Taken.
From somewhere it did not belong.
Cael stepped aside.
The bolt remained frozen.
Time itself refused to notice his betrayal.
Another step.
The alley ahead opened.
Freedom.
Escape.
Survival.
The whisper spoke again.
Soft.
Satisfied.
"Now you understand."
The world returned with violence.
Sound crashed back into existence.
The bolt slammed into the wall behind him.
The dust fell.
The air moved.
And Cael—
Was already running again.
Behind him—
The scanners howled.
Not in alarm.
But in terror.
"Temporal violation confirmed!"
"Impossible—!"
"He moved during the freeze!"
The soldiers didn't chase immediately.
Because they hesitated.
And hesitation—
Was something the Empire never did.
Cael turned the corner and collapsed behind a stack of broken machinery.
His chest heaved.
His hands shook.
Something was missing.
He didn't know what.
He couldn't name it.
But something—
Small.
Unimportant.
Gone.
A memory flickered.
A face.
A voice.
Someone laughing.
Then—
Nothing.
His breath hitched.
"What did I lose…?"
No answer came.
Only silence.
Above him—
The airships shifted formation.
Searching.
Calculating.
Hunting something they had never faced before.
Because Borrowers didn't just steal time.
They stole certainty.
And now—
So had he.
Far above the city—
Inside the golden calm of the Upper District—
A man paused mid-step.
His eyes narrowed.
Because for the first time in decades—
The future had changed.
And somewhere in the endless flow of time—
A new possibility had appeared.
One that should not exist.
Back in the Lower District—
Cael wiped blood from his lip.
And forced himself to stand.
He didn't know what came next.
He didn't know what he had awakened.
He didn't know what it would cost.
But he knew one thing.
He had borrowed his first second.
And time—
Would demand it back.