Her lips compressed into a straight line.
Dr. Wong snorted.
A few students snickered from the back.
Even I, seated in the shadows, felt a secondhand wave of humiliation so intense it made my skin crawl. I almost pitied him. Almost.
“So, given these two theories,” Jack continued, voice thinning, “I began studying solar eclipses?—”
A venom-laced voice interrupted.
“Wait, I’m confused,” said the woman beside Professor Rubenfield, her voice biting. Her thick glasses magnified the icy gleam in her eyes as she leaned forward, locking Jack in place with a gaze that felt like a spotlight. “You’ve gone from Einstein to… solar eclipses?”
Each syllable struck like a nail into Jack’s already crumbling composure.
He swallowed hard, tugged at his collar. His mouth opened, but the woman jabbed a finger at him before he could speak.
“You better get your facts straight before wasting our time with this nonsense.”
“Give me a chance to explain!” Jack burst out, his face flushed with desperation. “The legend of Eclipsarum Obscura: The Celestial Convergence—it’s been passed down for centuries. Surely someone here has heard of it.”
“That’s just some bullshit myth,” someone scoffed from the back.
“But it’s not!” Jack cried. He wiped his glistening forehead with a handkerchief—only to drop it onto the podium with shaking hands. His voice rose, trembling but passionate. “Eclipsarum Obscura is a cosmic phenomenon triggered when two massive black holes collide in the outermost reaches of the universe. As these celestial giants converge, they create a gravitational ballet—an event so powerful it warps the fabric of space and time.”
Laughter rippled through the crowd, but Jack pressed on.
“During this convergence, a unique alignment occurs—one that opens a temporal rift. It’s said that children born under this rare event are marked by the cosmos itself—chosen. They are gifted with a celestial birthright that ties them to the temporal currents unleashed by the black hole collision.”
Someone let out a loud, mocking guffaw. “You’re joking, right?”
Jack’s hands tightened around the podium as if anchoring himself. “These individuals are known as the Timeborne.They grow up with an innate sensitivity to time’s flow—its bends, breaks, and loops. As they mature, they unravel their gift… and can manipulate time. They don’t just study history—they live it.”
His words carried a heavy, almost mythic promise, and his eyes gleamed with feverish conviction.
“That’s fucking bullshit, dude,” Rick snapped, leaping to his feet. He yanked his girlfriend up by the arm and stormed out. A few others followed, muttering under their breath.
Jack’s pressed on.
“Eclipsarum Obscura only occurs once in a great while. People across the globe gather to witness it—the moment the sun and moon align. But imagine this—an infant born when the eclipse coincides with the collision of two black holes. That child would be marked by the cosmos... born with the ability to time travel.”
He raised a finger. “But there’s a catch.”
The auditorium, though thinning fast, fell still.
“The collision creates more than just a rift in time,” Jack continued, his voice hoarse. “It unleashes something else. Something far older. A malevolent force known as the Umbrum Void—a being of ancient darkness that has slept for eons, waiting for this precise moment.”
A few remaining students exchanged glances, unsure whether to laugh or listen.
“As the black holes converge, their energy tears into the fabric of reality, and the Umbrum Void slips through—drawn by the chaos. It feeds on the instability, infecting realms across the universe. The temporal rift acts as its gateway.”
Jack gripped the podium tightly, his knuckles white. “At the birth of a Timeborne, this darkness is set loose. And it is the Timeborne’s destiny not only to master time, but to battle and purge the evil born alongside them.”
Silence fell like a curtain.
Even those who remained didn’t speak.
Dr. Wong glanced at his watch, expression unreadable.
