Icy dread clawed its way up my spine.
I was playing with forces far beyond my control—and I knew it. One misstep and everything I’d built, everything I’dschemed for, would collapse.
And then—he was gone.
Vanished.
No flash of light. No sound. Just absence.
I stood there momentarily, shivering in the bright afternoon light, the stranger’s warning still burning against my ribs like a brand. My heart pounded, breath shallow, body trembling from something far colder than fear—pure, primal dread.
Then I turned and fled back inside the apartment.
Jack and Lee were seated on the couch, beers in hand, laughing like old friends. Their ease was jarring. It felt like I had stepped through a portal into a different reality.
Lee was the first to notice. His laughter faded as his eyes locked onto mine. The intensity of his gaze snapped me upright.
He furrowed his brow. “Where’s the damn food?”
I opened my mouth and fumbled for an answer. “It’s… It’s too hot to go shopping,” I whispered, barely audible.
Jack’s face lit up with uncontainable joy. “Come on, girl, grab a beer and join us! We’re having a wonderful conversation.”
“Thanks… I think I will,” I murmured, stumbling toward the kitchen like a ghost.
Once behind the counter, I pressed my palms against the chipped tile, gasping for breath. My chest ached with the phantom echo of that man’s power. It hadn’t just scared me. It had unmade me. Whoever he was, he was beyond anything I had ever encountered.
Get it together.
I clenched my fists. I couldn’t afford to break now. I had a roleto play—a purpose to fulfill. The daggers were within reach—I could feel it.
I breathed deeply into my lungs, opened the fridge, grabbed a beer, twisted the cap off, and downed a long, numbing swallow.
As the buzz slid into my veins, I felt control return.
I walked back to the front room and perched on the arm of the sofa, flashing a smooth, practiced smile. “Tell me about yourself, Jack. Who’s your family?”
Jack’s expression shifted. His voice fell to a whisper. “I’m an orphan. No family. No friends. But I’ve always had this fire for time travel—and the Sun and Moon Daggers.”
I sat straighter. My pulse quickened.
“What do you know about the daggers?” I asked, feigning casual interest, though every nerve in my body strained toward him like metal to a magnet.
Jack’s eyes lit up—not with joy, but with something darker. Fiercer.
His entire demeanor shifted. His features sharpened, intensity flickering beneath his skin like lightning behind clouds.
“The power of the first eclipse was so immense,” he said, his hands moving in frenzied gestures, “that one single blade—one impossibly strong sword—shattered into two. The Sun and Moon Daggers. Born from cosmic force, split by fate.”
Awe filled his voice. “They’re a reminder that anything is possible—creation, destruction, purity, evil. And no one can predict which will rise.”
His expression clouded as he fell behind a veil of thought. Then, eyes snapping back to mine, he added, “The blades were said to be forged in the ancient city of Ugarit.”
“Ugarit?” I echoed, carefully.
“Yes. The city was obliterated when the daggers emerged. Some say it was divine punishment; others claim it was a temporal collapse caused by the forging. Maybe it’s just a myth—but I’ve read every record I can find, spoken to scholars, poured over lost documents.” He looked at me then—looked—and something dreamlike softened his expression. “You believe me, don’t you?”
I smiled. Silent. Calculating.
