The day my children were taken from me.
The day Zara’s warmth slipped from my grasp forever.
Their faces flickered in my mind, softening at the edges, dissolving into smoke. Their laughter—the melody that once filled our longhouse—was now a faint echo in the wind. And her embrace… no longer something I could feel, only ache for.
I knew?—
Tomorrow, I would leave.
But tonight, I would grieve them one last time.
And yet, my feet refused to move. I remained rooted to the earth, a sorrowful statue, beneath the moon’s watchful eye.
I thought of all that could have been.
All that should have been.
If only I had been stronger. Wiser. Faster.
Then—
A strange sound. Far off. Muffled. Movement in the snow.
I squinted toward the hillside, and a ghostly vision unfolded before me—cloaked figures—six, maybe seven—emerging through the snow like wraiths. Their pace was purposeful, coordinated, and merciless.
Timehunters.
My breath caught.
I was seeing it.Thatnight.Thenight.
They descended on my longhouse with burning torches held high, the firelight licking across their cruel faces. One by one, they pressed flames to the wood. The thatch caught. Flames bloomed. Smoke curled. Screams rose.
Children’s screams.
Mychildren.
I fell to my knees as fire swallowed the home I had built with my own hands. My heart shattered with each shriek that tore through the night air.
And then—I sawthem. Zara and the other Balthazar ran toward the blaze with wild eyes and weapons drawn. The other me lunged at a Timehunter, driving a dagger into his throat. Blood sprayed across the snow.
Then—
One of the cloaked men burst from the inferno, carrying a small, limp body. He moved like a predator on the run, torchlight flickering across his face, eyes cold, hollow, inhuman.
Tove.
He held her up like a trophy, taunting the other Balthazar.
I screamed in anguish, my voice raw and meaningless in the spectral air.
Tears poured down my cheeks, useless in the face of a horror I could no longer change.
Then, from the corner of my eye, movement.
A man appeared. Slim. Ordinary. Fragile.
Not a Timehunter.
