Chapter 7: The Price of Time
I blinked, trying to make sense of the new world around me. The field, the fog, and the two versions of Kael were gone. In their place was an expanse of darkness. But not the kind of darkness that fills a room when you turn off the lights—this was deeper, more infinite, as if I were floating in the void between stars. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath my feet, and yet, I stood. There was no wind, no sound, nothing to give me a sense of direction.
I tried to move, but the space around me resisted, like thick air pressing against my skin. My mind was racing. Where was I? Had the bracelet malfunctioned again, or was this something else—a consequence of all the fractures in time I had triggered?
“Kael?” My voice echoed faintly in the emptiness, swallowed by the silence. “Kael, are you here?”
No answer.
I was truly alone.
I looked down at the bracelet on my wrist. Its once-glowing surface was now dull, its power drained. I wanted to tear it off, to fling it into the abyss, but something inside me—something deeper than instinct—told me to hold on. It wasn’t finished yet, and neither was I.
Then, in the far distance, a light appeared. It was faint, like a distant star barely visible on the horizon. But it was enough. I started walking toward it, the heavy air parting with difficulty as I moved.
With each step, the light grew brighter, more tangible. And as I got closer, I saw a figure standing at its center—tall, strong, and unmistakably familiar.
Kael.
Relief surged through me, and I quickened my pace, running toward him. But as I drew nearer, I slowed again. Something was wrong. This Kael—he looked different. He wasn’t the same man I had fought beside, the man I had kissed beneath alien stars. There was a hardness to him now, a coldness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“Kael?” I whispered, my voice trembling as I stopped a few feet away from him.
He turned to face me, and for a long moment, we stood there in silence, the weight of everything between us pressing down. His expression was unreadable, and I felt my heart ache with the distance between us—both physical and emotional.
“You’re here,” he said finally, his voice low and guarded.
“I am,” I replied softly, though my heart was screaming with a thousand questions. “But I don’t understand. Where are we? What’s happening?”
Kael’s gaze drifted to the bracelet on my wrist, and a shadow passed over his face. “You still don’t see it, do you? The price of meddling with time?”
I shook my head, confusion tightening in my chest. “What are you talking about? I was only trying to—”
“Save me?” He finished the sentence for me, his tone sharp. “Change the past? Fix everything that went wrong? You think you can just rewrite time without consequences?”
His words stung, and I took a step back. “I didn’t want any of this to happen! I never meant to—”
“But it did,” Kael interrupted, his voice suddenly filled with an emotion I couldn’t quite place—anger, frustration, and something darker. “And now we’re here, in the space between time. Do you understand what that means, Celia? We’re nowhere. We’re lost. And it’s because of you.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I fought to hold them back. “I didn’t know. I was only trying to help.”
“Help?” He laughed bitterly, the sound cold and empty in the void. “You think you can control time? You think you can bend it to your will?”
The distance between us felt insurmountable, and yet, I couldn’t let go. I couldn’t believe this was the same Kael who had held me close, who had promised we would face this together. I had seen him fight, seen his courage, felt his love—hadn’t I?
“You don’t understand,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I did all of this for you. I was trying to save you, Kael.”
Kael’s expression softened for a fraction of a second, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw a glimmer of the man I had fallen for. But it was fleeting. He turned away from me, his shoulders tense.
“You can’t save me, Celia,” he said quietly. “No one can. Time has its own rules, and you can’t break them without paying a price.”
I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest. “What price?” I asked, though I feared I already knew the answer.
He turned back to face me, his eyes dark and hollow. “The price of time is losing it. I’m already lost, Celia. You can’t bring me back.”
My breath caught in my throat, the truth crashing over me like a tidal wave. I had been fighting for so long, trying to change the past, trying to save Kael from his fate. But in doing so, I had only made things worse. I had fractured time, created ripples that had pushed us both to the edge of existence. And now, here we were—stuck in the void, lost in time, and there was nothing I could do to fix it.
Tears spilled down my cheeks, and I reached out for him, my fingers trembling. “Please,” I begged, my voice a whisper. “Please don’t leave me.”
Kael hesitated, his eyes softening as he looked at me. For a moment, I thought he would take my hand, pull me close like he always had. But instead, he stepped back, retreating into the shadows.
“I’m sorry, Celia,” he said softly. “But this is where our paths end.”
My heart shattered, the weight of his words crushing me. I fell to my knees, my hands clutching the bracelet on my wrist, the only thing tethering me to this broken reality. I had lost him. I had lost everything.
But as the last of my hope faded, the bracelet flickered.
A spark of light—small, but unmistakable—pulsed from the band. I lifted my wrist, staring at the faint glow with wide eyes. The bracelet still had power. It wasn’t over yet.
I looked up at Kael, my voice trembling with a mixture of desperation and determination. “There’s still a chance. We can fix this. Together.”
Kael’s eyes met mine, and for a moment, the cold mask he had been wearing cracked. “Celia…”
Before he could finish, the bracelet flared again, brighter this time. The light enveloped me, pulling me back into the currents of time. I could feel the familiar sensation of falling, but this time, it was different. This time, I wasn’t afraid.
I reached for Kael, my hand outstretched as the light grew stronger, pulling me away from the darkness.
But as I was swept back into the flow of time, Kael remained where he was, a shadow in the distance.
And then—he was gone.
***
I awoke to the familiar hum of the spacecraft beneath me, the soft glow of stars outside the window. The bracelet lay cold and lifeless on my wrist.
And Kael—Kael was nowhere to be found.