The clocks explode.
Glass rains across the floor.
Aria shields her face.
Jonas dives behind a table.
Elias grabs Lena's arm.
Kael pulls Aria close.
The voice echoes again.
"You broke the sleep."
Aria looks around.
"There's no one here."
The air itself vibrates.
The voice laughs.
Low.
Unstable.
"I am everywhere."
Lena speaks calmly.
"You're earlier than expected."
Silence.
Then—
"Lena."
Her name sounds like thunder.
Aria looks at her.
"You knew this would happen?"
Lena doesn't answer.
The voice continues.
"Three anomalies."
Kael steps forward.
"Leave them alone."
The air tightens.
"Kael."
His name echoes.
Cold.
"You were supposed to end centuries ago."
Kael's jaw tightens.
Aria steps beside him.
"We're not going anywhere."
The voice pauses.
Curious.
"Interesting."
A ripple moves through the room.
Reality bending.
Aria's vision blurs.
Suddenly—
She sees something.
A different place.
A different time.
Kael.
Standing alone.
In the rain.
Hundreds of years ago.
Blood on his hands.
Aria gasps.
The vision vanishes.
The voice whispers.
"Do you want the truth?"
Kael shouts.
"No!"
But Aria's voice comes out first.
"Yes."
Silence.
Heavy.
Then the voice answers.
"Then someone must pay for it."
The floor cracks beneath them.
Jonas whispers.
"…I have a bad feeling about this."
Something begins rising from the broken ground.
Slow.
Massive.
Alive.
And watching them.