The moment I stepped onto the ground...
It felt like time screamed beneath my feet.
There was no snow in the air.
No softness.
Just a burning silence.
As if someone had set time ablaze — but refused to let it die.
I am Aren Kael.
And this was a new zone.
A new realm born from the Spiral's wrath.
The Charred Expanse.
---
Tomo (flickering voice, slow):
"Bro… we've entered a deep Spiral zone.
Everything here is made from the ash particles of time.
Even your shadow… is delayed by two seconds."
I looked down — and he was right.
My shadow lagged behind me, reacting late —
as if it too, was struggling to exist in the present.
---
Around me… were clocks.
Melted.
Buried in sand.
Some spinning backwards.
One even floated mid-air — its numbers burned clean off, like memories lost in fire.
---
Me (in my mind):
"What… is this place?"
---
Then came a voice.
Rough, broken… yet heavy with something ancient.
A man sat in the burning sands.
Tattered clothes.
Eyes almost entirely grey.
He was crying.
---
???
"So, you've arrived…
You're the new Timekeeper, huh?"
---
Me:
"I don't carry titles.
I'm just… trying to save a few people."
---
??? (laughs bitterly):
"They all say that at first.
And then the Spiral…
turns their memories into torches."
---
Tomo (analyzing):
"Subject name: Nero.
Past Spiral bearer.
Status: corrupted… but stable."
---
Me (serious):
"What are you doing here?"
---
Nero:
"Watching.
Watching how that city burns every three minutes…
And then rises again.
And burns again."
I turned to look.
Far ahead… there was a city.
Made entirely of ash.
And right as Nero finished speaking—
BOOM.
A massive explosion tore through it —
the entire city collapsed in a wave of flame.
Three seconds passed.
And then—
The city reversed.
People stood.
Laughed.
Lived.
And burned again.
---
Tomo (shaking):
"Bro… this is a Time Burn Loop.
They've been dying… and reliving the same moment…
for 913 years."
---
I lifted the Spiral Rod.
But it wasn't responding.
Instead, it glowed red-hot.
The heat radiated from it — pulsing.
A line appeared across the rod —
in Spiral script:
> "You are not ready."
---
Me:
"…Even if I'm not ready…
I won't stop."
---
And then — the wind froze.
The ash stopped mid-air.
The clocks began to scream.
And a voice emerged —
heavier than anything I'd heard before.
> "Timekeeper…
You do not move time.
You do not save it."
---
Me:
"…Cindros."
---
A figure emerged from the ash.
Cloaked in black.
Veins glowing with red Spiral flame.
His eyes…
looked like they had been carved by time itself.
---
Cindros (calmly):
"Come, Aren.
Let's see what you really understand…
about time…
…when time begins to forget you."
---
To be continued…