key of time

At the edge of the mechanical forest, Elia, Kael, Lina, and Aidan finally escaped their pursuers. However, what awaited them was not a safe respite but an unexpected "ally"—a mysterious woman named Hilda. She was clad in metallic armor, her eyes like bottomless abysses exuding an almost unbearable aura of authority.

"You seek the truth but are shrouded in lies," Hilda said softly, her voice magnetic yet commanding.

Kael instinctively rested his hand on his sword hilt. "Why should we trust you? Your arrival is far too convenient."

Hilda chuckled lightly, moving her fingers to summon a transparent holographic projection before them. The image displayed a secret meeting of the Shadow Council. Among the attendees was a familiar face—Lina's mentor, Novia—revealing information about the Key of Time to the council.

"Novia..." Lina gasped, her expression a mixture of pain and anger. "That's impossible! He's the person I trust the most!"

"Trust?" Hilda scoffed. "On the path to power and truth, betrayal is commonplace."

Elia's sharp gaze probed Hilda's intentions. "What do you want? Why are you helping us?"

"Helping?" Hilda shook her head. "No. I simply despise the Shadow Council's tyranny. Their existence disrupts the balance. If you die here, I won't care. But if you survive—remember the term 'causal chain.'"

With that, Hilda vanished in a burst of light, leaving behind a strange sigil suspended in the air.

The sigil Hilda left behind acted as a key, guiding them to the next area: the Phantom Maze. This surreal space wove illusion and reality together, with constantly shifting terrain and a fractured moon hanging in the sky, flickering with unstable light.

"The rules here seem strange. Be careful not to lose your way," Aidan warned, gripping his sword tightly.

As they ventured deeper, the group unexpectedly encountered another team of explorers—a group of five led by a boy named Rey. Despite his youth, he exuded an air of calm and cunning beyond his years.

"Who are you? And why are you here?" Kael questioned sharply.

Rey smirked faintly. "That's a good question. But a better one is—how much do you actually know about the truth behind the Key of Time?"

"The truth?" Elia frowned. "What do you know?"

Rey didn't answer. Instead, he tossed them an ancient journal. Lina quickly caught it and began flipping through its pages. To her astonishment, the journal's contents shattered her understanding: the Key of Time had been created to rectify a cosmic-scale mistake. The Shadow Council's true goal wasn't to control time but to repair a catastrophic temporal rift.

At the end of the journal, an encrypted message caught Lina's attention. Rey offered to help decrypt it and led the group to the maze's core—a floating stone altar surrounded by levitating rocks.

"The truth of the Key lies here," Rey said, producing a crystal strikingly similar to the one in Elia's staff.

However, just as the group leaned in with anticipation, Rey's team launched a surprise attack!

"Did you really think this information came without a price?" Rey sneered. "The power of the Key of Time... I'd like to try it for myself."

The maze's terrain began to shift violently as the floating stones collapsed and the ground fractured into countless shards. Elia and Kael quickly coordinated their counterattack, while Lina worked frantically to decode another section of the journal in hopes of finding a way out.

Meanwhile, Aidan and Rey clashed in fierce combat. Rey's swordsmanship was precise and unrelenting, each strike aimed to kill. However, Aidan's vast combat experience allowed him to gradually gain the upper hand. Yet, just as he was about to land a decisive blow, Rey activated a hidden device, forcing Aidan back.

"Time waits for no one. Farewell, everyone," Rey said, retreating with his team into the depths of the maze.

Though they lost track of Rey, Lina managed to decrypt the final portion of the journal. It revealed a set of coordinates and a cryptic message:

"To repair the rift, a sacrifice is required, and the bearer of the Key cannot escape their fate."

"Sacrifice? Rift?" Kael looked to Elia in confusion. "Does this mean we're destined to become sacrifices?"

"I don't know," Elia replied softly, her voice steady despite the uncertainty. "But one way or another, we must find the rift and put an end to this."

As the team embarked on their next journey, Hilda's figure appeared again in the distance. She watched them with a faint smile and murmured, "The chains of fate are tightening. Can you break free?"