After the creation of the first architecture of time, the Eternal Garden changed. It was no longer a chaotic intertwining of possible futures; now, its branches followed precisely defined contours. The Islands of Time, moving like living beings, intertwined with the Unshakable Pillars, and between them—emptiness, where the Invisible Architects resided.
But something was wrong.
Emiren had felt it from the very moment the structure had completed its formation. An unseen cold seeped into the smallest cracks of the new world.
— There is something that does not fit within our architecture, he whispered, touching the Silver Tree. — Something exists beyond our boundaries.
Flamen gazed into the distance, where the outlines of reality blurred.
— Shadows we did not create, he said. — Something is watching us.
The First Rift
Suddenly, the sky above one of the Islands of Time trembled. The air tore apart as if an invisible blade had sliced through the fabric of reality. From the rupture, waves of dark energy flowed, mixing with the currents of time.
— This should not be here! — exclaimed Watery, feeling his own power begin to tremble unstably.
Emiren stepped forward and saw: in the rift, another reality was visible. But it was not one of their variations of the future or the past. This was an entirely different structure—a world they had not built.
From there, the Shadows emerged.
They were faceless, like fragments of void that had taken shape. They did not speak, did not move like ordinary beings, but merely drifted through space, touching the new architecture of Eternity.
And wherever they touched, the fabric of reality unraveled.
— This is impossible… — whispered Empty. — These are forces that belong neither to us nor to this world.
Those Who Come from Outside
The Shadows began to penetrate deeper, increasing in number. They did not attack directly, but their presence caused chaos in the balance of time. The Islands of Time shifted in unnatural directions, the Pillars began to crack, and the invisible Architects could not predict these changes.
— We are not alone in this game, said Flamen, clenching his fists. — If there are those who shape eternity, there are those who destroy it.
Emiren looked into the rift.
— What if they are not destroying it?
— What do you mean? — asked Watery.
— What if they are building their own eternity? Not ours. Not like any of those we imagined.
Silence fell for a moment.
— Then we are not creators, said Empty. — Then we are merely among those competing for the shape of time.
The First Contact
One of the Shadows approached them.
Its form shifted as if trying to take on some semblance of a being. And then they heard a voice. It did not sound in space but inside their thoughts.
— You have opened the door. But not only for yourselves.
These words sent a wave of cold realization through them.
— Who are you? — asked Emiren.
The Shadow did not answer directly. It only showed them a vision.
A black garden, where the branches of trees did not grow but curled inward. The currents of time had stopped, frozen into monolithic towers. And beings, similar to themselves but changed, with empty eyes that gazed through reality.
— Your architecture is not the only one. And not the only one that is right.
The Shadow dissolved, and with it—the rift. But Emiren knew: this was only the beginning.
The Creators’ Crossroads
— If there are others who shape time… — began Watery.
— Then what does that mean for us? — Flamen finished for him.
— It means we are not just creators. We are players in a great war for the shape of eternity.
Emiren silently stared into the void where the Shadow had been moments ago.
They would have to make a choice:
Defend their architecture, fighting against the others?
Or find a way to coexist in the multiplicity of eternities?
The fate of not just their world but of all time depended on this answer.