Antem dashed out of the tower, but the world beyond its walls had changed beyond recognition. Where fields and buildings once stood, everything now lay frozen in a strange gray mist. People stood like statues, their faces locked in expressions that were impossible to decipher. Even the wind, which always softly rustled the grass, had vanished.
“Time has stopped,” Antem realized, gazing at the eerie scene. But he also felt that this was merely the surface of change. Deep within this silence, something ancient and powerful was awakening.
His artifact no longer glowed. The sphere had turned cold, seeming like an ordinary piece of metal. Antem tucked it into his pocket, but this didn’t lessen the weight of its significance. He knew: everything depended on him now.
Nazar appeared suddenly, as if materializing from the shadows. His eyes were filled with anger and fear.
“What have you done, Antem?!” he shouted, rushing toward him. “Why is the tower silent? What did you do to the pendulum?”
“I stopped it,” Antem replied firmly. “All this time, we’ve been deceived. Time is just a tool for control. We live in a lie.”
Nazar looked stunned, but then his face hardened.
“You have no idea what you’ve done. If the pendulum has stopped, then the system no longer restrains…” He fell silent abruptly, as if terrified to speak the words.
“What does it restrain?” Antem asked, stepping closer. “What was the system really hiding?”
Nazar didn’t answer, but his gaze was a sufficient reply.
At that moment, the ground beneath Antem trembled. The silence shattered. A low hum began to fill the air, gradually growing louder. It emanated from somewhere beneath the earth, right from the foundation of the tower.
“It’s awakening,” Nazar whispered, clenching his fists. “You’ve unleashed what was never meant to be free.”
“What have I unleashed?!” Antem shouted. “Speak!”
“Eternity,” Nazar said, his voice trembling. “The true essence of reality.
We were all part of a system that kept it contained. Now everything time has hidden will begin to break free.”
The hum escalated into a roar. The clock tower trembled, and its spires began to crumble, falling to the ground. Antem felt something powerful and invisible pull him to the earth. He fell to his knees, struggling to hold on.
A blinding, cold light burst forth from the tower’s spire. It shot into the sky, piercing the clouds and filling the horizon. In this light, Antem saw something incredible: a colossal mechanism resembling the tower but infinitely larger, extending beyond all imagination. This was the source of time, and it was now exposed.
“You have a choice, Antem,” Nazar said suddenly. His voice was calm, but fire burned in his eyes. “You can try to close this, restore the system. Or… let it crumble. But then we all cease to exist.”
Antem gazed at the light. In it was the truth, but alongside it lay chaos and death.
“The system is a cage,” he said, rising.
“But I don’t believe the truth should destroy us. There must be another way.”
He pulled the sphere from his pocket.
The lines on its surface began to glow again, responding to his resolve.
— I will find that way, — he added, holding the artifact in his hands. — Even if it means going to the very end.
Nazar didn’t respond. He simply nodded and stepped back into the shadows, leaving Antem alone before the choice that would change everything.