Chapter Three: When Reality Grows Thin

A silvery mist swirled around the Tower of the Chronometer, like a living creature, now contracting, now spreading across the ancient stones. Alira stood by the window, gazing at the strange dance of the temporal currents. Since the events in the neighboring universe of Aurea, a strange feeling had never left her — as though the very fabric of reality had begun to grow thin.

The massive clock on the wall struck midnight when a knock came at her door. Three quick raps, a pause, then one more — the special code of her world's Council of Keepers.

"Come in," she said, already knowing the news could not be good, at such an hour.

The Keeper Corvin appeared in the doorway, with two companions in mantles. Corvin's usually immaculate mantle was rumpled, and worry showed in his eyes.

"We've detected an anomaly," he said without preamble. "Someone is trying to alter the course of history of our universe, Astralia."

"Who are these two people with you? I've never seen them before," Alira said.

Corvin introduced his companions, Veleslav and Vidomir, explaining that they were natives of the homeland of humankind.

Alira, remembering the ancient texts, exclaimed with wonder:

"They're from Azarala! Are you gods?"

Vidomir laughed, remembering his own past.

"You can think of us as elder Keepers. There is one Creator," Veleslav said.

Alira looked at them, understanding nothing of what these wondrous people were saying. The development of her world, Divnogorye, was still in an early stage.

"But what's happening to our universe? I sense something is wrong," Alira said.

"The Tenebrians are stirring up trouble; they want to reverse the development of your universe," Veleslav said.

"They want to create something like the former world of Antiano, where the Chernyaks made a multitude of dimensions and worlds into a single world," Vidomir added.

"That's rather frightening," Alira said. "The Sreydim dimension might cease to exist. It's the most beautiful place I know of. Beyond the Sreydim dimension, the elder Supreme Keepers don't allow us to pass. Why don't you let us through? Those who tried to go further without permission are sent back to the first dimension, reborn without memory. And those who spend too long in the Sreydim dimension lose their memory too, and are also sent back to the first dimension."

"I see you have a kind heart, and I can tell you the truth," Veleslav said, then continued: "I'll put it in simple terms, so it's clear to you. You aren't allowed beyond the Sreydim dimension for your own safety. Every being in the lower universes is infected with an evil sickness, and that evil dies out above the Sreydim dimension. And along with that evil, you could perish too. Evil is very tightly bound to you. And no one can remain in the Sreydim dimension too long, especially those heavily infected with evil. Evil feels unwell there and tries to return to the lower dimensions. It is evil that erases memory and causes people discomfort."

Then Vidomir continued:

"Evil feeds on evil emotions. Until you learn to master them, they won't let go of you."

"But how should one respond to evil done to them?" Alira asked.

Vidomir answered:

"Veleslav and I were once in the same position. In truth, all people once came from Azarala. And there is no malice or hatred there. The Evil One created these imperfect universes, yours among them, and people fell into a trap, becoming infected with evil here. Know that when you fight someone, you're fighting your own kin — it's only that, for now, their sick mind is clouded by evil. Those whose minds are sick must be stopped, so they don't harm others, but don't treat them with hatred — treat them with something useful, to lessen the evil in their hearts. People don't remember Azarala; evil doesn't let them remember. But you can remember — don't feed the evil, and it will weaken, and good will take its place."

Alira said:

"The people of our world won't understand this. The only thing I can say is to fight the evil within one's own heart. And then one can be freed and return home. People are drawn more to magic; they want to use it to live carefree."

Veleslav said:

"In truth, magic doesn't exist. In truth, we simply know more of the laws of the Megaverse. And the laws were written by the Creator into the Spiritual Light from which the Megaverse is woven. And we, the wizards, have simply learned to fulfill more of those laws. The laws of the Megaverse cannot be broken, only adapted to. Soon we'll be able to save every person and bring them all home, and every universe will be healed of the density of matter. And thanks to you, and to those people from other universes who develop resistance to evil — by taking a hair from each of them, we'll be able to concoct an elixir."

"But what's happened to us? Why is the fabric of reality growing thin in our world?" Alira asked.

"It's the Tenebrians, trying to break through here," Vidomir said.

"The Tenebrians…" Alira said thoughtfully. "I've only heard of them in ancient legends. They say they feed on time itself."

Corvin nodded grimly:

"The legends don't lie. The Tenebrians are beings from the universe of Aurea. They cannot exist in complete realities, so they need to join every dimension and world into a single world, to make it suitable for their existence."

"And what would happen to the inhabitants of Astralia?" Alira asked, though she already suspected the answer.

"They would dissolve into emptiness," Veleslav answered. "Their energy would become food for the Tenebrians.

Vidomir took a strange device from the folds of his mantle, resembling a compass, but with several needles moving independently of one another.

"Look," he pointed to one of the needles, trembling and swinging in circles. "The epicenter of the thinning is at the Rift of Ages, at the foot of the Crystal Mountains."

"The ancient Temple of Time stands there!" Alira exclaimed. "It houses the Chronograph — an artifact that maintains the stability of time's flow in our universe."

"That's exactly what they're trying to destroy," Veleslav nodded. "We need to hurry.

The four Keepers left the tower and headed for the stables, where rare creatures were kept — temporalies, capable of moving through the currents of time. These majestic creatures, resembling enormous falcons with feathers the color of the starry sky, could cross great distances almost instantaneously.

As they drew near the Rift of Ages, a horrifying sight met their eyes. The sky above the Temple of Time had split open, like a curtain, laying bare a pulsing blackness, out of which Tenebrians were emerging.

"They're already here," Alira whispered.

"But they haven't reached the Chronograph yet," Vidomir said confidently. "Otherwise we would already feel the temporal current breaking down."

Corvin pointed to the warping space around the temple:

"We can't go straight through. The Tenebrians have created a temporal barrier."

"We have an advantage," Veleslav said, taking a pulsing crystal from his pocket. "In Azarala, we developed a technology of temporal synchronization. It will let us create a temporal pocket — a space where time flows differently than outside it."

He held out the crystal to Alira:

"You must activate the device here."

Alira took the crystal, and the moment her fingers touched it, it blazed with bright light. A shimmering sphere formed around the four Keepers.

"Now we have a chance," Vidomir said. "To the Tenebrians, we'll be moving so fast they won't have time to react."

They headed toward the temple, moving through the distorted space. To them, everything looked normal, but from outside their temporal pocket, they would have appeared only as blurred silhouettes, moving at incredible speed.

Inside the temple, they saw a group of Tenebrians — tall, slender beings, dressed like the Chernyaks in black hooded mantles, their bodies seeming to be made of concentrated darkness. They surrounded the central altar, where the Chronograph pulsed — an ancient mechanism resembling intricate astronomical clockwork, in which every gear and pendulum represented different aspects of time.

"They're trying to reconfigure the Chronograph," Corvin said quietly. "If they succeed, time in Astralia will accelerate to such a degree that the entire universe will age in an instant."

"Do we have a plan?" Alira asked, gripping her wizard-keeper's staff.

Veleslav nodded:

"The Tenebrians can manipulate time, but they have a vulnerability. They exist simultaneously in several dimensions, which gives them strength, but also makes them vulnerable to a temporal paradox."

"What's needed of us?" Corvin asked.

"Vidomir and I will create a convergence point of temporal lines," Veleslav answered. "And you and Alira must reconfigure the Chronograph, so it creates a temporal loop."

"A temporal loop?" Alira repeated. "But that would disrupt the stability of the entire universe!"

"Not quite," Vidomir smiled. "The loop will be isolated — it will capture only the Tenebrians and send them into an endless cycle of the same moment in time. They'll be trapped in it, unable to move forward or backward."

The plan was risky, but there was no other way. Veleslav and Vidomir took up positions on opposite sides of the hall and began chanting ancient incantations in the language of Azarala. The air between them thickened, and visible currents of time appeared — silvery threads, joining together at the center of the hall.

Meanwhile, Alira and Corvin quietly approached the Chronograph. Drawing on their knowledge and their power as Keepers, they began making subtle changes to the mechanism's settings.

The Tenebrians, absorbed in their work, didn't notice the Keepers' presence right away. But when the convergence point of the temporal lines began to form, they turned. Their faces twisted in a soundless scream.

"Faster!" Veleslav shouted. "We can't hold the convergence point for long!"

Alira turned the last dial on the Chronograph, and the mechanism let out a deep, resonating sound. The pendulums and gears began moving in strange, illogical sequences.

At the center of the hall, where the temporal lines converged, a glowing sphere formed. It began to expand, capturing the Tenebrians one after another. The beings tried to flee, but their movements grew slower and slower, as though they were freezing in time.

"It's working!" Corvin exclaimed.

But at that moment, one of the Tenebrians, larger and, apparently, more powerful than the rest, lunged at the Chronograph. He stretched his dark hands toward the heart of the mechanism.

Alira, without hesitation, placed herself between the Tenebrian and the Chronograph. She raised her staff, and a beam of bright light burst from it. The Tenebrian recoiled, but did not retreat.

"The Light of Azarala!" Vidomir shouted. "Use the Light of Azarala!"

Veleslav took a small crystal from the folds of his mantle, glowing with a pure, white light. He threw it to Alira, and she caught the crystal, which at once merged with her staff.

The staff blazed brighter still, and Alira aimed it at the Tenebrian. A beam of light pierced the dark entity, and the being began to disintegrate into particles of darkness, which were drawn into the temporal loop.

The last Tenebrian vanished into the glowing sphere, which then shrank down to the size of a crystal and hung suspended in the air.

"What now?" Alira asked, breathing heavily.

Veleslav carefully approached the crystal and sealed it inside a special container. "This crystal contains the temporal loop, with the Tenebrians inside it. We'll give it to the Etherians in the universe of Aurea; they'll send them to the tenth dimension for correction. The Tenebrians were people too, once — evil made them what they are, they resisted it poorly."

Vidomir approached the Chronograph and examined it closely:

"The mechanism is damaged, but not critically. We can restore it."

"And what about the tear in the fabric of reality?" Corvin asked, pointing to the dark rift still visible in the sky.

"Now that the Tenebrians are caught, the tear will begin to close on its own," Veleslav answered. "But that process needs to be sped up."

Alira nodded:

"I know the ritual of restoration. But I'll need the help of every wizard and Keeper in Astralia."

"And we'll provide plenty of Azarala's energy," Vidomir said. "Together, we'll manage it."

Over the days that followed, the wizards and Keepers of Astralia, led by Alira, Corvin, Veleslav, and Vidomir, carried out a complex ritual to restore the fabric of reality. They joined their strength, directing it toward healing the universe.

Gradually, the dark rift in the sky began to close, and the thinned patches of reality grew dense once more. The Chronograph was restored and once again regulated the flow of time in Astralia.

When the work was complete, Veleslav and Vidomir prepared to return to Azarala.

"You will always be welcome guests in our world," Alira said, saying goodbye to them.

"And you, Alira," Veleslav answered, "will visit Azarala one day. You're almost ready already — your heart is nearly free of darkness."

"And remember," Vidomir added, "protection from evil doesn't lie in denying its existence, but in understanding its nature, and choosing the light despite the darkness around you."

They gave Alira and Corvin crystals of connection — with their help, the Keepers of Astralia would be able to reach Azarala in case of new danger.

Veleslav and Vidomir created a portal and, waving farewell, vanished into a burst of light.

Alira looked up at the sky, where the tear had recently been, and where stars now shone.

"We won today," she said to Corvin. "But I think this is only the beginning of a long road."

"The road home?" he asked.

"The road home," she nodded. "To Azarala."