Temporal Dominion

Lucian Vale's breaths came shallow and uneven as he stood in the moonlit clearing, his body still reeling from what he had just experienced. His mind raced, struggling to grasp the brief yet overwhelming sensation that had gripped him.

Time unraveling. Energy flowing like rivers through an unseen expanse. A presence watching.

It had felt too real to be his imagination.

Elara watched him carefully, her silver eyes searching for understanding. "Lucian… what did you see?"

He swallowed, trying to steady his thoughts. "I… I don't know. It was like… something beyond this world. Like I was looking at—" He stopped himself. Saying it out loud made it sound ridiculous.

Elara, however, didn't laugh. She stepped closer, her expression serious. "Describe it."

Lucian hesitated, but the lingering sensation was too strong to ignore. He exhaled slowly. "It was like I could see time itself. Not just moving forward, but… breaking apart, shifting. And something—no, someone—was watching."

Elara's brows furrowed. "Watching?"

He nodded. "I don't know what it was. It didn't feel human, or even real in the way we understand."

Silence settled between them, broken only by the distant rustling of leaves.

Finally, Elara spoke. "I've come here dozens of times, and I've never felt anything like that."

Lucian rubbed his temples. "Then why did I?"

Elara was quiet for a moment before murmuring, "Maybe… because you were meant to."

Lucian scoffed, though his unease didn't fade. "That's a pretty big leap."

She crossed her arms. "Is it? Think about it, Lucian. You've spent your whole life being different. No Awakening, no power—nothing. But what if it wasn't because you don't have power? What if it's because your power isn't like anyone else's?"

The thought sent a chill down his spine. What if… I wasn't powerless at all?

But before he could respond—

CRACK.

A sudden rupture tore through the air.

Lucian and Elara both flinched as an invisible force swept through the clearing. The ground trembled. The air around them shimmered, like heatwaves distorting reality.

Lucian's heart pounded. "What the hell was that?"

Elara looked around frantically. "I don't know—"

Then it happened again.

A splinter in the world itself, like glass fracturing against an unseen force. The air rippled violently, and for a split second, Lucian saw something impossible—

A second moon, hanging in the sky, flickering in and out of existence like a dying ember.

Then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

Lucian staggered back, his breath catching in his throat. "Elara… did you see that?"

She was pale. "Lucian, we need to go. Now."

Something deep in his gut told him she was right. Whatever had just happened wasn't normal. It wasn't something the academy—or even Valeria—understood.

But another part of him, buried beneath years of insignificance, whispered a different thought.

What if this is what I've been waiting for?

The world had always told him he was nothing. That he would never have power.

But now… the world itself was breaking around him.

And he was at the center of it.