Unknown Time
A Crown of Ash. A Thief of Seconds. A Love That Shattered Time.
Betrayed by his brother and burned alive on his coronation day, Kael awakens with a curse masquerading as a gift: the power to steal time itself. Now a fugitive in his ruined kingdom, he can rewind wounds, shrink enemies to dust, and bend moments to his will—but every stolen second scars his body and devours his soul.

His vengeance is absolute. His enemies are legion. Yet the deeper Kael hunts, the more he unravels:

The brother who lit his pyre is blood-bound to a cult older than time.

The fiancée who betrayed him sacrificed her love to save a sister who was already dead.

And the mentor who raised him? A time-warped monster who calls Kael’s agony “a masterpiece.”

But when Kael discovers a girl with his lost lover’s face—a living weapon forged by his enemies—he faces an impossible choice: destroy her to erase his past… or let her live and risk a future where love becomes his final weakness.

In a world where every heartbeat is a currency and every lie is etched in flames, Kael must decide if he’ll crown himself king of the ashes—or burn time itself to save the one soul he couldn’t steal.

The moths swarmed, their golden wings peeling years from the survivors' flesh. Kael shielded Young Lira as the wanderer—Mara—wrenched her dagger from the rose, Lyra's scream still echoing.


Mara's eyes glinted, Gideon's cunning in Lira's gaze. "I'm saving you. This thing—" She kicked the wilting rose. "—is a parasite. It feeds on your grief."


The moths coalesced into Nyx's spectral form, her voice a fusion of Seed-static and fury: "You stole my death. Now I'll steal everything.*"


The meadow convulsed. Grass blades hardened into thorns, trapping survivors as Nyx's essence terraformed the land into a labyrinth of memories—burning villages, Gideon's lab, Older Kael's final stand.


"Stay close!" Kael dragged Young Lira into a memory of the cathedral, now crumbling under Nyx's wrath. Mara followed, her dagger bleeding shadows.


"Because he," Mara pointed to Kael, "is my father. In another life. Another death."


Kael froze. "Older Kael… had a daughter?"


"Not had." Mara's voice cracked. "Has. The Seed preserved me. Made me its… failsafe."


Nyx's laughter shook the labyrinth. "Pathetic. You're all just spare parts."


Her moths dive-bombed, aging the air itself. Kael's hands wrinkled mid-swing, his stolen time unraveling. Mara parried with her dagger, its edge severing moth wings. "The blade's forged from his shard! Use it to cut her tether!"


"The rose!" Mara ducked a moth's strike. "It's Nyx's anchor!"


Young Lira sprinted toward the wilting flower, her shadow thrashing. "Don't!" it screamed. "You'll erase us both!"


She ignored it, seizing the rose. Thorns pierced her palms, her blood glowing gold.


Nyx materialized, spectral hands closing around Young Lira's throat. "You're just like him. All sacrifice, no sense."


Kael lunged, dagger raised—but froze.


Mara's blade hovered at his back. "Do it. Kill her. Nyx dies with the rose."


The labyrinth walls closed in, memories of Older Kael's sacrifice playing on loop. "Break it… even if it breaks you."


Chapter 39 - Chapter 39: The Moth Queen’s Gambit