The silence in the cave was unbearable. Jack stepped back from the glowing box, his heart pounding. Alex bent closer, studying the strange symbols etched into the lock. "It's not just ancient," she whispered. "It's… layered. Like someone wrote over another message."
Jimmy rubbed his arms, suddenly cold. "What if we triggered something? What if that message was meant to be a warning?"
Adam flipped the book open again, but the final page had changed. Now it read:
"The past is no longer past. He walks among them unseen."
"What does that mean?" Alex asked. "Who's 'he'?"
"I think we're about to find out," Jack muttered, stepping toward the cracked wall where the glowing box had been hidden. Behind it, they saw something even stranger: an old tapestry, weathered by time but still intact, hanging against the stone. It showed two versions of the same world—one full of life, the other in ruins.
And in between them stood a figure in black.
"That's not Ali," Jimmy whispered.
"No," said Adam. "That's… the shadow."
The air grew colder. Then Alex gasped. "Wait… the Kayı symbol." She pointed to the figure's chest. It had a glowing mark—the same as on the box. "Whoever this is, he went through the portal too. And he has access to their world."
Just then, the box clicked.
Startled, Jack opened it. Inside was a small device—a compass-like disk spinning erratically. And beneath it, a photo.
Ali, standing with the tribe, smiling.
And next to him—a man none of them recognized.
He wore traveler's clothes like theirs but darker, dustier, as if he'd been hiding. His eyes were cold. His expression unreadable.
"That's not possible," Adam said. "We were the only ones."
"No," said Jack. "Remember the night before we entered the portal? When we were camping near the ruins? There was someone watching us. I thought it was just an animal."
Alex shook her head slowly. "I saw someone too. But he disappeared when I looked directly at him."
Jimmy's voice trembled. "You think… he followed us? Through the portal?"
Jack nodded grimly. "And not by accident. He's been planning this."
"But who is he?" asked Adam.
The compass suddenly pointed sharply east. The needle burned bright red. On instinct, they followed it deeper into the cave.
What they found was beyond explanation: a second chamber, even older, with walls covered in carvings. One depicted a timeline—a river of events. But someone had scratched parts of it out.
In the center of the chamber was a stone pedestal. On it, a name.
"Elias Verin."
Adam recoiled. "No way. That name—he was a scientist, decades ago. Obsessed with time travel. Disappeared without a trace."
"But what would he want with us?" Alex asked.
Jack read the inscription below the name:
"To control time, you must first erase the keepers of it."
"He sees us as threats," Jack realized. "We're the ones who touched different timelines. Maybe we were stabilizing time without knowing it. And he's trying to undo that."
"Ali," Jimmy whispered. "He stayed behind. And now Elias is there, too."
"And he's pretending to be one of the tribe," said Alex. "Ali might not even know."
The realization hit hard. The group fell silent, fear creeping in.
Then the walls trembled again. From the shadows, a mechanical drone emerged—sputtering, broken, but still functional. It projected an image into the air.
Elias.
He was older now, his hair long and gray, his face weathered but dangerous.
"You found my message," his voice echoed. "Good. You were always meant to. But you've seen too much. Interfered too much. Time is a fragile thing. And I'm here to rebuild it the right way—without you."
The image vanished. The drone fell apart.
Jack's fists clenched. "We need to warn Ali."
"How?" Adam asked. "The portal is gone."
"No," Alex said. "Look." She pointed to a corner of the chamber where another symbol glowed faintly.
A second portal.
Faint. Flickering.
"Maybe… it's not gone yet," Jimmy said. "Maybe we can follow Elias."
But before they could decide, something stirred behind them.
A voice whispered:
"Not all shadows follow their masters."
They turned.
Another figure stood in the cave entrance.
A young woman.
Clothed in robes that shimmered like glass, she looked familiar… almost like someone from their own time. But her eyes held centuries of knowledge.
"I've been watching Elias," she said. "I was one of his first followers. Until I learned the truth."
"Who are you?" Jack asked.
She stepped forward and placed her hand on the glowing compass.
"My name is Mira. I'm a timekeeper. And I came to warn you: Elias didn't go back alone."
The others exchanged glances.
"Who else?" Jimmy asked.
But Mira didn't answer. Instead, she stepped aside, revealing something hidden in the shadows.
Another portal.
One they hadn't seen before.
But this one… it led somewhere else.
Not the past. Not the future.
A place outside of time.
Mira looked at them.
"If you want to stop him, you'll have to go beyond everything you've known."
The portal crackled.
And this time, it whispered their names.