When Steven opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a realm that felt… real. Not like the void, not like the endless loop of shifting realities he'd been through. This place had substance—solid ground beneath his feet, a sky above that was not broken or uncertain. It was calm, peaceful, and almost... familiar.
He looked around, unsure of where he was.
The Codex pulsed softly in his hand, its pages now glowing with a steady rhythm.
"What is this place?" he muttered, his voice strangely calm.
From the horizon, a figure approached. It was a man, cloaked in starlight, his face obscured by a hood. As he drew closer, Steven's heart skipped a beat—the man's silhouette felt like it was known to him, like an echo of something he couldn't place.
The figure stopped before him, his voice deep and resonating.
"You've crossed the boundary, Starcaster."
"Who are you?" Steven asked, his hand instinctively moving to the hilt of his staff. "What is this place?"
The man pulled back his hood, revealing a face that was both strange and familiar—an older version of Steven, his features hardened by time and battles yet marked with wisdom.
"I am the future you. I am the one who has seen the end."
Steven's breath caught. "The future…?"
The man nodded. "Yes. The fate that you're walking now is not the same one I walked. But the choices you make will decide whether this realm ends, or if it begins again."
Steven's thoughts raced. "What do you mean? The Black Author is gone. I've rewritten everything."
The older Steven smiled sadly. "You think so? The Black Author was only the first piece, the harbinger of what is to come. There is something worse, something older, that even the Codex cannot contain. The true enemy has always been time itself."
The air around them shimmered as a vortex of swirling light and darkness appeared in the distance. It was the familiar sight of Aetherion, the mystic realm, with its glowing portals and untold power. But something about it felt… wrong.
Steven's eyes narrowed. "I don't understand. What are you saying? How can time be the enemy?"
The older Steven stepped forward, his expression grave. "Time is not what you think it is. It is not linear, nor constant. It is a force—a sentient entity that governs all things. And it is the true architect of your fate. What you did by defeating the Black Author… that was just the beginning. The real war is against time itself, against the one who manipulates its flow."
Steven felt a cold wave wash over him. A terrible realization settled deep within his chest. "And who… is that?"
The older Steven looked toward the horizon, where the spirals of Aetherion loomed closer.
"He is known only as the Chronomancer—the one who controls the flow of time and creates fractures within it. And when time itself is rewritten, nothing remains stable. Not even the Codex. Not even you."
The ground beneath them trembled. Steven turned, heart racing, as the swirling vortex of Aetherion spiraled outward, its glowing portals becoming unstable.
"You must stop him," the older Steven said, his voice filled with urgency. "The final page of the Codex is still unwritten. And it is there, in the last word, that you will find your true purpose."
The portal to Aetherion cracked open wider, sending a blinding flash of light.
Steven's resolve hardened. "I won't fail. I've rewritten fate once—I'll do it again."
With a final glance at his future self, Steven stepped forward, ready to confront the Chronomancer and the forces of time itself.
And as he did, a single page turned in the Codex, revealing the last wo
rds that would shape everything.
---
To be continued…