After leaving the Sky Market, Darin and Mira traveled to a rocky canyon where huge machines dug into the ground. The sky was gray, and the wind howled through the cliffs.
"This is the Time Mines," Mira said. "Long ago, people dug here to find Time Crystals. But something went wrong. Now the place is dangerous."
Darin looked around. The cliffs were full of broken carts, rusted gears, and old mining tools. In the distance, he saw a huge door built into the rock.
"The next Time Shard is inside that mine," Mira said. "But we have to be careful. The deeper we go, the stranger time becomes."
They entered the mine. It was dark and cold. Their footsteps echoed. Lanterns on the walls flickered with blue light. As they walked, Darin noticed something strange—his shadow was walking ahead of him.
"Mira… is that normal?"
"No," she said. "Time is bending. Stay close."
Deeper inside, they found a tunnel filled with floating rocks and spinning clocks stuck in the walls. A broken robot suddenly twitched and sat up.
"Error… error…" it said.
Then its eyes glowed red.
"It's attacking!" Darin shouted.
He blocked with his wrench as the robot swung a heavy arm. Mira zapped it with a spark from her glove, and it froze.
"I think these robots used to protect the crystals," Mira said.
"Now they protect nothing," Darin replied.
They kept going until they reached the crystal chamber. The walls sparkled with glowing stones, and in the middle floated the fourth Time Shard.
But before Darin could grab it, the ground rumbled.
A giant mining bot—taller than a house—woke up with a loud roar.
"Time thieves detected!" it boomed.
"Run?" Darin asked.
"No time!" Mira said. "Distract it—I'll get the shard!"
Darin raced around the room, dodging the robot's huge arms. He used the speed charm again, zipping between rocks and blasting it with small clock bombs Mira had given him earlier.
Mira jumped onto a tall rock, grabbed the shard, and yelled, "Got it!"
The robot froze. Then it powered down and crumbled into pieces.
Darin flopped onto the ground, tired. "That... was crazy."
Mira smiled. "But you handled it."
He looked at the new shard glowing in her hand. "Four down."
"Which means we're halfway there," Mira said.
Darin stood up. "Let's finish what we started."