[INT. TEMPLE OF FORGOTTEN LIGHT — CONTINUING]
The air crackled violently as Velzara, emissary of the Dark God, stepped fully into the broken temple.
At her feet, shadows coiled like serpents, turning marble into ash wherever they touched.
Velzara smiled coldly.
"Such a fragile little sanctuary… a pity it will crumble with you."
Haruto and Airi stood firm in front of the altar.
The watch and the ring between them glowed brighter — reacting instinctively to Velzara's suffocating presence.
Haruto clenched his fists.
"You're not going to break us."
Velzara chuckled darkly, her wings unfolding behind her.
"Break you? No, darling.
I'm here to remind you what it feels like to be helpless again."
With a flick of her wrist, a tidal wave of black flame exploded outward.
The room stretched and warped, bending as though seen through a broken, corrupted lens.
Airi gritted her teeth against the distortion.
"This… it's worse than Tenma's corruption."
Elios appeared beside them, shielding his arm with a golden barrier.
"Velzara's command of corrupted time is different," he warned.
"She doesn't just move through time — she poisons it."
Haruto activated the watch — gears igniting like miniature suns.
A blast of golden light tore through the wave, buying them precious seconds.
Haruto shouted.
"Let's go, Airi!"
---
The watch and ring synchronized —
for the first time, truly.
A surge of light surrounded them.
The temple faded away — and suddenly, they were standing in a Celestial Garden bathed in timeless twilight.
Haruto gasped.
"This… this is a memory?"
Airi's voice wavered, her hand brushing the petals.
"We stood here once… before the war…"
Before them, their past selves — Alarion and Lyria — stood at the garden's heart, hand in hand.
Lyria smiled in the memory.
"Our bond is the anchor.
If ever lost… find me again in the moments between time."
The vision blurred— and reality snapped back.
Velzara was upon them —
her wings spread wide, swallowing the temple in shadow.
Velzara's voice was a deadly whisper.
"No more dreams.
Just oblivion."
She struck.
Time fractured.
Haruto raised the watch's energy shield — it cracked violently under the blow.
Airi pushed back with a surge of light from the ring — barely holding ground.
Their knees buckled.
Their breaths became ragged.
Elios shouted above the chaos.
"You must awaken further — or you'll die here!"
Velzara's voice echoed like a thousand whispers.
"Do you hear it?
The eclipse is coming.
When it reaches its peak… your world ends."
Above the temple, the sun began to blacken.
A dark eclipse started to form — reality itself seemed to tremble under its influence.
---
Haruto felt it —
A flicker inside the watch.
Not power.
Recognition.
He turned to Airi, voice urgent.
"It's like the watch knows what to do… but it's waiting for us to remember."
Airi's hand found his.
Her voice was steady.
"Then let's remember — together."
They clasped hands tightly.
The ring and watch pulsed —
And a beam of pure divine light exploded upward,
striking Velzara and sending her staggering back with a furious snarl.
Velzara's silver eyes widened.
"What…?!"
In that instant —
a single feather of golden light drifted down from the sky.
Velzara froze.
Real, primal fear flickered across her face.
Velzara whispered in horror.
"No… not her… not yet…"
With a scream of rage, she vanished into the shadow realm — retreating.
The eclipse stalled, its black disc only half-formed.
Silence fell over the ruined temple.
---
Haruto, panting, watched the sky.
"We forced her back… but she'll return."
Elios stepped forward solemnly, his face grave.
"She saw something.
Something she wasn't prepared for."
Airi stared upward, voice full of wonder.
"What was that feather…?"
Elios's expression shifted — distant, almost reverent.
His eyes glowed faintly.
"The Time Maiden…
She's awakening too."
---
[EXT. SKY ABOVE TEMPLE — NIGHT]
The feather of light floated higher.
As it vanished into the stars,
the silhouette of a woman — woven from constellations — formed briefly in the night sky.
Her voice, soft as eternity, whispered across realms.
"Soon, my children…
Soon, the seals will shatter."
---
TO BE CONTINUED…