The four of them—Roxy, Zoe, Skyler, and Emilia—were making their way back to Trinity’s Eternus Castle. Everything seemed as smooth as their journey in… except for Skyler, who couldn’t shake the strange pressure in the air.

  He slowed his steps, instincts screaming inside his chest.

  Someone’s following us… he thought. Not Rippers. If it were, they’d have attacked by now. They don’t stalk. They don’t hide.

  Whoever this was, they masked their presence perfectly, blood’s stench buried under perfume, convincing to anyone else. It might fool anyone else. But not Skyler. Not anymore.

  He stopped, pretending to adjust his gloves, when in truth he was calculating the intruder’s position.

  Left side. Thirty meters. Dead center of that suspiciously still bush.

  Without hesitation, he expanded a temporal field, freezing everything in place, and launched himself toward the target.

  But—nothing.

  The spot was empty.

  Skyler froze, every muscle locking tight, pulse hammering.

  Whoever it was… had moved inside his stopped time.

  “…Impossible—”

  Before he could finish, a crushing force slammed into his back.

  “Guhh!” He was flung forward, limbs snapping loose, body whipped through the air with the force of a horse’s kick, smashing into the ground hard enough to dent the earth. Air blasted out of his lungs.

  Skyler raised his head slowly, through the ringing in his skull.

  And nearly choked on the sight.

  A child.

  Not the wide-eyed, ice-cream loving kind. This one radiated killing intent without moving—cold, merciless, ready to slit a throat for stepping across an invisible line. With each step closer, the air in a ten-meter radius thickened, squeezed down as if the world itself was bracing.

  Smaller than him by half. Frail-looking, light enough for the wind to carry away—yet anchored, immovable, as if nailed to the fabric of space itself. Eyes sharp as brand-new razor blades. Worst of all, the kid was smiling—a frozen, crooked smile that chilled deeper than any scream.

  Skyler tried to shift tactics—left feint, right guard, bait-and-switch, anything to break the stalemate—but before his muscles even fired, the child was already a step ahead. It wasn’t fighting. It was toying.

  He realized with sick clarity: he’d lost this fight before it had even begun.

  This is insane… who the hell is this kid?

  Pale skin drained of color. Hair a crown of frost, catching moonlight on snow. A face that looked no older than twelve, carved in the stillness of ice. Clothes too fine, too deliberate for a child—an ivory long-sleeved shirt of tailored fabric, sharp pleats on matching shorts, each fold a piece of art.

  Polished black leather shoes clicked against the earth with each step, as though pinning time itself underfoot.

  The kid extended one small hand. No words. No threats. No explanation. Only stare that regarded Skyler the way one might a bug, already pinned to a board.

  Cold seeped into Skyler’s skin, sliding into his bones. His body shuddered involuntarily, as though his blood itself was trying to flee.

  And then—something began to form. Suspended in the air above that outstretched palm.

  At that instant, the icy dagger tilted—its razor edge catching the reflection of Skyler’s frozen features, ready to bury itself deep into his skull.

  What the hell!? This kid… has Time: to stop it, Space: to vanish in plain sight, and Dimension: conjuring weapons from nothing like Roxy’s mirrored blades. But this chill… it’s Ice!

  No opening. No weakness. No breath where Skyler could counter. Whoever this was held every card in the deck—perhaps more than anyone else on the board.

  He tried to move. Muscles screamed. Instinct shrieked louder:

  Move an inch, and you’re dead.

  The dagger dipped closer—

  A voice cracked the moment apart.

  “Len! Stop this instant!”

  Emilia’s shout cut through—thunder splitting the air. She threw herself between them, breaking the inevitable.

  The kid froze—not retreating, only holding the dagger just shy of Skyler’s eye. A hair closer and it would have pierced his brain.

  Skyler’s lungs seized. Sweat trickled down his skin, cold as death itself. It had been less than a minute—yet it stretched, a lifetime folded into eternity, death’s hand poised to flick the switch.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “What are you doing!? Got nothing better to do? Leave him alone!” Emilia’s tone balanced on the edge between restrained civility and simmering fury.

  Len kept staring, gaze unblinking, until at last he lowered his hand. The icy dagger shattered into frost, scattering into the air. One word left his lips, flat and final:

  “Outsider.”

  No apology. No explanation. Only a turn of the figure’s heel, and then—gone. Dissolved into the darkness—a phantom fading from a mirror.

  “Th-thank you, Emilia,” Skyler rasped, exhaling a shuddering breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

  “As if I’d let my future husband die like that,” she quipped, yanking him back to his feet.

  His face remained pale, his hands trembling. “That kid… who is… ?” The words slipped out so faintly he barely heard himself.

  Arms crossed, Emilia shrugged—the kind of indifference reserved for rain on laundry day. “Len. Head of Sigma II. Trinity’s golden child. Untouchable. Not even by me.”

  “Head of a unit…? Then why the hell did Len try to kill me?”

  “Not kill,” Emilia corrected with a careless flick of her hand. “Most likely just flagged you as an outsider and came to ‘check.’ That’s the usual. Mysterious. Don’t waste brain cells on it.”

  Don’t waste brain cells? Skyler wanted to scream. The kid nearly put a knife in my eye! His silent sarcasm echoed loud inside his chest.

  But he swallowed it down. Some truths, he decided, were better left unspoken—for the sake of sleep, if nothing else.

  “You okay, Sky?” Zoe burst in—appearing on cue, stage director’s timing nailed.

  He shook his head quickly, then strode on, trying to mask the tremor in his steps—especially from Roxy.

  Yet even as they moved forward, that cold prickle at the back of his neck clung tight. The silver-haired one hadn’t vanished. Watching.

  And the worst part was—Skyler had no idea why.

  They didn’t have to walk much farther before the path ended at the Energy Bridge—a shimmering construct linking the underworld to Eden, the floating land above gravity’s leash.

  This wasn’t some rainbow bridge out of a kids’ storybook. Not a romantic wooden span straight out of Venice, either. This was a security-locked structure, coded to Eden’s defense system alone.

  Lucky break—they had two Sigma captains with them. Three, if you counted Len.

  Cosmic ripples bled into the air, shimmering with the liquidity of molten glass, folding into a radiant bridge that unfurled across the void.

  “Whoa… I need one of these just to walk my dog every day.” Zoe twirled mid-step. “Sky—think you can build me one?”

  “Uh… maybe? Probably?” Skyler muttered, still fighting the ghost of PTSD Len had branded on his spine. At least he tried not to look rattled.

  Each step sparked a rainbow ripple beneath their feet, colors whirling in chaotic harmony, the floor alive with a painter’s delirium.

  Soon, Eternus rose before them.

  The castle perched on a cliff face, hemmed in by trees standing as natural battlements. Its black walls caught slivers of blue fire leaking from narrow slits of windows—predator sight glaring down.

  “Haunted house vibes, anyone? This is straight up creepy.” Zoe tugged Skyler’s sleeve, sneaky so no one else would notice.

  He didn’t answer. Which meant he agreed.

  The front gates—tall enough to let three dragons march side-by-side—groaned open. Iron ground on iron—instant horror SFX jump-scare unlocked.

  Torches lit themselves in sequence. No sensors here. Not electricity. Synth-magic fueled by Eden’s power core. Blue flames crawled along the stone, leading them down the hall toward the throne.

  And there he was.

  Trinity.

  The throne itself was oversized—deliberately so. A statement carved in steel: whoever sat there was above you. Stronger. Deadlier.

  “What brings you here?” The voice didn’t echo—it arrived from everywhere at once.

  Emilia stepped forward, her report precise and stripped bare: the underground village, the sacred tree, Gaia.

  The moment the name left her lips, something flickered through Trinity’s hollow features.

  He turned toward the corner shadows—where Len materialized,rising from the ground, a phantom made flesh. The kid dropped to one knee beside the throne, waiting for orders no one else would hear.

  Goddammit. Hate those eyes.

  Skyler shivered under the silver-haired kid’s gaze. Cold. Exactly—the sensation of a scalpel pressing into bone.

  And then—Zoe’s words cut the silence, raw and unfiltered.

  “If you so much as touch that village—”

  Time snapped.

  Everything froze.

  Skyler knew this sensation too well. The marrow-deep chill, the crushing stillness—Len’s territory. Always Len’s.

  The blue-haired boy lunged on instinct—shielding Zoe with his body.

  But in the frozen silence of stopped time… one figure moved.

  Trinity.

  The man raised one hand, calm as if commenting on the weather. “Easy, Len. The girl means no harm.”

  Just like that, Len’s crushing aura unraveled—no touch, no force, just a word. And Skyler knew instantly: this wasn’t just stronger. This was deeper than anything he could measure.

  The world lurched back into motion.

  “Huh?” Zoe blinked, looking around, confused. She touched her cheek—was it real, or just a trick of her mind?

  From the throne, Trinity spoke again.

  “Rest easy, little one. That place will be under my protection. You needn’t worry.”

  Zoe paused, then gave a tiny nod.

  Then his gaze slid to Roxy. “And you? Speak.”

  She stepped forward—steady, no hesitation.

  “From the Quanigma mission to the discovery of Gaia, I have reason to believe everything is connected. And with the intel from his world—” she motioned toward Skyler, “—the Moon might be the origin of the Rippers.”

  Skyler jerked back, as if the word itself had slapped him.

  The… Moon!?

  The commander kept her tone level, razor-calm. “There’s a hidden base there. They once mined aether—the same energy we found in Gaia’s cave. Machines were used as labor. Something went wrong. I suspect that’s where the Rippers began.”

  Trinity didn’t interrupt. He simply listened.

  Roxy left the silence hanging for just long enough, then pressed on—words forged in steel.

  “I request permission to use the Dark Gate. To prove this theory.”

  Courage. Precision. Her voice carried the rhythm of countless rehearsals.

  She wasn’t asking to jump back in time for her sister—not yet. She was playing the long game: prove the theory first, earn the right to bargain for time travel later.

  Brilliant. Ruthless. Absolutely genius.

  The plan snapped into place inside Skyler’s head. She bowed. The chamber stayed deathly quiet until Trinity’s words cut through.

  “Granted.”

  Skyler nearly leapt into the air. Nearly. Thank god he didn’t.

  She remembered everything. Every damn detail. From one skim through the files? Too smart—it’s terrifying.

  And him? Oh, he only cared about one thing. That the terrifyingly brilliant girl standing in front of him… was also stunning as hell.

  Of course he cared. Who wouldn’t?