Echoes of Time

Chapter 26 - The Collision of Time

Keith's heart pounded as he held the hourglass in his trembling hands, his mind racing with the weight of the decision he was about to make. In front of him, Dr. Gareth and Dr. Eleanor Monroe stood frozen in shock, their faces pale as the color drained from their skin. Their eyes locked onto the hourglass, as if the very sight of it brought their darkest fears to life.

"Why do you have that?" Dr. Gareth's voice boomed through the lab, a mixture of astonishment, fear, and anger twisting his expression. His normally controlled demeanor cracked, revealing the raw emotions bubbling beneath the surface. It was as if seeing the hourglass in Keith's hand confirmed every dread that had lurked in the back of his mind.

Keith took a deep breath, his grip tightening around the hourglass as his mind raced for a solution. This was it—there was no turning back now.

"I'm sorry," Keith began, his voice steady despite the storm of emotions within him. He met Dr. Gareth's gaze, and for the first time in years, he allowed the truth to slip through. "I have no other choice, Uncle."

The words slipped from Keith's lips, and in an instant, the room seemed to shrink around them. Gareth's eyes widened, his face contorting in horror. "What did you just say?" His voice was barely a whisper, but the disbelief was evident.

Keith didn't give him a chance to react further. With a burst of adrenaline, Keith darted across the lab, moving faster than any of the scientists could process. His feet barely touched the ground as he lunged toward the experiment they had been working on for decades—the massive hourglass that had been the focal point of their dangerous research.

"Stop him!" Dr. Gareth roared, but it was too late. Before anyone could even move, Keith brought the ancient hourglass down with all his strength, smashing it against the device they had been building for years.

Time itself seemed to groan in protest.

The moment the two hourglasses collided, the world exploded into chaos. The air shimmered with violent, unnatural energy. Flames erupted from the point of impact, not orange or red, but a swirling mass of purple and green, twisting and turning like a living entity. The very fabric of time warped around them, creating a sickening, disorienting sensation as past and future clashed in a violent burst.

A massive shockwave rippled out from the hourglasses, sending everyone in the lab flying. Keith felt himself lifted off his feet as the explosion tore through the room, machinery and equipment crashing to the ground like toys in a child's tantrum. The deafening roar of the blast drowned out all other sounds, and for a moment, Keith was weightless, his vision swimming as debris filled the air around him.

Dr. Gareth's furious scream— "Noooooo!" —was lost in the chaos. The explosion shattered the reinforced glass walls of the lab, and sharp shards rained down like deadly confetti, reflecting the purple and green flames that licked across the destroyed machinery.

Scientists screamed as they were thrown across the room, their bodies colliding with walls and desks, some hitting the ground in painful heaps. The metallic scent of burning equipment filled the air, and the room was thick with smoke and the acrid smell of chemicals. Cries of pain echoed through the laboratory, but nothing could match the horror etched on Dr. Gareth's face as he scrambled toward the shattered remains of the hourglass.

"How dare you!" Dr. Gareth's voice was hoarse, filled with unbridled fury as he stumbled to his knees beside the broken glass. His hands reached out, trembling, as if trying to put the shattered pieces back together. "It took us 30 years! Thirty years of work, and you've ruined it all!"

Keith watched in disbelief as Gareth—once the calm, calculating scientist—fell into a frantic, almost mad state, desperately clawing at the broken glass as if he could undo the damage. "You have no idea what you've done!" Gareth's voice cracked, his face a twisted mask of rage and despair. "You've destroyed everything!"

"I had to," Keith whispered, his heart heavy with guilt. "There was no other way."

But Gareth wasn't listening. He was too consumed by the loss, his mind unraveling in front of Keith's eyes. "We were so close!" Gareth shrieked, his hands bleeding as he tried to gather the shattered fragments. "We could have controlled time itself!"

As the scene of chaos unfolded, Keith barely registered the sound of sirens wailing in the distance. The explosion had been heard throughout the facility, and within moments, the door to the laboratory was kicked open. A squad of armed police and special forces stormed in, their weapons drawn as they surveyed the destruction.

"Freeze! Everyone stay where you are!" one of the officers barked, his voice commanding as the team spread out, securing the lab.

Keith barely had time to process their arrival before he was grabbed roughly by two officers. "You're under arrest for unauthorized experimentation and endangerment of lives," one of them growled as they pulled his arms behind his back and cuffed him. His mind swirled, too disoriented to fully comprehend the situation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eleanor was restrained as well, her face pale and eyes wide with shock as she watched Gareth collapse in front of the shattered hourglass. "No... this isn't how it was supposed to happen," she muttered under her breath, her voice trembling with disbelief.

"Secure the facility!" another officer called out. "Shut it all down. This entire operation is over."

The scientists in the lab were herded together, their protests drowned out by the sounds of machinery being turned off and the crackling of flames still licking at the remnants of the experiment. The special forces moved quickly, ensuring that every piece of equipment was seized and every individual accounted for.

Keith struggled to catch his breath, his mind still reeling from the events. The weight of what he had done pressed down on him, but deep inside, he knew it had been the only way. He had stopped the experiment—he had prevented the catastrophic ripple that would have torn through time itself.

As the chaos began to die down and the lab was secured, Keith glanced down at the last few grains of sand slipping through the broken hourglass in his hand. The sands of time, once so powerful, now lay shattered and useless. He had done it. He had broken the cycle.

But the guilt gnawed at him, even as he whispered, "I'm sorry, Adeline. I had no other choice."

He looked up at the ruined lab, where Gareth was being dragged away by the police, still screaming about his years of work being destroyed. Keith felt a strange sense of finality wash over him.

As the last grain of sand fell, a strange warmth washed over Keith, and the room began to blur around him. His vision faded, the sounds of the police and the lab drifting away as if pulled by an invisible force. Time itself seemed to wrap around him, and before he could fully comprehend what was happening, the world disappeared.

Keith knew what this meant.

It was time to go back.