The Time Gambler's Curse

Chapter 19: Elias's Truth

The world reassembled in fragments.

Damian gasped, his chest heaving as reality took shape around him. He could feel the weight of his own body returning, the sharp edges of gravity pulling him back into existence. His vision blurred with the aftershocks of the jump, the cavern's violent collapse still reverberating in his bones. But as the haze lifted, something felt different—disconcertingly different.

Gone were the fractures, the twisted streets, the shimmer of time unraveling at the seams. Instead, Damian stood in the heart of a city he barely recognized, pristine and whole, its skyline gleaming under a late afternoon sun. People walked past him, distinct, clear, grounded. The street beneath his feet felt solid again, but there was a disquieting stillness in the air. Was this really New York? Or had something else taken its place?

Had he truly fixed it?

His pulse quickened, his mind racing through the last desperate moments in the cavern. He'd activated the device. He'd unleashed its power at the heart of time itself. And yet, the unease that twisted in his gut told him something remained unfinished. Had he set time right? Or merely reset the game?

He took a few hesitant steps forward, his surroundings sharp but cold, devoid of the chaos he had fought against for so long. And yet...

Behind him, footsteps broke through the eerie stillness. Soft. Measured. Familiar.

"Damian."

The voice, unmistakable, sent a chill rippling through him. It was Elias—low, calm, with an edge of knowing that had always unnerved him. Damian turned, his breath catching in his throat as he found himself face-to-face with the man who had set everything into motion.

Elias stood in the shadow of a nearby building, his face more worn than Damian remembered, the weight of secrets long held evident in the lines etched deep across his features. Gone was the placid smile, the aura of calm assurance. In its place was something darker, heavier—a gravity that told Damian that the answers he sought were not ones he would like.

"You..." Damian's voice was hoarse, his throat dry. "You knew. You knew this would happen all along."

Elias's gaze never wavered, his eyes locked onto Damian's with unsettling clarity. "I did."

That simple admission hit Damian like a punch to the gut. There was no denial, no effort to soften the blow. Elias had let him walk into the abyss, step by step, knowing full well the consequences. The rage that had simmered inside Damian boiled over.

"You let me tear it all apart!" Damian's voice cracked with fury, fists clenching at his sides. "You knew about the fractures, the jumps, the chaos I'd create—and you said nothing. Why? Why didn't you stop me?"

Elias remained unmoving, his hands at his sides, his expression still. "Because you needed to see it for yourself."

The words hung in the air, cold and final. Damian felt his breath catch, his body rigid as the realization sank in. Elias had never been a guide. He had been a catalyst, a force pushing him deeper into the madness of time. Everything—every cryptic warning, every half-truth—had been deliberate.

"You used me," Damian whispered, his voice trembling with both anger and grief.

Elias sighed, the faintest flicker of regret crossing his face. "I didn't use you, Damian. Time did."

The truth of it slammed into Damian with the weight of a collapsing world. Time—time had been pulling the strings, not Elias. Elias was merely its messenger, its servant. Damian had never stood a chance, not really. He had been a pawn in a game far beyond his control, caught in the currents of something too vast, too ancient for him to comprehend.

"Why?" Damian demanded, stepping closer, his voice a low growl. "Why let me destroy everything? Why let me fall deeper into the fractures?"

Elias met his gaze without flinching. "Because you had to understand. You had to know the cost."

"The cost of what?" Damian spat. "Of greed? Of wanting to change things? Of trying to control my own fate?"

"No." Elias's voice was calm, resolute. "The cost of defying time."

Damian's breath faltered. He shook his head, disbelieving. "I already know that! I've seen what happens when you break time—it fractures, it collapses, it destroys everything in its path!"

"You still don't understand," Elias said quietly, stepping closer. "Time doesn't just collapse—it corrects. It heals itself, even if that means erasing the very thing that caused the wound."

A cold shiver crawled up Damian's spine. "Erasing?"

Elias nodded slowly, his expression heavy with the weight of inevitability. "You were never meant to be here, Damian. You've been part of the fracture since the moment you made that first jump. Every decision, every bet, every manipulation—it created a wound in time, and that wound needs to heal."

Damian's throat tightened. "But I stopped it. I stopped the fractures—I activated the device."

"You set the healing process in motion," Elias said, his voice softer now. "But for time to heal completely, it has to remove what caused the wound. You."

Damian's mind raced, the implications hitting him like a hammer. "No... no, that can't be right. I... I fixed it. I—"

"You stopped the immediate collapse," Elias interrupted, his voice firm but sorrowful. "But time needs balance. You are the anomaly, Damian. You are the one thing that doesn't belong."

The ground seemed to shift beneath Damian's feet. His breaths came in short, shallow gasps as panic gripped his chest. He had spent so long fighting to undo the damage, to set things right. But now, Elias was telling him the truth he had never wanted to face—that he was the damage. The fractures weren't just caused by his jumps—they were caused by him.

"You're lying," Damian said, though the words rang hollow even to him. "There has to be another way."

Elias's face softened, his eyes filled with a deep sadness. "There isn't. Time doesn't leave loose ends, Damian. It corrects them."

Damian staggered back, the enormity of it all crashing down on him. He had gambled with time, thinking he could control it, manipulate it to his will. But time had always been the one in control. He had been the anomaly all along—the fracture that needed to be healed.

"Elias..." Damian's voice cracked, his body trembling with fear and exhaustion. "There has to be another way."

Elias reached out, placing a hand on Damian's shoulder, his touch firm but gentle. "I'm sorry, Damian. But this is the way it has to end."

Damian's legs buckled, and he sank to the ground, the weight of his fate pressing down on him like a leaden cloak. He had thought he was the solution—the one who could fix what he had broken. But now, he realized the bitter truth: he was the problem. And time, relentless and unforgiving, was coming to erase him.

"How long?" Damian's voice was barely more than a whisper.

Elias looked at him with deep sorrow in his eyes, the kind that came with centuries of knowledge. "Not long."

The city moved around them, oblivious to the reckoning unfolding in its midst. The fractures had healed, but at a price Damian had never foreseen. He closed his eyes, the weight of it all pressing him into the ground.

This was the price of greed, the price of playing with time.

And now, at the end of it all, time would have the final say.

Time had won.