A Timekeeper's Awakening

Prologue

It can genuinely feel timeless in a world where time is at everyone's fingertips. The world of extraordinaire—what else could impress the people of these magical lands?

    BOOM!

    BOOM!

    BOOM!

    The darkness of the night is lit up with beautiful fireworks. The fantastic crackling and dancing light emits a brightness like the sun. The crowd below admires the dazzling show in their celebration of time.

    The crowd smiled and laughed as they mingled with family and friends. Many people performed shows on stone streets. People applauded the professionals and amateurs for their fantastic style of Time Manipulation.

    Some slowed time before a ball passed their heads so they could catch it. Others stopped time before a heavy object hit their heads. Another solved a puzzle when they sped up the time.

    One boy clapped his hands at the shows around him. He found everything around him to be excellent. With a twinkle in his eye, he admired everyone's ability to control the time around them. But within him, there was also envy in his heart.

    "There's my boy," a man said as he stepped aside to meet this boy. The man wore a light white robe for every Time Festival. Underneath the robe was a nice button-up shirt with dress pants and matching shoes. He looked down at the boy with his clean face and neatly cut hair. "How are you loving this festival, Cron?"

    The boy, Cron, smiled. "I love it, Dad; it's the best one ever!"

    "I have to agree with you," the dad said. "The performers stepped up their games this time. It makes me want to try out myself."

    "Will you, Dad?!" Cron asked with so much glee it could stop a heart.

    Cron's Dad laughed. "One of these days, I will."

    Cron then dipped his head. "I wish I could."

    Cron's Dad kneels to meet his son's gaze. "Look at me, son." Cron lifted his head. "One of these days, you will get to."

    "But, I'm nine, Dad," Cron wined. "All of my friends had their time abilities last year."

    Cron's Dad patted his son's shoulders. "That's okay. It just means you're a late bloomer. That's perfectly fine."

    "But everyone keeps calling me Timeless," Cron said with a tear falling from his cheek.

    Cron's Dad wipes away the tear but still smiles at his son. "Don't you worry about that. I'll talk to your teachers again about it. Something will be done about it, I promise."

    "Hey, there you are!" Another man shouted.

    Cron's Dad stood to meet the greeters. Before him was another man in a robe similar to Cron's Dad. But unlike Cron's dad, he had much messier hair and beard, unlike being clean-shaven. The other two next to him were a boy and a girl.

    The boy looks to be seventeen. He had an air of misfit about him. His robe was navy blue, and he wore a nice button-up shirt underneath to match. Though his smile warned of trickery, his properly combed hair and ironed attire made him more respectable.

    The girl had red hair and freckles. Though she didn't wear a robe, she did wear a dress, but it seemed she wasn't fond of it.

    The older adult looked at Cron and waved. "Hello, Cron, don't you remember good ol' Uncle Drez."

    Cron nodded shyly. "A little."

    "Oh, good on you, Tez; your son is shy."

    Tez laughed. "Just for now, but once you get Cron talking, he never stops." They both laughed, but Cron shyly shrugged.

    "Oh, that reminds me, you remember Lia, don't you," Drez said to Tez, introducing the girl with the red hair.

    "How could I forget her," Tez expressed. "A fiery person like her is hard to forget."

    Lia huffed and turned away. Drez didn't like that. "Come on, Lia. It's your uncle; you have to say hi."

    With another huff, she looked at Tez. "Hi, Uncle Tez. Even though you're not really my uncle, you're just best friends with my dad."

    Tez laugh. "Always a sunshine, ain't ya, Lia?"

    Lia scoffed once more and turned her head. Drez chuckled and turned to his right. "You remember Ether, don't you? My nephew."

    "One of the top students in New Onyx Province history? Hard to forget him."

    "It would be disappointing if you did forget me," Ether said matter of factly.

    "Now, if only he focused on his grades, the teachers would probably let him out early for graduation," Drez said.

    "If the teachers weren't studying outdated text, I would have been out already."

    "You got to follow the system," Tez said. "We all did, and look where we are. A beautiful society in peace."

    "Yes, quite lovely but boring, don't you think?" Ether asked.

    "Boring?" Tez said with shock. "That's the last thing I would ever say about our province. After all, look at what's around you."

    Tez opens his arms wide to show Ether what he is not seeing. "Look at all this! Beautiful landscapes and buildings and an amazing show of lights dancing in the sky! What's not to-"

    As if everyone at once noticed something wrong, the gathered people were silent. They looked at the night sky, where the fireworks dazzled the sky. However, something else was a part of the sky. Falling high as the fireworks themselves, balls of fire were heading towards the ground.

    Panic erupted in the crowd. People screamed and ran away as fast they could, but fiery came hurling down. The fire hurt people or trampled on as they fell.

    Some were trying to prevent further harm by using their time abilities to stop the crashes. However, these people didn't stand for long because robed figures walked calmly across the chaos with their hoods up. Each robed figure started to take out the ones trying to protect people from harm. Wild panic spread just as much as the fire did. No one was safe.

    Cron saw everything coming down and people running away. He wanted to run; he was scared. But he stood still, like a deer in the headlights.

    Tez, Drez, and Ether used the Time Ability Stop to help those around them. Tez was speaking to Drez and Ether; it looked like he was trying to guide them somewhere. As they nodded, they took Lia with them.

    Tez looked at his son, who was paralyzed by fear. He screamed for his son to move, but Cron didn't budge from his spot. Tez went after his son to try and protect him from the fiery death balls.

    But that wasn't what scared Cron the most; it was the robed man coming to cease his father. Cron was going to yell for his dad to warn him and give him a fighting chance! But he couldn't. Everything happened too fast for him to process what was going on.

    Soon, the robed man tackled Tez to the ground. Tez didn't have a chance to defend himself; the robed figure swiftly subdued him. Tez reached out for his son one last time but didn't reach back. Cron was too stunned to do anything as his dad desperately fought the hold on him. However, Tez lost the fight and succumbed to defeat.

    Like a predator taking its meal after a successful hunt, the robed man dragged away his father, never to be seen again. The fireballs didn't drop again; Cron was in the middle of the wild chaos of people trying to escape the disaster.

    Finally released from his fears, Cron let out a whale so loud that the entire planet could shake. Emotions flooded his mind, and uncontrolled shakes rattled through his body. Everything he had witnessed today changed his world as they knew it—the event of the Burning Skies.