Neither Rasheed nor Omar spoke for several minutes after leaving the stadium.
The silence between them wasn’t awkward.
It was heavy.
The kind that followed after seeing something neither of them could explain.
At the entrance, Omar finally stopped walking.
“You really don’t know what’s happening to you?”
Rasheed looked down at his hands.
“If I did, do you think I’d be standing here?”
Omar studied him for a long moment before sighing.
“…No.”
For the first time in years, there wasn’t a trace of competition in his voice.
Only concern.
“You should tell someone.”
“And say what?”
Rasheed forced a laugh.
“‘Hi, I think I accidentally outran reality yesterday.’”
Omar couldn’t help smiling.
“When you put it like that…”
“Exactly.”
The moment passed.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“You always say that.”
“And I usually do.”
Omar shook his head.
“Just… don’t disappear.”
Rasheed looked at him.
“What?”
“I mean it.”
The words surprised even Omar himself.
“I’d rather lose to you every day than…”
He stopped.
“…Forget it.”
Without waiting for a response, he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked toward the parking lot.
Rasheed watched him leave.
Maybe Adesewa was right.
Maybe Omar wasn’t just afraid of losing.
Maybe he was afraid of losing the people around him.
⸻
The city looked different at night.
Not because the buildings had changed.
Because Rasheed had.
Every light seemed brighter.
Every distant conversation sounded clearer.
Even the rhythm of traffic felt…
Predictable.
As he walked home, he found himself unconsciously counting.
Footsteps.
Heartbeats.
Traffic lights.
Everything moved with a rhythm.
Everything except one thing.
A man wearing a long black coat.
He stood perfectly still on the opposite side of the street.
People walked around him without even looking.
As though they couldn’t see him.
Rasheed frowned.
The man slowly lifted his head.
Even from across the road, Rasheed felt his stomach tighten.
Their eyes met.
The stranger smiled.
Then turned into a narrow alley.
Something inside Rasheed told him to keep walking.
Instead…
He followed.
⸻
The alley was empty.
No footsteps.
No doors opening.
No sound at all.
The stranger had vanished.
Rasheed searched every corner.
“Hello?”
No answer.
Just as he turned to leave…
A voice spoke behind him.
“You’re early.”
Rasheed spun around.
The hooded man stood only a few meters away.
He hadn’t heard him move.
“Who are you?”
The man ignored the question.
“You’ve begun hearing the rhythm.”
“What?”
“The pulse of time.”
Rasheed stared.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No…”
The stranger tilted his head.
“Not yet.”
“You’ve been following me.”
“I’ve been watching you.”
“Why?”
The man looked toward the night sky.
“Because history is repeating itself.”
Rasheed took a cautious step back.
“If this is some kind of joke—”
“It isn’t.”
The stranger reached into his coat.
Rasheed tensed.
Instead of a weapon…
He produced an old pocket watch.
Its surface was engraved with an unfamiliar symbol.
A spiral.
Almost identical to the crimson emblem that had begun appearing in Rasheed’s dreams.
The watch suddenly clicked open by itself.
Its hands spun wildly.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The sound echoed through the alley.
Rasheed’s vision blurred.
For a brief second…
The buildings around him disappeared.
The alley became something else.
Broken stone.
Floating debris.
A crimson sky.
Then reality snapped back.
He stumbled.
“What was that?”
The stranger closed the watch.
“You saw it.”
“Saw what?”
“The place between moments.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know.”
The man’s expression softened.
“You will.”
Rasheed stepped forward.
“Tell me who you are.”
Instead of answering…
The stranger asked his own question.
“Do you know what happened to your father?”
Rasheed froze.
His heartbeat thundered inside his chest.
“…How do you know about my father?”
The hooded man didn’t answer immediately.
When he finally spoke…
His voice was almost a whisper.
“Because I was there.”
Before Rasheed could react…
The air around the stranger distorted.
Space folded inward.
Like a page being turned.
And in an instant…
He was gone.
No smoke.
No flash of light.
Nothing.
Only the faint ticking of the pocket watch lingered in the empty alley.
Rasheed stood alone.
His mind raced faster than his body ever could.
For the first time since the Chrona Core disaster…
Someone had claimed to know the truth about his father.
And if that man was telling the truth…
Then everything Rasheed believed about the past was a lie.
Far above the city, hidden within the broken face of an ancient clocktower, a silhouette watched through shattered gears.
A deep voice echoed through the darkness.
“The first move has been made.”
Crimson light slowly spread through the cracks in the tower.
“Find the boy.”
The command drifted into the night like a promise.
And somewhere below…
Time itself answered.