The glowing fracture stretched across the highway like a wound in reality.
White light poured out of it.
Cars were frozen around it.
Mid-movement.
A truck hung slightly tilted in the air.
A bird above the road was suspended between wingbeats.
Time itself had stalled near the crack.
Liya's heart pounded.
"THAT is your idea of a shortcut?!"
The motorcycle girl leaned forward.
"Not a shortcut."
"A necessity."
Ethan stared at the fracture.
"Just checking—no one here has actually done this before, right?"
The girl didn't answer.
Which was not reassuring.
The bike raced closer.
Wind tore through their clothes.
The glow from the fracture lit up the road like a second sun.
Behind them, the black sedan swerved violently to avoid frozen cars.
The chronal officer inside it shouted into a device.
"Do NOT enter the rift!"
The girl laughed.
"Too late."
Liya tightened her arms around Ethan.
"Ethan… this is a terrible plan."
He nodded.
"Absolutely."
"But somehow it's still our best one."
The countdown continued.
00:11:58
The fracture pulsed.
Reality inside it shifted constantly.
Fragments of other worlds flickered inside the light.
For a moment Liya saw a city covered in snow.
Then another flash—
The same city… but completely abandoned.
Then another—
The skyline burning.
Ethan stared.
"…Are those alternate timelines?"
"Yep," the girl said calmly.
"And if we fall in?"
"Then we end up in one of them."
Liya's voice trembled.
"That's not comforting."
The bike accelerated even faster.
The temporal engine glowed brighter.
Blue energy pulsed through the frame.
Ethan felt the vibration beneath his feet.
"This thing's about to explode, isn't it?"
"Probably."
"Fantastic."
The fracture was only meters away now.
The glowing light swallowed the entire road.
Behind them the sedan screeched to a stop.
The officer jumped out.
"DON'T DO THIS!"
The girl shouted back without looking.
"Too late to stop!"
The motorcycle hit the edge of the fracture.
And the world vanished.
For a moment—
There was nothing.
No sound.
No gravity.
Just endless white light.
Then reality exploded around them.
Images flashed past at impossible speed.
Cities.
Skies.
Different versions of the same street.
Ethan saw himself lying dead on the pavement.
Then another version—
Him standing alone in the rain.
Then another—
A world where the tower never collapsed.
Liya gasped.
"WHAT IS THIS?!"
The girl's voice echoed strangely in the distortion.
"The timeline stream!"
The bike struggled against invisible pressure.
Like swimming through a storm of memories.
The engine screamed.
Blue sparks flew from the machine.
The countdown continued.
00:10:47
Ethan shouted over the chaos.
"Are we going the right direction?!"
"Hopefully!"
"That's not reassuring!"
The timeline currents suddenly shifted violently.
The motorcycle spun sideways.
Liya screamed as gravity twisted around them.
Fragments of another reality flashed past—
A giant digital billboard displayed a date.
2034
Then another flash—
The city underwater.
Another—
The sky filled with massive hovering structures.
Ethan stared.
"Okay… those futures look expensive."
The girl gritted her teeth.
"Hold on!"
She slammed a switch on the handlebar.
The temporal engine flared.
A burst of blue energy shot forward like a spear.
Cutting through the timeline stream.
Ahead of them…
A single stable opening appeared.
A doorway back into reality.
The ruins of Riverside Tower were visible through it.
Ethan pointed.
"THERE!"
The motorcycle shot toward the opening.
The stream behind them began collapsing.
The fracture was closing.
Fast.
Liya shouted.
"WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!"
The girl pushed the engine harder.
The machine screamed like it might tear apart.
The countdown dropped again.
00:09:21
The exit grew closer.
Meters away.
Then—
A massive shockwave ripped through the timeline stream.
The motorcycle flipped violently.
Ethan lost his grip.
"LIYA!"
The bike spun out of control.
And just as they reached the exit—
A powerful force ripped them apart.
The three of them were thrown into different directions of time. ⏳