The air in Aika's apartment felt wrong.
Not heavy. Not cold. Just… aware.
As if the walls themselves were listening.
Varek stood in front of the three of them, hands clasped behind his back, posture relaxed in a way that made the tension even worse. His eyes drifted from Kai… to Aika… to Leon… and back again. Slow. Methodical. Measuring something only he understood.
He wasn't impatient. He wasn't angry. He wasn't even curious.
He was checking them — like a teacher inspecting tools before a lesson, or a surgeon evaluating organs before a procedure.
His gaze lingered on Kai for a heartbeat longer than the others.
Then he exhaled softly, as if confirming a private suspicion.
"Well," he said, voice calm but edged with something unreadable, "do you want me to untie you?"
The three exchanged wary looks.
Aika's brows furrowed, her eyes flicking between Varek and Kai. Kai's jaw tightened, muscles coiling instinctively. Leon shook his head so fast the tape over his mouth fluttered.
None of them answered.
Varek nodded slowly, as if their silence was exactly what he expected.
"Thought so," he said. "You don't trust me. Reasonable."
He tapped the wall lightly with one knuckle. The sound echoed strangely, as if the apartment were hollow.
"But we can't stay here," he continued. "The walls are thin. Very thin. And I'd rather not have your neighbors listening in on… family secrets."
Aika stiffened.
"Family…?" she whispered, her voice trembling with confusion and something close to fear.
Varek's eyes softened for a moment — not kindly, but knowingly, like someone who understood far more than he was willing to say.
"Yes," he murmured. "Family."
Kai leaned forward slightly, ropes creaking. "Where are you planning to take us?"
Varek tilted his head, considering the question as if it were a philosophical puzzle.
"Somewhere private," he said. "Somewhere no one will interrupt us."
Leon made a muffled noise that sounded suspiciously like absolutely not.
Varek glanced at him. "Relax, bonus item. If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already."
Leon froze, eyes widening.
Aika whispered, "You're not helping."
"I'm not trying to," Varek replied.
He raised his hand.
"Let's go."
He snapped his fingers.
Kai braced himself for the familiar pull of teleportation — the distortion of space, the shift in pressure, the sudden drop in his stomach.
But none of that happened.
Instead—
Aika slumped forward, unconscious. Leon's head dropped, the tape muffling a soft groan as he fell asleep instantly.
Kai remained awake.
His eyes widened.
"What… did you do?" he whispered.
Varek looked at him with a calm, almost gentle expression.
"Oh, don't worry," he said. "They're just sleeping."
He stepped closer, shadows curling faintly around his feet like smoke.
"You and I," Varek said softly, "need to talk first."
Kai glared at him. "What do you want?"
Varek crouched down so he was eye‑level with Kai. His presence felt too close, too deliberate — like a predator lowering itself to speak to prey.
"Now you need to tell me what exactly happened," he said. "And why you are here in this world."
Kai stayed silent.
Varek continued, voice smooth and patient.
"It is very unusual to see someone from another world coming here just for fun."
His tone sharpened.
"And your arrival is causing disturbances. Annoying ones."
Kai's breath caught. "Disturbances?"
"Yes," Varek said. "Ripples. Cracks. Little tears in the fabric of this world. I can feel them. Others can too."
He leaned in closer.
"And I thought you wouldn't spill the beans without some motivation."
Kai's jaw tightened.
"So here we are," Varek said, spreading his arms. "You are tied helplessly. Unless you use your beloved magic."
Kai's pulse spiked.
Varek smiled.
"Ah, yes. You realized it, didn't you? If you use your magic now… it will harm both your friends here."
Kai's blood ran cold.
Varek tapped Aika's shoulder gently. "She's fragile, you know. And the bonus item—" He flicked Leon's forehead. "—is even more fragile."
Kai's voice was low. "You're holding them hostage."
"Yes," Varek said brightly. "Exactly."
He stood up, dusting off his hands.
"So. Talk."
Kai inhaled slowly.
He couldn't tell the truth. Not the whole truth. Not yet.
He needed to protect Aika. Leon. And himself.
So he tried a lie.
"I was a warrior—"
Varek's smile vanished.
"You're lying."
Kai froze.
No hesitation. No doubt. Just rejection.Varek wasn't testing him.He already had the answer.He was waiting for Kai to say it.
Varek's voice dropped to a chilling whisper.
"And if you dare tell another lie, your little peaceful life ends here. I will kill you myself. Right here. Right now. And leave your corpse sitting in this chair until your friends wake up and see the grotesque scene."
Kai's entire body tensed.
He couldn't lie again.
So he spoke the truth.
"I am the prince of Chronomara."
Varek's eyes sharpened instantly.
Kai continued, voice steady but low.
"I was apparently still a toddler when Alethya arrived on Earth. But her stories… they echoed far and wide across the entire kingdom of Chronomara. She was a legend. A myth. A warning. A miracle."
Varek's expression shifted — surprise, recognition, and something like satisfaction flickering across his face.
Kai pressed on.
"She changed everything. Even after she left, her name never faded."
Varek's smile widened.
"Now that," he said, "is better."
He reached into the shadows behind him — not a pocket, not a bag, but a ripple of void that bent the air like heat.
When his hand emerged, he was holding something small.
Metal. Circular. Intricate.
A gear.
But not like any gear Kai had ever seen.
It pulsed faintly, as if it had a heartbeat.
Kai's breath caught without him understanding why. His chest tightened. His skin prickled. His magic stirred — not violently, but like a child reaching for its mother.
He didn't know what it was.
But he felt it.
As if it belonged to him.
As if it had always belonged to him.
Varek watched Kai's reaction with a knowing smirk.
"Ah," he said softly. "There it is. Recognition without understanding. Instinct without memory."
Kai forced his voice steady. "What… is that?"
Varek held the object between two fingers, letting the dim light catch its surface. The metal shimmered with shifting patterns — symbols that rearranged themselves when Kai blinked.
"This," Varek said, "is a Chronogear."
Kai's eyes widened slightly, though he didn't know why.
Varek continued.
"Alethya found it here. On this planet. Not in Chronomara — here, on Earth."
Kai stiffened.
Varek nodded.
"She discovered it in the Clock Tower you three visited the other day."
Kai's heart dropped.
Aika and Leon had been unconscious when he said it, but now the weight of that coincidence — or whatever it was — pressed down on him.
Varek sighed dramatically.
"I thought you knew something. Or that you were planning to harm someone. But no." He waved a hand dismissively. "Turns out it was just an outing. A coincidence."
He paused.
"Some may call it fate."
He scoffed.
"But I don't believe in fate."
Kai swallowed hard.
Varek stepped closer, holding the Chronogear inches from Kai's face.
"What matters," he said, voice dropping, "is what she told me when she gave me this."
Kai's breath hitched.
Varek's eyes gleamed.
"Let's see," he whispered, "if you're ready to hear it."