Legacy of Ruin

Hello Jessie. I am your father…. Thoma Valis.

I stared into the mirror, watching my breath fog the glass. My reflection stared back—haggard and weary. My gray hair was slick with sweat, my stubble uneven, my eyes sunken from sleepless nights. With trembling hands, I removed my glasses, rinsing them under the tap. The water felt cold, grounding me for a fleeting moment before reality pulled me back.

The brainchip surgery had succeeded. The end was drawing near.

I had done it. After years of relentless searching, I had found the Eternal Hourglass. But it wasn’t what I had expected. Not even close.

The myths painted it as an artifact of boundless power—a tool to control time itself. But the truth was stranger. It wasn’t an artifact at all. It was a liquid—alive, glowing, and pulsating as though it had a heartbeat. This wasn’t a gift. It was a curse.

My legs carried me back into the heart of my lab, where the vial containing the Hourglass rested inside a containment field. Layers of protection buzzed faintly, holding back the liquid’s volatile energy. My team didn’t know what I had brought back from the cave. They thought it was just another sample for analysis. But I knew the truth, and it… terrified me.

It had all started with whispers. Ancient artifacts recovered near distortions hinted at a civilization predating humanity—a species that had harnessed chrono energy long before we did. For years, I dismissed the idea as fantasy. But as I searched deeper, the puzzle pieces began to align.

The expedition had led me to an ancient battlefield, a graveyard of chrono constructs. There, hidden in a collapsed cavern, I found remnants of this lost civilization. Walls etched with warnings in a language long dead.

The ancient race had created intricate protections around the Hourglass. The sub-dimensional fissure was imperceptible to anyone without specific knowledge or a high concentration of chrono energy. This ensured the Hourglass could only be found if conditions matched those created by the original sealers. That’s why I constructed a key to replicate the required energy. I managed to access the fissure, entering a sub-dimensional space.

And finally… there it was.

At the center of it all, was what we called the Eternal Hourglass. Or maybe the true power led within the encased crystal. That blue glowing liquid.

When I first saw it, I thought it was salvation. But as I studied it, I realized its duality. It was a constant. The true meaning of a constant. It existed everywhere, and anywhere. One could tap into it and access the past, the future and everything in between. It was power beyond comprehension, and it would destroy us if it fell into the wrong hands.

And then there was Ambrose Thane.

He had been my friend, once. A fellow visionary. But Thane’s obsession with my work had grown dangerous. One night, he made his intentions clear as we drove back home in his car.

"I’m leading a new order," he told me, tone sharp, "The Knights are blind, Thoma. They cling to chrono energy without seeing its true cost. But you and I—we could change everything."

"Change?" I asked, though I already knew where this was going.

"The Eternal Hourglass," he said. "You know about it, don’t you? I heard your whole research team is working on it.” Thane’s gaze pierced me like a blade.

“How do you–”

“An officer of my rank knows things, old friend. Even if they’re kept under wraps.”

I stayed silent, my head reeling. What had I done? I had brought to the surface a power so great it could destroy the whole world.

“We could use it to reverse humanity’s discovery of chrono energy. Erase it from history. No more distortions. No more chaos. A clean slate." Thane continued, already laying out his order’s big heroic plan. But I wasn’t having it.

I refused. I told him it was madness, that humanity couldn’t survive without what it had built. But Thane wouldn’t stop. Day after day, my friend’s persistence turned to threats.

And then one night, he said the words I had feared most.

"Tomorrow," he told me, his voice cold as he waltzed into my lab, "you’ll hand over everything. If you don’t, your family won’t be safe."

“Ambrose?!” I hissed in anger, “What are you saying?!”

“The hard truth, old friend. I don’t want you to die pathetically like that, that’s why I’m warning you. Come easy and we won’t harm anyone.”

“Ambrose, stop that nonsense!”

I had never felt such rage and helplessness. I shouted at him but he didn’t flinch.

"I can’t," he said. "I can’t wait any longer."

That’s why I resorted to my last hope. I sighed bracing myself for the next words.

“You can’t, Ambrose! My son is special. He’s a central piece to finding the hourglass even for me. If you want to find it you’ll keep him alive.”

“That’s more like it.” Ambrose smiled coldly at my words, “Be prepared to spill all that tomorrow too, and we won’t have any problems.”

Little did he know that this would be the last time we spoke.

That night, I made the hardest decision of my life. I couldn’t let Thane have the Hourglass. But I couldn’t risk my wife and son, either. There was only one solution. One impossible, unforgivable choice.

I would make Jessie the vessel.

The Hourglass wasn’t just energy; it was life. It couldn’t be contained forever in a vial. It needed a host. My research had shown that Jessie—my son, with his unique chrono sensitivity—could survive the fusion. He would carry its power, hidden from the world.

I injected the liquid into him that same day after I picked him up from school. His small body convulsed, his screams tearing through the lab. My heart shattered with every cry, but I couldn’t stop. When it was over, he was unconscious, his breathing shallow but steady. I carried him home, whispering apologies he would never understand. My explanation was that he had an allergic reaction to the contents of the medical shot I gave him, and nobody really questioned my words.

Of course my wife couldn’t know.

The next morning, I kissed my wife and son goodbye, knowing it would be the last time.

My plan was… devastating. When the Aequitas came for me, I would destroy everything: the lab, the research, the entire city. The chrono explosion would consume it all, erasing every trace of the Hourglass and the research on it. The world would believe it was a failed experiment, a tragic accident. It would brand me as reckless, crazy, it would destroy everything I’ve built…

But it was the only way.

“Please… I need you to understand that Jessie.”

Standing in front of the mirror that final morning, I was ready to take out the memory shard I had prepared for Jessie. My reflection blurred as tears filled my eyes.

"Jessie," I whispered, my voice trembling. "If you’re seeing this, I’m sorry. I didn’t want this for you. I didn’t want to kill all those people. But I had to protect the world. I had to protect you. This burden may be too heavy for one person to carry, but I know you’ll do the right thing.”

As I mentally prepared myself for the removal procedure, I exhaled one last time.

“I love you, Jessie. And I’m sorry."

I placed the shard inside the pendant I knew my wife would give him, sealing it with trembling hands. Then I turned away from the mirror, away from the life I had built, and walked into the lab.

When the Aequitas stormed the facility, I was ready. The explosion tore through the city, consuming everything in its path. And then, I was gone.

Jessie, my son… the rest is up to you.

◔

Tears streamed down Jessie’s face, his breathing ragged and frantic as he opened his eyes from the completed brain scan. However before he even had the chance to process it all, another set of twists awaited before him.

High Arbiter Viktor Magnus and newly promoted Supreme Commander Sylvia Lorne were staring straight at him, a handful of knights at their flanks. Their weapons were raised, aimed straight at him. Another set of Knights even pinned his team with their weapons, not letting anyone move.

“Jessie Valis.” The High Arbiter Viktor Magnus called cooly, “You’re under arrest. Your existence seems to be too dangerous to be left to chance.”