Chapter 10: The Negative Time Dock

The moment I saw the Time Dock ripped from my wrist, I knew the battle was lost.

We were in the Eye Collector’s lair—dark, rotting with ancient magic. The air crackled with cursed timelines. I'd been moments from victory. My sword hummed with power. The spells were aligned. I even froze time itself.

But then…
He spoke those forbidden words.

“Mirror Time: Invert Stream.”

A spiral of dark magic burst from his staff.

“No!”

I reached for the Dock, but it slipped through my fingers and floated into the Eye Collector’s palm.

The Time Dock—the source of my time manipulation, the core of my power—began to twist in his hands. Its blue glow flickered. Then… it turned crimson. A pulsing, evil red.

[NEGATIVE TIME DOCK – Status: Corrupted]

Cracks of red lightning forked around him. My magic collapsed in on itself.

And with a single tap on the corrupted Dock, he grinned and said:

“Rewind.”

Reality shattered.

Mountains crumbled in reverse. Trees de-aged. Fire unburned. People un-fought. Screams turned to silence.

The sky glitched like a broken recording.

And then—
Darkness

When I woke, I was lying in a forest clearing, the sun rising over a world that had been… reset.

I gasped, checking my arm. The Time Dock was gone.

But in its place, etched into my skin like a curse, was a dull-black crystal—barely flickering.

A screen blinked open:

Dark Dock (Prototype)
Power Remaining: 3%
Inventory: Sword of Life, Shadow Cloak

Time Manipulation: Offline

 Chrono Telepathy: Jammed

“Damn it…”

I sat up slowly. My memories were intact. But the world… wasn’t.

Ram. Deeksha. The cafe. The teleport team. The new identities.

All gone.

The Eye Collector had rewound time to before I ever met them.

And now, they wouldn’t remember me.

Ram and Deeksha stood awkwardly before a pair of castle guards.

They looked young again. Just summoned. Confused. Innocent.

“Um… we were called here? The Hero Ceremony?” Ram said.

Deeksha rubbed her temples. “Feels like I’ve done this already... Like I dreamed this exact thing.”

From a nearby rooftop, cloaked in my Shadow Veil, I watched them.

Their thoughts—once filled with shared battles and laughter—were now blank.

The Eye Collector hadn’t just taken my powers.

He took my bonds.

Far away, in a tower built from shattered time, the Eye Collector admired his prize: the glowing red Negative Time Dock.

He traced a claw across its screen.

“Such potential. Not a tool… a weapon.”

With a twisted smile, he fed it memories—my memories. Data. Combat logs. Soul traces.

And from that corruption, he birthed something terrible.

A clone, shaped like me.

Same voice. Same stance. Same sword.
But empty inside.

“I name you... Null-Ash,” the Eye Collector said.

The clone opened glowing red eyes.

“Target: Original. Objective: Erase.”

I had no way to fight directly. But I still had the Sword of Life in my inventory.

Its light was weak… but it responded to bonds.

So I left fragments of our old story.

A photo, folded and half-burned, placed in Deeksha’s satchel.

A carved joke on a wooden training dummy for Ram:

“Why did the hero stop time? To skip the boring lecture.” – Ash

At night, I whispered their names through the trees. Using what little magic I had left.

And they started to feel it.

Flickers. Dreams. Emotions they couldn’t explain.

I led them, unknowingly, to the Cave of Echoes—where the Sword of Life was forged. Where memory echoes like sound.

I waited inside, cloaked.

They stepped in, wide-eyed.

“Who are you?” Ram asked, hand instinctively going to his blade.

“You again…” Deeksha murmured. “Why do I feel like I know you?”

I didn’t answer.

Instead, I stepped forward and stabbed the Sword of Life into the ground between us.

The cave glowed.

And then—

FLASH.

Their memories surged back like a dam bursting.

Training. Missions. Laughter. Pain. Time loops.
Me.

“Ash?” Deeksha gasped.

Ram stared at me, eyes wide. “You're real… You never left.”

My voice was hoarse. “They rewound the world. I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, the sky cracked like glass.

A red beam tore through the clouds.

Null-Ash descended, Negative Time Dock pulsing red.

His voice was flat. Unnatural. “Primary Target located. Reclaim the timeline.”

I drew the Sword of Life.

“You’re not me,” I said coldly.

He didn’t respond. Only drew his corrupted sword.

The final battle had begun.