The Clock Starts Now

The hall was packed, the air buzzing with excitement as rows of freshly graduated cadets sat in their pristine Chrono Knight uniforms. The sound of boots tapping against the polished floor echoed in Jessie’s ears, but all he could think about was how tight the uniform felt around his shoulders. The weight of the chrono anchor implanted on his hand felt heavier than it had during training, a reminder of the responsibility that came with it.

“Jessie Valis!” the instructor called, his voice booming through the hall.

Jessie stood, feeling the eyes of the crowd on him as he made his way to the stage. Whispers and whispers spread throughout the hall and settling like a veil. He felt his heart pounding, but his face betrayed none of it. He had spent years training for this moment, and now here he was—a full-fledged Chrono Knight.

As he took the insignia from the instructor and shook his hand, he couldn’t help but glance toward the back of the room, where his father had once stood in the very same place. A man whose shadow still lingered over him, no matter how hard Jessie tried to escape it.

But there was no time to dwell on the past. The incident that had been haunting him throughout his childhood, and shaped his family’s name to this day… that’s what he had to rewrite.

And Jessie was ready to do just that. The first and most vital step, graduating from the Chrono Knights Academy, had already been completed.

The young graduate could still remember the endless lectures on chrono energy during his days at the Academy. At the time, it had felt more like a puzzle than a power—a mysterious force that seemed to dance just beyond his understanding. They had called it the Chrono Stream, an invisible current of time itself, flowing around and through everything. To manipulate the Stream was to harness time; not control it, but guide it, like steering a boat down a raging river.

The Chrono Stream was essentially the flow of history, of time itself, exactly as it should be. The same river from whence the world drew power from.

And that’s what the Chrono Knights were tasked to protect.

He could hear Instructor Reylan's voice as clearly as if the man was standing in front of him.

"The Chrono Stream is delicate. Touch it, and you can alter reality. Push too hard, and you'll tear it apart. You don’t command time, you negotiate with it."

Reylan had stood at the front of the lecture hall, a diagram of the Chrono Stream swirling in blue holographic light behind him. The stream was constantly moving, shifting, sometimes chaotic and sometimes calm. It was a living force, one that responded to the will of those who knew how to channel it. But even the smallest ripple could send waves crashing through history.

"To master it," Reylan had said, "you need to understand the nature of time itself. Past, present, future—they are not separate. They are connected, and when you manipulate one, you manipulate them all."

Jessie remembered sitting there, trying to wrap his head around the idea that time wasn’t a straight line. It was a web, every moment touching another, and every choice sending ripples in all directions. 

Yet even so, Chrono Energy was everywhere, woven into the fabric of daily life. In Neotera, it made everything faster, smoother. A simple task like brewing coffee took mere seconds with chrono-infused appliances. Time was no longer an obstacle, but a part of the service. Even traffic systems used it to predict accidents, adjusting the flow before they even happened, steering potential collisions into nothing more than harmless near-misses.

But there were darker uses too. Jessie remembered an instructor’s story about a black market trader who sold a device that presumably slowed aging. People bought stolen years, only for time to catch up to them all at once. The lesson was clear: Chrono Energy was powerful, but dangerous in the wrong hands.

Soon, the ceremony was coming to its conclusion, and with it, a long-standing tradition of the Chrono Knights. The new cadets stood tall, their uniforms gleaming under the soft lights of the hall. Together, they raised their hands, chrono anchors glowing in unison, and in a strong, unified voice, they recited the oath passed down through generations,

“We guard the flow of time, for every second shapes eternity.”

And as one, they finished with the solemn vow,

“Ad tempus, ad futurum.”

The hall echoed with their words, a promise that bound them to their duty, their mission, and their future. Jessie felt the weight of the words settle deep within him. This was more than just a ceremony—it was the start of his life as a Chrono Knight.

After the ceremony, Jessie found himself standing outside the Academy, staring up at the towering buildings of Neotera. The future stretched out before him, uncertain yet filled with possibility.

“Phew…” The young man breathed out, eager to face what was ahead.

◔

Neotera, the bustling city, stretched in every direction—sleek skyscrapers of metal and glass, their surfaces shimmering in the morning light, climbing endlessly toward the sky. The city was a labyrinth of lights and motion, a place where the hum of chrono energy buzzed faintly beneath everything, from the buildings to the very streets themselves. It was a city built on the edge of tomorrow. Holo-displays flickered across the sides of buildings, flashing advertisements, news feeds, and images that seemed to hover in midair.

Jessie stepped onto the commuter platform, adjusting his bag. His first day as a Chrono Knight had finally come, but a flicker of unease crept beneath his confident grin. The sleek chrono-train glided silently into view, and Jessie stepped aboard. It hummed as it accelerated.

As the city blurred past in streaks of light, Jessie took it all in—the speed, the constant motion. 

In the distance, the towering structure of the Time Tower came into view. It stood like a monument to the Chrono Knights, its metallic frame gleaming beneath the early morning sun, dwarfing even the skyscrapers around it. The closer they got, the more Jessie could feel the weight of it—a reminder of the responsibility now sitting on his shoulders. The city, for all its wonders, still had its dangers. And it was his job now to protect the delicate fabric of time that ran through it.

As the train neared the station, Jessie caught a glimpse of Central Plaza below—people moving in carefully orchestrated chaos, holo-screens flickering as pedestrians walked past. Hovering vehicles moved across the streets, their engines humming softly. 

The doors slid open, and Jessie stepped out, wind rushing past him. Time Tower loomed overhead, taller than he had imagined. For a moment, he hesitated, feeling the gravity of the moment.

“This is it,” he muttered, pulling his bag higher, his nerves hidden beneath his trademark smirk. “No going back now.”