PROLOGUE

The first time Jalen erased Chas, it didn’t work.

For exactly 3.2 seconds, Chas flickered out of existence. No air displaced where he once stood, no footprints remained in the dirt. Even the memory of him wavered in Jalen’s mind, like a skipped note in a song. But then—he came back.

Chas stood there, smirking, hands in his pockets. “That all you got?”

Jalen clenched his fist, the air around him warping, sound fading into absolute silence. “You’re not supposed to exist anymore.”

Chas tilted his head. “Guess I missed the memo.” And then—he was gone.

Not dead. Not erased. Just… somewhere else.

And that was when Jalen knew—this wouldn’t be easy.

---

CHAPTER ONE: THE MAN WHO SHOULDN’T EXIST

Jalen stepped through the burning wreckage of New Haven. The city wasn’t supposed to look like this. It wasn’t supposed to exist at all.

Thirty-six hours ago, he had erased this place. Wiped it clean from history, its buildings swallowed into the void, its people scattered into the whispers of time. There was no record, no memory. It should have been gone.

And yet, here it was—standing. Alive.

Because of him.

Jalen turned the corner, his coat brushing against scorched brick. A single neon sign flickered above a diner, casting red light onto the street.

Inside, waiting in a booth like this was just another Friday night, was Chas.

Feet kicked up, drink in hand, grinning like he hadn’t just undone an entire erasure.

Jalen didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward, his hand already reaching for Chas’s throat. The moment he touched him, it would be over.

But in the blink of an eye—no, faster than that—Chas wasn’t there anymore. The drink sat in mid-air for a fraction of a second before gravity remembered it existed and sent it crashing to the floor.

Jalen exhaled. “You’re really gonna make me chase you again?”

A voice whispered from behind him, far too close. “You make it sound like you ever catch me.”

Jalen spun, his fingers brushing against Chas’s sleeve. Just for a second. Just enough for the faintest bit of reality to distort, for the fabric to flicker like static.

And then—gone.

Chas was across the room now, perched on the counter, grinning like he hadn’t just dodged the thing that should have erased him from history. “C’mon, J. You know the rules by now. You erase, I rewrite. We could do this forever.”

Jalen narrowed his eyes. “That’s the problem.”

He launched forward. This time, faster—more calculated. But Chas was already slipping through space, bending light, dodging the unavoidable.

Because nothing was unavoidable for him.

Jalen’s fingertips grazed his shoulder. The moment stretched—just enough.

Chas’s smirk faltered. He stumbled, the air around him distorting as his existence flickered between timelines.

Jalen saw it—the hesitation. The briefest moment where Chas wasn’t sure if he could escape.

Jalen pressed forward, power surging through his hands. Just one touch. That’s all it would take.

But then—Chas disappeared.

Not a teleport. Not a dodge.

He rewound himself.

Jalen felt it—the warping of cause and effect. Chas had jumped back a few seconds, erasing the mistake before it even happened.

And then, standing by the door like none of that had just occurred, Chas rolled his shoulders. “Whew. That was close.”

Jalen’s jaw clenched. “You can’t keep running forever.”

Chas met his gaze, for once, without a smirk. “I know.”

And then, before Jalen could react—he was gone.

---

CHAPTER TWO: THE RIPPLE EFFECT

Chas landed hard, skidding across the rooftop as the timeline stabilized around him. His hands were shaking.

That was too close.

For the first time in years, Jalen had almost won.

Chas exhaled, staring up at the broken sky above. A faint crack ran through the stars—evidence of all the things they’d undone, all the loops they’d stretched too thin. The universe wasn’t happy.

Too bad.

Jalen would never stop. Chas knew that. His whole existence was built on order, on fixing things, on erasing mistakes.

And to Jalen, Chas was the biggest mistake of all.

But Chas wasn’t planning to lose. Not now. Not ever.

Because Jalen thought he understood the rules. But what he didn’t know—what he could never know—was that Chas had seen the ending.

And he was going to rewrite it.

---

TO BE CONTINUED…

PROLOGUE

There was a time when Chas and Jalen didn’t want to kill each other. A time before the bloodshed, before the timelines split, when both of them simply existed in the same world, trying to make sense of the mess around them.

Back then, their choices weren’t set in stone. But that was before everything turned into war.

---

CHAPTER ONE: BEFORE THE FALL

It started with the job. A simple mission. An assignment handed down from the Academy—just another task for two fresh recruits.

Jalen had already been trained to follow the rules. Born into it, taught that there was a purpose, a reason for everything. He believed in the balance of the world, in maintaining order above all else.

Chas? Chas had never believed in any of that. He believed in freedom. In chaos. In breaking everything apart just to see what would happen.

They met for the first time in a rundown alley, the remnants of the day’s heat still clinging to the cracked concrete. The mission had been clear: stop the rogue scientists messing with time. Simple. Clean.

But when they found the lab?

Chas didn’t hesitate. He didn’t follow the rules. He didn’t even think about it.

He broke in, took the device, and jumped.

In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Jalen stood there, his fist tight at his side, the air around him tense with a crackling silence. "What the hell did you do?" he muttered, stepping forward.

A few seconds later, Chas reappeared—sliding into the alley from behind. "What? You really thought I was gonna wait around for orders?" He grinned, holding the device between his fingers like it was a toy. "You’re a bit too uptight, J."

The smirk on Chas’s face was the first time Jalen felt the shift. The first time he realized that maybe... they weren’t going to be the same.

---

CHAPTER TWO: TEMPTATION OF CHAOS

Days passed, and the Academy’s pressure mounted. The mission had been a failure, but no one could deny the power of the device Chas had taken.

Jalen had tried to convince him to return it, to follow the plan. But Chas had always been different. He wasn’t interested in rules.

One night, when the stars seemed too bright for this world, Chas stood in front of a broken mirror, looking at his reflection as if it were someone else.

"You’re too calm for this, J. You really think this system is going to give you freedom? A place for people like us?" Chas’s voice had been low, almost quiet. "You think you’ll ever really be happy locked up in some cage they call the Academy?"

Jalen didn’t respond right away. His hand brushed against the scar on his neck, the one he’d gotten in his early days in the Academy. The one he always tried to forget. "The system keeps things in check. You know that. It’s for the greater good."

Chas laughed, and it wasn’t a sound Jalen had ever wanted to hear again. "The greater good? For what? So the powerful can stay in control? No, Jalen. I’m not living like that. You don’t get to decide for everyone. You don’t get to tell me what’s right."

Jalen's eyes hardened. He stepped forward, his fist clenched. "This isn’t just about you, Chas. It’s about everything. The world isn’t some playground for you to break. You’ll tear it all apart."

Chas’s grin twisted into something more dangerous. "I’m willing to take that risk."

That was when Jalen realized they were no longer allies. They were enemies.

---

CHAPTER THREE: THE FIRST DIVIDE

Jalen’s hands were trembling as he held the device. The very thing that had caused this rift, this wound in the timeline. But now, it was his responsibility.

Chas had disappeared. He wasn’t coming back. The last time Jalen saw him, he was jumping through time again, twisting the world around him into shapes Jalen could barely comprehend. He had to stop him. He had to fix it.

The Academy had given Jalen an order. They wanted Chas erased.

The thought made him sick. Erase his closest friend—the one person who had shown him a different side of life.

But Chas had become something else.

Jalen stood at the edge of the city, staring into the sky, the world frozen in a delicate balance. He knew that if he failed this time, everything would collapse.

"I’m sorry, Chas," Jalen whispered, his voice trembling. "You gave me no choice."

But Chas wasn’t done. He would never be done.

---

CHAPTER FOUR: THE END OF TRUST

The confrontation came quickly. Jalen’s heart beat faster as he tracked Chas across a twisted landscape—a reality where time had no meaning, where past and future collided in a kaleidoscope of destruction.

"You really think you can stop me?" Chas’s voice echoed through the fractured space, and Jalen’s vision blurred as the world twisted around him.

Chas appeared before him, grinning. He hadn’t changed. Not really. He was the same reckless, untamable force he always was.

"I don’t need to stop you," Jalen said, voice steely. "I just need to make sure you can’t hurt anyone else."

Chas scoffed, shaking his head. "You don’t get it, do you? I’m not the one hurting anyone. It’s the system. It’s you."

Jalen’s fist slammed into the ground, cracking the fabric of reality around him. "You’re not going to make me doubt this, Chas."

The air between them grew heavy. The tension was unbearable. And in that moment, Jalen saw the truth—there was no more compromise. There was no going back.

Chas took a step forward, his eyes locked on Jalen’s. "Then let’s end it."

---

TO BE CONTINUED…

PROLOGUE

The air was thick with the tension of what was to come. The warehouse—once a place of quiet solitude—was now the epicenter of a battle that could break the very fabric of reality. Chas and Jalen stood facing each other, both ready to unleash the full power of their abilities. Time itself had become their battleground.

What started as a friendship, a bond built on understanding, had twisted into something darker. The first clash between them would determine more than just who would walk away—this fight would shape the world they both lived in.

---

CHAPTER ONE: THE FIRST STRIKE

The moment Jalen made the first move, the world around him warped.

Chas was already gone before Jalen’s feet even hit the ground, his form flickering and disappearing in a burst of light, moving faster than the human eye could track. Time bent, stretched, and folded as Chas shifted between moments, his body an unstoppable force in the flow of seconds.

Jalen’s heart raced. He could feel the distortion in the air, the tug of the timeline as it bent under Chas’s control. His mind focused—he couldn’t allow the world to unravel before him. He had to react.

“Not today.”

Jalen’s power surged within him, his ability to stretch time itself. He reached out with his mind, feeling the delicate threads of the world’s timeline. He tried to slow it down, to anchor himself in the present, but before he could concentrate, Chas reappeared.

A fist collided with his ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs. The sheer force of Chas’s punch felt like the world itself was collapsing on him.

“You’re too slow, J,” Chas mocked, his voice cold, his eyes gleaming with manic energy. “Time doesn’t wait for anyone.”

Jalen grunted, pushing himself to his feet. He could already feel his body aching from the impact, but it wasn’t enough to make him back down. He had to focus.

Time was his weapon—he could bend it, stretch it, slow it down—but Chas’s speed was a power of its own. Teleporting through time, moving between moments, he was nearly impossible to pin down.

---

CHAPTER TWO: THE CHAOTIC DANCE

Chas’s form flickered again, reappearing behind Jalen in the blink of an eye. Without a moment’s hesitation, Chas grabbed Jalen by the shoulder and spun him around, sending him crashing into a stack of crates.

Time warped again, and Jalen’s vision blurred, his senses overwhelmed by the constant shifting of reality. He had to act fast.

Jalen’s breath came in shallow gasps. He could feel the energy building inside him, the pressure of his powers reaching a boiling point. In the chaos, he reached out, pulling time toward him, compressing it into a single moment. He could feel the seconds stretching, wrapping around Chas’s movements.

But just as Jalen lunged forward, Chas was already gone.

The air rippled, and Jalen felt the ground beneath him tremble. Chas had moved. Again.

“I’m getting bored of this game, J,” Chas’s voice echoed through the warehouse. “You can’t stop me. You can’t catch me.”

Jalen gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay calm. He focused his mind, drawing on every ounce of his power. He couldn’t just react—he needed to trap Chas.

He stretched out time again, this time freezing the world around him for a single instant. The warehouse slowed to a crawl, the distortion of space and time becoming a moment of stillness.

For a split second, he had him.

Jalen lunged, hands reaching out to grab Chas, but once again, the moment shattered. Chas was already gone, slipping back into the flowing currents of time.

“Do you really think you can trap me in time, J?” Chas’s laughter rang through the distorted space, mocking Jalen’s every effort.

---

CHAPTER THREE: THE BENDING OF REALITY

The warehouse became a swirling storm of time—moments folding in on themselves, cracking and shifting as if reality was a fragile illusion. The very air was charged with raw energy, the scent of ozone thick in the atmosphere.

Jalen’s pulse quickened. The fight had only just begun, but already the world was starting to break under the strain of their powers.

“You’re not going to win this, J.” Chas’s voice came from all directions. He was everywhere at once—his movements too fast for Jalen to track.

Jalen clenched his fists, trying to slow his mind, trying to outlast the chaos. He knew Chas’s strength—his ability to move through time—was too unpredictable. But Jalen also knew that his own ability to reshape time wasn’t limited to just freezing moments. He could stretch them, rewind them, change them.

Time was his domain, and he would use it to break Chas’s rhythm.

He focused, pulling every moment into his control. The air around him trembled, and suddenly, time split in two.

For a brief moment, Jalen existed in two places at once—one foot in the present and one in a stretched-out second, the world around him moving at a slower pace. He reached out, his hand connecting with Chas’s wrist in a split second.

“I’ve got you now!” Jalen shouted, pulling Chas down to the ground, holding him fast as time compressed once more.

But just as victory seemed within his grasp, Chas’s eyes flared, and he twisted violently, breaking free of Jalen’s grip.

“Nice try, J,” Chas sneered, but the darkness in his eyes deepened. “You can bend time all you want, but you can’t stop me from destroying it.”

---

CHAPTER FOUR: THE COST OF POWER

The warehouse around them was falling apart, time itself struggling to hold together. Each clash, each movement, sent shockwaves through the structure, tearing at the very fabric of space.

Jalen knew it. He could feel the world breaking. He was starting to lose his grip.

“You’re fighting against time itself, J,” Chas said, his voice a low growl. “You can’t win. Not when time is already dead.”

Chas’s body flickered and shimmered, and once again, he was moving, too fast for Jalen to follow. Jalen’s breath hitched in his chest. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up.

Time was becoming a chaotic mess—a warping, disorienting rush of moments that didn’t make sense. Jalen felt his head spin, his body growing heavier with each passing second. He had to end this, or it would tear him apart.

Jalen reached out, once more pulling time toward him. His body burned with energy, the strain of holding the world together pushing him past his limits. He stretched the moment between them, forcing Chas’s movements to slow.

He lunged forward, but the space between them distorted again.

Time snapped.

Chas appeared right in front of him, fist raised.

“You’ve learned nothing,” Chas sneered, delivering a brutal punch that sent Jalen sprawling to the floor.

Jalen’s vision blurred as time itself seemed to fracture around him. His breath came in sharp gasps as he tried to push himself to his feet.

---

CHAPTER FIVE: THE BREAKING POINT

The air was thick with static, the warehouse now a twisted landscape of warped timelines and fractured reality. Jalen’s limbs felt heavy, and the world around him seemed to flicker in and out of existence.

But he couldn’t give up.

He wouldn’t give up.

With a fierce yell, Jalen summoned every ounce of strength left within him. Time bent again, crashing against the walls of the warehouse as he surged forward. He moved faster than he had ever moved before, his mind racing to keep up with his own power.

“I won’t let you destroy this world,” Jalen shouted, his voice filled with defiance.

But as he reached for Chas once again, time snapped once more, and Chas was already gone.

And so, the fight continued—the first of many, with neither side willing to back down. The war for time had only just begun, and neither Chas nor Jalen was prepared to let the other win.

---

TO BE CONTINUED...

The first clash had shattered their world, but this was only the beginning. Time was bending, unraveling, and with every move, Jalen and Chas were both pushing it closer to its breaking point. The battle for control had only just begun.

And neither was ready to stop.