In the heart of an ancient city, where cobbled streets echoed with stories of the past, Lucien sat at the same café table he had occupied for centuries. He sipped his black coffee, watching the world change around him. Empires had risen and fallen, kings had been crowned and beheaded, yet he remained—unchanging, untouched by time.
Then one evening, a stranger took the seat across from him. He was young, or at least appeared so, with sharp eyes that carried the weight of eras. "You always sit here," the man remarked, a smirk playing on his lips.
Lucien raised an eyebrow. "And yet, I don’t recall seeing you before."
The stranger chuckled, pulling out an old pocket watch. "That’s because I haven’t arrived yet… until now." He clicked the watch, and for a split second, the world flickered like a candle in the wind.
Lucien stiffened. "A time traveler."
"Call me Elias," the man said. "And you—you're the only constant in history, aren't you?"
Lucien sighed, setting his coffee down. "Eternity is dull without change. I watch history unfold, powerless to alter its course."
Elias leaned forward, his grin widening. "Then perhaps we should change that."
Lucien stared at him. "You meddle with time?"
"I live in time," Elias corrected. "I walk through centuries like corridors, rewriting moments, erasing regrets." His voice lowered. "But even I have my limits. Some things are fixed. And you... you're an anomaly."
Lucien studied him, the first spark of interest igniting in his ageless heart. "And what do you want from me?"
Elias flipped his watch open again, revealing shifting dials, each marking a different era. "A companion. Someone who won't fade when the timeline does. Someone to remember."
Lucien hesitated. For centuries, he had stood still while the world moved around him. But now, before him sat a man who danced through time itself.
A slow smile crossed his lips.
"For the first time in forever," Lucien mused, "I think I’d like to see where time takes me."
Elias grinned, and with a snap of his watch, the world blurred—past, present, and future colliding in a whirlwind.
And for the first time in history, the immortal moved.
