RIFT & REQUIEM – BOOK TWO: THREADS OF PAST

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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TO BE CONTINUED…

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