RIFT & REQUIEM – BOOK THREE: WAR OF SECONDS THE FIRST INCOUNTER

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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