RIFT & REQUIEM – BOOK FOUR: THE FRAGMENTED FUTURE

RIFT & REQUIEM – BOOK FOUR: THE FRAGMENTED FUTURE

CHAPTER SIX: A TWIST IN THE MAZE

The ruined corridor of the shattered warehouse felt less like a battleground now and more like a labyrinth of half-forgotten memories—each step echoing with the weight of lost seconds. Jalen’s eyes, still burning with the residue of battle, caught a flicker of movement at the edge of his vision. There, amid swirling motes of dust and broken timelines, stood a girl.

She wasn’t the typical hero or enemy one might expect in a world torn apart by time. Instead, she had an almost casual defiance—a spark in her eyes that made Jalen think of mischief rather than malice. Her presence was enigmatic, as if reality itself bowed to her whim.

“Name’s Page,” she said, her tone cool and slightly sardonic, reminiscent of a trickster who’d seen every corner of fate’s dark humor. “Seems like you’ve been fighting the past hard enough, Jalen. Ever thought of rewriting the script?”

Jalen blinked, momentarily disarmed by the unexpected levity. His own battle-hardened focus softened just a fraction. “Rewriting the script?” he echoed, his voice low, cautious. “I’ve been trying to stop the chaos—ending it, even.”

Page stepped forward, her aura rippling the air as if reality were a canvas awaiting her brush. “Chaos isn’t something you end, Jalen. It’s something you learn to dance with.” There was a playful gravity in her words, as if the shattered seconds around them were nothing more than pieces of a well-played game. “I warp reality, not to erase what’s broken, but to give it a new shape. Maybe you could use a change in perspective.”

Jalen’s gaze hardened, yet a wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth—a rarity that surprised even him. “You’re not like anyone I’ve met in this endless war.” His tone held equal measures of suspicion and fascination, as if he recognized in her the same restless spirit that drove him.

Page tilted her head, her eyes glinting with a mischievous light that hinted at secrets. “Maybe I’m just tired of watching everything fall apart. Sometimes, the best strategy is to change the rules rather than just follow them.” Her words bore the careful wit of someone who had seen too many battles to believe that brute force alone could win the war.

The air shimmered between them, charged with an energy that was almost palpable. In that moment, Jalen felt as if the tangled maze of his fractured future might finally yield a new path—a path not defined solely by endless combat with Chas, but by the possibility of something… different.

“Why are you here?” Jalen asked, his tone a mixture of guarded curiosity and the fatigue of countless battles.

Page’s smile turned bittersweet. “Because even in a war waged by seconds, sometimes you need to find a moment to change the outcome. I’ve seen threads of possibility—an alternate ending where the past doesn’t chain you to endless fights.” She paused, as if weighing the gravity of her words. “I’m here to offer you a choice, Jalen. Not to end the war, but to change how you fight it.”

Jalen’s mind raced with images of futures unburdened by perpetual conflict—a reality where he didn’t have to shoulder the guilt of broken timelines. His heartbeat slowed as he considered her proposition. The endless loop of battle, the cold calculus of time manipulation, had worn him thin. Perhaps, in the unpredictable art of Page’s reality-warping, there was a way to see the maze from a different angle.

For a long, heavy moment, silence reigned. The broken world around them pulsed with the residual echoes of their powers—a stage set for new beginnings. Then, almost imperceptibly, Jalen nodded.

“Maybe it’s time to learn a new dance,” he murmured, his voice steady yet laced with the bittersweet humor of a man who had fought too long. As he reached out, Page extended her hand—a quiet invitation to step beyond the familiar chaos and into a future that was yet unwritten.

In that instant, the relentless war of seconds softened. Time, for a brief, fragile moment, felt like it might be molded into something other than endless conflict.

And as their hands met, the fragmented future shivered with the promise of change—an unpredictable twist in the maze, written not by fate alone but by the choices of two determined souls.

---

TO BE CONTINUED...

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***