Chapter 124: Life Seed in the Time Rift |
The morning mist, tinged with the smell of rust, seeped into Jonas’s nostrils as he suddenly opened his eyes amidst sharp pain. The rough gravel beneath his knees dug painfully in, and the bronze container in his palm left deep red marks. The unused Life Seed inside emitted a faint eerie blue glow, starkly different from the ashes it had turned to in his memory.
He staggered and grabbed onto a nearby scaffold. The freshly chiseled wooden beams still carried the scent of wood. In the distance, the bell in the clock tower had not yet rusted; its melodious chime pierced the thin fog—7:30 AM, the exact moment the Claude envoy team had arrived three days ago. Trembling, Jonas reached into his chest; the gear-shaped badge beneath his leather wristband was still cold, but his fingertips felt web-like cracks. Dark red rust seeped from inside the metal, like coagulated blood.
“Time really has reversed…” he murmured in a broken whisper. Memories from three days ago surged like a tide: Claude’s cavalry smashing the construction site fences, the Life Seed bursting into poisonous mist under magical bombardment, his comrades twisting and falling before his eyes while he was powerless. Yet now, the bronze container remained intact. The pounding songs and calls of the stonemasons at the site were clear, as if nothing had started yet.
“Jonas!” A familiar shout came from behind. Apprentice Tom, with a messy nest of hair, ran over, his face covered in stone dust but wearing an innocent smile. “The foreman said the stones on the east side need to be moved, you better…” The boy suddenly froze, staring at Jonas’s pale face. “Why are you sweating so much? Are you heatstroked?”
Jonas grabbed the boy’s wrist, the touch shockingly real. Three days ago, this child had been hit in the chest by stray fire, clutching the wooden whistle Jonas had given him before dying. “Listen,” Jonas lowered his voice, “no matter what happens next, hide immediately in the warehouse basement. Don’t come out.”
Tom blinked confusedly, about to ask more, when the crisp clatter of horseshoes striking stone suddenly echoed from afar. Jonas’s heart nearly stopped—eight black warhorses broke through the morning fog, the runed swords at the silver-armored knights’ waists gleaming coldly. The carriage in the center bore the Claude family’s iris crest. Three days ago, it was a magic arrow fired from this carriage that tore through the Life Seed’s protective barrier.
Jonas clenched the bronze container and turned to run. The stonemasons at the site still watched curiously, unaware of the disaster approaching. He dashed into the temporary workshop, rifling through dust-covered toolboxes, fingertips brushing over the silver-handled dagger left by his father—the only weapon capable of piercing Claude’s magic shield.
“Jonas! What are you doing?” The foreman’s angry roar came from behind. Jonas ignored it, slipped the dagger into his belt, and wrapped the Life Seed in a piece of burlap. Time was tight; he had to find a way to break the spell before the envoy arrived. Claude’s goal, according to memory, was to seize the Life Seed and turn it into a weapon of war. But now...
He suddenly stopped. The abandoned well behind the warehouse might be an opportunity. The well was thirty meters deep, its walls laced with natural magical veins that might temporarily suppress the Life Seed’s energy fluctuations. Jonas grabbed a hemp rope from the corner but bumped into a warm embrace as he turned.
“You look worse than the corpses in the lab.” Lilia frowned, pressing her fingertips to his forehead. “No fever... wait, you have magical fluctuations?” She stepped back alertly, eyes landing on the package in Jonas’s arms. “Is this... the Life Seed? Where did you get it?”
Jonas grabbed her wrist. “No time to explain. Claude’s men will be here soon; they will kill everyone. Help me hide this!”
Lilia’s pupils contracted sharply. As the kingdom’s chief apothecary, she knew exactly what the Life Seed meant. “Are you crazy? If this thing loses control…” Her words cut off as the sound of hooves grew nearer. The silver-armored knights formed a half-moon formation outside the site, the iris crest flags fluttering fiercely in the wind.
“Trust me.” Jonas shoved the package into her arms. “Do as I say: put it in the abandoned well and seal the opening with rune stones.” He pulled out his father’s dagger. “I’ll hold them off.”
Lilia wanted to say more but was pushed back forcefully by Jonas. Gritting her teeth, she turned and dashed toward the warehouse. Jonas took a deep breath, straightened his rumpled clothes, and stepped forward to meet the approaching envoy. As the carved door of the carriage slowly opened and Duke Claude, with silver-white hair, revealed his signature graceful smile, cold sweat filled Jonas’s palm.
“Jonas Gray, mechanical engineer.” Claude’s voice was a blade wrapped in honey. “I hear you possess secrets that could change the course of war?”
Jonas straightened his back. “Your Grace, you misunderstand. This is just an ordinary construction site.”
Claude chuckled lightly, raising his hand to signal. A knight threw a chain that accurately wrapped around Jonas’s ankle. “Why lie?” He stepped forward slowly, fingertips brushing the gear-shaped badge at Jonas’s waist. “This crack is exactly the same as the fragment found on the battlefield three days ago...”
Pain shot through Jonas’s ankle as he was pulled to the ground. But a faint smile crept at the corner of his mouth—far away, Lilia vanished behind the warehouse, clutching the package. If only he could buy ten more minutes, if only...
“Search!” Claude ordered. Knights charged into the workshop. Jonas took the chance to pull out the gear piece hidden in his sleeve, an improved disruptor based on memory. Approaching the magical core would temporarily cut off energy transmission.
However, just as he prepared to act, the ground shook violently. Claude’s face darkened. “What’s happening?” A thunderous roar came from the direction of the abandoned well, where dazzling blue light erupted—the Life Seed had awakened prematurely!
Jonas’s pupils constricted sharply. In his memory, the rampage had only been triggered after the envoy’s attack. Could this be a chain reaction caused by time reversal? From the blue light, countless vines burst forth, entangling the horses of the silver-armored knights. Claude’s magic shield cracked the moment it touched the vines, and a nauseatingly sweet and bloody stench filled the air.
“Stop it!” Claude roared. Knights swung swords at the vines, but wherever the blades struck, the severed parts rapidly regenerated. Jonas broke free from the chains and charged into the chaotic battlefield. He had to find Lilia before the situation spiraled out of control. Only her suppressant might calm the Life Seed again.
Through the mist, he vaguely saw Lilia’s staggering figure. Her apron was covered in dirt; the glass bottle in her hand shattered—she must have encountered trouble while placing the Life Seed. Jonas sprinted forward but froze the moment he touched her shoulder—strange blue markings appeared on Lilia’s neck, a sign of the Life Seed’s backlash.
“Go… quickly…” Lilia weakly pushed him away. “I’m... too late…” Her voice was gradually drowned by the rustling growth of vines, and her body began to be swallowed by the blue light.
Jonas’s eyes reddened as he clenched his father’s dagger. He finally understood: time reversal was not a chance to restart but a warning from fate. Claude’s ambition, the Life Seed’s loss of control, Lilia’s sacrifice—all the tragedy’s root lay hidden in the crack on the gear-shaped badge—that time fragment corroded by magic quietly rewriting everyone’s fate.
“This time, I won’t let tragedy happen again.” He whispered, turning to charge at the rampaging Life Seed. The morning mist gradually lifted, sunlight piercing through the gaps in the vines, shimmering off the dark red rust deep in the crack on his bloodstained badge, as if signaling that this battle against time had only just begun...
The Time Puzzle in the Rust
The vines wrapped like living creatures around Jonas’s ankles, sticky sap corroding his leather boots. Duke Claude’s angry roars and the knights’ screams warped into eerie echoes. Jonas gripped his dagger, but the moment the blade touched the vines, an unnatural blue frost appeared. He suddenly recalled Lilia’s words: the Life Seed’s essence was a forbidden vessel connecting nature and magic, and in its rampage state, its energy was rewriting physical laws.
“Grab that engineer!” Claude’s voice cut through the chaos. The silver armor was crawling with vines but still tough. “He knows the Life Seed’s weakness!”
Jonas turned and ran, his boots slipping on the slime-covered stone slabs. The abandoned well behind the warehouse shot a towering beam of light; blue illumination lit up the entire site. He saw sparks of golden red bursting from the magical veins in the well walls, like the earth’s blood vessels breaking apart. The explosion scene from three days ago overlapped with the present, and he suddenly realized—the Life Seed’s rampage might never have been an accident.
The gear-shaped badge burned hot in his chest. Rust leaking from the crack began to flow, tracing unfamiliar runes along his skin. Jonas staggered, leaning on the wall as his father’s dying murmur flashed through his mind: “The wheels of time... must not stop turning...” His father, the royal mechanic, had spent his life researching the fusion of time magic and machinery. Could that crack be the key to the truth?
“Jonas!” Tom’s scream pierced his eardrums. Jonas turned to see the boy tangled by vines, suspended midair, face swollen purple and blue. Without hesitation, he slashed the vines and caught the boy as he fell.
“Run to the riverbank!” Jonas pushed Tom toward safety. “Tell everyone to stay away from the site!”
“But you...”
“Go!”
The boy wiped his tears and ran. At that moment, Jonas heard a sharp sound behind him. Instinctively, he rolled aside as a rune-engraved arrow grazed his scalp and pierced the ground, the magic wave it released ringing painfully in his ears. Duke Claude stood atop the ruins, holding a carved longbow. His silver-white hair fluttered in the blue light like a harbinger of death.
“Hand over the control method for the Life Seed, and I’ll spare your life.” The duke’s voice carried undeniable authority. “Do you think your little tricks can stop war? The entire kingdom needs this power!”
Jonas clenched his fists. The disruptor hidden in his sleeve began to heat up. He suddenly remembered the markings on Lilia’s neck before she was swallowed—similar to the rust patterns on the gear-shaped badge. Could the Life Seed’s rampage actually be a chain reaction triggered by time reversal? Returning with memories from the future had already altered the energy balance?
“Your Grace, do you really think the Life Seed is a weapon?” Jonas pulled open his shirt, revealing the rust patterns spreading across his chest. “Look at this—it’s the price of touching time magic. The Life Seed is not what you think!”
Claude narrowed his eyes, bow lowering slightly. “What nonsense are you spouting?”
“It’s a vessel used to repair time rifts!” Jonas pointed to the abandoned well. “See the light in those veins? It’s the same energy as the rust on the badge! My father discovered twenty years ago that the kingdom’s border spatial anomalies were related to the Life Seed, but he never finished his research before…”
A loud explosion cut him off. The light beam in the well’s center suddenly split into countless light blades, and the vines began to grow wildly, enveloping the knights. Claude’s magic shield buzzed under the blade strikes, on the verge of collapse. He finally showed panic. “Do you have any way to stop it?”
Jonas raised the disruptor. “This device can temporarily neutralize the energy, but we must get close to the core. However...” He touched the rust on his chest. “The cost of using time magic is accelerated life decay.”
Claude’s expression flickered, then he gritted his teeth. “Lead the way! If we fail, we’ll both die here.”
The two struggled through the gaps in the vines. Jonas’s vision blurred, each step feeling like treading on cotton. When they finally reached the edge of the abandoned well, he saw Lilia floating at the center of the light beam. Her body was half-transparent; her hair transformed into blue streams of light.
“Lilia!” Jonas staggered to reach out but was repelled by an invisible force.
The girl’s ethereal voice sounded: “Jonas… the wheels of time… require sacrifice…” Her body began disintegrating into points of light, merging into the core of the Life Seed. Jonas was heartbroken but noticed Lilia, before vanishing, throwing a silver gear-shaped object toward him.
The moment the disruptor touched the gear, a blinding white light burst forth. Jonas felt countless memory fragments flooding his mind—the scene of his father’s assassination in the lab by a mysterious figure, Claude’s youthful conversations with his mother, and his own recurring echoes in the river of time. He finally understood: the crack on the gear-shaped badge was a warning left by his father’s life, and every time he traveled back, he pushed fate deeper into the whirlpool.
“Activate the device!” Claude’s roar pulled him back to reality. Jonas forced himself to insert the disruptor into the magical veins at the well’s edge. The gear began rotating backward, emitting an ancient, heavy hum. The Life Seed’s light beam slowly contracted, the rampaging vines began to wither, but Jonas’s body rapidly weakened, wrinkles like those of an old man appearing under his skin.
When everything finally calmed, Claude looked at the ruined site, revealing a rare look of confusion. “What on earth happened?”
Jonas slid down the well wall, placing Lilia’s gear into Claude’s palm. “Check the royal mechanic’s archives from twenty years ago and the spatial rifts at the border. The Life Seed is not a weapon of war, but…” He coughed violently, blood staining his clothes. “...the key to repairing time.”
Cheers rose in the distance as Tom ran over with guards. Jonas smiled with relief at the boy’s anxious face. The crack on the gear-shaped badge was healing; the rust transformed into flowing light absorbed into his body. Perhaps this was fate’s arrangement—he had exchanged his life to reveal the truth, and the gear in Claude’s hand would become the key to rewriting the future.
“Remember…” Jonas grasped Tom’s hand. “Tell everyone, the wheels of time… must be balanced…”
Morning light pierced through the clouds, shining on Jonas’s cooling face. His last glance was to the sky, and as consciousness faded, he seemed to see Lilia’s figure smiling at him from the clouds. Claude clenched the gear, his eyes no longer filled with ambition but with determined pursuit of truth.
Among the ruins of the site, fragments of the gear-shaped badge lay quietly in a pool of blood, the crack completely vanished, leaving only a mysterious pattern, as if telling a story buried by time. And the truth about the Life Seed, as well as the secret of time magic, was only just beginning to surface...