The End of our Time: A Tale of Lie

Rowen was still sprawled against the alley mouth where Wan had dropped him.

He slowly pushed himself up against the damp brick wall, one bruised hand clamped tight over his sternum where Wan's fist had connected.

"That... freak hits like a hammer" Rowen wheezed, wincing as he took a shallow breath.

Wan shifted his weight, his dark eyes locking onto Rowen from beneath his heavy brow.

Rowen instantly clamped his jaw shut, swallowing the rest of his complaints.

A few feet away, Dally hadn't moved an inch. Turman's rapier remained perfectly still, the polished steel glinting under the pale light, hovering half an inch from Dally's throat.

"Don't even let your heel twitch," Turman said softly, his voice dangerously even.

Dally swallowed hard, the Adam's apple in his neck bobbing right against the tip of the blade. "I wasn't going to. I swear."

"Good."

Alina stepped up, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two kneeling prisoners. "We need to get them off the street before whoever else is running this quarter notices we snatched them."

Nuri nodded, pulling his collar up. "The old sub-station guardhouse is two blocks back. It should still be operational."

They bound the two Liberators' hands tightly behind their backs with heavy rope and dragged them out of the square, keeping away from the silent, staring crowd.

The guardhouse was completely dead.

The small stone station was picked clean, a couple of overturned pine chairs, an empty desk, and iron sconces stripped of their candles. Most of the local patrol had been pulled out three hours ago to reinforce the collapse along the western wall.

The capital was cracking down the center, and there simply weren't enough boots to hold every district post.

Nuri slammed the thick oak door shut and slid the iron bolt into place.

Rowen slid down against the far stone wall, clutching his ribs, while Dally sat huddled right next to him, his hands trembling against his knees.

Turman leaned back against the heavy doorframe, his rapier drawn and resting lightly against his forearm. Alina stood with her arms crossed, her spear planted firmly in the floorboards, while Wan remained glued to Nuri's flank like a dark shadow.

Nuri scanned the empty room, rubbing his temples. "This isn't great."

"What?" Alina asked, glancing at him.

"Captain Caelan isn't anywhere near this sector," Nuri said, looking out the narrow high window toward the smoke rising over the inner ward. "He's trapped on the high bridge coordinating the entire city's frontline."

Alina let out a harsh sigh. "Great. So we've got two high-value operatives bound in a room and not a single senior officer around to run an official interrogation."

Turman pushed off the doorframe, adjusting his grip on his sword. "Then we run it ourselves."

Rowen raised a single, bloody eyebrow from the floor. "You?"

Turman offered a tight, razor-thin smile. "Yes. Us."

Dally looked like he was about to vomit.

Nuri stepped forward, cutting through the posturing. He looked down at Rowen and asked the most immediate question burning in his mind.

"What did you do to those people out there?"

Rowen stared right back at him, his expression going completely blank. "Nothing."

Nuri's brow furrowed. "You were hiding right in the center of a square filled with hundreds of citizens staring at the sky like corpses. Don't play dumb."

"And?"

"What do you mean, 'and'?"

Rowen gave a small, indifferent shrug. "You caught us. Good job. What do you want, a medal?"

Alina's fingers tightened around her spear shaft until her knuckles turned white. "You are seriously testing my patience."

"I get that a lot," Rowen muttered.

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Nuri let out a quiet breath, forcing his pulse to slow down. "What were you two setting up before the crowd locked up?"

Rowen went silent. Dally stared fixedly at the floorboards, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

For nearly ten seconds, the only sound in the dead station was the faint, muffled howl of the ash-laden wind scraping against the slate roof.

Then Turman noticed it.

Dally's eyes weren't looking at Nuri. They weren't looking at the door, or the floor, or the weapons. Every three seconds, his gaze darted toward the narrow window glass overhead.

He wasn't checking for reinforcements. He was staring up at the dark ring hovering above the capital.

At the Eye.

Turman followed the trajectory of Dally's eyes, then looked back down at the boy's pale face.

"You're terrified of it," Turman said softly.

Dally froze mid-breath.

Rowen's head snapped around, his eyes flashing with sudden warning. "Dally. Shut your mouth."

Dally lowered his chin, his shoulders hunching inward.

Turman's expression hardened into complete certainty. "You really are."

Rowen's face darkened into a furious scowl. "I said shut up, Dally!"

That reaction was more than enough.

Nuri stepped right up to Rowen, his eyes narrowing. "You don't understand what that thing is either, do you?"

Neither Liberator answered.

Nuri bent down slightly, bringing his face level with Rowen's. "Then why were you two deployed here?"

Rowen gave him a long, exhausted look. "You think we built that sky-rending nightmare?"

Nuri paused. "Didn't your group?"

Rowen let out a short, ugly laugh that turned into a cough. "If we had the power to forge a god's eye in the heavens..." He flicked his eyes toward the window. "...do you honestly think we'd be running around in dusty alleyways carrying satchels?"

Silence fell over the room again.

Nuri slowly backed away, his mind re-evaluating everything they knew about the Liberators' chain of command. The operatives weren't steering this catastrophe. They were caught right in the middle of it.

"What were you supposed to prepare this district for?" Nuri asked.

Rowen's face went completely wooden. "We were laying the groundwork."

"Groundwork for what?"

"We weren't told."

Nuri frowned deeply. "Then why follow the order?"

Rowen didn't answer immediately. He stared down at his bound wrists for a long moment before speaking.

"Because the command came from the top."

"Who?" Nuri demanded.

Dead silence.

Nuri held Rowen's gaze, but the operative's mouth was set in a hard, unyielding line. He wasn't going to budge.

Dally, however, let out a shaky breath, staring down at his own boots. "You already know who."

Rowen's head whipped around. "Dally."

"What?!" Dally snapped, his voice cracking slightly.

"Keep your mouth shut!"

Alina raised an eyebrow, watching the exchange with mild disgust. "You two don't sound particularly devoted to this master of yours."

Rowen looked up at her, his eyes filled with bitter cynicism. "Devoted?" He spat on the floorboards. "That's a nice word for it."

Nuri stared at him. "So you hate him."

Dally muttered under his breath, "Nobody likes him. He's a monster."

Rowen glared daggers at Dally. "I didn't say that."

Dally glared right back. "You literally just said—"

"I said nothing!" Rowen barked.

Alina pressed a hand over her mouth, biting back a dry snort. Even Nuri couldn't help but shake his head. Facing execution or imprisonment, these two were still bickering like squabbling merchants.

"If you hate him so much," Nuri asked, "why carry out his orders?"

Rowen's expression went cold and flat, all humor instantly vanishing from his eyes. "Because saying no isn't something people survive."

Dally added quietly from the side, "And the gold was heavy."

Rowen turned his head slowly to stare at Dally. "That's your excuse? Gold?"

Dally shrugged weakly. "It pays for bread."

For a split second, even Alina looked like she was struggling not to burst out laughing.

But the atmosphere shifted in an instant.

Rowen's bitter, tired smile vanished. "You think we're doing this because we believe in his vision?" He looked right into Nuri's eyes. "We do it because we've seen what he leaves behind when someone disappoints him."

The room went dead silent.

Nuri stared at the floor, processing the words.

Rumble.

A faint, deep vibration rippled up through the stone foundations of the guardhouse. It was barely a twitch, but it made the dust dance off the ceiling beams.

Nuri's head snapped up. "Hold on."

Alina glanced around, her hand dropping back to her spear. "What was that?"

Nuri didn't reply. He stood completely rigid, tuning out everything in the room to feel the stone beneath his boots.

THUMP.

A second vibration hit, stronger this time. The glass panes in the narrow window rattled violently in their lead frames.

Dally's face drained of what little color it had left. Rowen's smug composure shattered completely; for the first time since they had tackled him, his eyes held pure, unadulterated dread.

Dally slowly turned his head toward the window. "No... not now..."

Nuri caught the reaction instantly. "You felt that before."

Rowen didn't answer.

Nuri took two fast steps forward, dropping to one knee right in front of Rowen. "You know what's causing that tremor."

Rowen looked at Nuri. His hands were visibly shaking against his knees.

"Unfortunately," Rowen whispered.

Alina frowned, stepping closer. "What do you mean, 'unfortunately'?"

Dally's breath came in ragged hitches. "It wasn't supposed to wake up this early. We were supposed to have three more days."

Rowen snapped, "Dally, shut your mouth!"

"Why?!" Dally yelled back, his voice rising in sheer panic. "They already know about the Hand!"

The whole room froze.

Nuri felt the blood turn to ice in his veins. Alina slowly turned her head to stare at Nuri, her eyes wide.

"The Hand?" Turman repeated, looking between Nuri and the prisoners. "You knew about a Hand?"

Rowen tightly closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the stone wall with a hollow thud. "Damn it all to hell..."

Nuri grabbed Rowen's shoulder hard, digging his fingers in through the cloth. "How do you know about the Hand?"

Rowen kept his eyes shut.

"Who manifested it?!" Nuri demanded, his voice echoing off the bare stone walls. "What is it?!"

Rowen opened his eyes slowly. They were completely bloodshot. "You don't understand what you're asking."

"Then explain it to me!"

Rowen looked past Nuri, staring at the dust motes dancing in the dim light near the window.

"We don't worship the man," Rowen said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Nuri frowned deeply. "Then why obey him?"

Rowen looked straight into Nuri's eyes, his expression dark with ancient, bone-deep dread.

"Because you don't follow a man like that because you believe in him," Rowen said quietly. "You follow him because you're terrified of what he'll turn you into if you don't."

Outside the guardhouse, the earth gave another violent shudder.

And high above the capital, the purple Eye opened just a fraction wider.