Child Of Time

The castle was a battlefield of despair. The sun above seemed distant and pale, struggling to penetrate the choking shadows cast by the rain of arrows. Grey stood frozen in the training ground, his wide eyes locked on the lifeless body of the guard sprawled before him.

Just moments ago, the man had been alive, shouting orders, bracing the door, ready to protect them. Now, he lay motionless, his blood pooling in the dirt, staining the ground a deep crimson.

Grey's heart thundered in his chest. His gaze was drawn to the arrow embedded in the guard's neck, the shaft trembling slightly as if mocking the stillness of death.

"An... arrow?" Grey's voice cracked, barely audible. His mind screamed questions he couldn't voice. Where did it come from? How?

His body trembled as he looked up.

Above, the sky was no longer a comforting blue—it was blackened, consumed by a cloud of arrows descending like a deathly storm.

"No..." he whispered, his voice trembling with disbelief. His knees buckled slightly as panic gripped him. "No, no, no!"

THWIP. THWACK. THUD.

The sound of arrows piercing flesh and ground filled the air, deafening and relentless. Grey felt his brother clutch at his tunic, his small hands trembling with fear.

"Big Brother!" his brother cried, his voice shrill and desperate.

Grey didn't think. He couldn't. His body moved on instinct as he spun and wrapped himself around his brother, his arms forming a shield against the oncoming rain of death.

THWACK!

Pain exploded in Grey's back, radiating through his body like wildfire.

"AHHHH!" Grey cried out, his voice raw with agony as the arrow pierced through his armor, lodging deep into his flesh.

A second arrow glanced off his shoulder plate, tearing through the leather strap, but it was the first that nearly brought him to his knees.

"Bwig Bwoder, nooo!" his brother sobbed, his small hands reaching out, trembling as he touched the blood seeping from the wound. "Yuh—yuh huwrt! Bwoder, yuh huwrt!"

Grey gritted his teeth, his breaths shallow and labored as he tightened his hold on the boy. "I'm... fine," he lied, his voice barely above a whisper. The pain was unbearable—searing, unrelenting, as though his very soul was being torn apart.

But he couldn't let go. He wouldn't.

"I promised," Grey gasped, his vision swimming. "I promised to protect you..."

"Papa! Mama!" his brother wailed, his voice cracking with anguish. "Where ah dey?! I wan' Papa! I wan' Mama!"

Tears streaked the boy's cheeks, his small frame trembling violently against Grey's. The cries pierced Grey's heart, deeper than the arrow in his back. They're gone... gone because I couldn't save them.

"Shh..." Grey whispered, though his voice was weak. He reached out a bloodied hand to wipe the boy's tears, but the boy flinched, his wide, tear-filled eyes locked onto Grey with confusion and terror.

"Don't leave me, Big Brother! Please don't leave me!"

"I won't..." Grey forced the words out, though his vision blurred and the strength in his body waned. "I'm here. I'll always be here..."

Always stay by your side.

But the agony was relentless. His legs buckled, and he sank to his knees, still holding his brother tightly. Blood trickled from his wound, staining his armor and pooling beneath him.

It was then that he felt it.

A presence.

It was cold and suffocating, like death itself had descended upon them. Grey's breath hitched as he lifted his head.

"..."

A man stood behind him.

He hadn't heard footsteps. He hadn't seen him approach. The man was simply... there.

His white hair gleamed like frost under the dying light, and his dark eyes, void of emotion, seemed to drink in the chaos around them. The air around him was heavy, oppressive, carrying the stench of death.

Grey's heart sank. Just looking at him, he knew—this man was the cause of all of this..

'We're going to die...'

The thought clawed at Grey's mind as he stared at the figure. The silver hair was unmistakable, a symbol of his family's bloodline. But the man's presence was alien, foreign, and terrifying.

"Who..." Grey rasped, his voice barely audible. He swallowed hard, his throat dry. "Who are you?"

"..."

The man didn't answer immediately. His face was devoid of expression, like a statue carved from stone. Yet his dark eyes held something... a weight that made Grey's chest tighten.

Grey's mind raced. '

'Is he a blood relative? No, that's impossible.'

'Who is he?'

Finally, the man parted his lips, his voice deep and deliberate as he spoke a single, cryptic word.

"I..."

Grey's breath hitched. The man's next words sent a chill down his spine.

"...am you."

"What!?" Grey's voice cracked, his body frozen in place.

The world around them began to shift. The chaos of the training ground, the falling arrows, the blood-soaked earth—all of it dissolved into darkness.

Grey's heart pounded in his chest as he realized he was no longer in the training ground. He was surrounded by nothing but an endless void, a blackness so deep it felt like it was pulling him in.

Suddenly, the blackness twisted and shifted. Forms began to emerge—broken weapons, blood-soaked banners, and lifeless bodies. The void transformed into a battlefield, chaotic and desolate.

Grey's knees buckled under the weight of it all. The man's dark eyes bored into him as he took a step closer, the suffocating presence more overwhelming than ever.

"What... what is this?" Grey whispered, his voice trembling.

The man took a step closer, his presence suffocating, as he leaned in and said with chilling clarity:

"This is where it begins."