Chapter 68 The Heart of the Clock
The tunnel was narrow and smelled like cold metal. I tumbled down the slide, hitting the bottom with a thud that knocked the wind out of me. Every wall was covered in clocks. Big clocks, small clocks, and tiny pocket watches. They weren't just ticking; they were screaming. The sound of thousands of needles clicking at once filled my head.
I looked at my chest. The red number 30 was now 28.
Twenty-eight minutes left to live.
"Kael!" I screamed.
He was right in front of me, but he wasn't standing. He was strapped into a chair made of wires and glass. His skin was like a window. I could see his bones, his veins, and the thing in the centre of his chest. It wasn't a heart. It was a ticking bomb made of red wires and a silver key.
"Eara... go back," Kael wheezed. His eyes were wide with fear. "If you touch me, the timer speeds up. The chairman... he made me the trigger."
"I'm not leaving you," I said, my voice cracking. "I’ve fought through worlds for you. I’ve died in a dozen scripts. I’m not letting a clock end us."
I stepped closer, and my chest burned. The number jumped from 28 to 25.
Three minutes gone just by moving, I thought. My heart hammered against my ribs. The chairman wanted me to watch the man I loved die or die myself trying to save him. It was the ultimate "revenge" the company wanted: to see the hero fail at the very end.
"There has to be a way," I muttered, looking at the wires. "The chairman said the exit key is inside you. If I get the key, we both get out."
"No," Kael said, a tear rolling down his transparent cheek. "Look at the lock, Eara. It only turns one way. To get the key out, the bomb has to stop, and the only way to stop the bomb is to give it a soul to eat."
I looked at the silver key. It was pulsing with a faint blue light. Beside it, a small screen showed a percentage: Soul Level: 0%.
The chairman didn't just want a war. He wanted a sacrifice. He wanted the "perfect" ending for his twisted fans. One of us had to die so the other could be free.
"I'll do it," I said, reaching for the wires.
"Eara, don't!" Kael barked. "You’re the lead! If you die, the story ends. I’m just a program! I’m a glitch! I can be rebuilt!"
"You're not a program to me!" I yelled. "You're the only person who ever looked at me and didn't see a product! I am not letting them win! I am not letting them turn our love into a tragic finale!"
I grabbed the main cable. A jolt of electricity surged through my arms, making my teeth chatter. The red number on my skin flickered wildly. 20... 15... 12...
"The soul level is rising!" I gasped, watching the screen hit 40%.
I felt my memories starting to fade. I forgot the smell of the wheat field. I forgot the face of the girl in the basement. My life was being drained into the silver key. I was becoming the blank paper the Creator always said I was.
"Stop it! You're killing yourself!" Kael struggled against his restraints, his transparent skin beginning to glow with the purple fire I had given him earlier.
"Let it take me!" I screamed at the ceiling. "Take everything, but give him back!"
The Soul Level hit 90%. My red number was at 3.
My vision went blurry. I felt my heart slow down to a crawl. The ticking of the clocks seemed to fade away, replaced by a deep, heavy silence. I was ready to go. I was ready to be the ending.
But then, the purple fire in Kael’s chest didn't just glow. It exploded.
The wires around him snapped. The silver key didn't pop out; it melted. Kael’s transparent skin turned into solid, golden armour. He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling the electricity out of me and back into himself.
"The Chairman forgot one thing," Kael said. His voice was deep and powerful, like the roar of a storm. "He forgot that a virus can learn."
He stood up, tearing the chair from the floor. The bomb in his chest didn't explode. It turned into a glowing core of pure energy.
"The key isn't a piece of metal, Eara," Kael said, looking at me with eyes that were now solid gold. "The key is us. Together."
He slammed his fist into the wall of clocks. The entire tunnel shattered like glass. Beyond it wasn't the white static or a red room. It was a dark, rainy street in a real city. I could see cars. I could hear sirens. It looked cold, grey, and beautiful.
"Is that... home?" I whispered.
"It’s the start," Kael said.
We stepped out of the ruins of Redo Media and onto the wet pavement. I felt the rain on my skin, and for the first time in sixty-eight chapters, it was real. I looked back at the building. It was just a regular office block now, the red glow gone.
But as we turned to walk away, a car pulled up.
The window rolled down. It wasn't the producer or the creator. It was a woman with a kind face and grey hair. She looked at us with eyes that were full of tears.
"You've been gone a long time, Eara," she said.
"Who are you?" I asked, stepping back.
"I'm the one who sold you to them," she said, her voice trembling. "And I'm the one who’s going to tell you why your father is still alive in the building across the street."
She pointed to a high-security prison. In the top window, I saw a man looking down at us. He wasn't a monster. He wasn't a guard. He was a man in an orange jumpsuit, waving a white cloth.
"The story isn't over," the woman said. "It's just become a jailbreak."
Suddenly, a red dot appeared on the woman's forehead.
CRACK.
The car window shattered.